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It's easy and simple to grow tomatoes on your windowsill. The main thing is to choose suitable variety, prepare planting material and create the necessary conditions for growing. You need to know about the rules of watering, fertilizing, picking, treating pests and diseases. By observing certain requirements and taking into account the advice of gardeners, you will be able to harvest juicy, sweet and large tomatoes.

Step-by-step instructions for beginners will help you grow tomatoes in summer and winter. An important step is choosing the right variety:

• Plants with a determinate growth pattern are suitable. In such tomatoes, after several clusters appear, growth stops.
• To ensure that tomatoes have enough light and warmth to develop, it is better to plant early-ripening varieties. They mature in 80-95 days.
• You need to choose self-pollinating tomatoes or parthenocarpic (not requiring pollination).
• For indoor use, the selected variety should have high disease resistance.

In an apartment, you can grow tomatoes all year round in any region, including Ukraine.

The best varieties for home cultivation

If you choose the right variety of tomatoes for growing on a window, you can plant the seeds not only in spring, but also in autumn. The harvest will be harvested all year round. Indoor tomatoes are characterized by their short stature, strong stems and not too spreading branches.

Balcony miracle

A dwarf variety, the stem height reaches 55 cm. The bush takes up little space. The fruits ripen early (89 days pass from planting to harvest). You can collect a lot of sweet tomatoes from one bush small size(up to 60 g), red. The variety exhibits good resistance to many tomato diseases.

Micron NK

The tomato variety Mikron NK has medium ripening limits. The height of the bush reaches 16 cm. The fruits, depending on the variety, can be yellow or red. Tomatoes are resistant to cold and continue to develop in the absence of light.

Pinocchio

The bushes are miniature, the height does not exceed 34 cm. The fruits are flat round shape, red in color, weigh 18 g. They taste sweet with some notes of sourness. Ripening begins after 105 days. The variety exhibits high resistance to many diseases.

Bonsai

The small size of the bush allows you to grow the crop in an apartment. The stem height reaches 20-25 cm. The variety is characterized by early ripening limits - 87 days. High yield allows you to harvest up to 1.6 kg of tomatoes from one bush. Round, red tomatoes weigh 45 g.

The compact bush will take up little space on the windowsill, the height reaches 58 cm. The tomatoes are flat-round in shape, orange-yellow in color, their weight does not exceed 44 g. Fruiting is amicable, begins 95 days from the date of planting.

Room surprise

A small-fruited tomato variety is characterized by early fruit ripening. The height of the plant is no more than 50 cm. The round fruits are bright red and weigh 26 g.

Pygmy

Ultra-early ripening variety. The fruits begin to ripen after 78 days. The height of the stem reaches 27 cm. The fruits are round in shape, red in color, weigh 24 g. Gardeners are attracted by the numerous yields and high resistance to late blight.

The variety is characterized by early fruit ripening boundaries. Harvesting begins in 89 days. The height of the bush reaches 30 cm. Small tomatoes weigh 22 g, the skin is pale red.

Window yellow

The variety belongs to dwarf crops with a determinate growth type. The bush stretches up to 58 cm. Numerous small, round, yellow tomatoes form on the branches.

The plant reaches a height of only 30 cm. The variety can be grown in an apartment all year round. The round red fruits taste juicy and sweet, weigh 14 g. Another advantage is the ability to grow the plant on northern windowsills.

Ampel varieties

Ampel varieties differ from ordinary tomatoes in some features:

• develop under light deficiency;
• are not afraid of drafts;
• seedlings do not stretch;
• the branches hang down, so they do not come into contact with the ground;
• unique taste of fruits;
• the harvest is harvested all year round;
• tomatoes exhibit high resistance to infections and pests.

It is advisable to grow hanging tomatoes in hanging flower pots or flowerpots.

Garden Pearl

An early-ripening, determinate variety of tomatoes, the fruits ripen in 86 days. The culture is distinguished by a long fruiting period. The bush does not grow more than 37 cm. The stem is creeping, places on itself a large number of small, round fruits Pink colour. The weight of the fruit is 17 g.

