Most vegetable growers dream of growing tomato trees. The most popular varieties of such plants are the Japanese Octopus tree f1 and the Italian Cherry tree, the features of which include high productivity. From one bush you can harvest more than 10 kg of crop. Before you start planting these tomatoes, you need to figure out how to grow a tomato tree.
Description
You can understand what kind of miracle this tomato tree is by using its description.
They belong to indeterminate plants, which differ from others in their resistance to diseases, high yields and constant growth. During the first months after planting, the bush should not bear fruit so that it has time to fully form. During growth, such a tree cannot be pinched. This can disrupt the growth of the plant and subsequently lead to its death.
A distinctive feature of tomato trees is that they form many shoots and branch well. Thanks to this, they can grow to an area of about 5-10 square meters.
On the bushes, small clusters with several fruits are formed every 3-4 leaves. The weight of each of them can reach 200 g. The fruits are colored bright red and have a round shape. On the outside they are covered with a thin skin, under which there is a fleshy and dense pulp. The main advantages of the fruits include the fact that they are not prone to cracking and are stored for quite a long time.
Advantages and disadvantages
The popularity of tomato trees is due to the fact that they have many advantages. These include:
- adaptability to any level of humidity;
- resistance to diseases such as late blight, tobacco mosaic virus and fusarium wilt;
- resistance to sudden temperature changes;
- the presence of developed and branched roots;
- ease of cultivation;
- tall bushes that can grow up to 3-5 meters.
On to the cons tomato tree Octopus F1 can be attributed to the fact that it takes up quite a lot of space. Another disadvantage is that it is recommended to grow it in heated greenhouses.
What you need to grow a tomato tree
Before planting a tomato tree in open ground or a greenhouse, you need to understand what you need to have for this. For this you will need:
- Seeds. It is recommended to use seed from tall varieties, as they produce the most ovaries and grow well.
- Preparations for the preparation of fertilizers, fertilizers and compost. For this you can use “Baikal EM 1”. However, such preparations should be used only if EM technology has previously been used on the site.
- Shelter film or greenhouse. In the Urals or Siberia, it is better to plant tomato trees in heated greenhouses. This will allow you to grow tall plants over one meter in height. Residents of the southern regions can do without a greenhouse. To grow a tomato variety, ordinary plastic film will be sufficient, which can protect the bushes from night frosts.
- Metal barrel without a bottom. Tomato trees must be planted not in holes, but in special containers with holes. The side holes are needed to saturate the soil with oxygen, and the bottom holes are needed to supply moisture. If there is no barrel, then wooden boxes can be used instead.
- Air pump with hose. It will be needed to improve ventilation of the plant’s root system. To do this, several holes are made in the hose, after which it is lowered to the bottom of the container where the tomato tree will grow. It is recommended to turn on the pump every 10-20 minutes.
Growing seedlings
It is necessary to plant seedlings early, so you can start as early as January or early February.
Seed preparation
Before growing tomatoes, you need to prepare planting material. To increase the germination of Octopus F1 seeds, you need to warm them up in advance. To do this, they are placed in an oven heated to 50-60 degrees for several hours.Throughout this time, the oven temperature can be gradually increased to 70-75 degrees.
They can also be heated with water. To do this, tomato seeds are poured into a small jar, which will need to be placed in a pan of hot water.
In addition, the seeds are disinfected before planting. There are several solutions that can be used to eliminate the infection:
- Aloe juice. It can be purchased at any pharmacy or squeezed from the plant yourself. To prepare the solution, the juice must be diluted with water in equal proportions. The seed must be kept in the mixture for at least 15 hours.
- Fitosporin. A few drops of the drug must be mixed with 300 g of water, after which planting material can be added to the prepared solution. It should be soaked for no longer than two hours.
