How to properly grow tomatoes on a windowsill?

Tomatoes all year round are no longer a wonder. But if not from a supermarket package, but from a windowsill in your own apartment, this is exclusive. Juicy, ripe, sweet and, most importantly, environmentally friendly fruits on your table will delight the whole family. At the same time - no expenses, neither money, nor time. This review provides a description and characteristics of the best varieties of potted tomatoes.

Tomatoes on the windowsill: is it real?

Thanks to the efforts of breeders, many different hybrid varieties of tomatoes have appeared, unpretentious, but very productive, which easy to grow on a windowsill at home in an ordinary flower pot... By maintaining a suitable microclimate for tomato growth, you can pamper yourself with the unique taste of homemade tomatoes in winter.

Growing a tomato on a windowsill

As the ripening time of various early ripening varieties varies from 90 to 110 days, it is easy to calculate the date of planting seeds so that fragrant fresh tomatoes ripen to the New Year's table. The main thing is to choose the right variety that meets all your wishes. You will be able to harvest a large crop from a limited area at any time of the year.

The best indoor varieties for a mini-garden at home

For a window bed of tomatoes, standard and ampel varieties are suitable. They develop in height no more than 35-45 cm, do not branch, which means that they do not need to be tied up. Many hybrids are adaptable to short daylight hours and lack of sunlight, good resistance to the most common diseases (black leg, leaf mold).

From neat small bushes, you will receive 1-2 kg of fruit per season.... If planted in batches in several bushes with an interval of 20-30 days, you can provide yourself with vitamins for the whole winter. In addition, indoor tomatoes have excellent taste and a higher content of sugar and vitamins in the pulp (compared to ordinary ones).

The best standard hybrids for growing on a window at home are:

Balcony miracle

Tomato Balcony Miracle

Forms standard bushes about 0.5 m high, tolerates a lack of light well, fruits are round, red, weighing 70-100 g, with a high sugar content. Tomato Balcony miracle begins to bear fruit within 80 days after germination.

Micron NK

Tomato Micron NK

The smallest of the known varieties, the height of the bush barely reaches 15 cm, sweet fruits of red or bright yellow color, weighing 10-12 g, ripening period 100-110 days. This variety is more decorative and does not depend at all on the length of daylight hours.

Pinocchio

Tomato Pinocchio

Compact bushes, one of the best indoor tomatoes, sweet, round fruits, weight - up to 20 g. You can grow it in the garden in the summer, and in the fall, transplant it into pots, bring it home. And if the seeds are sown after September 20, you will harvest the first harvest by the New Year. Pinocchio is mid-season, ripens in 105-115 days.

Bonsai

Tomato Bonsai

Early ripening variety (matures in 85 days), unpretentious to light, the yield is not the highest - 0.5 kg, but the fruits are very tasty and sweet;

Bunch of honey

Tomato Honey Bunch

Early maturing standard bush with a dense crown, height - 40 cm, fruits are sweet, juicy, yellow. Differs in high productivity.

There are a lot of indoor and balcony varieties, and they all enjoy well-deserved popularity: Cherripals F1, Balconies Elo, Pearl yellow, Bonsai micro, F1 Balcony red, Indoor surprise, etc. A unique feature is that they can grow for more than one season. Dried bushes can be left in pots, watered occasionally, and after a while green leaves will begin to appear again. Tomatoes can grow like this for up to 5 years, but the yield will decrease. The bushes bear fruit most abundantly in the first 2-3 years.

Proper seed preparation for planting at home

The principle of growing a tomato at home is no different from growing in a garden: first we get seedlings from the seeds, then we dive them into the pots to a permanent place. In advance, you should worry about preparing for planting seeds and soil.

It is better to buy seeds in specialized stores to be sure of the quality and compliance with the variety indicated on the package.

But nevertheless, before planting, it is better to check again and sort out full-fledged grains from empty ones. To do this, dip them in salted water for 10 minutes (1 teaspoon per 200 g of water). Semi-dried or empty seeds will float, and healthy, full-fledged seeds will sink to the bottom. They need to be soaked for 20-30 minutes in a manganese solution, to protect future plants from late blight.

