Prevention Of Tomato Diseases, Harvesting And Storage

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Experience in growing tomatoes near St. Petersburg

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Some features of caring for tomato hybrids

A valuable quality of F1 hybrids is their good adaptability to frequently changing, not always favorable environmental conditions. Under extreme growing conditions, F1 hybrids do much better than conventional tomato varieties. A high level of adaptation to unfavorable factors contributes to obtaining stable yields, which is especially important for the North and North-West.

Let me give you an example of the summer of 1996, which turned out to be "black" for gardeners. Every day this picture: in the morning until 10 o'clock the sun, and from 10 o'clock - rain all day and night. Someone who grew tomatoes and cucumbers in low greenhouses, where the plants got wet, they simply died. Something has grown in the greenhouses. I have a greenhouse so that the morning sun fully illuminates it, and I planted the seedlings early, on May 1-2, in May the tomatoes managed to tie something.

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For most gardeners, tomato flowers simply fell off. My varieties were given at 6 kg / m², and indeterminate hybrids - at 16 kg / m². That summer, i.e. in extreme conditions, I had to test the following hybrids: Druzhok, Leopold, Semko-Sinbad, Yarilo, Tornado, Stresa, Verlioka, Kostroma, Figaro.

Now of them I use only F1 Stresa and F1 Semko-Sinbad, I don't use the rest anymore, because others have replaced. Hybrids are more resistant than varieties to diseases and pests. They are more stable and tolerate transportation well. I do not feel any big differences in the agricultural technology of tomato hybrids. In addition to various dressings, I definitely carry out root or foliar dressing with magnesium sulfate, especially during the period of mass ripening of fruits. But I start feeding with magnesium sulfate since June.

Once I tried to feed MgSO4 from the moment of fruiting and was late, there were spots on the leaves. In some recommendations, the rate of magnesium sulfate is 0.5%, and in some it is 0.2%. Maybe gradually the norms will be established, but I do so. Foliar dressing - 20 g MgSO4 per 10 l of water, and root - 50 g per 10 l of water and 1 l of solution for one plant. Some hybrids are better pollinated in high humidity. In others, especially in carpals, it is recommended to remove the first flower brush.

For several years I have been growing the F1 Vitador carpal hybrid, I remove the first flower cluster from it, and smaller fruits are formed on it. And the carpal hybrid F1 Samara of the "Gavrish" company feeds all the brushes, and the very first is never small-fruited. If there are any recommendations on the bag that differ from the usual varieties, you must follow it. Basically all hybrids of good and even excellent taste. It doesn't matter if they are Dutch firms, from the Gavrish firm or the Ilyinichna firm. I don’t use hybrids of other companies, as they say, “they don’t look for good.”

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Prevention of tomato diseases

Here I carry out the following operations: I disinfect the greenhouse with sulfur bombs; I process seeds; I spray the seedlings with a solution: 1 glass of skim milk, add water at room temperature to one liter, add 2-3 drops of iodine. Spraying is carried out when the seedlings have 4-5 leaves. I can also carry out a second spraying with this compound before planting in the ground. I give distances between plants such that there is no thickening and maximum light is provided.

I do constant airing. During fruiting, around mid-July, I spray it once with a solution: 40 drops of iodine per 10 liters of water. For spraying, 2-3 liters are consumed, the remaining solution is poured a little under the plants. I provide a balanced diet. If these low-labor requirements are met, there will be no illnesses.

Physiological diseases (disorders), their causes

Rolling the leaves into a tube:

1) the root system is poorly developed;

2) belated removal of stepsons;

3) too humid air in the greenhouse and vice versa;

4) lack of phosphorus nutrition.

Twisting leaves into a spiral:

1) lack of zinc (there is in superphosphate).

Rolling the leaves up:

1) lack of magnesium, copper.

Rolling leaves down:

1) lack of molybdenum (very rare);

2) excess zinc (the plates are twisted);

3) dry soil;

4) high soil temperature;

5) poor ventilation, low illumination (clouds, dirty film, trees).

Uneven color of fruits:

1) too high temperature;

2) lack of potassium and magnesium (green spots on a ripe fruit);

3) high concentration of nitrogen;

4) insufficient lighting (brown spots).

Cracking of fruits:

1) lack of nutrition - cracks from the flower end, fruits have sunken sides;

2) uneven watering - cracks from the stem end and radial;

3) varietal trait, i.e. the variety is not resistant to changes in watering.

Apical rot is of two types:

1. Infectious - the tissue is dark brown, gets wet, licks, spreads inside the fetus. This is a fungal disease. Control measures: treatment with copper-containing preparations.

2. Non-infectious - the plant is under stress - under-watering, lack of calcium, potassium, boron, nitrogen or high salt content. Superficial rot, blackish-brown in color, dry.

She described two types of "top rot" so that gardeners could compare, although "infectious" should not be in the section on physiological diseases.

Plants react to the lack of any nutrient in such a way that by any specks on the leaves, by the size of leaves, flowers, by the thickness of the stem, by the color of leaves and flowers, you can determine what the plant lacks, and sometimes overfeeding happens. This is a big topic for scientists to cover. I use their best practices and teach gardeners. If you create conditions for the plants, there will be no diseases, you will not have to use pesticides.

