How to Grow Cherry Tomatoes? Detailed Guide to Methods and Precautions
Cherry tomatoes, also called cherry tomatoes, are a smaller variety of tomato. People usually eat this kind of tomato as a fruit, or use it to make fruit salads and so on, and it is a fruit and vegetable that is quite popular among women. Although cherry tomatoes can be bought in the market, growing cherry tomatoes yourself not only gives you a greater sense of achievement, but is also safer.
How to Grow Cherry Tomatoes
1. Preparation Before Planting Cherry Tomatoes
First, prepare high-quality soil. After getting the soil, it is best to use a sieve to screen out large clods and large particles, and if possible, disinfect the soil. Next is the preparation of the seeds. Before planting, the seeds should be soaked and disinfected.
2. Planting Work for Cherry Tomatoes
Place the already sprouted cherry tomato seeds in the prepared soil, cover them with a layer of loose soil, and water to keep the soil moist. The growing temperature is best kept between 20°C and 25°C. Do not water too frequently; wait until the soil is dry before watering again.
3. Transplanting Cherry Tomatoes
When the cherry tomato has about 4 or 5 leaves, it can be transplanted. Dig the seedling out of the original soil, dig a small hole in the soil of a larger flower pot, place the cherry tomato seedling into the small hole, and then water. After transplanting, try not to water it, but if it is too dry, decide based on the situation.
4. Fruiting of Cherry Tomatoes
About 15 days after transplanting, the roots of the cherry tomato have already taken hold. When it begins to flower and set fruit, water and fertilize it. It is best to loosen the soil for it, and keep the temperature at about 20°C. When it grows taller, make a support so that the plant can grow by climbing along the support. During the growth process, pruning should be done, pruning the side branches so as not to affect the growth of the fruit. After about three months, you can see abundant cherry tomatoes.
Cherry Tomato Growing Methods and Precautions
I. Growing Methods for Cherry Tomatoes
1. Best propagation time: The sowing time for spring cherry tomatoes can be around November to December; the sowing time for autumn cherry tomatoes can be set as February to April.
2. Best growing soil: The soil moisture requirement is 60—80{bf}, and slightly acidic soil with deep soil layers, loose and fertile texture, and a pH of 6—6.5 is suitable.
3. Best growing temperature: Cherry tomatoes like warmth. The suitable temperature for growth and development is 23—28°C, and the night temperature is 15—18°C.
4. Best growing light: The average daily temperature is between 18 and 21°C, the daily maximum temperature is between 20 and 24°C, and the average sunshine reaches 5 hours per day. The climate conditions are very suitable for the growth and ripening of cherry tomatoes.
II. Precautions
1. Applying fertilizer: To focus on the quality of cherry tomatoes, attention must be paid to the application of organic fertilizer and the amount of nitrogen fertilizer must be controlled. Apply 2500 kg of decomposed manure or barnyard manure per mu, or 2000 kg of human and livestock manure or 100 kg of rapeseed cake, 30 kg of compound fertilizer, and 50 kg of superphosphate as base fertilizer, and regulate the growth vigor through water management. Before harvesting the fruit, for every 2-3 clusters of fruit harvested, apply liquid fertilizer 2-3 times as a top dressing according to the strength of the growth vigor, but appropriately increase the application of potassium fertilizer.
2. Key watering points: Cherry tomatoes are a vegetable crop that blooms and fruits continuously. After entering the flowering period, watering should follow the principle of seeing moisture and seeing dryness (meaning water thoroughly once, then wait until the soil is almost dry before watering a second time; its role is to prevent excessive watering from causing root rot and moisture-induced pests and diseases). Do not water too much, and do not let it dry out, otherwise it will cause flower drop, fruit drop, and physiological fruit cracking.
3. Pruning essentials: For determinate varieties, promote their growth as much as possible, always keeping 2 strong side branches on the upper part to grow upward, and pay attention to the balance between leaf number and fruit number. If growth is too weak, some flower buds can be removed. For indeterminate varieties, do not aim for early maturity, and double-stem pruning can be used because seeds are relatively expensive. But in production, single-stem pruning is mostly used. To achieve the goals of improving quality, enhancing light, promoting ventilation, and preventing diseases, old leaves below the fruit cluster that has been harvested can be removed.
Harvesting Methods for Cherry Tomatoes
The cherry tomato plant is a low-growing plant, but the fruit harvest is abundant, so support measures should be prepared in advance to avoid crushing the branches and leaves. When harvesting, the cherry tomato fruit should be red and fully ripe. Second, after the fruit is picked, it will enter a period of rapid spoilage and is difficult to store. Therefore, while picking, the branches and leaves at the base of the fruit can be harvested together. Afterward, a hard cardboard box should be chosen to wrap them. The cardboard box should have specific ventilation openings to keep air circulating, which can prevent crushing or problems such as fruit juice seepage.
Are Cherry Tomatoes Genetically Modified Food?
No. Since ancient times, tomatoes have naturally been this small.
After being introduced to China from Europe a hundred years ago, people gradually fell in love with this persimmon-like fruit from foreign lands. But at that time, tomatoes were all about the size of cherries. How could they be enough for so many people to eat? Only after variety improvement did we have the large tomatoes we commonly eat now.
In fact, researching a genetically modified variety requires quite considerable funding. For a product like tomatoes, whose demand is not very large, genetic modification is simply not worth it. Only crops such as grain and soybeans have genetically modified research.
The difficulty of growing cherry tomatoes should not be great, because many people have some experience with growing tomatoes, so we can proceed with confidence. In addition, the claim in real life that cherry tomatoes are genetically modified food is not credible, so we must have a certain ability to distinguish and identify.