Manganese solution preparation

To accelerate the germination of seeds for a couple of days, you can put them in a damp cloth for "pecking". Tomato seeds prepared in this way are sown in a container for seedlings in moistened soil to a depth of 1 cm and at a distance of 3 cm from each other. After that, the soil is lightly tamped, covered with plastic wrap and removed to a warm place until shoots appear. The film must be chopped in several places so that excess moisture does not accumulate under it, as this can cause seedling diseases. It is desirable to maintain the daytime temperature + 22-25 degrees, the nighttime - + 15-17.

After about a week, the first leaves (false) appear, the temperature at this time is lowered to 20 degrees and the room is occasionally ventilated. It is also necessary to monitor the humidity - do not overdry, but also do not overmoisten, so that the seedlings do not get sick with a "black leg".

After 7-10 days, you can observe the first shoots of the tomato

You can prepare the soil yourself or buy a ready-made substrate. For healthy plant growth and a good harvest, the following mixture is most suitable:

• the soil itself must be from 50% humus, 45% black soil, 5% sand;
• to enrich 1 glass of wood ash is added to one bucket of soil, 1 matchbox of superphosphate, potassium sulfate, urea.

Fill containers with this mixture - plastic cups with drainage holes or wooden boxes with pallets 10-12 cm high.

Transplanting tomato seedlings and further care

After 2-3 true leaves appear on the seedlings, it is necessary to pick the seedlings, i.e.you need to choose the strongest and most developed sprouts and plant them in pots or other containers specially prepared for this. The container size should be 8-10 liters, for the smallest decorative varieties of tomatoes, you can take a container of 4-5 liters. In the process of caring for plants, you need to follow the elementary rules and technologies of agricultural technology:

For growing indoor tomatoes in winter, choose containers with a volume of 2 liters (for dwarf varieties), 4 liters (for medium-sized varieties) or 5 liters (for ampelous plants)

• Lighting. Tomato pots are placed on the windowsills on the south side. Once every two days, they are turned 180 degrees so that the plant is even and does not lean towards the sunny side. In cloudy weather, as well as in the mornings and evenings, it is necessary to provide plants with additional lighting - phytolamp or even ordinary electric lamps (except for those varieties whose growth does not depend on the length of daylight hours).

With a lack of sunlight for indoor tomatoes, additional lighting is equipped

• Watering. Indoor tomatoes are very sensitive to watering. Regular moistening of the soil promotes good growth, ovary formation and fruit ripening. Lack of moisture will lead to the falling off of the fruit, but the excess of it leads to the spread of various diseases - rot, late blight, fungal infections. You need to water 2 times a week, in moderation and not watering the stems. With the beginning of flowering, watering must be stopped and resumed with the appearance of ovaries.
• Top dressing of tomatoes. Three weeks after the dive of the seedlings and then every 10-15 days, we fertilize the plants with special mineral and organic fertilizers, which we apply to the moist soil on the second day after watering.
• Tying whips. Low standard bushes with a stable trunk usually do not need support. The branches of medium-sized tomatoes are tied to pegs, which are stuck into the ground, trying not to damage the root system.

As they grow, the stalks of the tomatoes are tied to pegs.

• Stealing. It is imperative to carry out pinching, i.e. removal of “stepchildren” shoots in the leaf axils throughout the entire growth of plants for its correct formation. Stepsons thicken the plant, take away nutrients, and reduce the yield of tomatoes.

After the formation of the main ovaries, it is also necessary to rip off the top.

• Pollination. Indoor varieties yield a fairly good harvest without pollination, but if desired, pollination can be carried out with a brush, carefully brushing it over the flowers.

Airing will help to improve the ability of a tomato to self-pollinate.

