Characteristics and description of Volgograd early ripening tomatoes 323
Tomato Volgograd early ripening 323 is an early ripening, low-growing variety. The strong, erect stem reaches 30 cm in open beds and half a meter when erected in a greenhouse.
The plant is densely leafy. The leaf blade is medium in size, colored light olive. The surface is wrinkled, without pubescence. The first flower cluster can be seen above the 5-6 leaf; with proper care, it forms up to 6 fruits weighing 80-100 g.
Tomato Volgograd early ripening 323 is an early variety, fruiting occurs 3 months after sowing. The plant is unpretentious in care, rarely gets sick and is resistant to sudden changes in weather.
Before purchasing tomato seeds of the Volgograd early ripening variety 323, it is advisable to read reviews, study the yield and view photos.
What do the fruits look like?
Volgograd tomatoes can be recognized by their round shape and light ribbing on the surface. At first, light green fruits appear, which become rich red as they ripen. On average, each weighs from 70 to 90 g. Tomatoes are quite dense, with fleshy juicy pulp and a bright tomato taste, characterized by a characteristic sourness.
The fruits are universal in use. Due to the rich amount of microelements in the composition, they are especially useful for fresh consumption. More mature tomatoes are great for various dishes, pasta, ketchup, and juice. The thick skin retains its shape well, so the tomatoes do not crack and are convenient to use for preservation.
Pros and cons of the Volgogradsky 323 tomato variety
Tomatoes of the Volgogradsky 323 variety, like any plant, have advantages and disadvantages. Positive qualities of the variety:
- early ripeness;
- high productivity;
- immunity to diseases;
- ease of care;
- maturation occurs simultaneously;
- due to its resistance to low temperatures, the variety is suitable for cultivation in all regions of Russia;
- good taste and aroma;
- long-term transportation and keeping quality.
The disadvantages include the fact that the variety does not tolerate prolonged heat and drought. As a result, flowers are poorly pollinated, fall off, ovaries do not form, and productivity decreases.
Harvesting
The first fruits of the Volgogradsky 323 tomato variety can be harvested in early to mid-July. It is better to do this in dry sunny weather. When picking, you need to tear off the “tail” of the fruit so that it does not damage the rest. It is undesirable to pick wet fruits; they store worse.
It is also not advisable to put very hot fruit in the refrigerator. Moisture may form and it will deteriorate faster. These tomatoes are best stored in a dry, dark, cool place. Under these conditions they can remain fresh for up to 45 days.
The Volgograd variety of tomatoes is deservedly popular among vegetable growers due to its unpretentiousness and high yield. It can be successfully grown by beginning gardeners. The variety is also good because it is suitable for any use - it can be eaten fresh, canned, or salted.
Optimal growing conditions
Tomatoes of the Volgograd early ripening variety 323 can be grown in the open air and under cover. To harvest an early harvest, you need to wisely choose a site for planting, prepare the soil and, despite its unpretentiousness, follow simple care.
The area for tomatoes is chosen in a well-lit place. The best predecessors are root vegetables, legumes and cereals. It is better to prepare the soil in the fall. To do this, dig up the soil, add rotted compost and a mineral fertilizer complex. The beds are covered with a 15 cm layer of hay and watered generously. After such preparation in the spring, the soil will become fertile and fluffy, and the rotted hay will act as an additional organic fertilizer.
Protection from diseases and pests
Despite its excellent immunity, the variety is susceptible to a number of ailments, including:
| Disease | Symptoms | Prevention | Treatment |
| Late blight | Irregular brown spots on the stem, falling inflorescences, dry leaves, grey-brown/black spots on the fruits. |
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| Powdery mildew | Powdery coating on the surface, the plant becomes deformed and dries out, the flowers become covered with white fluff and cracks. | Treating seeds with potassium permanganate before planting, maintaining crop rotation, regular ventilation of greenhouses, correct watering and fertilizing. |
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| Verticillium | During the flowering phase, the lower leaves begin to turn yellow, as a result of which they wither and fall off. The upper ones remain green, but are noticeably deformed. | Treat with a solution of wood ash and laundry soap, spray with potassium permanganate mixed with boric acid, and avoid waterlogging the soil. | Infected specimens cannot be treated and must be disposed of by fire. |
| Cladosporiosis | Brown spots on the underside of leaf blades, mainly the lower ones. As a result, the bush begins to wither and dies. | Plant residues are regularly removed, treated with Bordeaux mixture several times a season, and moisture does not stagnate during watering. |
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In the event of insects such as whiteflies or spider mites, the green mass is sprayed with any insecticide, among which Actellik has proven itself well. A concentrated solution of laundry soap will help get rid of aphid colonies.
