The early maturing hybrid Soyuz 8 F1 is perfect for growing in a greenhouse, where you can plant seedlings in early spring and get a harvest at a time when ordinary tomato seedlings are just starting to be planted in the open ground. The Soyuz 8 tomato is popular not only among those who grow tomatoes for consumption, but also among farmers who cultivate tomatoes for sale on the market.
Description and main characteristics
The Soyuz 8 tomato variety is an excellent combination of taste and almost simultaneous ripening of the crop, even in bad weather.Ripe tomatoes tolerate transportation well even over long distances.
This tomato belongs to the early ripening varieties - approximately 3 months pass from the appearance of the first seedlings to the harvesting of ripe fruits. Productivity Union 8 high. This hybrid is determinate - the growth of the bush is limited by a brush with inflorescences growing at the top. Further development of the tomato occurs due to the appearance of stepsons in the axils of the leaves.
The main difference between these varieties is that the distance between the racemes with ovaries is usually 1–2 permanent leaves. After the first 5 leaves, clusters with inflorescences appear and then alternate through the leaf on each shoot. Typically, no more than 6 racemes with inflorescences grow on one shoot of a determinate hybrid. The Soyuz tomato can be grown both in garden beds and in greenhouses or simply under a film cover.
The bushes are of medium height (no more than a meter), very strong, and have a large number of lateral stems. The amount of foliage on the shoots is average. The number of ovaries in one brush can vary from 5 to 9 pieces.
Ripe fruits are round in shape, slightly flattened at the bottom, fleshy. The peel is quite dense, bright red in color. The weight of ripe tomatoes can reach 105 - 110 g. Ripe fruits of the Union Eight can be consumed either fresh or used for canning. The tomatoes of this hybrid contain up to 4.9% dry matter. Each ripe fruit has up to 5 chambers with seeds. Ripe tomatoes of this hybrid are very tasty, quite sweet, but with the sourness inherent in tomatoes. From one bush you can harvest up to 10 - 11 kg in open ground, and in greenhouse conditions the yield of the hybrid increases to 14 - 18 kg per m2.
When growing, growing bushes should be tied to trellises, since a large number of ripening fruits can cause stem breakage. It is necessary to form a bush, removing excess stepsons to allow the emerging fruits to ripen. Ripe tomatoes contain salts of various elements: iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, cobalt.
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
The indisputable advantages of Union 8 include the following advantages:
- excellent taste;
- ripe tomatoes tolerate transportation well over long distances;
- fruits are not prone to cracking;
- uniform ripening of tomatoes, despite weather conditions;
- the bushes are quite compact, so they are well suited for planting in protected ground;
- high resistance to tobacco mosaic.
The variety also has quite serious disadvantages:
- weak resistance to late blight, blossom end rot, macrosporiosis;
- the need for pinching bushes;
- in too hot weather (at air temperatures above 29 - 31 ° C), the fruits do not set;
- seeds of ripened tomatoes are not suitable for further planting.
The nuances of growing a hybrid
The characteristics and description of the Soyuz 8 tomato variety say that seeds for seedlings are planted at home in the last ten days of March. If the seedlings are intended for growing in greenhouse conditions, the seed can be planted at home in early March.
The seeding depth is no more than 2.5 cm. Growing seedlings should be picked when 2–3 permanent leaves appear on them. 1.5 weeks before planting in open ground, the grown seedlings should be taken out into the fresh air to harden. Usually, when growing seedlings, they are fed 2–3 times with complex fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.For more active growth of the root system, you can fertilize the seedlings with Kornevin or another similar preparation.
Approximately two months after the first shoots appear, the seedlings are ready for transplanting into open beds. The distance between bushes in a row is 0.4 m, between rows is 0.7 m. Usually 1 m2 No more than 4–5 plants are planted. Due to the low resistance of this hybrid to the main fungal diseases of tomatoes, it is recommended to plant seedlings in loose soil (without stagnant moisture in it).
Further care comes down to the following procedures:
- regular watering;
- regular fertilizing during the period of increasing vegetative mass, flowering and ripening of the crop;
- loosening the soil while simultaneously removing weeds;
- timely tying up shoots to trellises or other types of support.
When applying fertilizing, it should be remembered that nitrogen fertilizers are needed for tomatoes only at the stage of growth of the vegetative mass. With the appearance of the first ovaries, nitrogen is not added to the fertilizing composition, otherwise the foliage and stems will “fatten” and the number of ovaries will decrease.
During the period of inflorescence appearance and fruit ripening, only mineral fertilizers with potassium and phosphorus are applied to the soil.
Feedback from vegetable growers growing the Soyuz 8 variety can be summarized as follows:
- the hybrid can be considered one of the best early-ripening tomatoes;
- the friendly ripening of fruits allows you to harvest up to 65% of the total harvest in the first days of tomato harvesting;
- higher yields are obtained by Union 8 bushes formed into one shoot;
- Due to the early ripening of the crop, it is practically not affected by late blight.
This early ripening variety is perfect for growing in small farms. If planted early in the greenhouse, you can harvest the crop as early as mid-late June.
