When to sow seedlings on tomatoes?

When to sow seedlings of tomatoes? Spring has come - and gardeners and gardeners are again full of worries. Starting from January-February, there is a selection of varieties and species of tomatoes, cucumbers and other garden crops for sowing. And, of course, every gardener reflects on the topic: when to sow seedlings on tomatoes and other crops? To foresee what year it will be, it is very difficult. Is the spring cold or warm, will the summer be dry or rainy? This is not even meteorologists tell you.

Today we will talk about seedlings of tomatoes, because in our gardens it is one of the most loved cultures.

The beginner trucker is the easiest to navigate the instructions on the packaging of seeds. Although, of course, this is by no means a panacea for all ills. Timing when planting tomato seeds for seedlings is optimal when planting seedlings in the soil, as well as the maturation period there are given approximately and in a very wide range. So there is always the risk of planting too early or too late.

In the first case, the seedling "sit" in the pots on the windowsills, will be elongated and, probably, "move to a permanent place of residence" not only after the pick, but already with flowers. The bushes will have to get used to the garden at a more mature age, and the gardener will take care of the props.

In the case when you sow seedlings on tomatoes you get late, you lose precious warm days. At others already strong tomato bushes flaunt in a kitchen garden, and at you the sill of pots is still full.

How to be? Here we are helped by the advice of experienced truck farmers and breeders. So, for example, the famous Oktyabrina Alekseevna Ganichkina recommends when to plant tomatoes on seedlings. According to her many years of experience, for the middle zone of Russia, the optimal time for planting tomato seeds for seedlings is mid-March, around 10-15. It is at this time that she suggests filling the peat pots prepared with vitriol and fertilized soil. They plant one seed and put in a warm place (22-25 degrees Celsius).

After the emergence of the shoots, the vernalization of the plants takes place - they are kept for several days in the light, but at a low temperature (about 16 degrees Celsius). Then the temperature is raised, the requirement for high illumination remains. In pots or cups sprouts spends 50-60 days depending on the variety and conditions of growth. Landing in the ground is carried out simultaneously with the picking, while the plant reaches an altitude of 20-25 centimeters, has not only 5-6 true leaves, but often already branches (forms stepsons) and has an ovary or a flower brush.

Certainly, for the hydroponic (balcony) culture of tomatoes, as well as for northern regions, the time when seedlings for tomatoes are planted, shifts to an earlier one - at the end of February or beginning of March. At the same time planting tomato seeds for seedlings for warmer regions does not change significantly, it's still the same middle of March. Only the speed of maturation will change, and the varieties are likely to be less cold-resistant.

Our grandmothers and mothers also decided when to plant seedlings for tomatoes in favor of the middle or end of March. True, there were no speeches about peat pots. More often, milk packs with cut sidewalls or flower boxes (in which case the seeds were sown often and whole package) were used. Also no less popular was the planting of tomato seeds for seedlings in cups from sour cream or yogurt. But even here more than one seed was planted in one hole, and then thinning was performed. Vessels with seedlings first settled on the board on the battery in the city apartments or in another warm place. Then the window sills, and often the windows with the help of different shelves, "overgrown" with young plants.

Some usefulness in the question of determining when to sow seedlings on tomatoes can also be extracted from the "Lunar Calendar". Now even electronic versions of this faithful assistant gardener have appeared. Just do not forget about common sense, of course. The decision - when to plant tomatoes on seedlings - still depends on you. And only you decide how and when you will embark on this fascinating adventure with all the unknown.