How to grow tomatoes on a windowsill in winter. How to grow tomatoes for the New Year's table

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 to choose the appropriate 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 space the selected variety must 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). From one bush you can collect a lot of small sweet tomatoes (up to 60 g), red in color. 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 height of the stem 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 after 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 determinant 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 regular tomatoes in some ways:

• 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 different long period fruiting. The bush does not grow more than 37 cm. The stem is creeping and bears 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. Many round-shaped fruits are formed on the branches, scarlet 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. The fruits are elongated (6 cm long), red-orange in color, weigh 20 g.

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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. At the bottom of the container they do drainage holes. 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. Transplant the bushes into larger ones flower pots volume from 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 with 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 close 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 you should ensure the air temperature is 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, sufficient soil moisture is necessary. 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 need 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 mold, blackleg, fusarium, 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 on early stages eliminate the cause 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 hardwood shavings. 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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Thanks to the efforts of breeders, tomatoes can be grown on a windowsill at any time of the year. There are many varieties that can produce good yields in room conditions. Growing them is no more difficult than ordinary tomatoes in the garden; moreover, they are not afraid of either drought or the Colorado potato beetle. To enjoy fresh tomatoes in the winter cold, you need to study all the nuances of such cultivation, but the most important thing is to choose the right variety.

Tomatoes on the windowsill in winter

Features of indoor tomatoes

Indoor conditions differ significantly from those in the garden, so not every variety of tomato can grow and bear fruit normally indoors. Varieties intended for growing on a windowsill have the following characteristics:

• short stature. Due to limited space, only low-growing and dwarf tomatoes are able to produce a crop. Tall tomatoes require not only a lot of space, but also a large amount of nutrients, and there is too little soil in a flower pot for this;
• standardness. Not everyone knows how to form a bush correctly, but this is an important condition for tomato yield. Standard varieties have a strong central stem and a dense crown; it does not need to be pinched or tied up;
• resistance to lack of lighting and disease. Houseplants They receive less light, especially in winter, and therefore really need additional lighting. But there are varieties of tomatoes that bear fruit normally in short-day conditions, and they only need lighting on cloudy days. Their genetic feature is short internodes, thanks to which the stems do not stretch. Of the diseases that affect tomatoes the most are blackleg (during the period of growing seedlings) and leaf mold. The most resistant to them are hybrids, which make up 90% of total number potted tomatoes.

Cherry tomatoes on the windowsill

In addition to these features, indoor tomatoes have the highest taste qualities, and are rightfully considered champions among tomatoes in terms of the content of vitamins and sugars in their pulp. But not all of them can boast of yield, because some varieties are more decorative and form very small, cherry-sized fruits. Of course, they are also edible, but there are too few of them, and therefore they are most often used to decorate dishes.

Indoor tomatoes

If you need tomatoes for daily use, choose productive varieties with more large fruits. As a rule, the weight of indoor tomatoes varies between 15-130 g, depending on the variety. The best of them form low bushes completely covered with fruits. On average, one bush can produce up to 2 kg of tasty, marketable tomatoes per season.

Potted tomatoes have one more feature - they are perennials. If you do not throw away the bush after collecting the last fruits, then after a while new leaves will appear on the stem. Typically, such tomatoes grow and bear fruit within 5 years, although the most abundant harvests are produced in the first 2 years.

Growing tomatoes on a windowsill

The best varieties of indoor tomatoes

The range of indoor tomatoes is smaller than regular ones, but still impressive. Varieties differ in the shape, size and color of the fruit, height and shape of the bush, ripening time and other parameters. Every year their list is replenished with new varieties and hybrids from leading breeding companies. Below are the most popular tomatoes for growing on a windowsill.

Ampel varieties

In addition to standard varieties, lovers indoor growing Of tomatoes, ampelous tomatoes are also in demand. They can be planted in hanging flowerpots or in tall pots, from which the shoots will hang beautifully on the windowsill. Caring for them is a little more difficult than conventional varieties, and the yield is lower, but all this is compensated by the excellent taste of the tomatoes and the high decorativeness of the bush. The choice of hanging varieties is still small, and seeds can be purchased only from a few domestic agricultural companies.

Agricultural technology for growing indoor tomatoes

Like regular varieties, indoor tomatoes are best grown from seedlings. And at this stage there are no differences, except that the timing of sowing the seeds is different. On average, potted tomatoes begin to bear fruit 90-100 days after germination, and if you want to get your first tomatoes by a certain date, take this factor into account. For example, to harvest the first harvest in January, sow seeds for seedlings at the end of September.

Two ways to test seeds for germination

Before sowing, the seeds are disinfected by soaking for 15-30 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, and then left in a damp cloth for a couple of days to hatch.

Preparing tomato seeds

Sow in a common container with ordinary soil or purchased substrate to a depth of no more than 1 cm. The distance between the seeds should be within 2-3 cm so that the seedlings are not thickened.

Container for growing tomatoes

Tomatoes in a box

The seedlings are transplanted into separate containers as soon as the seedlings have formed 2-3 true leaves. The size of the pots is selected depending on the variety of tomatoes: for dwarf tomatoes, a volume of 1.5-2 liters is sufficient, for ordinary indoor ones 3-4 liters, for hanging ones - at least 5 liters. All pots must have drainage holes. It is very important to properly prepare the soil, because the development and fruiting of the bush depends on its composition.

Soil preparation

The best option is the following composition:

• 5 parts garden soil;
• 2 parts sand;
• 5 parts rotted compost;
• 1 part peat.

To a bucket of such a mixture you need to add a matchbox of urea and potassium sulfate, a handful of sifted wood ash. Mix all this thoroughly. Now you can start planting seedlings.

Step 1. A drainage layer of fine gravel, pieces of bark, expanded clay or other material is poured onto the bottom of the pots. Fill the containers to the top with soil and make a small depression in the center.

Filling the pot with drainage and soil

Step 2. Pre-watered seedlings are carefully removed one at a time and planted in pots, deepening to the cotyledon leaves. Water carefully.

Planting tomato seedlings in a pot

The soil must be saturated with moisture so that water reaches the roots

Step 3. Place the pots on the windowsill (preferably on the south side) and regularly turn them with the other side towards the light every 2 days. In the mornings and evenings, as well as in cloudy weather, plants should be illuminated with a phytolamp.

Additional illumination of tomatoes with a phytolamp

After a week, the plants are fed with half the dose of nitrogen fertilizers necessary for growth. During the flowering period, in order to increase the percentage of pollination, the stems of the plant are shaken very lightly and brushed over the flowers with a feather or a soft brush. After the formation of ovaries, fertilizing with potassium fertilizer is required once every two weeks.

In varieties that need to form a bush, the stepsons are removed, the top of the main stem is pinched, and excess inflorescences are cut off to increase the size of the fruit. Tall bushes are tied to supports that are stuck into the ground along the edge of the pot.

Tomato care

If signs of fungal damage appear, all plants are sprayed with phytosporin or another antifungal agent. To prolong fruiting, regularly pick ripe fruits, remove dried leaves, and do not forget about fertilizing and watering. The soil in the pots needs to be loosened periodically, being careful not to catch the roots. With this care, your tomatoes will delight you all winter with an abundant harvest of sweet, tasty fruits.

Video - Tomatoes on the windowsill in winter: the best varieties

Video - Tomatoes on the windowsill in winter: the best varieties and procedure for growing tomatoes at home

Who among us does not dream of fresh vegetables that can be eaten not only when they are in season? Why go to the supermarket in winter for imported tomatoes that don’t even smell like them, when you can grow natural tomatoes on the windowsill?! Moving indoor flowers and freeing up space for several pots, it’s easy to get fragrant and tasty tomatoes even at home. How to do this correctly in order to pamper your loved ones with vitamins all year round will be shown in a small selection of practical tips and recommendations, which we invite you to familiarize yourself with today.

Time for sowing seeds

The timing when you should start sowing tomato seeds for window sill cultivation does not have the same restrictions as in the case of obtaining seedlings for open ground. It all depends on the period for which fruiting is planned: whether it will be year-round “exploitation”, or specifically the ripening of the crop in the winter.

To have fresh vegetables throughout the year, regardless of the weather, seeds can be planted in 4 passes: autumn sowing in October and November will provide winter harvest, and planting in February and March will guarantee fruit production in the summer.

Preparation of planting material

Potted tomatoes are grown in the same way as garden crops - through seedlings. You can use your own seeds, collected with your own hands from homemade tomatoes, or purchase them in a store. However, regardless of origin, all seeds must first be prepared for sowing. For this:

1. Sort out the hollow seeds by soaking everything in salted water (those that float are not suitable for seedlings).
2. Disinfect by leaving for half an hour in a solution of potassium permanganate.

To speed up the germination of seeds, you can put them in a fabric bag, moisten it well and leave it on a saucer for several days so that the seeds swell.