City dweller F1

The early ripening variety of tomatoes enters the fruiting phase after 87 days. You can easily grow this crop at home. The branches produce many fruits, round in shape, scarlet in color, weighing up to 30 g.

The hybrid is distinguished by average fruit ripening limits and a determinant type of growth. From the moment the seedlings are planted until they mature, 106 days pass. The height of the bush reaches 65 cm. Fruits elongated shape(6 cm long), red-orange in color, weigh 20 g.

Tumblr

This tomato variety looks beautiful in hanging flower pots. Long shoots hanging down reach a length of 35 cm. The crop is characterized by high productivity and super-early ripening boundaries (50 days pass from the day of planting). From one bush it is possible to harvest up to 2.5 kg of small, round, red fruits with a sweet taste.

Talisma

The bushes of the plant rise up to 53 cm. The ripening of numerous fruits begins after 112 days. The tomatoes are red in color and round in shape and weigh 35 g.

An early-ripening hybrid enters the maturity phase after 50 days. The height of the bush does not exceed 20 cm. The fruits are bright red, round in shape, weight reaches 25 g.

How to properly grow tomatoes on a windowsill

To grow tomatoes in an apartment, it is necessary to create certain conditions.

What container and soil should I plant in?

Tomato seeds can be planted at home in a separate container ( ideal option there will be a choice of peat pots) or in a large wooden box. Drainage holes are made at the bottom of the container. The soil should be light, loose, nutritious, with good aeration. A mixture of black soil, humus and sand is ideal. To increase nutritional components, add wood ash or superphosphate.

Pre-sowing seed preparation

Before planting, seeds should be selected, processed and germinated:

• Large, dense seeds are suitable for sowing. The selection procedure can be simplified by using saline solution, into which the seeds are immersed for 12 minutes. The bad ones come to the surface.
• Many pathogenic bacteria accumulate on the surface of the seeds, which are activated when they enter the soil. To disinfect the material, use a solution of potassium permanganate.
• You can speed up seed growth by soaking. The grains are spread on a damp cloth surface and left for a couple of days.

It is better to buy tomato seeds from well-known and trusted manufacturers.

Direct landing

As soon as the seeds hatch, begin sowing them:

• Make grooves 14 mm deep in the soil and water them with water.
• After this, the grains are sown at intervals of 3.5 cm.
• The seeds are covered with earth.
• Cover the container with film and put it in a warm place.

After 5-7 days, the first shoots should appear. At this time, the air temperature in the room is set at +20 degrees. How often do tomato seedlings need to be watered immediately after planting? At first, it is enough to just spray the planting with water, preventing the soil surface from drying out.

Picking

After the first pair of true leaves unfold on the seedlings, pick. The procedure allows you to grow seedlings with a strong root system by activating the growth of lateral root branches. During picking, the central root is plucked off to about 12 mm. The bushes are transplanted into large flower pots with a volume of 6-9 liters.

Transplanting seedlings to a permanent place in a large pot

Before planting tomato bushes in large pots, a number of measures should be taken:

• a couple of days before transplanting, cut off the three lower leaves;
• watering stops within three days;
• the soil in the new pot is fertilized with superphosphate;
• the hole is made deep.

After transplanting, potted tomatoes are hilled on all sides and watered warm water.

Features of growing on the north side

Tomato seedlings need warmth and light, so it is better to place the container on a southern windowsill. If the windows are on the north side, then the seedlings will definitely have to be illuminated. You need to sow the seeds a little earlier. The box with tomatoes is moved as tightly as possible to the glass. Growing technology involves installing some kind of reflective element, such as a mirror or foil.

Rules for caring for balcony tomatoes

In order for tomato bushes to grow strong and form a large harvest, you need to provide proper and regular care.

Lighting, temperature and humidity

It is best to place pots of tomatoes on a south-facing window. Every two days, the container is turned with its other side towards the light so that the stem is even and does not stretch. In cloudy weather, it is necessary to provide additional lighting using phytolamps or LED lamps.

