Experienced gardeners never start growing tomato seedlings too early, as they know about possible problems with elongated plants and their worse survival rate compared to those that were planted on time.
The question arises: when should we start sowing in order to complete gardening work on time?
If you believe experienced plant growers, then growing tomato seedlings takes 22 days. However, to do it in 3 weeks or so, you will need to follow several rules.
Light mode
An important aspect when growing tomatoes is the light regime. Solar energy plays a key role in the process of photosynthesis, which is necessary for plant growth. Therefore, to speed up the growth of tomatoes, provide them with the right lighting.
As loops of tomato seedlings appear, the daylight hours should be exactly 22 hours. Round-the-clock supplementary lighting of seedlings is not recommended, as plants also need a period of darkness for certain processes to occur. This light regime should last about 3 days, during which time all the seeds should germinate.
After the first two leaves appear, tomatoes should be illuminated for 20 hours, usually 3 days. The optimum temperature at this stage is 22-24 degrees.
After 6-7 leaves appear, daylight hours are reduced to 18 hours.
Then the seedlings need to be transferred to a 16-hour daylight period before planting in open ground.
The illumination level should be about 50 watts per square meter.
Pre-sowing treatment
Before sowing seeds, it is important to take measures to prevent diseases that can slow down the growth of seedlings or even cause their death. One of the methods of prevention is enriching the soil with biopreparations containing Trichoderma.
The seeds also need to be treated, for example, with a solution of potassium permanganate.
If you follow the rules, in about 22 days you will have strong and healthy plants ready for transplanting. The seedlings will be short and stocky, with well-developed roots - just what you need.
Earlier, the expert explained why it is necessary to cover conifers in February.
Expert: Anastasia Kovrizhnykh