Soil selection

Particular attention should be paid to the substrate for growing tomatoes on the windowsill. It should be loose, nutritious and neutral acidity. The easiest way is to go to the same store where you bought the seeds and purchase ready-made special soil mixtures for tomato seedlings. This will be especially important during winter sowing; besides, store soil already contains all the necessary nutrients, and there is no need to add additional components.

If you have the desire and opportunity, you can prepare the soil for growing tomatoes on the windowsill yourself by choosing one of the proposed mixture options, namely:

• 1 share of sand and 2 shares of garden soil;
• humus, peat and turf soil in equal parts;
• 1 share of vermiculite, as well as 4 shares of turf soil and compost.

Soil from a garden or vegetable garden must be disinfected before use by dousing it with boiling water or calcining it in the oven.

Sowing seeds and creating conditions for seedlings

To grow tomato seedlings, you can use either a common container or individual cassettes, cups or peat tablets. In the first case, fill a shallow container with nutritious soil and moisten it well. The seeds should be placed at a certain distance from each other (1-2 cm), deepening no more than 2 cm, otherwise they will take a long time to germinate. Then sprinkle with a thin layer of soil and tamp lightly.

The seeds must germinate in a greenhouse, that is, the container must be covered with a lid or film and placed on a bright window. Ventilate the greenhouse periodically or make several small holes in the film to prevent condensation from accumulating. The optimal temperature conditions for seedlings at this stage of growth are from 22 to 24 degrees Celsius during the day and below 20 degrees at night.

Caring for indoor tomato seedlings consists of the following activities:

• ventilation;
• removing the lid after seed germination;
• regular watering;
• thinning too dense crops;
• additional illumination with special lamps on cloudy days and shading from direct rays on sunny days (the length of daylight should be at least 13 hours);
• fertilizing with a weak solution of the mineral complex after the formation of 2 leaves (approximately 20 days after sowing).

Strong, grown seedlings can be planted in pots, having first laid a drainage layer on the bottom. The choice of containers depends on the specific variety:

• for dwarf tomatoes, a volume of 2 liters is enough;
• 4-liter flowerpots are suitable for medium-sized plants;
• for ampel varieties of tomatoes you need 5 liter pots.

Further care for tomatoes in a pot

In order for tomatoes on the windowsill to develop well and set fruit, they need to be provided with good lighting by placing the pots on southern windowsills. Every two days, the flowerpots need to be turned so that the bushes do not grow one-sided, and if there is not enough sun, add additional light.

It is also important to follow the watering regime, moistening the soil twice a week. The soil should not be allowed to dry out completely, otherwise the ovary and fruits will fall off, but waterlogging also threatens putrefactive diseases. To feed the bushes after transplanting to permanent place You can start after 20 days - during this time they will adapt. It is enough to apply complex mineral fertilizers 3 times within a month, otherwise there is a risk that the tomatoes will become leafy, which will lead to a decrease in yield and shredding of the fruit.

Fertilizers must be applied to moist soil, preferably the day after watering.

Dwarf tomato varieties do not require pinching or staking, but more tall species You should install a support and form a bush into one or two stems, and also pluck out the stepsons.

There are some other tricks that will increase the yield of tomatoes, namely:

• when the bushes bloom, you need to lightly shake the plants several times - this promotes better pollination and, accordingly, will affect the amount of harvest;
• if a lot of ovaries have formed, you should leave no more than 6 clusters on each stem, plucking out the rest - this way you can get fewer tomatoes, but they will be larger;
• For varieties that ripen unevenly, it is better to harvest at the semi-ripe stage - then the bush will have more strength for the tomatoes remaining on the branches, and the picked vegetables will quickly reach if they are laid out next to the pot on the windowsill.

Protecting tomatoes from diseases

Another point that is worth paying attention to is the protection of tomatoes in pots from diseases, because even room conditions cannot guarantee their complete absence. One of the main enemies of nightshades is late blight. To prevent its manifestation, it is important not to flood the bushes and drain the water from the pan. Still can't tolerate fungus Fresh air, so you need to ventilate the room more often. As a preventive measure, you can spray your plants with a homemade remedy made from the following ingredients:

• 3 liters of water;
• 100 g garlic (chopped);
• 1 g of dry crystals of potassium permanganate.

Tomato varieties for indoor growing

When choosing a tomato variety for growing on a windowsill, you should give preference to low-growing, early-ripening and productive varieties due to limited space. They won’t take up much space and at the same time will delight you with delicious fruits in early spring. Some of the most popular varieties are the following tomatoes:

And in order to have fresh vegetables not only in the spring, but also until the New Year, you can plant taller ones (up to 1 m in height) hybrid varieties cherry tomato They will take up more space on the windowsill and will require shaping and gartering, but they will bear fruit before winter.

Some of the new but already popular hybrids are the following cherry varieties: Ira F1, Lisa F1, Maksik F1, Lykopa F1. Small but very tasty red or yellow tomatoes grow in whole clusters and ripen quickly.

It is better to take pots of cherry tomatoes outside or onto the balcony for the summer, not forgetting to take them indoors when it gets colder.

Growing tomatoes on a windowsill is a fun activity that will not only help you while away the long winter days, but will also provide your diet with vitamins. Plant and eat for good health!

IN Lately Growing tomatoes on a windowsill has become a popular activity among amateur gardeners. However, due to lack of knowledge, collecting good harvest It still doesn’t work out: the tomatoes get sick, grow poorly or set few fruits. What conditions must be provided for tomatoes in an apartment so that they bear fruit well at home?

Features of growing tomatoes on a windowsill

The technology for growing miniature indoor tomatoes is very similar to cultivating regular tomatoes on the site. At the same time, there are several features that must be taken into account when deciding to acquire low-growing tomatoes in the apartment:

• for good fruiting they need to be illuminated with phytolamps;
• in the room where the pots are located it is necessary to maintain a stable temperature and humidity;
• You cannot overwater tomatoes, otherwise they will get blackleg;
• growing containers must match the size of the plant;
• Tomato flowers need to be pollinated independently: during the flowering period, brush over the flowers with a soft brush 2-3 times a day.

By taking into account these nuances, which are described in detail below, the chance that growing tomatoes on a window in winter or at any other time of the year will be successful increases significantly.

What varieties are suitable for growing on a windowsill?

For growing in an apartment, it is better to choose determinate (low-growing) varieties of tomatoes that do not require staking and are unpretentious to the composition of the soil and the length of daylight hours. Most varieties with these characteristics are standard hybrids. Depending on your wishes, you can plant super-early or mid-season varieties. Such tomato varieties as Bonsai, Balcony Miracle, Pygmy, Pinnochio, and Room Surprise have excellent characteristics.

Despite the fact that tomatoes of these varieties do not grow more than half a meter, the plants produce about 2 kg of yellow or red fruits weighing from 15 to 100 g. Among the many tall varieties of tomatoes, cherry tomatoes are suitable for growing on a windowsill, which do not require special conditions.

How to plant and grow - features, conditions and step-by-step instructions

Growing tomatoes in an apartment is quite simple if you strictly follow the recommended requirements. Anyone can enjoy bright, juicy tomatoes in the middle of winter if they give the plants due care.

Video: how to grow tomatoes on a windowsill

What should the place be like?

To ensure that the plants receive as much natural light as possible, it is best to place tomatoes on south or east windows. If this is not possible, you can place the pots on a western window, but the crop will have to be supplemented with light. It is not recommended to grow light-loving tomatoes on northern windows.

Temperature

When growing tomatoes on a window, it is very important to maintain the correct temperature regime. Deviations from the established ranges are fraught with slow development and poor yield of the vegetable crop. When growing tomatoes on a window at home, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

• Seeds germinate quickly and amicably at a temperature of +23-+25 C.
• When the seedlings are 7 days old, the temperature is reduced to +20-+22 C. Being in colder conditions, the seedlings will not stretch, which often happens with tomatoes in indoors. You can reduce the temperature by ventilating the room for half an hour - the plant is not afraid of drafts.
• The optimal temperature at night is +15-+16C.

Important! On the coldest days, when the radiators become very hot, in order to protect the tomato leaves from the influence of warm air, the heating devices are covered with a wooden shield on top.

Humidity

Tomatoes grown in a window should only be sprayed if the air in the room is very dry. When the temperature in the apartment is below +20 C, you cannot spray plants at all: excessive humidity and cold air are the main reasons for the appearance of blackleg.

Lighting

Due to the fact that tomatoes are plants that need long daylight hours in order to form many high-quality fruits at home, they need to be illuminated. The lamps are turned on from 8 to 11 a.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m. The latest hybrids invented are unpretentious in terms of the amount of light, however, for better yield, it is recommended to light even them during the shortest days of winter.

Important! Without additional lighting, indoor tomatoes can be grown from mid-February.

