Getting a good harvest in a short time is not easy. This will help specially bred undersized tomatoes for open ground. Today there is a huge variety of varieties.
Tomatoes for open ground
"Watercolor". Early variety (3 months), standard bush height 50 cm, seedlings do not stretch. The fruits are elongated, red (90-110 g) with a dense skin. They have good keeping quality and excellent taste qualities that are not lost after ripening. The variety is intended for canning and fresh consumption, resistant to blossom end rot and septoria.
"Supermodel". Mid-early variety with long fruits up to 10-12 cm. Standard bush 60-75 cm high. Raspberry-colored fruits, moderately dense, weighing 120 g. Suitable for pickling and preservation.
"Eldorado". Yielding variety with oval-heart-shaped fruits of yellow-lemon color, weighing 200-250 g. The height of the standard bush is 50-80 cm.
"Precocious". The height of the bush is 60 cm. The shape of the fruit is flat-round, the color is red, the weight is 170-200 gr. Differs in unpretentiousness, early return of a crop, excellent zavyazyvayemost of fruits in the conditions of the lowered temperatures.
"Gold stream". A plant resistant to temperature changes. Very early variety with bright orange, smooth fruits, weighing 100 g, elongated ellipsoid shape. Differs in good productivity and resistance to many diseases.
"Red Fang". The ultra-early variety is simply strewn with red shiny finger-shaped fruits, weighing 40 g. Designed for whole-fruit canning and fresh consumption. Bush 90 cm high.
The above low-growing tomatoes that do not require pinching ripen quickly enough to avoid late blight disease.
Which tomatoes are grown outdoors?
The main difference between undersized and early maturing varieties is the low location of the first flower brush - above 4-5 real leaves. Neighboring inflorescences can be located one after another. Or separated by one sheet. The growth of the bush is limited by the flower brush.
Low-growing tomatoes for open ground have time to give the harvest before the onset of cold rains. Unripe tomatoes ripen well in boxes. Superdeterminant undersized outdoor tomatoes have a short fruiting period. Their fruits are medium-sized, weighing up to 100 grams, mostly canneddestination.
Determinant varieties can be grown in the same way. They differ in greater height - up to 1 meter and require a garter to a support. The first flower brush is located above the 5th leaf. The fruits are larger - up to 200 g. The inflorescences are separated by one or two leaves. These short growing outdoor tomatoes are limited growth type.
Date of planting
In open ground, low-growing tomatoes that do not require pinching are planted at different times - depending on the region. So, in the southern regions - on the fifteenth of May, in the middle lane - at the beginning of June. In the northern latitudes, landing is carried out when daytime positive temperatures reach 14-15 degrees, and the threat of night frosts passes - June 10-15.
Soil preparation
Low-growing tomatoes that do not require pinching, feel good on loamy and sandy soils rich in humus, with a neutral reaction.
Ridges are located in places that are well warmed up and protected from the wind. In one place, tomatoes can be grown for no more than 3 years, in order to avoid the accumulation of pests and diseases in the soil. Good predecessor crops are cabbage, onion, zucchini, carrots. You can not grow tomatoes after peppers, potatoes, eggplants, physalis, as they belong to the nightshade family and have the same pests and the same diseases.
Under the early low-growing tomatoes do not make fresh manure, which contains a lot of nitrogen and allows you to build up a large amount of green mass to the detriment of fruiting. Therefore, from organic fertilizers, only humus is acceptable - a bucket for 2-3 holes. Mineral complex fertilizers (for example, nitrophoska) are applied in the spring for digging.
Harvest low-growing tomatoes prefer medium-heavy soils. Therefore, clay and peat are added to the sandy soil. This allows you to make it cohesive and better retain moisture. In clay soils, on the contrary, sand, rotted sawdust or leaves, peat are added.
Before digging, the soil is shed with copper sulphate (1 tablespoon per bucket of water) at the rate of 2 liters per square meter. Ridges for tomatoes are made low so that water does not drain from them when watering.
Planting seedlings
Plants are placed in a checkerboard pattern or in ribbons. The feeding area for early tomatoes needs 30 x 40 cm, mid-season - 50 x 50 cm.
Wells with a diameter of 30 cm after the introduction of humus are shed with a pink solution of potassium permanganate and not overgrown seedlings are planted without deepening. For overgrown seedlings, it is permissible up to 10-15 cm with the removal of one or two leaves. With the deep method, the loss of fruits from the first brush is possible if it has already gained color.
