Anyone who loves tomatoes, but doesn’t want to bother growing them, will certainly choose the Malinka tomato. After all, a super-determinate variety has many advantages, even though it does not belong to the first generation F1 hybrids. The very name of the tomato – Kalinka-Malinka – suggests that growing the vegetable is a pleasure.
Advantages of the variety
The description of the Kalinka-Malinka tomato variety includes characteristics of the fruit and the plant itself. Vegetable refers to standard varieties of tomatoes. This means that the bush reaches about twenty-five centimeters in height. But despite this, the popularity of the plant is great. Tomato bushes are compact and have almost no branches.And the weakness of the root system allows them to be grown closer to each other. Therefore, even a small plot or a small greenhouse can accommodate a lot of tomato bushes.
The characteristics of fruits consist of such parameters as:
- roundness of shape;
- density, smoothness of the skin;
- high level of dry matter;
- minimum seeds in two or three nests;
- tomato weight is fifty to ninety grams;
- excellent taste;
- excellent keeping quality of tomatoes.
Red fruits ripen 110-115 days after planting the seeds. And the tomato yield is more than two and a half kilograms of tomatoes per square meter.
How to grow a standard correctly
The good thing about miniature tomato bushes is that they are suitable for growing not only in open ground or greenhouses, but you can also get harvests in mini-gardens on windowsills and balconies. Varieties such as Kalinka-Malinka serve as an element of site design when they are planted in tubs and pots.
Vegetable cultivation begins by planting tomatoes as seedlings. Depending on climatic conditions, sowing is carried out from March to April. Before planting tomato seeds in the ground, they are placed in a one percent solution of potassium permanganate or baking soda. The growth stimulator Epin will speed up seed germination. Planting material is dipped into it in a gauze bag for two to three hours.
The seeds are buried one to two centimeters into the soil, watered abundantly and then the boxes with seedlings are placed in a bright place where the air temperature reaches 25 degrees above zero. It remains to properly care for the Kalinka-Malinka tomato seedlings:
- water moderately with warm water;
- feed with mineral and organic fertilizers;
- loosen the soil in the container;
- pick up seedlings by transferring them into separate pots.
Tomato bushes of the Malinka variety, ready for transplanting into open ground, should have a strong stem, with one inflorescence on the racemes.
Planting and care
The survival rate of low-growing plants is much better than their tall counterparts. The peculiarity of planting a standard is that such tomatoes can be planted more often than conventional varieties. Five plants are placed on one square meter at a distance of twenty-five centimeters from each other. And between the rows a gap of forty centimeters will be enough.
The peculiarity of growing Kalinka-Malinka tomatoes is that they are not needed:
- tie up;
- feed heavily;
- pinch;
- water frequently.
Under such conditions, the bushes will be neat, miniature, compact. They are not able to break from gusts of strong wind or heavy rain. To save low-growing tomato bushes from the soil-drying heat, the plantings must be mulched. Hay, straw, and pine needles are used as mulch material. Lay out the selected material in a layer of six to eight centimeters after watering so that the root collar remains free.
An important point is the temperature of the soil for mulching. The soil must warm up well before the procedure.
Low-growing tomatoes can be damaged by bright sunlight, so they need to be covered with a special protective material - spandball.. It is better to refresh plants under cover with warm water from a watering can.
Since the leaves of the vegetable plant are active in relation to photosynthesis, the productivity of the tomato increases many times. Therefore, the Malinka variety is suitable for growing in fields.It’s no wonder that farmers’ reviews of planting and caring for low-growing tomatoes are excellent. They note that they are ideal for mechanized cultivation. And thanks to its resistance to cold and disease, the standard type of tomato ensures consistently high yields of tasty and juicy fruits.
What vegetable growers say about tomatoes
The Kalinka-Malinka variety became known to summer residents recently, but many choose it for its ease of care and note the rapid ripening of red, juicy fruits. Tomato pulp has a lot of dry matter and little water. Hence the use of the crop for pickling in its entirety, pickling, and drying.
Reviews about tomatoes contain information that low-growing bushes hardly get sick, they are not afraid of late blight, fusarium, and common fungal diseases. Gardeners also note that the plant is suitable for planting in open ground, in polycarbonate greenhouses. Beginning vegetable growers and farmers are pleased that care for Kalinka-Malinka tomatoes is minimal.