Despite the fact that tomatoes love to live on light windowsills, the leaves of young seedlings can get burned when exposed to bright spring rays. To protect the plant from such injuries, the pots are moved to the eastern and northern windows. If it is impossible to make such a rearrangement, during the brightest hours they are shaded with gauze or paper.

Tying and pinching

The vast majority of hybrids and varieties of tomatoes intended for growing in an apartment on a window or windowsill do not need to be tied up, since they are endowed with a low, powerful stem. Only some varieties whose height exceeds 50 cm need supports. Medium-sized tomatoes form 2 stems, tall ones - one.

What container to plant in?

Tomato seedlings are initially planted in seedling containers, and as soon as they become crowded, they are transplanted into separate peat pots or plastic cups with a volume of more than 200 ml. When using peat cups, you need to control the amount of watering, otherwise the containers may simply fall apart.

During the next transplant, when the plants have 4-5 pairs of true leaves, the tomatoes are planted in a permanent pot. The size of the container for planting should be selected based on the characteristics of the variety being grown: the more compact the plant, the smaller the volume of the planting container should be.

Based on this rule, for landing dwarf varieties you need to use pots up to 2 liters. It is recommended to plant indoor tomatoes in 3-4 liter containers, and hanging tomatoes in 5 liter containers. Regardless of the size, there must be drainage holes in the bottom of the planting containers to drain excess water.

What soil to plant in

To plant low-growing tomatoes in an apartment, use a special substrate industrial production or a self-prepared mixture: mix garden soil, rotted compost and peat in a ratio of 5:5:2:1. On a bucket soil mixture add a matchbox of potassium sulfate and approximately the same amount of urea. Add a handful of wood ash to the mixture and mix thoroughly. The finished substrate is poured into containers and planting begins.

Important! Regardless of its origin, the soil must be calcined or frozen: high or low temperature will destroy pathogenic bacteria and insect larvae. Moreover, to prevent infection of tomatoes dangerous diseases, you need to calcine the tool that will be used when working with soil at home.

Preparing seeds for planting

First of all, poor planting material is rejected. Pour the seeds into a container with salted water and mix thoroughly. A few minutes after the water stops swirling, good seeds will sink to the bottom, and the bad ones will remain on the surface. The floating seeds are drained along with water, and the remaining ones continue to be prepared for planting in the apartment.

To destroy pathogens on the surface of the seeds, planting material is soaked for 15-20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. After the end of time, they are taken out of the container and laid out on paper towel. After drying, they are treated with a growth stimulator in accordance with the instructions. The substances contained in such preparations accelerate the germination of seedlings and increase the resistance of seedlings to diseases.

Direct landing

Indoor tomatoes are planted in the same way as regular tomatoes intended for growing in open ground. Planting is carried out in the following sequence:

1. Disinfected planting material is placed in damp cloth and put them in a warm place so that they hatch. Please note that if the fabric dries out, it must be sprayed, otherwise the embryos will dry out and the seeds will not hatch.
2. The prepared soil mixture or special substrate is poured into the seedling container and grooves 1 cm deep are made. It is not recommended to plant tomatoes to a depth of more than 2 cm: the period for the emergence of seedlings is doubled. The seeds are placed at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other.
3. The crops are sprinkled with soil and slightly moistened. Until the seedlings emerge, the box is covered with film or glass, which is removed from time to time so that the soil does not become moldy.
4. As soon as the seedlings produce 2-3 pairs of true leaves, they are transplanted into pots of appropriate size, the bottom of which is lined with drainage material.

Video: how to grow indoor tomatoes in winter

How to care after planting and before harvesting - tips

The health of tomatoes and the volume of the harvest depend on the quality of care. In order for indoor tomatoes to develop quickly in apartment conditions and produce the maximum number of fruits, they need to be watered and fertilized in a timely manner.

Watering

For fruits to form and ripen, the soil in the pot should be slightly moist. Tomatoes react poorly to both drought and overwatering: in the first case, the fruits may fall off during formation, in the second, the plant gets sick with blackleg and late blight.

Since chlorine is harmful to plants, indoor tomatoes should only be watered with well-settled water. In order for the particles of the chemical element to sink to the bottom, the water must be left to settle for a week. You can reduce the water preparation time to several hours by using a filter. As soon as the soil dries, water the seedlings moderately.

Subject to temperature conditions and normal air humidity, watering is carried out once every 5 days. Out of turn, tomatoes are watered the day before transplanting: removing the rhizome from moist soil is much easier and less painful for the plant.

Top dressing

At the beginning of development, after reaching a week of age, indoor tomatoes in pots are fed with nitrogen fertilizers, which activate plant growth. During fruit setting and pouring, potash fertilizers are added to the soil.

You can also fertilize seedlings with ordinary mineral mixtures diluted twice with water. To avoid burning the roots, fertilizing is applied 2 hours after watering. The optimal time for manipulation is cloudy weather. All types of fertilizers are applied no more than once every 2 weeks in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Worth knowing! For adult plants, fertilizing can be applied to the leaf or at the root. For young seedlings with tender leaves, foliar feeding is contraindicated.

Germination and harvest dates

While creating the right conditions in an apartment, tomato seedlings appear on the surface 6-10 days after sowing. The time for emergence of seedlings may be delayed further if the room is too cold or the seeds are sown too deep. In such cases, seedlings begin to sprout only on days 14-17.

Depending on the variety chosen, window-grown tomatoes ripen 85-110 days after planting.

Growing tomatoes on a windowsill is not only exciting, but also useful activity, thanks to which you can replenish the supply of vitamins for the whole family, which is especially important in winter.

Video: growing tomatoes on a windowsill

In winter, when a blizzard and cold are knocking on the window, fresh tomatoes on the windowsill seem like something exotic, unattainable, and this only makes them more attractive. How realistic is it to grow them in a harsh season? If you know the small nuances of “agricultural technology in pots”, it is no more difficult than ordinary tomatoes in the beds. When there is an insulated balcony, growing tomatoes can be organized on it.

Varieties that will “get along” in the house

All “tomato work” is tightly linked to the availability of free space. If there is enough space on the balcony, you can choose almost any variety for planting - tall, low, branchy or not very branchy. When only free space on the windowsill is available all year round, cherry varieties or those specially bred for “ home breeding» miniature bushes that quickly “give away” the harvest. Among them there can be both red and yellow varieties of tomatoes. High-quality composition does not depend on external color.

Cherry varieties: Bonsai, Balcony Miracle, Baby, Balcony Charm, Golden Bunch, Chinese Room, Room Surprise, Rowan Beads, Bullfinch, Japanese Dwarf and others.

Regular tomatoes that are suitable for a winter windowsill: White filling, Bull's heart, Leopold, Siberian early ripening, Florida Petit, Yamal.

Tomato varieties for balcony cultivation can be taken slightly taller in height and with larger fruits; otherwise, caring for them will be the same as for vegetables on the windowsill.

It is important to check the expiration dates, which are always indicated on factory packages of seeds. Often, inexperienced vegetable growers cannot understand why their indoor tomatoes do not sprout in winter. It is quite possible that this is the result of an overdue implementation period.

Miracle on the balcony

The “Balcony Miracle” tomato has gained special love among gardeners at home. This is a compact determinate variety, up to 50 cm high, ultra-early ripening (maximum ripening period 90 days), the weight of each bright red tomato is up to 65 g, round in shape. The usual yield is up to 2 kg per bush. If the plant is “allocated” to a larger area, the harvest in winter can be higher.

Before germination, the seeds are grown in greenhouse conditions, then the temperature is reduced to 15 degrees for a week, then raised again. When the sprouts rise to 15 cm, they are planted in large containers. “Balcony Miracle” tomatoes love light (although they ripen even in conditions of its deficiency) and do not require tying up or removing shoots.

A positive effect during winter cultivation will be provided by: assistance in pollination, good watering, fertilizers, careful loosening of the soil, and bush formation.

Feeding options:

• Special drugs.
• Liter solution: 5 g of superphosphate, mixed with potassium sulfate and urea - 1 g each.

The most productive fertilizing is in winter during the period of flowering and fruit formation.

Growing a “Balcony Miracle” at home will allow you to collect excellent tomatoes from your windowsill in winter for salads, preparations, and even freezing.

Main growing conditions

Growing tomatoes on a balcony or windowsill requires compliance with a number of necessary conditions:

• The best location is near the southern windows. Almost impossible - in the northern ones.
• Disinfected, non-clayey soil. Not less than 5 liters per bush.
• Along the bottom - drainage with expanded clay or sand.
• Air humidity up to 65%.
• Daylight hours for seedlings are at least 12 hours even in winter, preferably 13-16.
• If necessary, add additional lighting with lamps installed no closer than 30 cm from the seedlings.
• Water tomatoes on the balcony or windowsill carefully, warm water, without over-moistening, but also without over-drying. On average once every 3 days.
• Air temperature indicators: during the day 25-26 degrees, at night up to 15-16. If it’s hotter, ventilate; tomatoes are not afraid of drafts.
• Do not grow on a balcony without insulation before April.
• Loosen the soil and top up as necessary.
• It is possible to spray leaves and tie up branches.
• Do not turn pots with bushes to prevent tomatoes from being thrown off the branches.
• It is advisable to install containers on slatted stands.