Growing
Tomatoes of the Volgogradsky early ripening variety 323 are grown through seedlings to obtain an early harvest. Sowing tomatoes in open ground is only possible when growing tomatoes in the southern regions.
Growing seedlings
Since the variety is early ripening, sowing is done in the middle or end of March. To get a healthy and strong bush, you need to take time to cultivate the soil. The soil should be light and nutritious. You can buy it at the store or make it yourself. To do this, mix sand, peat and turf soil in proportions 3:4:3. Wood ash, superphosphate and potassium sulfate are added to the finished soil mixture.
To plant seeds, select a wide, deep container with a drainage hole. To avoid picking, the seeds are sown in separate cups. Before planting, for rapid germination, the seeds are disinfected and washed under warm running water.
The prepared seeds are buried 2 cm, sprinkled with soil and irrigated with a spray bottle. For good germination, the air temperature must not be lower than + 23 °C, so the crops are covered with polyethylene until germination and put in a warm, sunny place.
Picking into separate cups is carried out when the plant has grown its root system and produced several true leaves. Care for young seedlings is minimal: watering with warm rainwater as the soil dries out, fertilizing with a mineral complex once a week.
Before the seedlings are transferred to the fruiting site, they must be hardened off. To do this, the plant is taken out into the open air, increasing the exposure time daily. At the age of 60 days, the grown plant can be transplanted to a permanent place. By this time, young tomatoes should have a strong, healthy root system, a fleshy trunk, 5-6 leaves and 1 flower cluster.
Landing rules
After the seedlings have been hardened and they have reached 10-12 cm, they can be safely transferred to a permanent place.
Important! When planting in open ground, the soil should be + 10-15 °C.
To get a high yield and rid the plant of diseases and pests, it is necessary to strictly observe the distance between plantings. The bushes are planted to the cotyledon leaves with an interval of 60-70 cm, leaving about half a meter between the rows. The soil is shed generously and mulched. Mulch will reduce the frequency of watering, become an obstacle to the growth of weeds and enrich the soil with useful microelements.
Watering and fertilizing
Tomatoes do not like excess moisture and drought. The first irrigation with warm water is done a week after planting the seedlings. Further watering is necessary only as the soil dries out. Tomatoes need moisture most during flowering and ripening. Watering is carried out with warm rainwater in the morning or evening. After irrigation, the soil is loosened superficially and mulched.
Important! Lack of water affects the condition of the plant: the ovaries fall off, the fruits grow small, the skin cracks, and the taste deteriorates.
Tomatoes need fertilizing for good growth and development. It is applied 3 times per season:
- 10 days after planting.
- During the flowering period.
- At the moment of fruit formation.
During the growth period, the plant is fed with nitrogenous fertilizers, then a mineral complex is used. Often gardeners refuse chemicals and use folk remedies: green manure, bird droppings, compost, wood ash. All these natural preparations contain a large number of micro- and macroelements that are necessary for growth and good fruiting.
Malnutrition can be determined by external characteristics:
- foliage becomes discolored;
- flowers and ovaries fall off;
- productivity decreases;
- taste qualities differ from varietal characteristics.
Pinching and tying
Tomato Volgograd early ripening 323 is a low variety, so the bushes do not need to be tied up. The exception is a large number of fruits on one cluster. Therefore, to prevent the brush from breaking off under the weight of the fruit, it is carefully tied to the trellis.
The Volgograd early ripening variety 323 forms a large number of stepsons, which must be regularly disposed of, since the side shoots suck out useful substances, and the tomatoes do not have enough strength to form and ripen the fruits. Stepsons do not pull them out, but break them out. To do this, grab the shoot with your thumb and forefinger and gently pull it to the side, leaving a small stump. If the side shoot has reached a significant size, then it is cut off with a sharply sharpened knife or razor.
