If there was a nuisance - tomato seedlings stretched out - what should I do? Growing tomatoes from seedlings is a delicate matter, but the result justifies all the effort. Many gardeners, summer residents are pre-planting seedlings at home, but they do not always satisfy the requirements for the correct growing process. Someone has a window facing the north side. Someone lives where the sun is a rare guest. And someone simply misses the importance of nightly lowering the temperature due to certain circumstances. This article will tell you about the most commonly used methods for saving tomato seedlings, even before planting in the garden or greenhouse.
There are several reasons for pulling tomato seedlings, even if you carefully observe all the rules for caring for young seedlings, such a problem can still happen. When stretched, the stems of plants become very thin, tall, if you do not take measures, then you will not wait for a crop from them. However, the problem is solved quite simply. First, find out the reasons that contribute to the lengthening of seedlings.
Why did tomato seedlings stretch out
Main reasons:
- Lighting. Like all living things on earth, tomato sprouts are drawn to the light, and if it is not enough, the plant begins to “look for” it and even more actively reaches up. Seedlings may not have enough light if your apartment is on the shady side or in the room for most of the day twilight reigns.
Or it may be that the light is enough, but you sowed the seeds too densely, so the sprouted seedlings of tomatoes block each other's lighting. Here the rule works - less is better, but better. Let you have fewer seedlings, but they all grow strong, strong. And this is better than a dense, but absolutely useless shoot of seedlings.
- Excessive care. Excessive attention can also be harmful. Thus, excessive watering or abuse of fertilizing can give seedlings an incentive for active growth, and stretching will not take long. Remember one of the basic rules for care - seedlings are watered only when you see dry soil.
- Non-compliance with the temperature regime. The omission of the moment when the sprouts sprouted and went up. Here it is necessary to reduce the temperature in the zone of seedlings so that before the dive it is in the proper form and phase of development.
How to fix, how to save tomato seedlings, if it is stretched
You know the main reasons for pulling - for the future, you will take into account all the nuances. Now we list the ways to save the seedlings:
- You can plant seedlings in boxes or other elongated containers. In the ground we make even furrows, while you should not dig too deep holes (enough 8-10 cm). Carefully separate the sprouts from the "family", those that look stronger than the rest, then we transplant one at a time to a new place of residence. The main nuance is that the planting of elongated seedlings is carried out almost lying down, but at the same time their upper part should vertically peek out from the ground. Before planting the holes, you need to water well, then put the bushes inside, first gently sprinkling the root with earth, along the way, vertically lifting the top of the tomato. Thus, the roots and the long part of the stem will be hidden under a layer of soil. And from the stem underground new roots will form. The top with leaves remains at the top, the distance between the bushes should be approximately 15-20 cm, the soil is slightly pressed, the seedlings are watered.
- We pluck off the tops, put them in water. In this case, 5-6 leaves should remain on the seedling. After 7-10 days, the roots will begin to form on the trimmed fragment, after they grow by 1.5-2 cm, they can be planted in the ground. Thus, you get an additional livestock of new tomato seedlings. Indeed, on the remaining bottom of the seedlings, new stepsons will also appear (in the place of the cut). To do this, we leave about 1 cm of that part of the stem that is above the cotyledon leaves, and remove the rest. The seedling itself is transplanted into a separate cup, so that 2-3 cm of the stem and cotyledon leaves are visible above the surface of the soil. In order to quickly germinate stepchildren, containers with sprouts can be covered with plastic wrap.
- What to do if the seedlings are elongated, but still far from a dive? Topping up the ground in a container with seedlings is the easiest, least costly, effective way to save future tomatoes. You take a spoon with fertile soil, carefully pour it to the sprouts. It is necessary to fill up so that to cotyledon leaves there are 2-3 cm, and the rest was hidden by the earth. Here the question begs, how to increase the height of the container in which the seedlings grow, because the earth needs to be filled up somewhere? It is advisable to use improvised materials: plastic bottles of suitable diameter, which cut off the neck and bottom. Also suitable are plastic glasses decorated in a similar manner, non-toxic sheet building materials with which you can wrap the pot and "build" the height.
Now you know that the pull situation can be fixed. Of course, you need to try to planting, growing without such nuances - then you get such a wonderful seedlings.
But if suddenly it happened that you had sprouted tomato seedlings, what to do - you now know.