During the day, the air temperature should be equal to 23 degrees, at night a little lower - +19 degrees. The humidity in the room should not be more than 65%. High humidity leads to the development of fungal infections.

Watering and fertilizing the plant

It is important to establish correct, regular watering of indoor vegetable crop. For good growth and development requires sufficient soil moisture. Watering should be done with warm, settled water twice every 7 days. During irrigation, you need to make sure that water does not get on the green part of the plant. At the flowering stage, watering is stopped, and at the moment the ovaries form, they are resumed again.

The first feeding of tomatoes is carried out two weeks after picking. Then every two weeks the application of mineral and organic compounds is repeated. For better distribution of microelements, fertilizers should be applied after watering the soil.

Pinching and tying up a bush

To grow crops on a windowsill, choose varieties that are characterized by limited, low stem growth. But sometimes there are so many fruits that it is necessary to install a support for tying. For proper growth of bushes it is necessary to carry out pinching. Remove the side branches that grow in the axils of the leaves.

Stepchildren prevent the flow of light and air to all parts of the plant, take away many nutritional components and inhibit development.

Pollinators

Indoor tomato varieties do not require pollinating insects. In some cases, the procedure is carried out independently. During the period of active flowering, shake the stem daily or brush over the flowers.

Protection from diseases and pests

Frequent diseases of tomatoes are late blight, gray rot, black leg, fusarium, and cladosporiosis. Common pests of tomatoes include whitefly, cruciferous flea beetle, spider mite, cutworm, aphid.

To protect tomatoes from infections and pests, it is necessary to disinfect the soil and seeds before planting, carry out comprehensive feeding and bush formation in a timely manner, and maintain the required level of temperature and humidity in the room.

Possible growing problems

Various problems may arise when growing tomatoes:

• you can notice that the seedlings dry out and wither;
• leaves turn yellow and curl;
• color fades;
• the ovaries fall off;
• Various spots appear on the leaves.

When one of the signs appears, you need to immediately begin to identify the problem. This will help eliminate the cause in the early stages and save the harvest.

Harvest and storage

It is better to collect slightly unripe fruits. Firm tomatoes without signs of damage are suitable for storage. They are placed in a clean wooden box in one row with the stalks facing up. Each row is lined with paper or shavings hardwood. Boxes of tomatoes should be stored in a dark, well-ventilated area. Air humidity should be 85%. The air temperature should be within +2…+6 degrees.

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Many people have long practiced growing herbs on the windowsill. It doesn't cause much trouble and provides for the whole family essential vitamins even in winter. City dwellers in Germany, France, and other European countries grow cucumbers and tomatoes on their windowsills. Such seedlings perform not only an aesthetic function, but also provide people far from agriculture with a small supply of independently grown vegetables. Their experience shows that growing tomatoes on a windowsill in winter is possible. In this article we will look at how to grow tomatoes on a windowsill.

The best tomato varieties for growing on a windowsill

If you choose the best varieties tomato for growing on a windowsill, then first place should be given to low-growing and standard tomatoes. They do not take up much space on the balcony, are distinguished by rich fruiting, and do not require tying up or artificial pollination. It is advisable to focus on dwarf tomatoes.

For those who have not yet decided which tomatoes are best to grow in an apartment on a windowsill, we can recommend varieties such as:

• "Leopold",
• "White filling",
• "Little Red Riding Hood",
• "Pink Angel"
• "Oak",
• "Ruby"
• "Balcony Miracle"

When grown indoors, they do not reach a height of more than 50 cm and hold a large number of fruits well. If you choose among tall varieties, then cherry tomatoes on the windowsill will delight you with tasty and sweet tomatoes all year round. They differ beneficial properties, do not require much attention and are best suited for indoor keeping.

Growing tomatoes on the windowsill is not only saving money family budget, but also an interesting, exciting activity for the whole family.

Sowing tomato seeds for seedlings in an apartment

Before sowing the seeds, they should be treated.

