Characteristics and description of the Leningrad Giant tomato variety, its yield

If you want to enjoy large sugar tomatoes as early as possible, it is better to choose the Leningrad giant tomato. Of course, it is better to grow it under film coverings; then, already 85 days after the seeds germinate, it will be possible to enjoy aromatic tomatoes.

Characteristics of a non-standard plant

Very rarely, low-growing varieties are pleased with large tomatoes. But the Leningrad giant is an exception. The vegetable bush does not grow higher than ninety centimeters. Its stems are weakly leafy. Carved tomato leaves are dark green, large.The first flower cluster of the plant is laid above the eighth or ninth leaf, the subsequent ones - with an interval of one or two leaves.

The description of the Leningrad Giant varietal fruit includes:

• flat-round shape;
• weak ribbing;
• Unripe tomatoes have a green color with a dark spot in the stalk area;
• When tomatoes are fully ripe, the color of the fruit is pink;
• dense, smooth skin;
• weight up to three hundred grams;
• rich dessert taste in fleshy, juicy pulp.

The value of tomatoes is in their high yield, excellent taste and resistance to fruit cracking.

Agricultural technology for vegetable crops in greenhouses

To get a harvest of pink fruits early, Leningrad Giant tomatoes are sown in prepared greenhouses from March 25 to early April.

Eight to ten days before this, the greenhouse recesses are filled with hot manure. If the biomaterial is compacted in the middle, along the walls, then in other places it is laid loosely. The settled manure is leveled after four days. After this, the soil is poured in a layer of fifteen to seventeen centimeters. You can plant tomato seeds for seedlings in such a greenhouse when the soil temperature reaches 25 degrees above zero.

To place Leningrad giant tomato seedlings under cover from pots, diving them, outline the lines of future rows. The tomato planting pattern is 70x40 centimeters. Before transplanting tomato seedlings, a third of their roots are removed. This procedure promotes enhanced development of the root system of the tomato variety. Although some gardeners consider this unnecessary.

Transplanted tomato seedlings are carefully looked after:

1. At first, water at the root once every five days, then, in May, daily. They don’t skimp on water, a bucket per square meter of tomato plantings.
2. A week later, young tomato bushes are fed with mullein solution in a ratio of 1:8. A good effect will be from feeding tomatoes with ammonium nitrate, taken in the amount of fifty grams per bucket of water.
3. If the tomato stems begin to turn purple, this indicates a lack of phosphorus. Add a solution of wood ash to the soil, diluting 75 grams of raw materials in ten liters of water.
4. On sunny days, the film covering from tomato seedlings can be removed for ventilation.
5. Seedlings are hardened off two weeks before planting in open ground. First, open the greenhouse for two to three hours, then increase the time to seven to eight hours. It is advisable to reduce watering of young bushes at the end of cultivation, and moisten them generously before planting in garden beds.

Caring for giant tomatoes in open ground is common, as for other types of vegetable plants.

Disease control, preventive measures

Leningrad giant tomatoes often exhibit symptoms of many diseases that every gardener should know about.

You can protect a plant from bacterial cancer if you treat the seeds with mercuric chloride and disinfect the soil in greenhouses.

Signs of damage to tomatoes appear: browning of blood vessels on the cut of the stem; on still green tomatoes - small round spots with a crack in the middle. The disease progresses rapidly, leading to loss of large tomato yields.

Many diseases of varietal tomatoes associated with leaf damage:

1. If the leaf plate of a vegetable plant curls into a tube and becomes rough, then the tomatoes do not have enough phosphorus in the soil or moisture in the air.Leaf curl is genetically transmitted, so you cannot take seeds from a diseased crop for subsequent growing of tomatoes.
2. Many silvery-white spots on the surface of tomato leaves indicate the development of an infectious disease. When the first signs appear, it is necessary to spray the bushes with a solution of Bordeaux mixture. Repeat this procedure twice more after ten days.
3. Red-brown stripes that appear on the leaves and stems of tomatoes signal a streak infection. The plant looks sick and is stunted. And its leaves curl and dry out. The cause of tomato disease lies in the affected seeds. Before sowing, they should be strictly selected by treating the seed material in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for twenty minutes.
4. The mosaic pattern on tomato leaves is associated with infection by pathogenic microorganisms through plant sap. You need to deal with tomato mosaic in the same way as with streak.

Tomato pathologies can be prevented by preventative treatment of bushes with Bordeaux mixture three times with a break of ten days.

Preparations from large tomatoes for the winter

The large fruits of the Leningrad giant are suitable for such winter canning recipes as tomatoes in gelatin. To prepare a tasty product, take only large tomatoes, cutting them into four parts. Together with chopped onions, they are placed in glass jars. Boil the marinade, taking one hundred grams of salt per four liters of water, five hundred grams of sugar, adding peppercorns. The swollen gelatin is poured into the brine and boiled for five minutes. Pour this marinade over chopped tomatoes and seal the jars.

Sliced ​​tomatoes in vegetable oil are delicious. Spices, chopped tomatoes, and onion rings are placed in jars.Everything is poured with the usually prepared marinade. After pasteurization, add vegetable oil in a layer of up to two centimeters.

All that remains is to roll up the canned product, then let it cool and place it in a cool place. It keeps for a long time and the tomatoes taste like fresh.

Reviews about the Leningrad Giant tomato are only positive. Vegetable growers value tomatoes have excellent taste, sugar content, and versatility in use. After all, ketchup, sauces, pastes and tomato juice can be made from giant fruits. And all this is of excellent quality. And dessert dishes, where the Leningrad giant is found, have the highest characteristics. The taste of meaty tomatoes goes well with herbs and cheese in salads. It makes an amazing gravy for boiled meat, as well as rice and vegetables.