Tomato seedlings are considered ready for picking immediately after the sprouts release the first pair of true leaves.
It is not difficult to plant seedlings, but sometimes it puts newbie gardeners into a stupor. They are the ones who feel hurt when a lot of efforts come to nothing.
Anastasia Kovrizhnykh, an expert of the online publication Belnovosti, agronomist and landscape designer, talks about the rules for picking tomatoes.
Overfeeding
You shouldn't feed young sprouts with whatever your heart desires. The soil under the seedlings shouldn't be made up of too many nutritious components, otherwise the roots may burn.
Overflow
Picking is done when the soil lump is wet. But you can't water the seedlings on the same day. This should be done a couple of days before the procedure.
Otherwise, when the gardener begins to plant the seedlings individually, the roots may break due to the heavy soil sticking to them.
Error in timing
You can't rush to transplant tomatoes. When only cotyledon leaves have appeared on them, it's not time to transplant.
It is also not worth being late and waiting for tomatoes to be 4 weeks old.
Usually they can be transplanted after about 2 weeks from germination. But it is better not to look at the calendar too much, but to take into account the development of seedlings. It is optimal to pick when the sprout already has two true leaves and is 3 cm long.
Too much water after transplantation
This is harmful for newly transplanted seedlings. Heavy watering leads to fungal diseases and black leg if the soil does not dry out constantly.
Sun
The seedlings must get used to the traumatic transplant within a week.
During this time, it is kept in the same place, or better yet, in light shade. The sprouts must take root, recover, in order to begin to absorb nutrition again and start the old metabolic processes in the tissues. A bright sunny window is not a place for still weak tomatoes. The rays can incinerate them.
Earlier we talked about making the perfect mixture for seedlings .