• To do this, it is enough to immerse them in a solution of any growth stimulator for ten hours. If any seeds float to the surface, throw them away. But in purchased seeds this phenomenon is very rare. Well, soaking in a stimulator will help reduce the germination time of seeds and also increase their germination.
• We catch the seeds, place them between layers of damp cloth, and after three to five days the seeds will develop small roots.
• It's time to plant the seeds in the ground. Let's prepare the soil for seeds in the same way as when growing seedlings for open ground. Ready-made soil for seedlings can be purchased at the store. We lower the seeds in rows to a depth of about 1 centimeter with a distance of 3 centimeters between the seeds. Cover the box with seedlings with transparent film and place it in a warm place.
• After a few days, sprouts appear. Now it's time to place the sprouts on the windowsill so that they are well lit. If possible, choose window sills on the south or southeast side.
• But in autumn there are quite a lot of cloudy days. And so that our tomatoes have enough light, it is advisable to hang a fluorescent lamp above them, at a distance of 25-30 centimeters. Such lamps provide a lot of light and practically no heat. It is advisable to feed our seedlings with liquid fertilizer once every few weeks, preparing it according to the instructions.
• When the third leaf of the seedling sprouts, we pick it up, planting it in small pots. It is not advisable to plant seedlings immediately in a large pot because in this case the roots will develop worse. In a month, we will plant the seedlings in large pots with a volume of three to five liters.

Features of caring for homemade tomatoes

1. Watering. There is no need to water tomatoes often. But make sure that the soil in the pot does not dry out. It is better to water twice a week properly, completely moistening the entire earthen ball, than to water a little every day - the soil inside may remain dry. If the air at home is very dry, spraying will help.
2. Spraying. Tomatoes do not really like water on their leaves in cold weather, but in an apartment in dry air you can spray them with water. Just don’t do this during the flowering period.
3. Additional lighting. When planting this early, the plants need additional lighting. The days are still short, there is little light.

Tomatoes are very demanding on lighting. In order not to use artificial lighting, it is better to plant seeds in late March - early April, and place the plants in the south or southeast. For uniform lighting, once every two days you can turn the tomatoes with the other side towards the window.

1. On cloudy short winter days, grow lush bushes It is simply impossible to live in an apartment without additional lighting. It is no secret that light is the main component of the process of photosynthesis, which is important for a plant, without which normal growth and development of the plant does not occur.
2. You can organize additional lighting using fluorescent lamps white and daylight. Such lamps give something similar to sunlight illumination and do not emit heat. Therefore, they can be placed quite close to the plants. Also, in specialized stores you can purchase phytolamps adapted specifically for indoor growing vegetables
3. Feeding. While plants are growing and gaining strength, they need nitrogen fertilizers. And during the period of formation and ripeness of fruits - potassium.
4. Pollination. Tomatoes do not require artificial pollination, but for better setting, you can lightly tap the stem several times a week, shaking the flower brushes. After the main part of the fruits has formed, the top of the plant, like the flowering racemes, should be removed, as they will not allow the already formed fruits to fully develop.

With poor ventilation, high temperature ambient air, insufficient soil moisture and poor lighting, plant leaves do not curl, but stretch upward, flowers and fruits fall off. It is necessary to frequently ventilate the room and water the plants, carefully monitor temperature conditions. With excessive watering and fertilizing, on the contrary, a powerful dark green bush with weak flower clusters is formed. In this case, the plant is fed less frequently, the soil is not watered for about a week, and the flowers are pollinated by hand using cotton swabs.

Video: Growing tomatoes on the windowsill

Step-by-step instructions for growing tomatoes

To grow indoor tomatoes, we first grow seedlings by purchasing seeds of the desired variety.

