It's no secret that tomatoes are an annual crop that needs to be planted annually. Most often, after harvesting the fruits, the bushes are dug up and burned. However, some vegetable growers grow perennial tomatoes. To turn an annual crop into a perennial one, you need to familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of growing tomatoes. It is also necessary to immediately determine the most suitable varieties. It is recommended to use perennial Dream tomatoes.
Sowing seeds
For long-term cultivation of tomatoes, it is recommended to use low-growing varieties of tomatoes.Their seeds are planted for growing seedlings in the first half or mid-March.
Seed preparation
To protect the bushes from various diseases, you should disinfect the seeds before planting. The most common method is soaking in a weak solution of manganese. To do this, the planting material needs to be wrapped in cloth and placed in the solution for 20-25 minutes. After this, the seeds are taken out and washed with water.
You should also take care in advance to increase the yield of tomatoes. You can increase it by soaking in special nutrient solutions. Most often, drugs such as Immunocytofit, Epin, Virtan-Micro are used for this. Some people use aloe or potato juice for this.
After treatment, the planting material cannot be washed with water, so it is enough to simply dry it.
Soil preparation
Before planting tomatoes, you need to prepare the soil. To begin with, you need to spread a plastic film on a flat surface, on which all the components of the soil mixture should be placed on top.
Part of the soil is mixed with peat and one part of sand. Then everything is carefully mixed and soaked in a nutrient solution. To prepare the nutrient mixture, you will need to mix 10 liters of water with 10 grams of urea and 30 grams of superphosphate.
There is another way to prepare the soil mixture. In this case, part of the soil will have to be mixed with humus and peat. After this, 300 grams of ash and a small amount of superphosphate are added to the soil.
Landing
It is recommended to plant seeds in special peat pots, which allow you to grow seedlings without picking. Small containers with a diameter of 35 mm are perfect for tomatoes.Having decided on the containers, soil is poured into each pot. Then small holes are made in it for the seeds. 2-3 seeds are planted in each of them, but some put more.
Planted tomatoes should be grown on windows in a well-lit and warm room for several months.
Planting seedlings
Grown seedlings are planted in open ground at the end of spring, when the temperature outside does not drop below zero.
Site selection
When choosing a place in the garden to plant tomatoes, it is necessary to take into account that they cannot be planted in areas where plants affected by various diseases grew. Also, they cannot be planted near potatoes, as they very often suffer from late blight.
Don't forget that tomatoes love light. That is why you need to choose a place that would be illuminated by the sun most of the day. Also, many advise choosing a site with protection from the wind. However, in this case this is not necessary, since to produce perennial tomatoes, low-growing varieties are used that rarely break due to the wind.
Planting
Planting begins by marking the required number of rows. After this, holes are created on each of them for planting seedlings. In order for the bushes to grow better, the distance between each hole should be about 50-60 cm. This will be enough so that the plants do not shade each other.
When all the holes are created, seedlings are planted in each of them. In this case, it should be placed in the ground in a vertical position. Then all the holes are sprinkled with soil and watered with water at room temperature.
Growing perennial tomatoes
After the planted tomatoes have been harvested, you can think about how to turn this annual plant into a perennial.To do this, you need to dig up all the planted bushes and replant them in pots.
All bushes transplanted into pots are transferred to a cool room in which they will be grown until spring. They need good lighting, so it is better to place the plant on a windowsill.
During cultivation, the bushes must be watered. It is recommended to do this twice a week. This is enough to prevent the soil from drying out completely. When young shoots appear on the plants, you can increase watering.
With the onset of spring, you can add some fertilizer to the soil. For example, in early April it is recommended to add a little superphosphate to the soil with fresh soil.
If you properly care for such tomatoes, then in the second half of summer you can re-harvest. However, the amount of harvest may be an order of magnitude less than the first time.
Conclusion
Growing perennial tomatoes is not that difficult. To do this, it is enough to know how to plant tomatoes correctly and what to do to re-harvest next year.
