Cherry tomatoes are very popular among gardeners due to their wonderful taste, unpretentiousness and the ability to bring an excellent harvest. Learn more about how to plant, grow, and protect them from disease.

The best varieties for growing

Cherry varieties exist separately for greenhouses and for open ground.

In the open ground

Among these varieties are the following:

In the greenhouse

For greenhouses, the following varieties are better suited:

Sowing and growing seedlings

Cherry tomatoes are grown only with seedlings, because this maintains a high level of yield of varieties. If you sow the seeds immediately on the bed, most of them will not sprout, and the rest will not give the expected yield. In heated greenhouses, tomatoes are grown even in winter. Therefore, it is important to know how to plant tomatoes properly for seedlings. First of all, it should be noted that the most suitable period for sowing seeds is the end of February or the beginning of March.

Did you know? Cherry tomatoes were bred by Israeli breeders in 1973.

Suitable conditions

The optimum temperature for plants is 20–25 ° С. In the room for seedlings should be a lot of light and an average level of humidity. If there is not enough sunlight, illuminate the room with lamps.

Sowing seeds

The soil for seedlings is prepared as follows:

• mix humus, sand and sod land (1: 0.5: 1);
• fertilizers are added to it at the rate of: 60 g of superphosphate, 20 g of potassium sulfate, 2 cups of ash per 1 bucket of water.

The soil mixture is disinfected by holding it in a red-hot oven for 30 minutes. Seedlings are sown in boxes and individual glasses. The depth of the tank is not more than 10 cm. The soil for sowing should be warmed up to a temperature of 16–18 ° С.

Sow tomatoes like this:

1. Fill most of the sowing tank with soil.
2. Pour it with warm water.
3. Make 5–7 mm deep grooves in the container.
4. Spread the germinated seeds in them at a distance of 1.5 cm.
5. Sprinkle with a layer of earth up to 1 cm thick.
6. Cover the container with film.
7. Put it in a dark place with a temperature of 23–25 ° С.

Shoots should appear in 5-7 days.

Important! To avoid tilting the plants in a certain direction, periodically expand the container in different directions.

Seedling Care

Water the seedlings as the topsoil dries. As soon as the seeds have sprouted, seedlings must be watered with Humate fertilizer according to the instructions. The next watering is done after 2 weeks. When 3 leaves appear on the plant, they pick. After the procedure, it is convenient to plant tomatoes in peat pots in order to transplant them to a permanent place with them after a while. Two weeks before the seedlings are planted, they harden it, every day they take it out onto the street - first for 15 minutes, and gradually increase the time.

Planting seedlings in the ground

Planting takes place 45-60 days after sowing, depending on weather conditions. Before starting work, measure the temperature of the soil by placing a household thermometer in the ground for 15–20 minutes. It should not be lower than 15 ° C, otherwise the roots of the plants will rot. Choose the weather for the procedure warm and moist.

Plant seedlings according to this scheme:

• the depth of the hole should be equal to the height of the container in which the seedlings grew;
• the distance between the rows should be 45-50 cm;
• the distance between stunted plants is 40 cm, between tall ones - 60–75 cm.

Important! When planting seedlings, remove a pair of lower leaves on each plant.

Pour 2 L of slightly warmed water into each well and immediately plant the plants. To facilitate access to the bushes, plant them in a checkerboard pattern. After planting, it is recommended to mulch the soil with humus. Seedlings are planted on the garden in the same way and at the same time. In case of sudden frosts, metal arcs are installed over the garden bed to quickly cover the plants with a film during the cooling period. The bed should be in a lit place. Also ensure that it is protected from drafts.

Care Features

Cherry tomatoes are looked after almost equally in the greenhouse and in the open.

Watering and feeding

When growing cherry tomatoes, it is very important to understand how to water them.

Watering should be balanced:

• with a lack of moisture, the fruits begin to crack;
• with its excess, they will be watery.

Important! You can’t feed so intensely tomatoes in the greenhouse. This will negatively affect their taste. Reduce the frequency of fertilizer in greenhouse varieties by half.

Tomatoes need to be fertilized with various fertilizers: nitrogen, phosphorus, mineral. It is necessary to bring them into the soil three times a season. 2 weeks after planting, the plants are fed with urea (1 tbsp. Per bucket of water). Use 1 liter of solution per 1 bush; watering method - root. Instead, you can use a solution of mullein in water (1:10) with superphosphate (20 g per 10 liters of water). For each bush, 1 l of the mixture is also calculated.

Fertilizer from chicken droppings and water (1:15) has a good effect. Insist a couple of days. To water, pour 0.5 liters of the mixture into a bucket of water; After stirring, water the plants with a calculation of 1 liter under 1 bush. Then, with an interval of two weeks, fertilizers are applied under the bushes: 25 g of superphosphate, 15 g of potassium salt, 10 g of ammonium nitrate per 1 sq. Km. m of soil. After the procedure, the tomatoes are watered.

Weeding and loosening the soil

When weeds appear, they are immediately removed. The soil is regularly loosened to a shallow depth - this avoids excess moisture stagnation.

Bush formation

Bushes form in 1 stalk, otherwise the number of ovaries on plants will significantly decrease. They must also be tied up so that they do not break under the weight of the fruit, even if it is a stunted variety.

Did you know? The first mention of cherry tomatoes dates back to 700 AD. Then these tomatoes were grown by the Indians of South America in present-day Mexico.

Stepson

In the question, whether or not cherry cherry trees are followed, adhere to the following recommendations:

1. It is better to pinch high- and medium-sized varieties of cherry tomatoes to increase their productivity. The lower shoots are removed so that the bush grows in 1 stalk.
2. Low-growing varieties of tomatoes do not require pinching.

A month before the end of fruiting, pinching the top of the bushes is carried out, so that before the end of the season all the fruits have time to ripen.

Diseases and Pests

Due to bad weather, improper watering and a high degree of humidity, cherry tomatoes undergo various diseases (late blight, verticillosis, rot and spotting). If you notice the first signs of infection, spray the plants with fungicidal agents according to the instructions. You can apply such effective means: “Quadrice”, “Agate”, “Maxim” or “Fundazole”. As for pests, bushes can affect thrips, slugs, aphids. To combat them, it is best to use folk remedies: garlic infusion or soap solution.

Harvest Dates

Fruits in the garden are harvested 80–90 days after seedlings emergence. In the greenhouse, this happens 20-30 days earlier. You can not pick tomatoes unripe and leave them to ripen at home, because the taste of the fruit will deteriorate significantly. Only well-ripened tomatoes can be harvested. Fruiting in open ground lasts until the air temperature drops to 8 ° C. With such a cooling, the tomatoes rot and fall.Cherry tomatoes - a wonderful variety that is suitable even for a novice gardener. Follow all the recommendations for their cultivation, and they will reward you with a good harvest.