Growing hybrid varieties of tomatoes on a windowsill in winter - this is not only a benefit, but also a great pleasure, a very interesting activity. With a little attention and free time, you will get a harvest of exclusive varieties of bright, sweet and very healthy tomatoes from your windowsill. It will be easy to care for such a plant even for novice gardeners.

Hello dear readers!

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

Of course, we will not be able to grow so many vegetables at home to collect them in buckets, but you will definitely get a dozen or two red tight fruits in the middle of winter.

In addition, they will become a real decoration of your apartment, and you can feast on sweet tomatoes and admire a cheerful little vegetable garden with bright fruits, thereby satisfying your gardening addictions.

Want to ? So, let's start growing a tomato 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. It is quite easy to grow and care for them, you just need to know the simple conditions of such an original agricultural technique.

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 arrange your home garden and take care of it.

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

This is what the further conversation will be about.

Choosing a suitable variety

For a mini-garden on the windowsill, of course, varieties of dwarf, undersized tomatoes are needed. Their fruits are small, and the plants themselves willingly inhabit small pots.

There are a great many varieties of tomatoes of such types.

• Experienced gardeners know that choosing a suitable variety of baby tomatoes takes a long time, choosing the best one is possible only by trying and making mistakes. Indeed, each apartment has its own atmosphere, different climatic conditions.

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

So, we choose:

♦ For small windowsill. For a windowsill of a small, standard size, tiny dwarf tomatoes will be ideal:

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

♦ For insulated windowsill. If your windowsill is wider, has a good area for placing boxes or flowerpots, a vegetable garden on the windowsill can be created from varieties of tomatoes with larger fruits and a high stem.

• Balconies Elo. With the first harvest of yellow round tomatoes, the variety will delight you after 100-110 days. The taste of a tomato is sweet with a slight sourness, the bush grows to 45-50 cm.
• The pearl is red and yellow. The culture grows up to half a meter and has excellent decorative qualities. Pearl of red has a sweeter taste. Their weight reaches 50 g.
• Hermitage. This fruitful variety is recommended to be grown in the northwest regions. The fruits are large enough, their weight can reach 100 g.
• Native. An early type of tomato. Raspberry-colored fruits, large (up to 180 g). This variety is especially resistant to cold conditions.
• Igranda. An 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 to plant several varieties of tomatoes at once on the windowsill and observe how the tomatoes will behave in order to focus on the types that are ideal for your apartment.

Arrangement of a vegetable garden on the windowsill

♦ What is the best window sill? Tomatoes love light (if it's not enough, flower buds will fall off), so the best lighted windowsills (best on the south side) will be the best home for them.

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 seedling. Daylight hours for tomato babies are 13-16 hours.

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

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

1. Summer and 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 wait for the owner in March-April.

Growing features

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

Expired seeds may remain in the ground, or you will get weak, stunted plants.

♦ Disinfection of seeds. Immediately before planting, we need to disinfect the seeds and prevent them from becoming infected with late blight.

To do this, we 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 chosen the necessary varieties of tomatoes, we begin the process of germinating seeds. We place them in a small bowl, cover with moistened gauze and leave warm for 3-4 days.

As soon as our tomatoes have 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 pallets can be used. We fill the containers with soil:

• You can use an earthen mixture (in the amount of 45% black soil, 5% sand and 50% humus). Add a little manganese to it for disinfection. Make sure that 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).

Stir the earthen mixture thoroughly and place in cups.

♦ Disembarkation. 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.

Moisten the soil slightly before sowing. Cover the sown seeds with a film or glass, such a coating will retain moisture well in the soil.

We place the containers in a dark and warm place (+ 25-30 ° С) and wait for germination. The soil can sometimes be wetted.

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

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

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

♦ Leaving. Small tomatoes are afraid of drafts and cold watering. Excessive watering also harms them (they can pick up infectious diseases).

Tomato seedlings can be gently ventilated on very hot days.

• To provide the tomatoes with normal humidity, when airing, place a glass filled with water next to them. After the end of airing, the glass is removed.