• Sow the treated seeds. We place the tomato seeds in small depressions at a distance of about 2 cm between each seed. They should be placed at a depth of 1-1.5 cm. Lightly moisten the soil before sowing.
• Cover the sown seeds with film or glass; such a covering will retain moisture in the soil well. We place the containers in a dark and warm place (+25-30° C) and wait for germination. The soil can sometimes be moistened.
• After the shoots appear, remove the film, move the pots to the window, and make sure that the sprouts have light and warmth. We regularly water the tomatoes on the windowsill, but little by little, carefully making sure that there is no excess moisture in the ground.
• After two true leaves appear, we make a pick, i.e. We plant the strongest sprouts in a separate bowl, where they will grow further. This utensil should be, significantly, large sizes, its volume should correspond to approximately 7-10 liter bucket.
• Once every 10 days we feed the seedlings with ready-made mineral and organic fertilizers. How to breed and feed is usually written on the packaging. Do not forget to loosen the soil around the trunk, but very carefully, trying not to damage the roots.
• As necessary, we tie the tomatoes to pegs, which we stick into the ground next to the trunk.
• Stepsonning. During the period of plant growth, additional stems appear in the axils of the leaves - these are stepsons. They need to be removed, as they will take away nutrition from the fruit. You can leave 1 first stepson to form the second trunk of the plant.

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• When the fruits have already set, we leave 4-5 clusters on the trunk, the rest are removed along with the top of the stem and other inflorescences so that they do not interfere with the growth and ripening of the set fruits. Do not forget to remove dried leaves, including the lowest ones, which interfere with watering at the root. Tomatoes are self-pollinating plants, but they are also recommended to help pollinate. All you need to do is shake it slightly flowering plant or move a soft brush over the flowers. We do this very carefully. Tomatoes can get sick without proper care. If the soil is excessively moistened, they are at risk fungal diseases, such as: mold on the leaves, rot on the stem or late blight - black spots on the leaves.
• To prevent late blight, tomatoes (plants) are treated with an infusion of garlic and potassium permanganate, consisting of ½ tbsp. garlic + 1/2 gram of potassium permanganate, diluted in three liters of water. You can periodically spray with a solution of phytosporin.
• Fruits that have become full and beginning to turn pink should be removed and placed to ripen on a window or in cardboard box. They will no longer take nutrients from the still growing tomatoes.

Selection work is ongoing and has resulted in many hybrid varieties tomatoes suitable for growing in a flower pot. They are distinguished by unpretentiousness and productivity.

A huge advantage of this type of cultivation is year-round, knowing the ripening time, you can easily get a harvest just in time. New Year's table. The main thing is to choose the right variety.

The disadvantages of growing tomatoes this way include limited plantings, especially if the window sills in the apartment are not wide and, of course, home harvests will differ in volume from those collected from open ground plants.

Preparatory activities: growing correctly

How to choose a place?

It doesn’t matter which side the window faces, you will still be able to get a harvest. Hybrids intended for growing on windowsills are adapted to short daylight hours and lack of sunlight.

Tomato is a heat-loving plant, so the temperature near the bushes should be maintained at +22-25 degrees during the day and not lower than +15 degrees in the evening. Tomatoes are also demanding of air humidity. Especially when winter version growing, when heating radiators dry out the air very much, which can cause plant disease. The air in the room needs to be humidified regularly.

Special varieties

Standard and hanging varieties are suitable for window beds. Such plants do not exceed 35-45 centimeters in height. Best options:

Micron NK

It belongs to the dwarf varieties and does not grow above fifteen centimeters. The fruits are sweet - yellow or red, weighing no more than twelve grams. The health of the plant is absolutely independent of the duration daylight hours.

Pinocchio

The bush is compact, the fruits are sweet, round, weighing twenty grams. If the seeds are sown after the twentieth of September, the first harvest can be harvested by the New Year.

Bullfinch

An ultra-early variety, a compact standard plant, 30-40 cm high. It does not shoot, the fruits are red and round.

Important! Potted tomatoes can bear fruit for five years, gradually reducing the intensity. The bushes bear fruit most abundantly in the first two to three years.

Pot

For growing miniature tomatoes, a regular one is quite suitable. flower pot , made of plastic. When choosing a diameter, you need to focus on the size of an adult plant.