You should not frequently fertilize tomatoes with nitrogenous and organic fertilizers in winter. Otherwise, powerful, coarse bushes will grow with a minimum of small fruits.

Instructions for winter growing tomatoes on a windowsill

Before you “start” the winter process of growing tomatoes at home, you need to stock up on everything necessary materials. You should have at hand:

• Seeds famous manufacturers with a “fresh” expiration date.
• Seeding cups.
• Containers for planting after picking - “cut-off” bottles, pots.
• Lamps for additional lighting.

Main stages of work

• Preparing containers and tools. "Fry" high temperature(in the oven) or treat with a preparation against fungi and bacteria. If using new peat pots, before planting, soak them in a solution of mineral and organic fertilizers and dry them.
• Land preparation. Tomatoes on a windowsill, as well as when grown outdoors, prefer “breathing”, clean soil. Ordinary soil can be doused with hot potassium permanganate, steamed in a water bath, or seriously frozen. Examples of mixtures for self-preparation: equal parts of earth, humus, peat and sand; for two parts of the land, 4 “measures” of humus and peat, 1 - sand. Pour well with a mixture of urea and potassium sulfate, diluting it with 10 liters of water according to the volume of a matchbox. Add a handful of ash there. The looseness of the soil is increased with peat or sawdust.
• Germination of seeds. To prevent late blight, soak them in a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour, dry and treat with a growth stimulator. To germinate, soak the seeds with warm water and leave them on a damp cloth in a warm place.
• Rules for sowing varieties for balconies and windowsills. Sprouted tomato seeds are planted in lightly watered soil in small holes (up to 1 cm), 1 piece at a time. Dry ones are buried in 2 or 3 copies at a distance of 2 cm. Cover with film or glass on top and transfer to a warm place, but without the “African heat”. To obtain a tomato harvest on the windowsill in winter and early spring, sowing is carried out in October and late November. Continuity of tomato harvesting can be ensured by the following sowings in mid-February and late March.
• "Moving" to a permanent place. When shoots appear, the covering material is removed and the pots are moved closer to the window. Next, it is important to ensure that the sprouts have enough light and warmth in winter.

Raise containers with tomatoes from time to time to see if excess moisture has accumulated in the pan. It needs to be removed. Water with water at room temperature.

• Carrying out a dive. During the period of appearance of 2 permanent leaves. After the “procedure”, the strongest sprouts receive a more capacious “container” for growth - 7-10 liters. The roots of the seedlings are buried 3 cm and watered. Growing tomatoes on the balcony will take place in such large containers. Larger varieties are immediately tied to pegs. Leave any tomatoes in the winter after transplanting for about a week so that the bushes take root quietly. When it’s still cool outside, it’s better to bring tomatoes from the balcony into the room at night. With the onset of warmth, all plantings “move” to the balcony.
• Winter feeding of tomatoes on the windowsill. Seedlings are “supplied” once every 10 days with organic matter and ready-made mineral fertilizers. Proceed according to the instructions on the package, do not forget to carefully loosen the soil around the trunk. With the appearance of 2 true leaves, fertilize the seedlings in winter with a solution of microelements. The most important rules work: for young plants, the dose, reduced by 2 times compared to the instructions, is carried out on moist soil, preferably without touching the leaves.
• Pinching and pruning. The stems that begin to grow from the axils of the leaves are called stepsons. They are removed so that nutrition is not taken away from the ripening fruits. To form 2-3 stems in low-growing varieties, you can leave the appropriate number of stepsons. The rest are removed manually, preferably in the morning, while there is no strong sun. short and standard varieties You don’t have to plant the stepson, but you don’t have to thicken the bush either. Sick and yellowed leaves are cut off. After the clusters have formed, you can also cut off the lower leaves.

You cannot remove all the leaves. In this case, the synthesis of organic materials will be disrupted.

• Bush formation. After setting the fruit, 4-5 clusters are left on each trunk. All others are removed along with the top of the stem and inflorescences. When the formation of the fruit itself begins, the tops are pinched and the flowering tassels are removed.
• Help with pollination. Tomatoes of “balcony” varieties are also self-pollinating, but help in winter will not hurt them. It is enough to lightly shake the flower tassels and tap on the stem. To prevent the ovary from falling off, it is permissible to spray the bush with a solution boric acid– 1 g per 5 liters of water and add a little potassium permanganate.
• Prevention of diseases. Without proper care tomatoes can get sick in winter even when grown on a windowsill. If you “flood” them, mold, rot or late blight are guaranteed. For its prevention, a mixture of the following composition is well suited: add half a glass of garlic and a little potassium permanganate (half a gram) to a three-liter container of water. You can use spraying with Fitosporin. The appearance of whiteflies, even when grown in a window in winter, is facilitated by soil acidification. Adding crumbs of chalk, ash, dolomite flour or slaked lime. There are also special deoxidizing drugs.

By responsibly caring for the bushes and taking all preventive measures, you can be sure that the tomatoes will ripen in the right quantity.

Harvesting

To grow a full-fledged harvest on the windowsill, it is important to collect the fruits on time. In winter, remove saturated tomatoes that have begun to turn slightly pink. They are placed for ripening on a window or in a dark box. The process will go through to the end, and the bush will “throw” all the released useful substances into growing the fruits remaining on the branches.

Knowing how to grow tomatoes at home on a windowsill or balcony, you can pamper your loved ones with “delicious plantings” not only in summer, but also in winter. This will especially please children, who will examine each plant with the greatest curiosity and will certainly taste the small tasty “tomatoes”.

When growing indoor tomatoes, we get double benefits.
The first is decorative look no worse than many house flowers.
The second is the opportunity to use delicious tomatoes for food.

And of course, these qualities of indoor tomatoes are doubly valuable when they are grown in winter.

Therefore, it was in winter that I decided to grow indoor tomatoes at home and did not regret the time and money spent. The result, both aesthetic and practical, more than satisfied me. It’s worth the sheer pleasure of watching my one-year-old grandson devouring these tomatoes better than a sweet pear.

Of course, you can’t get a good result by yourself; as always, certain conditions are needed, namely:

The presence of seeds of an indoor variety; ordinary varieties will not suit us, especially when grown in winter. I took the indoor variety seeds sent to me

You need flower pots of at least 5 liters.

Of course availability good soil, I used mine, which I prepared in the fall for seedlings, consisting of good compost and forest soil in 1:1 proportions. but you can also use a store-bought one, preferably two varieties, peat-based and humus-based.

And the last condition for winter is the presence of additional lighting, here I used LED bulbs for plants.

When you know that the necessary conditions have been met, you can proceed directly to cultivation.

Here everything goes by analogy with growing seedlings, namely, first you need to grow high-quality seedlings.
To do this, I sowed them in a small container to a depth of 1 cm, covered the container cling film and placed her under the lamp. When the shoots appear, the film is removed and the lamp works around the clock for two or three days, then we switch it to 14-hour operation from 7 to 21 hours. We monitor the humidity, and in a week beautiful strong seedlings with two true leaves will grow.

The second stage of growing indoor tomatoes is planting them in large pots with further care.

The recommendations here are to maintain soil moisture and not allow it to completely dry out or overwater, so the frequency and amount of watering depends greatly on the humidity and temperature in the room and on the size of the bushes being grown.

We leave the light mode for 14 hours throughout the entire cultivation.

During flowering, spray the flowers once a day with water from a fine spray bottle.

And the last is a small feeding every two weeks with humate fertilizer.

The full cycle from the moment of sowing to the mass ripening of the fruit took me less than a week, four months. What is good about this variety is that the reddened fruits do not ripen on the branch for two weeks, so for beauty you can wait until most of the set fruits ripen, which is what I did.

So in winter we again enjoyed the smell of tomatoes, their beauty and the taste of our own tomatoes.

A short video will help you visually see the whole process.

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66 comments to the entry: “Indoor tomatoes. Growing tomatoes in winter”

1. Tatiana P.:
   January 30th, 2015 at 10:17 pm
2. Maria:
   January 31st, 2015 at 6:26 pm

   Hello, Valery. I was pleased to get acquainted with your site, it’s a pity that not earlier, many mistakes could have been avoided.

   Regarding indoor tomatoes - tell me, how long do they live? As far as I know, tomatoes are perennial plants; I grew the Pinocchio variety, which produced several waves of harvest, but unfortunately did not live to see the new year. So I’m thinking, is it my mistake, or is his deadline just expired?