With the further care of our tomatoes, water and feed them regularly (in a liter of water, dilute 1 g of potassium and urea sulfate and 5 g of superphosphate).Fertilizers need to be applied every 7-10 days.

Plants can be fertilized with mullein diluted with water (ratio of 5 parts of water to part of mullein), chicken droppings (for part of droppings 15 parts of water).

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

We water our tomatoes on the windowsill abundantly, wetting all the ground, 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 ground - this will slow down the evaporation of moisture.

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

Do not forget to loosen the soil near the roots. But do it very delicately - the roots of the tomato are still too tender and may be damaged.

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

Sometimes stepchildren (additional stems) may appear in some tomato varieties. They must be carefully removed (pinned). Grassing will improve the nutrition of the tomato fruit.

We will also remove dried leaves (especially those located closer to the root 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 shaken slightly and carried over the flowers with a gentle feather - this will improve the pollination process.

Once the fruit is ovary, 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), the leaves and stems of the tomato should be periodically treated with an infusion of manganese and garlic (for 3 liters of water, ½ g of potassium permanganate and half a garlic head).

Experienced gardeners use another technique for faster formation of tomato fruits on the windowsill.

It is called "tearing the roots": take a tomato by the lower region of the stalk 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 spud.

• During the flowering of tomatoes, experienced gardeners advise additional spraying of the second and third brush of plants so that the fruits are better formed and tied. Tomatoes are sprayed with a solution of boric acid (dilute a gram of substance in a liter of water).

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

It is advisable not to wait for the complete ripening of tomatoes on the bushes, but to harvest them brown.

Under indoor conditions, tomatoes will ripen quickly, and the next crop will ripen better and faster on the bushes.

Balcony wonders

As a home greenhouse, you can perfectly use your own loggia. 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, postpone the event to the end of April.

The most ideal loggias and balconies for tomatoes are southern or southeastern. On the northern windowsills, and on the balconies, tomatoes can freeze, and on the 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 the plants more room to grow. Therefore, in such conditions, you can engage in breeding and tall small-fruited cherry (cherry) and cocktail varieties of tomatoes:

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

Germinating seeds and replanting tomatoes for permanent residence should be the same as when growing tomatoes on a windowsill. Since you can grow taller tomatoes 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 on a trellis. Shorter varieties can be formed into 2-3 stems (in addition to the first stepson, we also leave the second one).

Stepsons tomato on the windowsill, also on the balcony, it is better not to cut it off, but gently break it off with your fingers. Break off carefully, trying not to touch the leaves and the central shoot.

Extra stems should be removed as soon as you can grasp them with your fingers.

At the same time, leave 2-3 cm of a column from the stepson. It is best to hold 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 pegs.

In the future, tomatoes are tied to the stakes two more times, and when using the trellis, it is necessary to twist the tops of the tomatoes every week 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 the leaves during the day - do not worry. This is quite normal for tomato plants.

But if the leaves rush straight up, being located at an acute angle, while not 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 zealous with watering and feeding (especially with fertilizers containing nitrogen and organic matter).

At the same time, tomatoes begin to "fatten" - to start up powerful, thick stems, to grow strong stepsons.

But at the same time, weak flower brushes are formed.

To fix the situation, use the following techniques:

1. Do not water your pets for a week and a half.
2. To retard growth, carry out foliar feeding of tomatoes with superphosphates (for 10 liters of water, 3 tbsp. L). Tomatoes are processed at the rate of a liter of mixture for each plant.
3. Increase the ambient temperature to + 27-28 ° C.
4. The flowers of these plants should be manually pollinated using a soft brush.

Otherwise, the care and maintenance of balcony tomatoes does not differ from our actions when growing a tomato on a windowsill.

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

These are all kinds of greens (dill, parsley, cilantro), and citrus fruits (lemon, tangerine), and vegetables (peppers, cucumbers, etc.). The cultivation of cucumbers at home will be discussed in the next article of the cycle "Garden on the windowsill"

See you soon, dear readers!