Priming

For planting potted tomatoes, both a ready-made store-bought substrate and a soil mixture prepared independently are suitable. To do this you will need:

• humus – 50%;
• chernozem – 45%;
• sand – 5%;

How to plant at home: technology from A to Z

Seeds

1. It is best to purchase planting material in a store to be sure of its quality and compliance with the stated characteristics.
2. Before planting, you need to sort out empty grains that are not able to sprout. To do this, they need to be immersed in water for ten minutes. salt water and substandard seeds will float, while healthy ones will sink to the bottom.
3. Next, the seeds are soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour to develop immunity to late blight in future plants.
4. After all procedures, the seeds are placed in a damp cloth.
5. After the spouts of the sprouts have appeared, the grains are sown in the ground, deepened by a centimeter, keeping an interval of three centimeters.
6. Lightly compact the soil and cover the container. plastic film and put away in a warm place until shoots appear. You need to make small holes in the film for air circulation.
7. In a week the shoots will appear. It is necessary to ensure that the soil is always moderately moist.

Seedlings

Step-by-step instructions for caring for indoor crops

Watering and fertilizers

Potted tomatoes respond very gratefully to watering. Soil moisture promotes healthy growth, healthy ovary formation and fruit ripening. Watering is carried out twice a week, without touching the stems. By the beginning of flowering, watering is stopped and resumed only with the appearance of ovaries.

Three weeks after the picking was carried out, special mineral fertilizers are applied for the first time. Tomatoes need to be fed at intervals of two weeks, applying fertilizer on the second day after watering.

Trimming and pinching, pinching

It is necessary to remove shoots, formed in the axils of the leaves, that is, pinching. This is necessary for the proper formation of the plant. Stepchildren that are not removed in time lead to thickening and are taken away nutrients and reduce tomato yields.

Reference! After the main ovaries have formed, you need to pinch the top, and lower leaves cut off those that have withered during growth.

Supports, hanging

Varieties suitable for growing on a windowsill do not have branching, they have a stable trunk, so they do not need a garter. If such a need nevertheless arises, then a peg is carefully stuck into the ground so as not to damage the roots, and the branches are attached to it.

Diseases and pests

Growing tomatoes on a windowsill is an opportunity to harvest fragrant fruits, not only in spring or summer, but all year round. This is a fascinating activity that brings great pleasure even to those who previously considered themselves far from the topic of gardening. After reading the article, you learned when to plant tomatoes and what varieties to choose to obtain bountiful harvest.

Useful video

We invite you to watch a video of growing tomatoes on a windowsill:

Kherson tomato has already become a brand not only in our country and the CIS, but also in the EU. On store shelves in Germany, Scotland, Cyprus and other countries you can find canned tomatoes “Kherson style”. Processing companies in European countries are increasingly ordering tomatoes wholesale from Ukraine.

The most delicious tomatoes are grown open method on rich soils of the Kherson region in mild climatic conditions. Since there is enough potassium in the local soil, tomatoes grow sweetish, juicy, with a soft (not “woody”) core.

Balcony miracle

Let's move on to main topic- where to get plants. For summer residents, the answer is simple - dig up healthy low-growing bushes from the garden beds, on which small fruits and flowers still remain.

Transport the dug plants carefully so as not to break them; plant them in 2-3-liter containers (for example, in a plastic bucket) or two plants in a balcony box. The soil is either taken from the garden - the top fertile layer, or it is bought ready-made in the store: “For tomatoes and nightshades”, “Universal”, “Living Earth”, etc. You can make a soil mixture yourself: 70% humus and 20% garden soil (but not the one where tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants grew), 5% black peat and the same amount of washed sand. The soil must be disinfected - poured with a strong boiling solution of dark potassium permanganate or frozen outside or on the balcony. Maintenance is simple: in the morning, regular watering with settled warm water, if necessary, fertilizing with complex mineral fertilizer(1 teaspoon per 5 liters of water).

If you can’t dig up tomato bushes, you can get plants from stepchildren. At the end of the season, cut off side shoots 10-15 cm long (small ones 5-7 cm long are also possible). They put them in a jar of water, and when the roots appear, they are planted in small pots with nutritious soil, covering part of the stem to the base of the leaves.