3. Valery Medvedev:
   February 1st, 2015 at 9:32 am

   Maria, different varieties are able to live for different times, in a pot this time is even more limited; in order for tomatoes to grow for a long time, young roots must always grow in, this problem can only be solved in hydroponics. Your tomatoes have probably exhausted all their capabilities for the given volume of the pot and the conditions at home.

4. Maria:
   February 1st, 2015 at 5:37 pm

   Valery, thanks for the answer.

5. Sergey:
   February 3rd, 2015 at 1:33 pm

   Hello, Valery. But you yourself haven’t observed at home how long they can live. It seems that there is nowhere to be found either on the Internet or in paper versions about the longevity of tomatoes.

6. Valery Medvedev:
   February 5th, 2015 at 10:47 am

   Sergey, I don’t think that you can keep tomatoes at home for a long time, especially in pots, I harvested my harvest, cut off the branches, left the stepsons with flowers and now the second wave of the harvest has begun, I’ll see how much I can do this way, a woman wrote to me that she got three waves, and then the tomatoes died, I think it’s all about the roots, young roots should always form in the soil, it is through them that nutrition comes, in a pot this production of young roots is limited, and therefore the period is limited. And they keep it in hydroponics for up to three years.

7. Sergey:
   February 5th, 2015 at 3:22 pm

   Hello, Valery. Is it suitable to cut off part of the roots at each subsequent wave to extend the lifespan...

8. Valentina:
   February 6th, 2015 at 11:18 pm

   Hello Valery, thank you for interesting information I need to try to grow such seedlings and transplant them to the dacha in May, I’ll try different varieties, I just need to buy lamps, and in the fall I’ll try to grow them on a windowsill. When should I plant in the fall so that by the New Year, tomatoes will ripen instead of a Christmas tree?

9. Valery Medvedev:
   February 8th, 2015 at 9:16 am

   Valentina, in the fall it is necessary to plant in early September.

10. Valery Medvedev:
    February 8th, 2015 at 9:20 am

    Sergey, pruning the roots leads to earlier ripening, when it is necessary to complete cultivation, but not to extend the fruiting period.

11. Oleg:
    February 8th, 2015 at 4:55 pm

    Valery, in early February, I have now seen shoots of the so-called. balcony tomatoes (Alaska variety. The question is, is it too early I sowed on February 1, taking into account that I live in a far from sunny place in Estonia, 200 km from St. Petersburg. But the windows are on the sunny south side. Without additional lamps, what advice can I give from You, so that the experiment would be more successful.

12. Valery Medvedev:
    February 9th, 2015 at 8:24 am

    It will be problematic to grow Oleg without lamps now, the daylight hours are still short and even in a sunny window they may not have enough light, and they need it especially in the early phase of growing. You will immediately notice the lack of light by thin stems, elongation and slower growth. Without lighting, it is better to plant them in April.

13. Michael:
    February 9th, 2015 at 1:45 pm

    Valery, and then we’ll sow the pots with green manure?

    I planted the seeds yesterday. The lamp is ready. I'm expecting harvest in 4 months. I'm going to the dacha in June. Will it make sense to transplant adult fruit-bearing specimens into the ground (OG or greenhouse)?

14. Valery Medvedev:
    February 9th, 2015 at 3:41 pm

    Mikhail, I harvested my crops, cut off the fruit-bearing branches, left only young shoots, they immediately began to grow, bloomed, set and now I’m waiting for the second wave of the harvest, so it would make sense to replant into the ground, of course it’s a pity to occupy a greenhouse, but in the open ground I think you will get another harvest.

15. Lydia:
    February 9th, 2015 at 10:00 pm

    Valery, I often visit your site, I also grow tomatoes in winter (winter variety), they look similar to yours, I’ve already dived, the lighting is two fluorescent lamps, but I also want to buy LEDs, tell me what type and power you have. Last year I also planted at this time, at the end of May we harvested, then I planted one bush in the greenhouse on the edge, so there were countless tomatoes on it until the frost, they hung in bunches like grapes. And another question, I really liked the Mitlider greenhouse, are there ready-made ones? If so, where can I buy it? Thanks in advance.

16. Valery Medvedev:
    February 10th, 2015 at 8:31 am

    Lydia, I used 15 W bulbs, you can see it here. As for the greenhouse, I haven’t seen factory ones like these, you can probably order them according to drawings from small manufacturers.

17. Dmitriy:
    March 18th, 2015 at 4:10 am

    Hello, please tell me in detail how to prepare soil for indoor tomatoes. I don’t have a summer house and I can’t get it anywhere except in the store.

    Thank you!!!

18. Valery Medvedev:
    March 18th, 2015 at 12:57 pm

    Dmitry, try to find two types of soil, peat-based and humus-based and mix them 1:1 or, at worst, soil from low-lying peat (it is darker) and high-moor peat (it is lighter and more fibrous)

19. Oleg:
    March 31st, 2015 at 12:39 pm

    Valery, good afternoon. My first comment No. 11. I sowed the seeds on March 1st. So Alaska bloomed in its first inflorescences at the end of March on the windowsill. You can see many small inflorescences in the future. I have 4 bushes. There was a strong growth of tops, the bushes had to be thoroughly trimmed. As a fertilizer, I used once a local Estonian liquid with the consistency of water (PH 7), called HUUMUS. I continue the experiment.

    Since this is my first time growing on a windowsill, and in general I have never dealt with the whole process from start to finish, I ask for your advice on how to stimulate flowering and fruit set.

    P.S. I illuminated it with a fluorescent lamp every day until midnight. Alone.

    

20. Valery Medvedev:
    March 31st, 2015 at 3:50 pm

    Just shake the bushes during flowering, if they have enough strength they will close, it depends more on the light than on the nutrition.

21. Oleg:
    April 16th, 2015 at 12:01 pm

    So, the sown tomatoes developed into bushes on March 1 and the period of the first massively falling inflorescences is over. As of today, April 15 (exactly 1.5 months have passed), I have two green fruits per bush, the size of an acorn and many inflorescences. Windows on the east side.

22. Natalia:
    May 30th, 2015 at 3:28 pm

    Good afternoon

    SOS...I planted the seeds on January 12th. She highlighted it and they grew up very friendly. I fed it with Baikal. The result reached 2 meters on May 30th. Now I have put them on the balcony. Some have begun to bloom very modestly and have been blooming for the second week. How can they be saved? Can I feed you something?

    

23. Valery Medvedev:
    May 31st, 2015 at 8:25 am

    You can feed with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers or a weak solution of ash, 1 tablespoon per liter of clean, non-chlorinated water.

24. Natalia:
    June 1st, 2015 at 4:32 pm

    Thank you. I'll try to do that. I’ll let you know when I get the harvest.

25. Oleg:
    June 5th, 2015 at 12:28 pm

    From three bushes I get 15 tomatoes. about 5 cm in diameter and the height of the bushes is up to 1 meter and above. Variety ALASKA. Such large bushes are difficult to grow at home in winter. But the experiment was a success in principle. The neighbors are all in shock. We just planted the seeds in greenhouses, and we already have red tomatoes.

    

26. Olga:
    July 7th, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    Hello! Tell me, how many watts are your lamps? I counted 8 of them.

    I want to buy one 54W lamp, will one be enough for three pots? The lamp is hung 10-20 cm from the plant tower.

27. Valery Medvedev:
    July 10th, 2015 at 9:08 am

    One lamp will not shine evenly, the light under it will be more intense than next to it, so it will grow better in the middle than at the edges.

28. Elena:
    October 3rd, 2015 at 1:14 pm
29. Valery Medvedev:
    October 4th, 2015 at 9:33 am
30. Elena:
    October 6th, 2015 at 11:30 am

    Thank you, Valery!

31. Alexei:
    December 23rd, 2015 at 9:46 pm

    Hello Valery, how to fertilize tomatoes at home

32. Valery Medvedev:
    December 24th, 2015 at 9:44 am

    Better than humates.

33. Artem:
    December 30th, 2015 at 10:03 pm

    Good afternoon. I want to start an indoor garden at home. It's time for questions for you. 1 if there is a difference in the light spectrum at the vegetative growth stage and at the flowering stage. 2 If there is a difference in the subcortex at different stages of tomato growth. if so, which one? and if possible, the composition of the fertilizer is the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium?

34. Valery Medvedev:
    January 6th, 2016 at 9:34 am

    Artem, I grow tomatoes at home for the hobby, tomatoes in general almost from a decorative point of view, and a little for my grandson

35. Elena:
    February 16th, 2016 at 8:14 pm

    Hello Valery, please tell me how much you need to feed them per month?

36. Valery Medvedev:
    February 19th, 2016 at 4:30 pm
37. Olga:
    April 7th, 2016 at 4:16 pm

    Valery, I admire you! You take care of the plants with such love, it’s simply pleasing to the eye.