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Tags: tomato

Who among us does not dream of fresh vegetables that can be eaten not only 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 ?! By moving indoor flowers and freeing up space for several pots, fragrant and tasty tomatoes are easy to get even at home. How to do it correctly, in order to pamper your loved ones with vitamins all year round, will be prompted by a small selection of practical tips and recommendations, which we propose to familiarize yourself with today.

Seed sowing time

The timing of when to start sowing tomato seeds for window sill cultivation does not have such 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 whether the crop will ripen in the winter.

In order 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 a winter harvest, and planting in February and March will guarantee fruit 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 you can buy them in the store. However, regardless of origin, all seeds must first be prepared for sowing. For this:

1. Sort out 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, they can be put in a cloth bag, well moistened and left on a platter 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 in acidity. The easiest way is to contact the same store where the seeds were bought and purchase ready-made special soil mixtures for tomato seedlings. This will be especially important during winter sowing, besides, store land already contains all the necessary nutrients, and there is no need to add additional components.

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

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

Before use, the soil from the garden or vegetable garden must be disinfected by pouring it with boiling water or igniting it in the oven.

Sowing seeds and creating conditions for seedlings

For growing tomato seedlings, you can use both a common container and individual cassettes, cups or peat tablets. In the first case, fill a shallow container with nutritious soil and moisten it well. Seeds should be laid out at some distance from each other (1-2 cm), deepening by no more than 2 cm, otherwise they will germinate for a long time. Then sprinkle with a thin layer of soil and tamp lightly.

Seeds should germinate in a greenhouse, that is, the container must be covered with a lid or film and placed on a bright window. Periodically ventilate the greenhouse or make several small holes in the film to avoid the accumulation of condensate. 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 seedlings of indoor tomatoes consists in the following activities:

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

Strong grown seedlings can be dived into pots, having previously 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;
• for medium-sized plants, 4-liter flowerpots are suitable;
• for ampelous varieties of tomatoes, pots with a volume of 5 liters are needed.

Further care for potted tomatoes

In order for the tomatoes on the windowsill to develop well and set fruits, they need to provide good lighting by placing the pots on the southern windowsills.Every two days, the flowerpots must be turned so that the bushes do not grow one-sided, and if the sun is not enough, they must be illuminated.

It is also important to observe the watering regime, moistening the soil twice a week. The soil must not completely dry out, otherwise the ovary and fruits will crumble, but waterlogging also threatens with putrefactive diseases. After transplanting to a permanent place, you can start feeding the bushes after 20 days - during this time they adapt. It is enough to apply 3 times complex mineral fertilizers within a month, otherwise there is a risk that tomatoes will go into the growth of deciduous mass, which will entail a decrease in yield and crushing of fruits.

It is necessary to apply fertilizers on wet soil, preferably the next day after watering.

Dwarf tomato varieties do not need pinching and garter, but in higher species, a support should be installed and a bush should be formed into one or two stems, and stepchildren should be plucked out.

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

• when the bushes are blooming, you need to lightly shake the plants several times - this contributes to better pollination and, accordingly, will affect the amount of the crop;
• if a lot of ovary has formed, no more than 6 brushes should be left on each stem, having poured out the rest - this way you can get fewer tomatoes, but they will be larger;
• in varieties that ripen unevenly, it is better to harvest at the half-ripeness stage - then the bush will have more strength for the tomatoes remaining on the branches, and the plucked vegetables will quickly reach if they are laid out next to the pot on the windowsill.