Experienced gardeners make organic fertilizer from pruned shoots. They are placed in a tank, water is added and put in a warm place for 2 weeks for fermentation. Next, the finished solution is filtered and diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10.
Formation
Tomatoes of the Volgograd early ripening variety 323 can be formed into one or two stems. In the southern regions and when grown in a greenhouse, tomatoes are formed into two stems. In regions with an unstable climate, it is better to form tomatoes into one.
Rules for forming tomatoes:
- If the bush is formed into one stem, then it is necessary to remove all the stepsons, not allowing them to reach 5 cm.
- When growing a bush with two stems, only the strong shoot growing under the first flower cluster is not removed. All the rest are carefully broken out.
Protection from diseases and pests
The tomato variety Volgograd early ripening 323 is resistant to diseases. But if the care rules are not followed, insect pests may appear on tomato bushes:
- Medvedka. A small insect that makes a nest in the soil. The hatched larvae quickly eat the foliage and can lead to the death of the bush. The drug “Thunder” will help get rid of pests. You can also use the traditional method: 150 g of black pepper or a glass of table vinegar is diluted in a bucket of water. Up to 0.5 liters of working solution is used for each plant.
- Wireworm. The pest damages the root system, sucks out the juice, penetrating inside the stem, and destroys the fruits. To combat larvae, Bazudin powder mixed with sand or sawdust is used. A folk method will also help get rid of the pest: potatoes, beets or carrots are strung on a wooden trellis and buried near the bush. After two weeks, the root crop with wireworms is removed from the ground and burned.
In order not to encounter problems when growing tomatoes, it is necessary to carry out disease prevention:
- adhere to crop rotation;
- water only with warm water;
- loosening the soil and removing weeds;
- when growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, daily ventilation is required;
- triple soil recharge;
- When the first signs of disease appear, treatment must begin.
Plant Formation
To determine the exact timing of sowing seeds, you need to familiarize yourself with the conditions in which the plant can stay. The Volgograd tomato tolerates heat quite well, so it is recommended to grow it in areas with a warm climate. Provided that the cultivation will be carried out in a greenhouse, the seeds can be planted in mid-February. If it is planned to plant in open ground, but film will be used, then the seeds are planted on the 20th of March. The specified timing allows us to obtain ready-made seedlings for further planting in early May.
If there are several leaves on the stem, the plant is ready for picking. To do this, the plant is transplanted into a large container where the root system can develop properly. For this, special glasses or boxes are used. Experienced vegetable growers plant tomatoes in peat pots. Their use reduces the risk of damage to the root system during transplantation.
Productivity
The yield of tomatoes of the Volgograd early ripening 323 variety is good. When following recommendations for care from 1 sq. m can be collected from 8 kg or more of tasty and aromatic fruits. The tomatoes are medium in size and ripen in bunches at the same time. The fruits have a spherical shape with a dense peel, thanks to which they tolerate long-term transportation and have good shelf life. And because of its good presentation and taste, the variety is ideal for growing on an industrial scale.
Ripe fruits begin to be harvested from mid-July. To speed up ripening, browned tomatoes can be removed from the bush and placed in the sun. After 7 days, the fruits will arrive, and the taste will not differ from those that ripened on the bush. This operation is not carried out with green tomatoes, since the reddened fruits lose their aroma and varietal taste.
Important! You can store fresh harvest for two weeks in a dark place with low humidity.
Positive sides
Volgograd tomatoes are distinguished by high productivity. From the bushes you can collect up to 6 kg of tomatoes, which begin to ripen at the same time. But the list of advantages of the species can be continued:
- an early-ripening variety will allow you to harvest within three months after planting the seeds;
- the size of the fruits is the same and ripen almost simultaneously, which affects the presentation;
- the berries taste sweet with a pleasant aroma;
- the variety is unpretentious to the composition of the soil;
- does not rot;
- has high resistance to diseases.
The only drawback of tomatoes, which is noted in numerous reviews, is poor heat tolerance. The number of ovaries decreases, and isolated cases of the disease are observed.
See also
Characteristics and description of the tomato variety Heavyweight of Siberia, its yieldRead
Since the plant is early ripening, the fruits have time to ripen before the widespread spread of diseases. If the preconditions for diseases still arise, you need to spray with drugs or formulations made from natural ingredients. Wood ash and herbal infusions are popular.
