How to Grow a Tomato Tree? A Detailed Guide to Tomato Tree Growing Techniques

Tomatoes are red and round in appearance, looking very tempting and lovely, and their food value is also very high, so they sell very well in our country, and many people like to eat them. Therefore, in recent years, more and more people have been growing tomato trees, and there are indeed some techniques for their cultivation.

Tomato Tree Growing Techniques

1. Master suitable temperature and humidity to prevent leggy seedlings. The temperature at emergence should be 25--30℃. After 70% of the seedlings have emerged, remove the plastic film and ventilate, and the bed temperature can be maintained at 20—25℃. After the cotyledons of the seedlings have spread, keep the bed temperature at 15--20℃. After 1—2 true leaves, keep it at 25--30℃ during the day and 15--20℃ at night, maintaining this for 15—20 days, and thin the seedlings after 1 true leaf, with a plant spacing of 3—4 cm. During the seedling stage, seedlings can be divided 1—1 time. Basically do not water before dividing seedlings. From emergence to 2—3 true leaves, use the method of repeated soil covering, three times in total, about 1 cm each time. If the one-time seedling division method is used, this method can be adopted.

2. Planting method: The ways of planting seedlings include flat planting, furrow planting and hole planting. According to the order of irrigation, they are also divided into “dry planting” and “water-stabilized seedlings”. When planting seedlings, do not plant too deep or too shallow. If planted too deep, the soil temperature is lower, which is not conducive to root growth and slows down seedling recovery. If planted too shallow, although higher soil temperature is conducive to root growth, the roots are unstable, and the seedlings are easily washed away by irrigation or blown down by strong winds. Generally, the planting depth should be level with the soil ball and the ground surface or slightly deeper. If leggy seedlings are caused by improper seedbed management or delayed planting, when planting, the stem end of the seedling can be laid horizontally toward the south in a boat-bottom shape, so that the stem tip exposed above the soil slopes slightly to the south, reducing the height of the seedling above the ground, preventing sunscald and wind damage, and promoting the growth of adventitious roots.

Tomato Fertilization Techniques

1. Base fertilizer at the seedling stage: Apply 100-150 kg of decomposed mixed manure to an 11 sq m seedbed, mix in 1 kg of superphosphate and 0.3 kg of potassium chloride, and mix thoroughly. This can cultivate strong seedlings and promote early flower bud formation and rapid development.

2. Topdressing at the seedling stage. Combined with watering, apply decomposed dilute manure or 0.1%-0.2% urea (depending on seedling growth, topdressing may also be omitted).

3. Fruit-promoting fertilizer. When the first fruit cluster swells, apply 500-1000 kg of dilute manure or 15-20 kg of chemical fertilizer when watering. This topdressing must be timely to prevent poor fruit nutrition.

4. Full-fruit-stage fertilizer. When the second and third fruit clusters swell rapidly, apply topdressing 2-3 times, applying 13-20 kg of nitrogen fertilizer per mu each time. At the first topdressing, 10-15 kg of superphosphate can also be applied. This meets the fertilizer demand for rapid growth, prevents premature senescence, and promotes full fruit.

5. Late full-fruit-stage fertilizer. Combined with pesticide application, spray 0.3%-0.5% monopotassium phosphate on the leaves to prevent premature senescence and improve fruit quality and yield.

Tomato Watering Techniques

In general, water tomatoes while planting them. After the planting water, water once more 3-5 days later for seedling recovery, and then water once again only when the first fruit cluster has set and is about the size of an egg yolk. In the early fruiting period, the plants are relatively small, leaf transpiration is low, the number of fruits is also small, and ventilation is low, so generally watering once every 7-10 days is enough. Later, as the plants grow and develop, the number of set fruits increases, ventilation increases, and transpiration increases, so the watering interval should be shortened and the amount of watering increased to keep the soil alternately dry and wet. Generally, water once every 5-7 days. During the harvest period, keep the soil moist to increase single fruit weight.

Tomato Pest and Disease Control

1. Bacterial wilt is a bacterial disease that is very likely to occur under high temperature and humidity conditions in summer. If the previous crop was peanuts or Solanaceous crops, it will occur even faster. There is no specific cure for this disease, so it can only be prevented early. Chemical control: In the early stage of the disease, drench the roots with 72% agricultural streptomycin sulfate 4000-fold solution or agricultural antibiotic “401” 500-fold solution, for 2-3 consecutive drenchings.

2. Cotton bollworm, tobacco budworm, tobacco cutworm, beet armyworm and others feed on tomato flowers, flower buds and fruits as larvae, mainly boring into fruits, causing fruit drop, and easily allowing pathogens to invade and cause rot, seriously reducing yield. Be sure to control them at a young age, that is, at the peak hatching stage before the larvae have bored into the fruit: spray with 20% fenpropathrin 2000-fold solution, 2.5% deltamethrin 2500-fold solution, 5% chlorfluazuron 2000-fold solution, 2.5% lambda-cyhalothrin 3000-fold solution, 90% trichlorfon 800-fold solution plus 40% dimethoate 1000-fold solution, etc. Spraying in the morning and evening gives better results.

Tomatoes must be planted at a suitable time and at a suitable temperature in order to ensure the survival rate of the tomatoes. Their cultivation method is still relatively simple. The main thing is to do a series of field management tasks well in the later period. Fertilization, watering and pest control are all indispensable. Only by doing these well will tomatoes grow well and have high yields.