If we classify tomatoes by application, we can distinguish four large groups - salad, processed, universal, decorative and gift - with specific and unusual fruits. One of the brightest representatives of the latter is the Lorraine beauty tomato. Their main purpose is to decorate the table.
Fruit characteristics
The Lorraine beauty tomato is an elegant large, ribbed, rounded fruit, flattened at the top. Outwardly they look like a closed flower with wide petals. The color of ripe tomatoes is bright scarlet. Weight is 200-350 grams, with proper agricultural technology it can reach half a kilogram.
The inside is multi-chambered, hollow, almost without seeds. The taste is sweetish with sourness. Suitable only for fresh consumption - slicing or stuffing looks impressive on the table. Dense, resistant to cracking. They are stored for a long time. They ripen well when picked brown.
Properties of the variety
The tomato is of American origin, more precisely of US selection. Tomatoes are of indeterminate type, with a height of 1.5 to 2 meters. The average late ripening period is 110-120 days. It is grown both in greenhouses and open ground. Self-pollinating. Productivity is low - no more than 3-4 kg per bush. Under unfavorable weather conditions, you can generally get 2-3 tomatoes.
The characteristics of resistance to viral and fungal diseases are as follows: resistant to Fusarium wilt, gray leaf spot, tobacco mosaic, Alternaria stem cancer, verticillium, cladosporiosis, nematode. Not resistant to root and white rot.
The bush is not standard - the stems are thin in constitution, large, slightly corrugated leaves. You can also add to the description of the variety that due to its specificity, it is not grown in agriculture on an industrial scale. This is a tomato for amateur gardeners and collectors of unusual plants.
Features of cultivation
Tomatoes of the Lorraine Beauty variety are no different in cultivation technology from most classic varieties:
- sowing seeds - obtaining seedlings.
- picking.
- transplanting.
- cultivation - watering, fertilizing, garter formation.
- harvesting.
Sowing seeds for seedlings for open ground, taking into account the climate zone, is carried out no earlier than two months before the onset of stable warm weather. After 3-4 weeks, in the phase of 2-3 true leaves, they peak.They are planted approximately 30 days after picking. If warm weather has not yet established itself, the seedlings should be “tempered” - treated with the drug “Tur” or another growth regulator to avoid overgrowth.
The planting pattern is 60 x 50. The interval along the rows is 60 cm, between plants 45-50. Due to its resistance to cracking, the beauty does not require strict adherence to the watering regime, but the soil should not be allowed to dry out too much.
The formation of the bush is carried out by removing the stepsons and gartering. It is produced in one trunk, however, according to reviews from gardeners, there is successful experience in growing tomatoes in two trunks.
Selection of fertilizers according to the classic P-N-K scheme. During the development period, the complex contains a large percentage of nitrogen, during flowering and ovary - phosphorus, and when fruits ripen, potassium is needed. To prevent blossom end rot, periodically give Ca, that is, calcium nitrate. Fruiting continues as long as weather conditions permit. With the onset of cold weather, the still green fruits will grow well at room temperature.
Lorraine beauty yellow
In addition to red, there is also a yellow variety with ribbed, corrugated fruits. In terms of general characteristics, these two tomatoes are similar - both are indeterminate in the average ripening period. The color of the tomato is bright yellow-orange. The cutting looks very beautiful together with red ones, very similar to flowers.
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
The advantages include the following:
- Lorraine beauty, a spectacular, unusual-looking tomato reminiscent of dahlia flowers;
- high taste qualities;
- resistant to most diseases;
- unpretentious, easy to grow;
- It is possible to form a bush into two trunks.
The disadvantage is the low yield, which is highly dependent on weather conditions. Due to the long ripening period, in the north, tomatoes are cultivated only in greenhouses.