It is advisable to treat seedlings for prevention with Bordeaux liquid before planting, which is done in cloudy weather or in the evening. If the sun suddenly appears, the seedlings are covered with a non-woven covering material on top to create shade.
The plant should be 30 cm tall, stem thickness 0.8-1 cm, 7-8 leaves and one brush that has gained color. After planting, it is better to mulch the soil - this isprotect it from drying out and cracking. For this, humus, rotted sawdust, last year's dry leaves or straw can be used.
For the middle lane, the ripening dates for tomatoes in the open field are expected from July 15 (early) and August 5 (mid-ripening).
Harvest tomatoes
Tomatoes undersized without pinching varieties "rocker", "baskak", "betta", "boni m", etc. give 2-3 kg of fruit per plant. They are distinguished by early yield of the crop and ripening of tomatoes on the bush.
In addition to varieties with canning fruits, large-fruited salad varieties can also be purchased today.
For example, low-growing tomatoes without stepsoning of the "Friday F1" variety reach a weight of 220 g, "tourmaline" - 160-180 g, "Russian delicious" - 300 g. The yield, respectively, is 5, 4, 6 kg per bush.
Large-fruited varieties
A common misconception is that early ripening low tomatoes can only have small fruits. But the best varieties of stunted tomatoes prove that this is not the case.
"Fat Jack". An early powerful variety with a height of 60 cm. Fleshy, sweet, red fruits weighing 250 g have high taste and good keeping quality. Plants are unpretentious to growing conditions.
Short, early ripening tomatoes are also represented by the "darling" variety. Plant height 60 cm. Fruits are round, smooth, weighing 150 g, do not crack, salad purpose. Plants toleratedrought and cold weather. Fruit may set in less favorable conditions.
"Mirage". Another large-fruited variety with spreading bushes 60 cm high. Red fruits of a flat-round shape with good taste, weighing 250-270 g.
"Knight". Perhaps the best variety, medium early, unusually productive. Bush height 65 cm. Fleshy fruits weighing 250 g, at the beginning of fruiting reach 300 gr.
"Apparently-invisibly". An early ripe tomato 50 cm high is strewn with uniform red fruits weighing 130-150 g. Resistant to fungal diseases.
"Honey A". Very interesting cherry tomato undersized. It is grown both in open ground, and in a pot in an apartment, and on a balcony, and even in a hanging container. It produces a compact stem-shaped bush and many bright red, sweet fruits.
Care
All activities come down to timely loosening, watering, fertilizing and disease prevention.
If the ridges with tomatoes are mulched, then loosening is not required - only the removal of rare weeds. Watering in this case can also be reduced - the soil will not crack and moisture will evaporate less.
Providing tomatoes with sufficient water is a necessary condition for a high yield. Water the plants along the aisles or under the root once every five to seven days. The soil should be moistened to the depth of the main roots - 30-40 cm. It should be remembered that uneven watering contributes to fruit cracking.
Feeding
During the growing season, fertilization in dissolved form will be required. The first feeding is carried out half a month after planting the seedlings in the ground. For this, a fertilizer consisting of phosphorus and potassium is used. The second top dressing is done with a complete complex fertilizer (nitrophoska) a month after the first. The third consists of potassium and nitrogen for early fruit ripening and is held one month after the second, in mid-August.
For the formation of ovaries during flowering, you can spray the flowers with this solution: 1 g of boric acid and 1 tsp. baking soda to 1 liter of water.
Tomatoes also respond well to foliar top dressing with microelements twice a season.
Root top dressing is best combined with watering. First, lightly saturate the earth with water. Then add a fertilizer solution, and after top dressing, water again. Once a month, you can add a little potassium permanganate to the water. Such watering is the prevention of late blight, increases the sugar content of fruits and ripening occurs faster.
Signs of starvation in tomatoes
If the plant lacks nitrogen, the leaves become light green, pale. The lack of phosphorus is expressed by the appearance of a purple hue of the leaves or the lower part of the stem. If the plant begins to dry out, then you need to urgently feed with potassium. Twisted leaves indicate that potassium and nitrogen need to be added.
How does excess fertilizer affect?
With excessive nitrogen, the plant will intensively increase its green mass ("fatten"), floweringabsent. An excess of phosphorus fertilizers will lead to the fall of flowers and ovaries, yellowing of the leaves. Too much potassium is expressed in the appearance of matte spots.
