Tomatoes possess beauty, taste and benefit. Their homeland is warm countries. In Europe, they came first as ornamental plants. In hot climates, capricious and sun-loving plants do not require careful maintenance. But in the north they are grown very scrupulously. Healthy seedlings guarantee a bountiful harvest of tomatoes. For many, seedlings stretch, turn pale and begin to ache. But you can avoid these problems by following simple rules.
Value of properly selected land
High-quality soil mixture determines abundant fruiting. If it is not good enough, the tomatoes will be sick and weak. You can not just use the land of the garden or the soil of the greenhouse, this is very likely nothing happens.
Seedlings for tomatoes is prepared from several components, and they require appropriate preparation. Tomatoes have a branched surface root system, 70% of which consists of suction roots. Such a structure provides the above-ground part of the plant with the necessary moisture and nutrients.
Advantages and disadvantages of homemade soil
If it is not possible to use commercial mixes, You can cook a seedling land on your own. Hand-made is always safer, especially since tomato seedlings are very demanding on the soil.
The advantages of homemade soil:
- You can cook according to the exact recipe and keep the exact number of trace elements you need.
- Cost savings.
Disadvantages:
- Great cooking time.
- You need to accurately follow the recipe.
- The soil may be contaminated.
- Finding and buying the right components to remove can take a lot of time and money.
Composition
Required components
To cook your own composition for tomatoes, you need:
- sod or vegetable land;
- non-acidic peat (pH 6.5);
- sand (preferably river or washed);
- humus or mature sifted compost;
- sifted wood ash (or dolomite flour);
- sphagnum moss;
- fallen needles.
Invalid components
Do not use organic fertilizers that are in the process of decay. At the same time, a large amount of heat is emitted, which the seeds can burn out (and if they manage to ascend, they will still die from the high temperature).
Impurities of clay are not used, as they make the soil denser and heavier.
Important! In the soil there is a rapid accumulation of heavy metals, so you should not use the earth, located near a busy highway.
How to prepare a soil mix at home for tomatoes?
When purchasing ready-made soil mixture there is a chance to get sour peat land. Even with the addition of mineral fertilizers, the desired development of tomato seeds intended for sowing can not be obtained in the seedling earth. For this reason, seedling soil for tomatoes by experienced summer residents is done manually.
How to prepare the ground for tomato seedlings at home? Prepare it by mixing. To do this, polyethylene is spread on the ground and poured in the right proportions of each component.
Seedlings are produced as follows.:
- One part of peat and river sand is added to one part of the sod land.
- The resulting mixture is thoroughly mixed, and then watered with a nutrient solution consisting of 25-30 grams of superphosphate, potassium sulfate and 10 grams of urea per 10 liters of water.
Another variant:
- Sods, peat and humus are mixed in equal proportions.
- Then it is done this way: two matchboxes of superphosphate and a half-liter can of ash are added to one bucket of substrate.
At the initial stage of seed germination, they do not need many trace elements. Therefore, do not overuse fertilizers when preparing the soil for seedlings, the original soil is nutritious by itself. Fertilizers are required at the moment when the first leaves appear. Supplemental nutrition in liquid form is usually applied several weeks after germination.
To accurately prepare the right soil for tomatoes, watch the video:
Disinfection
Disinfection is necessary in order to destroy pathogens. There are various ways to clean seedlings. One of them - promorozka. Other methods include disinfectants and steam treatment.
- Method one. The prepared earth mixture is watered with a solution of potassium permanganate (3 g per 10 l of water), and then further processed with antifungal preparations.
- Second way. Seedling land is placed in a cloth bag or a holed container and set to stew for 45 minutes. You can roast the earth in the oven, but then, along with the pathogens, the necessary nutrients will disappear.
Reference! As soon as the decontamination is carried out, it is possible to lay seed material in the earthen nutrient mixture.
Acidity test
When preparing the soil for tomatoes, it is necessary to check its acidity level. In the slightly acidic soil mass there is a black leg and a keel. There are several ways to determine the acid-base balance of the soil:
- identify a special litmus paper;
- Alyamovsky device;
- soil meter;
- pass on tests to the laboratory;
- vinegar / hydrochloric acid;
- grape juice;
- a piece of chalk;
- identified using wild grasses: many of them prefer a certain type of ground surface.
About what acidity should be the soil for tomatoes and how to ensure their yield, we wrote here.
Litmus test
Litmus paper can be purchased at pharmacies, gardening stores and shops for chemists. It consists of several bands that are treated with a reagent that changes color depending on the environmental reaction. Procedure for litmus paper next:
- We take samples from different depths and different beds.
- Spent the soil wrapped in a three-layer gauze and dipped in a jar of pure distilled water (also purchased at the pharmacy).
- Shake a jar of liquid and then dip the litmus test in water for a couple of seconds until its color changes.
- Determine the acidity of the liner in the set.
Alyamovsky device
This device is a set of reagents for the analysis of water and salt extraction of the earth. When using it, the same manipulations are required as with litmus paper.
Meter
This is a whole line of multifunctional devices that allow you to determine not only the reaction of the soil, but also its humidity, temperature and light.
Chemical laboratory
Laboratory - is the most accurate way, but also the most costlyas the soil analysis needs to be carried out in different places repeatedly.
Vinegar / hydrochloric acid
This method can be considered popular. It is necessary to water a handful of soil from the garden with a small amount of strongly diluted hydrochloric acid or vinegar. If bubbles appear on the surface of the wetted soil, the pH value for this soil is normal. If there is no reaction, you need to make lime on the site.
Grape juice
Land taken from the garden falls into a glass of grape juice. If the juice changes color and for a long time bubbles will remain on its surface, then neutral soil is in the area.
a piece of chalk
Taken:
- two full tablespoons of the analyzed soil;
- five tablespoons of water at room temperature;
- one teaspoon chalk.
Cooking:
- All this is poured into a bottle, on the neck of which a fingertip, previously freed from air, is put on.
- The bottle is placed in the paper so that the results of the experiment do not distort the warmth of the hands.
If the soil at the site has not enough lime, then carbon dioxide will form in the bottle during a chemical reaction. He begins to fill the fingertip and he straightens. With a weakly acid reaction of the soil, the fingertip will straighten by half. With neutral - not straightened at all.
Determination with wild herbs
The chernozem with high and neutral acidity is preferred for wheat grass, heather, plantain, pikulnik, veronika. European euonymus, larkspur, ash and pine grow on the alkaline surface.
Conclusion
The soil prepared by all the rules for tomato seedlings will guarantee a high yield at the dacha. Therefore, care should be taken of the soil in which the seeds will germinate. Soil mixture must meet certain characteristics. Among them: porosity, friability, not too acidic environment. To achieve these indicators is possible with proper preparation of the soil.
