Formation of a tomato bush: fewer stepchildren - a better harvest

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

To get a good harvest of tomatoes, many gardeners use a technique such as pinching or, as they also call it, the formation of a tomato bush. What does this concept include? The biology of the plant implies that in the bosom of each leaf, a stepson appears in tomatoes - an additional shoot. If they are not removed, then the gardener will eventually become the owner of a huge plant with a large mass of green tops, and there will be few tassels and set fruits on it.

However, there is a subtlety: different bushes need to be pinched differently. When you buy seeds, the package often says whether the variety is indeterminate or determinate. What is the difference between these two species?

Indeterminate tomato is a plant with unlimited growth. It usually grows up to 2 meters or more in height. A determinate tomato grows to a certain height, on average 50-70 cm, sometimes even lower. The formation of a tomato bush of indeterminate and determinant varieties occursdifferently. An indeterminate plant must be formed in such a way that only one main stem remains. To do this, it will have to remove all stepchildren.

Determinant tomato seeds are sometimes labeled "non-stepchild" on the package, thus misleading people. Of course, such tomatoes will also perceive the formation of a bush positively. But stepchildren need to be removed not all. A determinate plant is formed into two or three stems. It is necessary, in addition to the central stem, to leave, respectively, one or two lower stepchildren (the first is under the flower brush, the second is the strongest of the remaining ones), from which the side stems will form in the future.

Stepchildren are removed as soon as they reach 7- 10 cm long. They need to be broken with the thumb and forefinger. And it is to break it out, and not cut it out with a knife or scissors. It is also impossible to pluck and pull out - after such pinching, the plant receives a wound that does not heal for a long time, open to a fungal infection. In general, the wounds from pinching remain in any case. In order for them to heal faster, the formation of a tomato bush should be carried out on a clear sunny morning. Having broken the stepson, in its place you need to leave a small stump 1-2 cm high. stepson to be formed.

When a gardener starts to form a tomato bush, he must clearly distinguish between a stepchild and a flower shoot. Some unknowingly break out instead of youngflower shoots, thereby naturally reducing the yield of tomatoes. Although there is a significant and clearly visible difference between them. The stepson always has leaves, even when he is still very small. There is not a single leaf on the flower tassel.

Besides pinching, the formation of a tomato bush in a greenhouse also includes pinching, i.e. removal of the growing point on the saved shoots. This is done in the first half of August.

A good prevention against fungal diseases of tomatoes will also be the removal of their lowest leaves that touch the ground. This should be done with all the leaves growing on the stem in the "30 cm zone", starting from the ground surface. A perfectly formed tomato bush has 5-6 fruit clusters and 30-35 leaves. Then the nutrients will not go to the development of stepchildren, but to the formation of fruits and their filling. Tomatoes are larger and ripen earlier.