38. Dmitriy:
    April 11th, 2016 at 10:50 pm

    Hello Valery. Please tell me how many light bulbs you have in total on the lamp, and is it important that the socket is tilted?

39. Valery Medvedev:
    April 12th, 2016 at 7:38 am

    It doesn’t matter, the light bulbs should be positioned so that the circles they form from a height of 50 cm almost touch, then the lighting will be effective.

40. Oleg:
    April 22nd, 2016 at 5:04 pm

    Hello Valery. Can you please tell me if I need to pinch the top?

41. Valery Medvedev:
    April 25th, 2016 at 8:36 am

    If it stretches, then it’s possible.

42. Shukran:
    June 8th, 2016 at 2:10 pm

    Valery, thank you very much for the useful video tips! God bless you with all the GOOD!!!

43. Shukran:
    June 8th, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    useful tips

44. Anna:
    September 12th, 2016 at 10:43 pm

    Please tell me whether it is necessary to remove the stepchildren?

45. Valery Medvedev:
    September 15th, 2016 at 1:54 pm
46. Sergey:
    November 21st, 2016 at 9:18 am

    Valery, can you find out why “During flowering, we spray the flowers once a day with water from a fine sprayer.”?

47. Valery Medvedev:
    November 25th, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    This only happens if the humidity is very low so that the pollen sticks.

48. Larisa:
    December 1st, 2016 at 11:15 am

    Valery Sergeevich, good afternoon! Tell me, are you also growing indoor tomatoes this year? I planted an F1 Tumbling Tiger tomato in September, and only one of the eight bushes had ovaries - 7 small tomatoes. The rest seem to be sleeping. Lighting: 2 fluorescent lamps per 2 bushes. The pots are 4 liters each, but there are pimples at the bottom of the stem, as if the roots are asking for it. Perhaps they need to be replanted? I have photos on my phone, but I don’t know how to download them. I’m waiting for my son to find time to download the photos. And I’m afraid to replant, in case I do something wrong, the bushes are 50-60 centimeters high, although the bag says up to 20 cm. I couldn’t find anything about this tomato on the Internet from practice, so I decided to try it myself. The lower leaves begin to wither and dry out, although there is enough moisture. So I’m thinking, maybe they don’t have enough land?

49. Valery Medvedev:
    December 2nd, 2016 at 10:10 am

    Perhaps the air is too dry and there is still not enough light. You can feed them with humates. I have been growing a couple of bushes for my grandson since the summer, by this time they have already grown tall, since I have already removed a lot from below, my grandson has already eaten about 30 pieces from each bush on the weekends. 4 litas is enough if you feed once every two weeks.

50. Larisa:
    December 2nd, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    Thanks for the answer, I’ll try to feed it, and there’s still room for a little 1cm of soil, maybe add some?

51. Larisa:
    December 4th, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    Valery Sergeevich, thank you again for the advice! I put the cloth on the windowsill, wet it twice in the morning and evening, plus spray it with a spray bottle, feed it, and added 1 more lamp, considering that they are on my windowsill, I think there will definitely be enough light now. It only took 3 days and my tomatoes started to feel great. Thank you for your site, I learned so much information. For me, gardening is a hobby, and it’s great when there is somewhere to get information from. All the best to you and high yields!

52. Vladimir:
    December 18th, 2016 at 8:36 am

    Hello! I would like to propose a design for an LED lamp made from LED strips. All components are purchased in the store. The cost is cheaper than buying ready-made phytolamps. I have been using these lamps for 6 years.

    DIY phytolamp:

    The phytolamp is made from LED strips of red and of blue color. The ratio of red to blue is 2 to 1, i.e. 1 piece of blue ribbon is taken for 2 pieces of red.

    The tapes are glued to a cable-channel of the desired length and suspended above the plants. A 12 volt power supply is used to power the LED strips.

    appropriate power (consult the seller). To automatically turn it on/off, use a timer (preferably an electronic one with a weekly program). LED strips and the power supply for them is purchased at a radio parts store. The cable duct and timer can be purchased at a hardware or electrical store.

    Advantages of LED phytolamp:

    1. Cost-effective.

    2. The light spectrum is most suitable for green plants.

    3. No heating, maximum temperature 40°C (therefore the lamp can be placed close to the plants).

    4. Safety (the lamp is powered by a safe voltage of 12V).

53. Larisa:
    May 16th, 2017 at 1:57 pm

    Hello! On February 14, I planted indoor tomatoes of different varieties, they bloom, but refuse to bear fruit, although they should already bear fruit, there is enough sun and watering, each sits in a separate 5 liter container, I feed it once every 10 days with potassium humate, only nano-tomatoes stick out in the sepals, that don't develop, what am I doing wrong? I want to try to plant a second batch, but it’s mid-May, or do indoor tomatoes not care when you plant them?

54. Valery Medvedev:
    May 17th, 2017 at 8:06 am

    Perhaps you have the wrong varieties. You can plant at any time.

55. Michael:
    July 19th, 2017 at 11:59 am

    Good day, Valery. In your opinion, does it make sense to plant a seed immediately in a five-liter pot? What do you think are the pros and cons of this option compared to transplanting from a small container to a larger one? What is your volume in liters of “pots” at each stage of planting? How long do you keep the plant in each transplant pot?

56. Valery Medvedev:
    July 21st, 2017 at 9:44 am

    It is better to dive first into a 0.5 liter pot, then into a 5 liter pot, if you plant it immediately in a 5 liter pot, it is difficult to monitor soil moisture and there is a high probability of root rotting, since on the surface the soil will seem dry, but at depth it may be oversaturated with moisture . But this does not mean that it is impossible to grow immediately in a large pot, only in terms of speed through transplants I was able to get a harvest faster than immediately in a large pot.

57. Yuri:
    November 4th, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    Is it possible to sow indoor tomato seeds for seedlings in November in order to get a harvest in January-February?

58. Valery Medvedev:
    November 4th, 2017 at 2:08 pm

    It’s possible, but you just need to have additional lighting.

59. Yuri:
    November 6th, 2017 at 10:44 am

    Hello, Valery. Is it possible to use a phyto lamp or backlight, or, practically, as constant additional lighting throughout the day. I have cold window sills without central heating radiators.

60. Valery Medvedev:
    November 9th, 2017 at 4:47 pm
61. Victoria:
    December 4th, 2017 at 12:24 pm

    Good afternoon This is my first time growing tomatoes on the windowsill. Now the second true leaves have appeared. Transplanted it into a 5 liter bucket. Small black flies with transparent wings appeared. How to get rid of them?

62. Valery Medvedev:
    December 8th, 2017 at 9:48 am

    They have evaporated from the soil, do not overfill it. You can put a saucer with syrup nearby to lure them into it, and if there are too many of them, sprinkle dichlorvos in the vicinity of the tomatoes. It is better to mulch the soil with perlite or moss.

63. Michael:
    August 13th, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    Regarding answer 62. That is. Should I fill the top of the pot with perlite or moss? Moss “takes root” quickly; if you scatter it, it won’t germinate later? How will tomatoes feel next to moss? Although, of course, the picture would have been more colorful - moss and tomatoes.

64. Valery Medvedev:
    August 14th, 2018 at 7:46 am

    Dried moss will never grow in a pot, as mulch for pots is the best option.

65. Vladimir:
    October 20th, 2018 at 11:30 am

    Is it necessary to form window tomatoes? If so, how and when?

66. Valery Medvedev:
    October 25th, 2018 at 9:09 am

    You can remove the lower two stepsons, and then make sure that it does not thicken, remove fruiting brushes and old leaves and even branches.

Fruiting tomatoes on the windowsill are not uncommon among the varied indoor flora developed by amateur plant growers. The methods for growing them have been developed in detail and can be applied in almost every apartment.

Tomatoes can grow in acceptable conditions at any time of the year, but in order to get a decent harvest, it is recommended to adhere to certain deadlines. A “vegetable garden” planted on a window in October-November will produce fruits from about February-March, and if, for lack of open area If you also want to collect the summer harvest right in your own apartment, then it is best to start preparing the seeds in late February - early March. Winter harvest is ensured by the start of work in mid-summer. In any case, tomatoes on the windowsill will ripen a maximum of 4 months after planting the seeds. Depending on the season, care will be a little easier if you grow the plant in summer and spring.

The required amount of seeds is disinfected in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for about 20 minutes. At the same time, defective seeds - floating seeds - are rejected. Keeping in mind subsequent transplants, they can be sown in shallow trays. You can take ready-made soil from the store or make it at home from chernozem and humus, adding a little sand for a better structure. As mineral fertilizer You can add a little wood ash.