Soil preparation
It is necessary to plant seeds not in ordinary soil taken from the garden, but in previously prepared soil. Preparing soil for planting seeds is not so difficult: part of river sand and peat are added to one part of the turf soil. The resulting mixture is thoroughly stirred and watered with a nutrient solution, the composition of which includes 10 grams of urea, 30 grams of superphosphate and 10 liters of water.
You should also disinfect the soil in advance. To do this, it is treated with a weak manganese solution and special antifungal agents.
There is another way to disinfect the soil. In this case, the soil will have to be placed in a fabric bag and placed in the oven for 20-30 minutes. This will help cleanse the soil of all pathogenic microbes.
Planting seeds
You can plant tomato tree seeds in small boxes or pots.To begin with, the containers are filled with moistened soil, after which small holes are made in it in which the tomatoes will be planted. The distance between the grooves should be about 5 cm. After planting the seed in the soil, the containers are covered with glass or plastic film to ensure an optimal level of humidity.
It is recommended to grow seedlings in a warm and well-lit room. Every day it is necessary to check the soil moisture level. If it is very dry, it should be sprayed with a spray bottle.
Planting seedlings
Growing a tomato tree in open ground or a greenhouse begins with planting seedlings. Planting of seedlings should be carried out in mid-April or early May.
Preparing the site
Before growing a tomato tree, you need to prepare a planting site. The barrels in which the seedlings will be planted should be placed in the most illuminated place in the greenhouse. It is also necessary to ensure that there is enough space around them, since one tomato tree can spread its branches several meters to the sides.
Soil preparation
Before pouring the soil into barrels for seedlings, it must be prepared. The bottom layer of soil should consist of urgasa, and the top layer should consist of EM compost.
It is better to prepare urgasa in winter. To do this, place a garbage bag with several drainage holes in a plastic bucket. Small organic waste is placed in the bag, which must be periodically sprayed with a solution of the EM preparation. You can install a small weight on top, with the help of which liquid will be squeezed out of the contents of the bag.
Planting
Only the most powerful and largest grown seedlings need to be planted.Holes are made in the barrels, the depth of which should not be greater than the pots where the seedlings grew. It is necessary to install a support near each hole so that in the future the bushes do not break under the load of fruit. After planting, it is not recommended to water the seedlings for two weeks.
Features of care
To grow a large tomato tree Sprut F1, you need to properly care for it.
Working with soil
Caring for any plant includes loosening the soil. This needs to be done 1-3 times per season. This is done in order to get rid of the crust that may have formed on the surface after watering. The first loosening is carried out 10 days after planting the seedlings.
Feeding and watering
Fertilizing should be done at the beginning of summer, since it is by this time that the tomato tree consumes all the nutrients in the soil. It is recommended to periodically add boron to the soil. If the plant lacks this substance, its stems will become very fragile and brown spots will appear on the fruits. In addition to boron, mullein, superphosphate and ammonium nitrate are added to the soil. Fertilizers should be added to the soil periodically every 2-3 weeks.
Plant bushes should be watered much more often. This is done 2-4 times a week, and at least a bucket of water is spent on one bush. When watering, it is better to use the sprinkler method. In summer water the tomatoes trees are needed daily.
Stepsoning
The leaves on the bushes should be picked off a week after planting the seedlings in barrels. First, only the bottom leaves are torn off, while the top few rows remain untouched. After this, the shoot is covered with a soil mixture made from earth and urgasy. It will not only nourish the tree, but will also help strengthen the root system.Repeated stepsoning is carried out after a week.
All varieties of tomato trees can be planted, except Surgut F1.
Treatment
Sometimes the ripening of fruits on trees slows down. To speed up this process, the bushes must be processed periodically. To prepare a solution for spraying tomatoes, you need to chop up young pine shoots and place them in the freezer for several weeks. After that, they are filled with water and boiled for about 30 minutes. Then the broth is filtered and diluted with cold water in a ratio of one to three. It is necessary to use the prepared mixture during the formation of buds.
Conclusion
Anyone can grow this plant. In order to grow it, you need to familiarize yourself with the technology of growing a tomato tree.
