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How salt can help grow tasty and healthy tomatoes: gardeners reveal the secret
16.06.2023 06:20
In order to get a good tomato harvest, you need to not only grow the seedlings correctly, care for them and fight pests, but also feed them with suitable fertilizers.
Among the many different options for feeding tomatoes, there is one very simple, accessible and effective one - salt.
Yes, you heard right. Salt is not only used to add flavor to food or keep fruits and vegetables fresh.
Salt is also a useful fertilizer for tomatoes, which promotes their growth, development, fruiting and quality. How is this possible? Let's figure it out.
Benefits of Salt for Tomatoes
Salt is a chemical compound of sodium and chlorine (NaCl) that has a number of beneficial properties for plants. In particular, salt is capable of:
• stimulate fruit setting and ripening. Salt increases the osmotic pressure in plant cells, which promotes better absorption of water and nutrients from the soil. This accelerates the formation of flowers and ovaries on tomatoes, and also improves the quality of the fruit - they become larger, juicier and sweeter;
• protect against diseases and pests. Salt has a disinfectant and repelling effect. It suppresses the development of fungal and bacterial infections on tomatoes, such as late blight, alternaria, bacteriosis, etc. In addition, salt repels some insect pests, such as aphids, mole crickets, Colorado potato beetles, etc.;
• improve the taste of fruits. Salt promotes the accumulation of sugars and organic acids in tomato fruits, which makes them more aromatic and tasty. In addition, salt enhances the color of the fruits, making them brighter and more attractive.
Ways to Use Tomato Salt
There are different ways to use salt for tomatoes. They depend on the goal you are pursuing - to stimulate the growth and development of plants, protect against diseases and pests, or improve the taste of the fruit. Here are some of them.
• Top dressing. This is the most common way to use salt for tomatoes. To do this, prepare a solution of 1 tablespoon of salt per 10 liters of water. This solution can be used for both root feeding (watering) and foliar feeding (spraying). Top dressing is carried out every 10-14 days from the moment the first ovaries appear until the fruits begin to ripen.
• Spraying. This is a way of using salt to protect tomatoes from diseases and pests. To do this, you need to prepare a solution of 1 glass of salt per 10 liters of water. This solution is sprayed on the plants once a month from the beginning of flowering until the end of fruiting.
• Sprinkling. This is a method of using salt to improve the taste of the fruit. To do this, sprinkle the soil around the tomatoes with a small amount of salt (no more than 1 teaspoon per bush) before watering or rain. This method is used once per season at the stage of fruit formation.
Rules for using salt for tomatoes
In order not to harm your tomatoes with salt, you need to follow some rules when using it. Here are some of them.
• Don't overdo it. Salt is good, but in moderation. If you use salt more often or more than necessary, you can cause the opposite effect - soil salinization, leaf burns, or even plant death.
• Consider the soil type. Salt is best suited for light, sandy or sandy loam soils that drain quickly and are not prone to salinization. In heavy clay or black soils, salt can accumulate and cause salinization.
• Combine with other fertilizers. Salt is not a complete fertilizer for tomatoes, as it contains only two elements - sodium and chlorine. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement it with other organic or mineral fertilizers that contain nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other microelements.
As you can see, salt is not only a healthy seasoning for food or a preservative for vegetables and fruits. Salt is also a useful fertilizer for tomatoes, which can improve their growth and fruit development.