After the rooted stepsons begin to grow, they are transplanted one at a time into large pots or cache-pots. The roots of stepchildren are very fragile, so you need to plant them carefully so as not to tear them. The advantages of this method: fruiting occurs quickly, it is possible to save the variety you like if there are no seeds.

Video: Indoor tomatoes. Growing tomatoes in winter

Seedlings are sown at the end of March, and for autumn growing- in July. Leading breeding companies have prepared the seeds of indoor tomatoes for sowing; they do not need to be disinfected and can be sown dry. Or, to speed up germination, you need to keep it in a damp cloth in a warm place (for example, on top of the refrigerator, but not on the radiator). Sow as soon as small roots appear.

Sow to a depth of 1-1.5 cm in small cups with a diameter of 5-6 cm (seedlings will appear in 4-6 days). When the seedlings grow 2-3 serrated leaves, transplant one plant at a time into pots with a diameter of 10-12 cm.

Further care is the same as for ordinary tomato seedlings: not frequent, but abundant watering and only in the morning. To ensure that the soil is evenly moistened, add water to the pan. When watering, the water is kept free of chlorine for 3 days or passed through a filter. Water once every 5 days, and at high temperatures - after 1-2 days. This is especially important during fruiting. However, plants should not be sprayed, even on hot days.

Plants with 4-5 leaves are transplanted into beautiful large pots where tomatoes will delight the owners with a harvest. A week after transplantation, they begin to feed using any complex mineral fertilizer (mortar, aquarine, nitrophoska, etc.). For tomatoes growing in pots, its walls limit the ability to independently obtain the missing nutrients, so the plants need to be fed constantly every 7-10 days. Moreover, the concentration of the first two fertilizers should be low (1/2 teaspoon of fertilizer is poured into 5 liters hot water, cool). From the third feeding, the dose is increased: 1/2 teaspoon per 3 liters of water. Before applying, the nutrient solution is filtered through gauze in three layers, and after feeding, be sure to water the plants with water.

Ventilate tomatoes in the window more often by opening the window to reduce the temperature.

During fruit setting, it helps to ripen them better by removing 2-3 cm of soil from the pot, and in return adding biohymus, humus or garden soil from under cucumbers and cabbage.

With weak growth and poor fruit formation, when the tomatoes are very small, you can sprinkle the bushes with a solution of mineral fertilizer (1/4 teaspoon per 1 liter of hot water, strain, cool). You can also use ready-made liquid fertilizers (ideal, veta, etc.), without exceeding the concentration recommended on the label.

40-50 days after germination, flower clusters appear on the plant, and after 20-25 days flowering begins. Then you need to additionally pollinate the brushes daily or twice a week by tapping the stem with a pencil. This must be done, otherwise the flowers will not be pollinated, because there is no wind in the room.

It is good to sprinkle the soil with sifted furnace ash every 10 days after watering, followed by obligatory loosening to prevent a crust from forming.

In low-growing tomatoes, the lower leaves are not cut off, the plants are not pinched, that is, growing side shoots are not removed. Only varieties that form tall plants should be formed into 2 stems, leaving one stepson under the first cluster. As it grows, it produces a second stem.

If they want to increase the yield, the fruits are cut off when they turn brown or pink and placed for ripening. The yield on dwarf varieties ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 kg (with tall plants, where more large fruits, I didn’t cover the harvest, but it is much larger). If the fruits are not cut brown, the harvest will be smaller, but from my own experience I know how difficult it is to resist leaving some of the tomatoes to ripen on the branch, they look so beautiful among the green foliage.

I had experience growing tall tomatoes with a stem of more than 1.5 m in one window. The yield was higher than that of low growing plants, however, there is much more hassle: a special garter on the window; accommodation not in beautiful pot, and in a 10-liter bucket; watering and fertilizing are plentiful and frequent. After that, I grow only low-growing, small-fruited tomatoes and get not only fresh vegetables from the garden in the window, but also a lot of positive emotions.

Tatiana Oktyabrskaya

Video: Growing tomatoes on the windowsill