A shallow tray or plastic cups for sowing tomato seeds work well. The soil is disinfected by pouring boiling water over it. Preliminary germination of seeds is carried out between the folds of damp natural fabric.

The depth of the holes for small seeds is 1 - 2 cm, and the distance between them is 2 cm. To prevent the soil from drying out, the sowing is usually covered with film and kept in warm conditions (up to 30 ° C).

Seedling care and picking

For seedlings, a temperature of 22°C during the day, 15°C at night and good lighting are sufficient, which is why the tray is usually kept on a bright window. At this time, drafts are unacceptable, the watering rate must be strictly maintained, do not overfill or overdry, the water must be warm.

Important! Tomatoes do not tolerate close planting.

The plant is transplanted to a permanent place at the stage of two true leaves for each tomato; it is necessary to use a separate container for this, and for a tall plant a special container is needed - at least 6 liters; for dwarf tomatoes it is quite possible to get by with a smaller volume.

Caring for grown tomatoes involves gentle watering and providing the home with sufficient lighting and heat. In summer at home there is enough light for a plant on the windowsill, in winter the duration have a bright day can be extended using a fluorescent or special phytolamp.

Homemade tomatoes should be watered when the top layer is dry. In indoor conditions, it is convenient to make watering automatic: dig into the soil plastic bottle with holes and pour water into it from above as it is gradually consumed.

Instead of hilling, which is convenient to do when growing in open ground, indoor tomatoes are sprinkled at the root with an additional layer of soil, for which, first, when planting, the soil in the pot is not filled to the very edge. Loosening the soil in potting conditions is not difficult, so it is necessary to do it. There is no need to artificially pollinate indoor tomatoes, since even at home this plant self-pollinates.

Tomato fertilizer

Care includes mandatory feeding. Plants require increased nutrition at the stage of the second leaf, then after the sixth; fertilizing is carried out at the beginning of flowering and when fruits form to ensure a good harvest.

You can prepare the feeding mixture at home yourself.

To do this, you need to take: superphosphate, potassium sulfate and urea and mix in a ratio of 5:1:1, then dilute in 1 liter of water. As a mineral fertilizer, you can use ash in the form of a solution or sprinkle it dry. Rotted manure (2 tablespoons per liter), mullein solution (1:5), chicken droppings (1:15) are sources of organic matter; they can also be used to fertilize the plant if necessary. Under indoor conditions, these solutions are applied several hours after normal watering, alternating mineral and organic fertilizers.

Forming a bush growing in an apartment is a mandatory procedure, necessary not only to grow tomatoes on the windowsill in a compact, convenient and aesthetic form, but also to increase their yield. For the smallest varieties, all care for this purpose consists of removing stepsons - extra stems growing in the axils of the leaves. Everyone requires this procedure indoor varieties tomatoes, excess shoots should be carefully broken off with your fingers. To prevent tomatoes growing on a windowsill from bending due to their attraction to light, the pot must be rotated 180° from time to time. Miniature bushes do not require support, taller ones do, you need to stick it into the ground before it develops root system so as not to hurt her in any way.

Special care for tomatoes on the windowsill

Later in the article we will learn how to grow healthy and strong tomatoes on the windowsill.
Prevention begins with disinfection of soil and seeds. In the future, constant attention and strict adherence to the rules of care are required, especially in the early stages, because tomatoes grow on the windowsill in conditions that are not entirely normal for them. The needs of plants can be determined by the condition of the leaves: normally they are slightly curled, but with a lack of light or moisture they stretch upward. Common problems that occur when growing tomatoes at home are blackleg disease and whitefly pest. Reasons: excessive watering, hypothermia, lack of light, drafts. Maintaining a temperature at home of 25° hardly makes sense, but 20° and above is enough. To prevent blackleg, you can hill up young plants with fine sand.

Through the efforts of breeders, a luxurious selection of homemade tomato varieties has been created for every taste. They should not be grown from seeds from any store-bought fruits. Most special ones are compact enough to fit into small space on the window, the height of the bush is within half a meter, or a little more, there are also dwarf ones: Minibel (30 cm), Bonsai micro (15 cm). General properties Most varieties for living in an apartment - relative shade tolerance, self-pollination and characteristics of the fruits: they are small, but ripen quickly and give a good harvest.

The popular variety “Balcony Miracle” has shown itself to be excellent, prolific and early ripening, from the first shoots to ripe pink tomatoes in less than 3 months. “Yellow Pearl” and “Balcony Yellow” also produce yellow fruits. Many small, tasty tomatoes can be collected from home grown varieties: Florida Petite, Balcony Red. The varieties Igranda, Hermitage, and Russian Troika have larger fruits and produce a good harvest. tall bushes Bull's heart or White filling are unusual for the home and are not suitable for the windowsill, but they grow well on the summer balcony, and most importantly, they produce very tasty large tomatoes. The seed package will usually indicate whether the variety is intended for indoor growing.

Well? Maybe it's time for us to take a chance and try growing tomatoes in our home garden.

Of course, we won’t be able to grow enough vegetables at home to collect them in buckets, but you’ll definitely get a dozen or two red, tight fruits in the middle of winter.

In addition, they will become a real decoration for your apartment, and you will be able to feast on sweet tomatoes and admire the cheerful little vegetable garden with bright fruits, thereby satisfying your gardening cravings.

Want to? So, let's start growing tomatoes on the windowsill at home and create a unique, beautiful home garden full of vitamins.

• Tomatoes on the windowsill have long ceased to be exotic. Growing and caring for them is quite easy, you just need to know easy conditions such original agricultural technology.

Experienced gardeners will be happy to share with you the secrets of growing indoor tomatoes. Creating a home garden will bring you real pleasure!

This is a very pleasant and exciting activity, and your children will be happy to help you in setting up your home garden and caring for it.

How to grow tomatoes on a windowsill? How to create the most favorable conditions for the ripening of tomato crops on the windowsill?

This is what further discussion will be about.

Choosing the right variety

For a mini-garden on the windowsill, of course, you need varieties of dwarf, low-growing tomatoes. Their fruits are light in weight, and the plants themselves readily inhabit small pots.

There are a great variety of tomato varieties of these types.

• Experienced gardeners know that choosing the right variety of baby tomatoes does not happen right away; choosing the optimal one is only possible through trial and error. After all, each apartment has its own atmosphere, different climatic conditions.

Tomatoes in different homes will behave individually, this gives a certain touch of surprise to the upcoming chores.

So, choose:

♦ For a small window sill. For a small window sill, standard size Tiny tomatoes of dwarf varieties would be ideal:

• Minibel. The height of the bush is about 30 cm. Tomatoes weighing 20-40 g are collected in compact clusters of 8-10 pieces.
• Florida Petit. The height of the plant is up to 30 cm, the bright red fruits weighing 30-40 g are very sweet. In one brush, up to 15-20 tomatoes are collected.
• Balcony miracle. One of the most popular ultra-early domestic varieties. Pink tomatoes weighing 20-30 g will delight you with a bountiful harvest after 80 days.
• Balcony red. Bright red small tomatoes will be ready for the table 90-95 days after planting. The fruits are very sweet and aromatic.
• Bonsai. Each bush about 30 cm high will bring you 500-600 g of bright, tasty small tomatoes.
• Bonsai micro. The smallest tomato variety on the windowsill. The bushes grow up to only 15 cm. They can be grown in hanging basket, admire the beautiful view and feast on tiny fragrant fruits.
• Pinocchio. If you plant small cherry tomatoes in September, by New Year's holidays The harvest of fragrant fruits will be ready. This variety is considered one of the best for creating a garden at home.

♦ For an insulated window sill. If your window sill is wider and has a good area for placing boxes or flowerpots, you can create a garden on the windowsill from tomato varieties with larger fruits and tall stems.

• Balconies Yelou. The variety will delight you with the first harvest of round yellow tomatoes after 100-110 days. The tomato tastes sweet with a slight sourness, the bush grows up to 45-50 cm.
• The pearl is red and yellow. The culture grows up to half a meter and has excellent decorative qualities. Red Pearl fruits have a sweeter taste. Their weight reaches 50 g.
• Hermitage Museum. This productive variety It is recommended to grow in the northwestern regions. The fruits are quite large, their weight can reach 100 g.
• Native. Early view of tomatoes. The fruits are raspberry-colored, large (up to 180 g). This variety is particularly resistant to cool conditions.
• Igranda. Early variety, high-yielding and resistant to sudden changes in temperature conditions. The fruits are fleshy, round and bright red. Their weight can reach 150 g.
• Russian Troika. Tomato bushes are small, they grow up to 60 cm. But the fruits are very large and fragrant, their weight sometimes reaches 300g!

At first, you can try planting several varieties of tomatoes on the windowsill at once and observe how the tomatoes behave in order to settle on the ideal varieties for your apartment.