Here's an example: an elderly woman comes and asks for advice. She thought that her neighbor's potatoes were affected by late blight. And her greenhouse with tomatoes stands on the border of this potato, there are brown spots on her plants, she has already removed the fruits, left the smallest thing. I'm going to watch. The neighbor has no phytophotorosis.

Planting potatoes over potatoes for several years. Soil depletion. He does not use fertilizers at all, he is afraid of chemistry. The tops are frail, yellow, all stained, there is an obvious lack of potassium, zinc, manganese, and sulfur. In the fall, I sprinkled it only with lime, there is no manure, the compost does not, I introduced ash when planting. And tomatoes also had no late blight. The fruits are completely clean, I took them full of baskets. On the leaves, there is a brown spot (cladosporium), and not to such an extent as to remove the fruits ahead of schedule. One more time, another neighbor invites to her greenhouse. Crying. She took off all the fruits, left a trifle on the tops. She also has brown spotting, and only in the initial stage.

In the corner, in a dead end, there are two clean plants, their leaves are green-green. She managed to remove some of the fruits from them. I ask: "What is this sort in the corner?" Answers: "And you advised F1 Semko-Sinbad". "So why were the fruits taken off him green, he is not amazed?" "I thought it was late blight, and I shoot everything out of fear." The greenhouses I have described have one door each. In July, cold nights began, and the women, out of fear, had already closed all the vents and gables. They thought the tomatoes would turn red faster that way. But the opposite happened.

Another example: the leaves of tomatoes began to turn yellow sharply on the middle tier, necrotic specks began to appear on these leaves. Young leaves are green. This is the picture on all plants in the greenhouse. This is evidence of a lack of manganese. She advised to water or sprinkle with manganese sulfate, and the hostess has already sprinkled it with Intavir. Sad but true. It is a pity that not all gardeners are still learning the basics of agricultural technology. Maybe my experience will help someone grow organic tomatoes without much effort.

In 2000 and 2001 I tried to feed the plants through the leaves, i.e. in the spring, I laid everything in the soil as it should be, and only foliar fertilized. Fertilizers are saved many times over; 5 liters of solution were enough for the entire greenhouse for one spraying. But I didn't like something, I didn't understand it myself. Either the plants were aging faster, or they lacked something. In 2002, she switched to root feeding, alternating with foliar.

Try it yourself, you might like it. You can't just get a harvest from good seeds alone. It is necessary to sow on time, plant on time, water and feed on time. These everyday little things make up my harvest. Do I use the lunar calendar? Yes, I do. I am a scum in the place of birth, and I understand it. Knowing the biodynamics of plants, you can find out whether a given year will be difficult or not for a particular culture.

Collection and storage of tomatoes

You can shoot the fruits still green, but lighter than usual. The seeds of such fruits have a high germination capacity. This is biological ripeness. If the temperature is maintained at + 23 … + 25 ° C in 4-6 days, such fruits will acquire a red, raspberry, yellow color corresponding to the variety. This is already technical ripeness.

To increase the total yield, it is necessary to collect fruits from the plant that are at a stage when they are already pink in section and are quite suitable for eating. Fully ripe fruits are believed to release ethylene, which inhibits the growth of other fruits.

I did not notice that at the same time I was losing the crop, I was used to picking the fruits pinkish, but not overripe. Green fruits have to be removed at the end of September on indeterminate plants, these are the very last unripe clusters. I pick it early in the morning before the sun warms the fruit. But in the morning they are wet, so I carefully wipe all the fruits with a cotton cloth and put them in two layers in boxes. If you need to blush faster, I put it on a light windowsill in the kitchen, where the temperature is + 23 … + 25 ° С. If I need ripening to linger, then I put them in baskets in two rows, close them so that no light comes in, and put them on the floor, where the temperature is not higher than + 20 ° C.

Every day I check the tomatoes and air them. As soon as they blush well, I take it away, put it in other baskets and take it to the attic, where the temperature is not higher than + 4 … + 6 ° С. In such conditions, the fruits are stored for 25-30 days, but there are hybrids that are stored for two months or more. Some gardeners pick the fruits green and plant immediately at low temperatures so that they turn red very slowly.

I don't like such tomatoes, so this method doesn't work for me. However, I know that the Penza Agricultural Academy has developed the Strelka variety, the fruits of which are laid green, but lie at a temperature of + 10 … + 12 ° С, are stored for a long time, and transferred to heat + 20 … + 25 ° С are ripened in 3-4 days and at the same time delicious. I haven't grown the Arrow variety, so I can't say anything. But if he really has such a ripening regime, then gardeners can only welcome it.

Every year with red tomatoes:

• Part 1: Preparing and sowing tomato seeds, growing seedlings
• Part 2: Growing tomato seedlings in "diapers", forming a bush
• Part 3: Planting tomatoes in a greenhouse
• Part 4: Features of the formation of determinant and indeterminate varieties of tomatoes
• Part 5: Prevention of tomato diseases, harvesting and storage of crops