Description of the tomato variety Eagle Heart, features of cultivation and care

Almost all vegetable growers grow tomatoes in their summer cottages. Among lovers of large fruits, a variety of tomatoes such as Eagle Heart is popular. These tomatoes have good taste and sweet flesh.

Description and distinctive features of the variety

Before you start planting tomatoes, you need to familiarize yourself with the characteristics and description of this variety.

Description of the bush

Eagle heart is considered a common tomato variety, which is intended for cultivation in greenhouse conditions. It is in hotbeds and hothouses that maximum productivity can be achieved. However, some gardeners plant it in open ground and still get a good harvest.

The variety belongs to the group of indeterminate plants that grow up to one and a half meters in height. A distinctive feature of the Eagle Heart is its stems, which are densely covered with leaves. Also, over time, yellowish flowers form on them, which are collected in one large brush.

The first inflorescences on the bushes begin to form after the appearance of the sixth true leaf. The remaining inflorescences appear after two leaves.

Features of the fruit

The peculiarities of Eagle Heart tomatoes include the fruits, which are quite large. The weight of each ripe tomato is about one kilogram. The tomatoes have a slightly elongated shape and are colored bright pink. The pulp under the skin is dense and fleshy, making ripe tomatoes very elastic. The tomato skin copes with temperature changes and does not crack even during long-term storage. The taste of Eagle Heart is distinguished by a sweetish taste with a slight sourness.

The harvested variety is used in cooking to create fresh vegetable salads or other vegetable dishes. The fruits contain a lot of dry substances, thanks to which it is possible to prepare thick tomato juice. It is consumed fresh, covered for the winter, or used to create sauce or ketchup.

Advantages and disadvantages

The Eagle's Heart tomato, like many other varieties of tomatoes, has positive and negative sides. The advantages of the variety include the following:

• The fruits ripen at different times, which allows harvesting within 1-2 months.
• The tomato has a high yield, thanks to which it is possible to harvest more than 10 kg of fresh tomatoes per square meter. If you follow agrotechnical rules, the yield can be increased to 15-17 kg.
• Tomatoes are covered with non-cracking skin, which allows them to be transported over long distances.
• The storage period for harvested fruits under optimal conditions is 3-4 months.
• Eagle heart is resistant to most common diseases that affect nightshade crops.
• Ripe tomatoes can cope with sudden temperature changes.

The variety has much fewer disadvantages than advantages. The main ones include:

• the need to grow tomatoes only in fertile soils;
• the need for regular pinching and tying up tall bushes.

The disadvantages discussed make it much more difficult for beginners to grow Eagle Heart.

Growing

Before planting any variety of tomatoes, you need to familiarize yourself in detail with the features of this process so that no questions arise during planting and cultivation.

Sowing dates

First you need to determine the timing of planting the Eagle Heart tomato seeds for growing seedlings. Experienced gardeners recommend doing this in the second half of March or early April, so that the seedlings can be transplanted into the garden by summer. Residents of the northern regions of the country can postpone planting by a month to protect the transplanted seedlings from night frosts.

The timing of planting seedlings depends on the speed of its growth.Transplantation of seedlings into open ground is carried out when at least seven true leaves appear on the plant.

Selecting a location

Before you start planting seeds and growing seedlings, you need to decide where the grown seedlings will grow. When choosing a suitable area for tomatoes, pay attention to the lighting. Tomatoes are considered a light-loving plant, and therefore they should not be planted in the shade. An insufficient amount of light negatively affects the yield and growth rate of bushes.

Also, when choosing, the characteristics of the soil on the site are taken into account. The soil must be fertile and contain a sufficient amount of nutritional components that are necessary for the normal growth of the Eagle Heart.

Seed preparation

Before planting, preliminary preparation of seeds is carried out. First, the seeds are carefully sorted to select the largest ones. Then all selected planting material is disinfected for further protection from diseases and pests. For disinfection, use a weak manganese solution, in which the seeds are placed for 10-20 minutes. Then the seeds soaked in manganese are washed with plain water and dried.

Some people warm up the seed material for disinfection. To do this, place it in a low-heat oven for 5-7 minutes.

Sowing seeds for seedlings

First, all containers intended for growing seedlings are completely filled with soil. After this, shallow grooves are made in the soil into which the tomato will be planted. After planting all the seeds, the furrows are filled with soil and moistened with heated water.

During planting, you need to monitor the distance between the seeds so that they are not located too close to each other. The minimum distance between them is 2-4 cm.

Containers with planted tomatoes are transferred to a lighted room with an air temperature of at least 20 degrees.

Planting seedlings

Planting tomato seedlings begins with creating holes on the site. The depth of each hole should be 10-12 cm, and the length should be about 25 cm. The seedlings are placed in them at a slight angle of 50 degrees. In this case, the roots should be located on the south side, and the trunk of the bush should be located on the north.

Before planting, it is necessary to remove the lower leaves of the seedlings so that they do not come into contact with the ground when planting. Upon contact with the ground, the leaves can become infected, which will contribute to the appearance of the disease.

Rules of care

To get a high-quality harvest, every gardener should become familiar with the features of caring for the Eagle Heart tomato.

Watering, weeding and loosening

The soil in which tomatoes are grown must be moistened regularly so that it does not have time to dry out. It is recommended to do this at least once every 2-3 days. On hot days, you will have to water daily, since the soil dries out much faster at high temperatures.

After watering, the surface of the soil becomes covered with a crust, which is better to get rid of immediately. Therefore, the soil is periodically loosened and weeded. Experienced vegetable growers recommend loosening the soil at least once a week.

Top dressing

When growing tomatoes, be sure to fertilize in order to maintain the optimal amount of nutritional components in the soil. Nitrogen fertilizers are added to the soil, which improves the growth of leaves and stems. However, you should not add a lot of nitrogen to the soil, since due to oversaturation with this substance, fruit ripening slows down.Organic fertilizers in the form of manure or mullein are also added to the soil, which increase productivity.

Bush formation

It's no secret that tomatoes grow quickly and therefore you have to monitor their growth. In order for the plant to bear fruit well and have large fruits, it is necessary to periodically trim the stepsons on the bushes. This should be done at least 2-3 times a month.

Garter

Tall bushes need staking, as without it they will break under the load of ripened fruits. Most often, ordinary pegs are used for gartering, which are placed near each planted plant. It is recommended to use supports with a height of about 80-90 cm or slightly higher.

For better fastening, each peg is dug into the ground to a depth of about 20-30 cm. When the stakes are dug in, the main stem of the tomato bush is tied to each of them with a rope.

Protection from diseases and pests

To preserve planted tomato bushes, you need to take care in advance to protect them from common insects and diseases, which often lead to the death of plants.

To protect against rot, it is recommended to regularly add wood ash mixed with calcium nitrate to the soil. Also, the biological preparation “Boverin”, which is produced specifically to protect tomatoes, will help against most diseases and pests.

Harvest and storage

The yield of the Eagle Heart tomato is high, and therefore it takes a lot of time to collect the fruits. When harvesting ripe tomatoes, pay attention to their color. Their peel should be completely red, without any splashes of green.

The collected tomatoes are thoroughly washed, dried and placed in the cellar for further storage.

Conclusion

Many vegetable growers are engaged in growing Eagle Heart tomatoes. To obtain a tasty harvest, it is recommended that before planting a variety, you familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of its planting and cultivation.