Arranging a vegetable garden on a windowsill

♦ Which would be better suited windowsill? Tomatoes love light (if there is not enough light, flower buds will fall off), so the best home the most illuminated window sills will be for them (best on the south side).

Growing on a windowsill should be carried out with additional organization of artificial lighting for your garden (use energy-saving fluorescent lamps).

It will be great if you use sources of short-wave radiation of red-blue light (phytolamps).

• Additional lighting must be placed at least 25-30 cm from the top leaves of the seedlings. The daylight hours for tomato babies are 13-16 hours.

Lamps should be turned on for tomatoes on the windowsill when the weather is cloudy outside. They should be used early in the morning before dawn and in the evening after the sun has gone down.

♦ When to sow seeds. There are two terms for sowing tomatoes:

1. Summer-autumn. Seedlings are grown in July-August, you will already receive fruits in November-December.
2. Winter-spring. Seedlings should be started in November-December. The first harvest will await the owner in March-April.

Features of cultivation

When you purchase seeds, be very careful about the quality of the planting material. Always check expiration dates.

Expired seeds may remain in the ground, or you will end up with weak, stunted plants.

♦ Seed disinfection. Immediately before planting, we need to disinfect the seeds and prevent them from late blight infection.

To do this, soak the seeds for 20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Then, to increase germination and stronger growth, we will use “Epina” or any other growth stimulant - the seeds should be kept in it for about 10-12 hours.

♦ Germination. Having selected the required tomato varieties, we begin the process of seed germination. Place them in a small bowl, cover with moistened gauze and leave in a warm place for 3-4 days.

As soon as our tomatoes have put out small roots, we need to plant them.

♦ Where we plant. For growing tomato seeds, plastic or peat cups with a volume of about 200 ml are best suited.

Shallow trays can be used. Fill the containers with soil:

• You can use an earthen mixture (45% black soil, 5% sand and 50% humus). Add a little manganese to it for disinfection. Make sure the soil is not clayey.
• Or use a mixture of soil, humus (5 parts each), sand and peat (1 part each).

Add urea to the finished soil (8-10 g of urea per bucket of soil). Stir in wood ash (1-2 cups), superphosphate (40 g) and potash fertilizer (40 g).

Mix the earthen mixture thoroughly and pour into cups.

♦ Disembarkation. 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.

♦ Transplantation. After the tomatoes have sprouted the first shoots, we transfer the containers with them to the windowsill and create a daytime temperature of +22-25° C, a night temperature of +15-17° C. We remove the covering.

And when two true leaves appear, the tomatoes must be picked and planted for permanent residence.

• The volume of permanent pots for young tomatoes on the windowsill should be about 7-10l.

♦ Care. Small tomatoes are afraid of drafts and watering cold water. Excessive watering also harms them (they can contract infectious diseases).

Tomato seedlings can be carefully ventilated on too hot days.

• To provide the tomatoes with normal humidity, place a glass filled with water next to them when ventilating. After ventilation is complete, the glass is removed.

At further care Our tomatoes should be regularly watered and fed (dilute 1 g of potassium sulfate and urea and 5 g of superphosphate in a liter of water). Fertilizers need to be applied every 7-10 days.

Plants can also be fertilized with mullein diluted with water (the ratio is 5 parts water and part mullein), chicken droppings (15 parts water per part of the droppings).

Use water for irrigation at a comfortable room temperature (+20-25° C). Plants should be watered as the soil dries.

We water our tomatoes on the windowsill generously, wetting the entire soil, while it is advisable to pour water on the soil near the bush, but not at the very root.

After watering, be sure to loosen the soil - this will slow down the evaporation of moisture.

• We begin to fertilize as soon as the tomato grows 5-6 true leaves, at the beginning of flowering, and also during the formation of the ovaries.

Don't forget to loosen the soil around the roots. But do this very delicately - the roots of the tomato are still too tender and can be damaged.

Simultaneously with loosening, hill up the plants - this will contribute to the formation of new roots. If the soil has settled a little, add a portion of fresh soil (peat or nutrient mixture).

Sometimes some varieties of tomatoes may develop stepsons (additional stems). They need to be carefully removed (stepchildren). Pinching will improve the nutrition of tomato fruits.

We will also remove dried leaves (especially those located closer to the roots of the plant - dry leaves inhibit the access of moisture to the root system).

We are waiting for the harvest

During flowering, our tomatoes can occasionally be slightly shaken and a gentle feather brushed over the flowers - this will improve the pollination process.

After fruit set, the top of the stem and inflorescence should be removed to help the fruit form more quickly.

• To protect young tomatoes from late blight (this fungal disease threatens tomatoes even in winter), tomato leaves and stems must be periodically treated with an infusion of manganese and garlic (3 liters of water, ½ g of potassium permanganate and half a head of garlic).

Experienced gardeners also use another technique to more quickly form tomato fruits on the windowsill.

It’s called “pulling the roots”: take the tomato by the lower area of ​​the stem and very carefully pull it up, as if you want to pull the plant out of the ground.

During this movement, small roots break off. After the procedure, the plant should be watered and hilled.

• During the flowering of tomatoes experienced gardeners It is recommended to carry out additional spraying of the second and third cluster of plants so that the fruits are better formed and set. Spray the tomatoes with a solution of boric acid (dilute a gram of the substance in a liter of water).

When our tomatoes are already ripening, the branches of the plant should be tied to pegs. Otherwise, the stems may break under the weight of the fruit.

It is advisable not to wait for the tomatoes on the bushes to fully ripen, but to harvest them when they are brown.

In room conditions, tomatoes will ripen quickly, and on bushes the next crop will ripen better and faster.

Balcony miracles

You can also use your own loggia as a home greenhouse. If you have them insulated, you can successfully grow tomatoes on the balcony from early cool spring to gloomy late autumn.

• On insulated balconies/loggias, it is best to sow tomatoes in early March; if your balcony is open, move the event to the end of April.

The most ideal loggias and balconies for tomatoes are southern or southeastern. On northern windowsills, and even on balconies, tomatoes can freeze, and on southwestern ones it will be too hot in the summer heat (if you grow tomatoes in such places, shade your plantings on hot days and ventilate them).

A balcony or loggia gives plants more space to grow. Therefore, in such conditions it is possible to breed tall, small-fruited cherry (cherry) and cocktail varieties of tomatoes:

• Minibell, Tiny Tim, De Barao, Carlson, Angelica, Pearl, Butterfly, Ballerina, Romantic, Verlioka, Red Banana, Gina, Max, Cascade Red and many other varieties.

You should germinate seeds and replant tomatoes for permanent residence in the same way as when growing tomatoes on a windowsill. Since taller tomatoes can be grown on the balcony, we will form them into two stems:

• To do this, we will leave one stepson under the very first inflorescence. We tie the stepson to an additional peg or to a trellis. Lower-growing varieties can be formed into 2-3 stems (in addition to the first stepson, we leave the second one).

It’s better not to cut off the stepson tomatoes on the windowsill, and also on the balcony, but carefully break them off with your fingers. Break off carefully, trying not to touch the leaves and the central shoot.

Additional stems should be removed as soon as they can be grasped with your fingers.

At the same time, leave 2-3 cm of column from the stepson. It is best to carry out such an event in the morning.

Tomato stems are long and can break off easily. To prevent this, as the tomato seedlings grow, we will tie them to a trellis or stakes.

In the future, the tomatoes are tied to the stakes two more times, and when using a trellis, it is necessary to twist the tops of the tomatoes weekly around the twine tied to the trellis.

Do not forget to ventilate your pets after each watering by opening the balcony doors. If suddenly your tomatoes begin to curl their leaves during the day, don’t worry. This is quite normal for tomatoes.

But if the leaves rush straight up, located under acute angle, without twisting at all - this should alert you.

• The reason for this behavior of tomatoes may be too dry soil, insufficient ventilation or poor lighting.

You should not be overzealous with watering and fertilizing (especially with fertilizers containing nitrogen and organic matter).

At the same time, the tomatoes begin to “fatten” – they sprout powerful, thick stems and grow strong shoots.

But at the same time they form weak flower brushes.

To correct the situation, use the following techniques:

1. Do not water your pets for a week or a week and a half.
2. To delay growth, foliar fertilize tomatoes with superphosphates (3 tbsp per 10 liters of water). Tomatoes are treated at the rate of one liter of mixture per plant.
3. Increase the ambient temperature to +27-28° C.
4. The flowers of such plants should be pollinated by hand using a soft brush.

Otherwise, caring for and caring for balcony tomatoes is no different from our actions when growing tomatoes on a windowsill.

Of course, not all vegetables can be grown at home, but still there are quite a few that feel great when visiting us.

This includes all kinds of greens (), citrus fruits (, tangerines), and vegetables (, cucumbers, etc.). Growing at home will be discussed in the next article in the series “Vegetable garden on the windowsill”

See you soon, dear readers!