The seedling period lasts for different varieties of tomatoes from 45 to 65 days. Growing tomatoes without picking seedlings significantly reduces labor costs. With full compliance with agrotechnical practices, the time from germination to fruit ripening is reduced by 10 to 14 days. This advantage is especially true for early-ripening tomatoes with a short growing season.
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Important! The picking process accounts for 30% of the total labor required to grow seedlings.
The purpose of picking is to create conditions for better nutrition and light for plants at a certain stage of growth. Seeds for seedlings are sown in small boxes. After the seedlings grow up, culling is carried out. The strongest seedlings are transplanted into separate containers or larger boxes.These techniques are justified for plants grown in greenhouse complexes, with limited space and low quality seeds.
At home, where space for plants is limited by the area of the window sill, tomato seedlings are often replanted several times. This leaves the strongest plants as a result.
Attention! During picking, up to 50% of the roots are cut off, which significantly increases the survival time of seedlings.
How to grow tomato seedlings without picking
Everyone knows the tricks when picking is not needed. When sowing some varieties of tomatoes directly into the ground, the seedlings are simply thinned out. That’s why it’s the same principle to grow tomato seedlings without picking at home. The method is based on the plant’s need for a certain volume of soil for the full development of the root system. This norm directly depends on the age of the plants and largely determines the potential yield of the bush.
- At the initial stage, you need to calculate how many tomato roots you need to plant in order to fully provide yourself with planting material. Based on this figure, the container and the required amount of seeds and soil are prepared.
- The capacity of the cups for seedlings should be at least 0.5 liters, since tomato seedlings without picking will have to go through a full growth cycle in it until they are planted in a permanent place. In addition to plastic cups, you can use boxes divided into cells with an area of 10 x 10 cm.
- Seeds of good quality, with guaranteed germination, can be sown one at a time. If there is no firm confidence in the quality of the seeds, then you will have to use the standards of vegetable growing enterprises and sow at least three plants in a container.
- The soil is prepared with a full filling of mineral and organic substances, which should provide the planting material with the necessary nutrition. The soil mixture must have a good lumpy structure, be breathable, moisture-absorbing, and not clogged with pests and weeds.
- Taking into account the fact that growing tomato seedlings without picking takes a shorter period of time, the seeds are sown two weeks later. Sowing seeds for different varieties depends on the growing season and is determined individually.
- Prepared seeds are sown in containers filled with soil according to the usual rules, observing the temperature regime. After the seedlings appear, the containers are placed in an area with maximum lighting. Care consists of regular watering.
- The weakest ones are removed from containers with three plants by cutting the stem below the cotyledon leaves or pulling them out. Before planting plants in the ground, reduce night temperatures to 10-12 degrees, or take seedlings in boxes outside for several hours.
By refusing to pick seedlings, you can significantly reduce labor costs for the painstaking process of transplanting and re-preparing the container. Well-dressed soil and shortened growing times for seedlings make it easier to care for plants, in some cases without even requiring fertilizing.
Attention! The root system of seedlings, when grown for a long time in a small volume, up to 0.2 liters, signals the impossibility of further growth, thereby establishing a program of low yield.
Seedlings without picking - only advantages
It is clear that growing tomato seedlings without picking is much easier. But besides easier care, there are other advantages.
- Early planted seedlings practically cannot do without additional lighting. This is due to the short duration of daylight hours and low intensity of solar radiation. Lack of light leads, if not to the death of seedlings, then often to excessive elongation of bushes. This problem practically does not threaten seedlings planted at a later period.
- Large containers with soil are also a plus. They retain moisture longer, allowing watering to be kept to a minimum. Even when the soil surface dries out, tomatoes grown in comfortable conditions will have enough moisture from the lower layers. In conditions of a large volume of soil, the main and lateral roots develop unhindered, capable of obtaining food from any depth.
- When growing tomatoes without picking, one should not forget that selection was made at the initial stage of seed selection. This means that additional plant care measures are associated with varietal characteristics. For best results, try to grow seedlings using the cultivation practices recommended by the seed manufacturer, without allowing the plants to become overbearing.
Seedlings grown without transplants differ from those planted in greater health. It is able to better withstand stress and produce an earlier harvest. If we take into account the reduction in the time required to grow it, then this method looks very attractive. Especially in a city apartment, where planting seedlings in several stages is not very comfortable.
Experienced gardeners know that tomatoes planted at a later period, even with picking, catch up with plants planted at home at the end of February. Imagine how much more successful tomatoes will be that are grown without transplants and stress.But otherwise, both methods have fans and opponents, each with their own arguments.