Protecting tomatoes from disease

Another point worth paying attention to is the protection of tomatoes in pots from diseases, because even indoor conditions cannot guarantee their complete absence. One of the main enemies of nightshades is late blight. In order to prevent its manifestation, it is important not to fill the bushes and drain the water from the sump. The fungus also does not tolerate fresh air, so it is necessary to ventilate the room more often. As a preventive measure, you can spray the plants with a home remedy prepared from the following components:

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

Indoor tomato varieties

When choosing a tomato variety for growing on a windowsill, it is worth giving preference to undersized, early ripening and fruitful species due to the 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:

1. Balcony miracle. The height of a dense, even bush is no more than 60 cm. Small, round, bright red and sweet tomatoes ripen 90 days after sowing. The mass of one tomato is not more than 60 g. From one such dwarf, you can take up to 2 kg of fruits.
2. Oak. The variety is not hybrid, early ripening, slightly branched, with a bush height of 40 to 60 cm. Rounded tomatoes weighing up to 100 g ripen at the same time, the pulp is fleshy, with a slight sourness. It requires artificial pollination in indoor cultivation, but it has a high resistance to late blight.
3. Ruby Ed. The variety was created specifically for growing on windowsills, balconies and terraces. The bushes are compact, up to 50 cm in height. Small fruits weighing from 20 to 50 g have a sweet taste and rich red color.
4. White filling. Bushes up to 70 cm in height grow equally well both outdoors and in a pot. The fruits ripen in 85 days, they are large enough (up to 130 g), rounded, red in color with a slight white tint. The pulp is juicy, with sourness, the skin is dense.
5. Little Red Riding Hood. High-yielding variety up to 70 cm high with thick stems. Red-orange fruits weigh 70 g, the pulp is juicy, sweet and sour.
6. Leopold. An ultra-ripe variety with a height of 70 cm. Fruits are dull red, weighing about 100 g.

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

Some of the new, but already popular hybrids are such cherry varieties: Ira F1, Liza F1, Maxik F1, Likopa F1. Small but very tasty red or yellow tomatoes grow in whole clusters and ripen quickly.

For the summer period, it is better to take cherry pots to the street or to the balcony, not forgetting to take them to the house with a cold snap.

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

Video recommendations for growing tomatoes on a windowsill

Recently, growing tomatoes on the windowsill has become a popular activity among amateur gardeners. However, due to a lack of knowledge, it is not possible to harvest a good harvest: tomatoes are sick, grow poorly, or set few fruits. What conditions need to 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 the cultivation of ordinary 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 an apartment:

• for good fruiting, they need to be supplemented with phytolamps;
• in the room where the pots are located, you need to maintain a stable temperature and humidity;
• you cannot pour tomatoes, otherwise they will get sick with a black leg;
• growing containers must match the size of the plant;
• tomato flowers need to be pollinated on their own: during the flowering period, a soft brush is applied to the flowers 2-3 times a day.

Taking into account the specified 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 crowned with success at times.

What varieties are suitable for growing on a windowsill

For growing in an apartment, it is better to choose determinant (undersized) varieties of tomatoes that do not need tying, are unpretentious to the composition of the soil and the length of daylight hours. Most varieties with such characteristics are standard hybrids. Depending on your wishes, you can plant super early or mid-season varieties. Excellent characteristics are possessed by such varieties of tomatoes as Bonsai, Balconnoe miracle, Pygmy, Pinnochio, Room surprise.

Despite the fact that the tomatoes of these varieties do not grow more than half a meter, the plants form about 2 kg of yellow or red fruits weighing from 15 to 100 g. Among the many tall varieties of tomatoes for growing on the windowsill, cherry tomatoes are suitable, 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 the recommended requirements are followed exactly. Everyone who will take proper care of the plants will be able to enjoy bright juicy tomatoes in the middle of winter.

Video: how to grow tomatoes on a windowsill

What should be the place

To ensure that plants receive as much natural light as possible, tomatoes are best placed on south or east windows. If this is not possible, you can put the pots on the west window, but the culture will have to be supplemented. 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 productivity of the vegetable crop.When growing tomatoes on the 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 out, which often happens with tomatoes in closed rooms. You can reduce the temperature by airing the room for half an hour - the plant is not afraid of drafts.
• The optimum temperature at night is + 15- + 16C.

Important! On the coldest days, when the batteries are very hot, in order to protect the leaves of tomatoes from the influence of warm air, the heating devices are covered with a wooden shield from above.

Humidity

It is necessary to spray tomatoes grown on the window only if the air in the room is very dry. When the temperature in the apartment is below +20 C, it is not at all possible to spray the plants: excessive humidity and cold air are the main reasons for the appearance of a black leg.

Lighting

Due to the fact that tomatoes are plants that need a long day of light in order to form many high-quality fruits at home, they need to be highlighted. The lamps turn on from 8 to 11 am and from 16 to 19 pm. The latest invented hybrids are unpretentious in the amount of light, however, for better yield, it is even recommended to supplement them in the shortest days of winter.

Important! Indoor tomatoes can be grown without additional lighting from mid-February.

Despite the fact that tomatoes love to live on light-colored windowsills, the leaves of young seedlings can get burned under the influence of bright spring rays. To protect the plant from such injuries, the pots are transferred to the east and north windows. If it is impossible to make such a rearrangement, in 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, the height of which exceeds 50 cm, need support. Medium-sized tomatoes are formed into 2 stems, tall ones - into one.

What container to plant

Tomato seedlings are initially planted in seedling containers, and as soon as they become cramped, they are transplanted into separate peat pots or plastic cups with a volume of more than 200 ml. 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 planting container must be selected based on the characteristics of the cultivated variety: the more compact the plant, the smaller the planting container volume should be.

Based on this rule, for planting dwarf varieties, you need to use pots up to 2 liters. Indoor tomatoes are recommended to be planted in 3-4 liters containers, ampelous - in 5 liters. Regardless of the size, there should be drainage holes in the bottom of the planting tanks to drain excess water.

What soil to plant

For planting low-growing tomatoes in an apartment, use a special substrate of industrial production or a self-prepared mixture: mix garden soil, rotted compost and peat in a ratio of 5: 5: 2: 1. A potassium sulfate matchbox and about the same amount of urea are added to a bucket of potting soil. Pour a handful of wood ash into the mixture and mix thoroughly. The finished substrate is poured into a container and proceeds to planting.

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

Preparing seeds for planting

First of all, bad planting material is discarded. Seeds are poured into a container with salt water and mixed thoroughly. A few minutes after the water stops spinning, good seeds will sink to the bottom, and bad ones will remain on the surface.The floating seeds are drained along with the water, and the remaining ones continue to be prepared for planting in the apartment.

To destroy pathogens on the surface of seeds, planting material is soaked for 15-20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. After the end of the time, they are taken out of the container and laid out on a paper towel. After drying, they are treated with a growth stimulant 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 ordinary ones, intended for growing in the open field. Landing is carried out in the following sequence:

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

Video: how to grow indoor tomatoes in winter

How to care after planting and before harvest - tips

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

Watering

The soil in the pot must be slightly damp for the fruit to form and ripen. Tomatoes react poorly to both drought and overflow: in the first case, the fruits can be sprinkled during formation, in the second, the plant gets sick with a black leg, late blight.

Since chlorine is harmful to plants, you need to water indoor tomatoes only with well-settled water. In order for the particles of a chemical element to sink to the bottom, the water must be defended for a week. Using a filter, you can reduce the water preparation time to several hours. As soon as the soil dries out, the seedlings are watered moderately.

Subject to the temperature regime and normal air humidity, watering is carried out 1 time in 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, upon reaching the age of one week, indoor tomatoes in pots are fed with nitrogen fertilizers, which stimulate plant growth. During the setting of the fruits and pouring them into the soil, potash dressings are applied.

You can fertilize seedlings with ordinary mineral mixtures diluted in half with water. In order not to burn the roots, top dressing 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 under the root. For young seedlings with delicate leaves, leaf feeding is contraindicated.

Terms of germination and harvesting

When the right conditions are created in the apartment, tomato seedlings appear on the surface 6-10 days after sowing. The germination time may be delayed if the room is too cold or the seeds are sown too deep. In such cases, seedlings begin to emerge only on the 14-17th day.

Window-grown tomatoes ripen 85-110 days after planting, depending on the variety selected.

Growing tomatoes on a windowsill is not only fun, but also a 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