Cherry Tomato Sowing and Harvest Time, Growth Cycle, Planting Methods and Origin Introduction

Cherry tomato, often called little tomato, with the official Chinese name cherry tomato, is an annual herbaceous plant. So when is it usually sown and harvested? How long is the growth cycle? How is it planted? Where is it produced? According to Fujian cherry tomato grower Master Gao, cherry tomatoes are generally sown in late April, and harvesting begins 40 to 60 days after spring transplanting; in autumn, it takes 90 days from sowing to the start of harvest.

How long is the cherry tomato growth cycle?

The cherry tomato growth cycle ranges from 110 days to 170 days. The period from seed sowing and sprouting to the maturity of the seeds of the first fruit cluster is the growth and development cycle. It is divided into 4 stages: the germination stage, the seedling stage, the flowering and fruit-setting stage, and the fruiting stage.

How are cherry tomatoes planted?

1. Seedbed preparation: The cherry tomato seedbed should be sheltered from the wind and face the sun, with good drainage. Each mu of field requires 6 to 7 sq m of seedling bed and 35 to 40 sq m of transplanting bed. Apply 1500 kg of decomposed human manure per mu to the subsoil of the seedbed soil, and spread 8 cm of nutrient soil on top. The nutrient soil is made of half fully decomposed organic fertilizer and half fertile soil that has not grown solanaceous crops. Mix and sieve 7 to 10 days before sowing, mix in 5 kg of superphosphate, spray with carbendazim for soil disinfection, and pile it up for later use.

2. Sowing time: Cherry tomatoes have strong adaptability. Through different sowing periods and different protected cultivation facilities, four-season production and year-round supply can be achieved. Usually in the north, spring sowing is from April to June or autumn sowing is from August to September; in the south, spring sowing is from February to June or autumn sowing is from August to October; field planting can be done from August to February of the following year.

3. Germination and sowing: Use 20 grams of seed per mu for cherry tomatoes. Soak in 1000 times diluted potassium permanganate solution for 10 minutes, then rinse with clean water and soak in warm water for 6 hours. Wash the seeds, shake off the water, keep them moist with wet gauze, and germinate at about 25°C. Sow after the seeds show white sprouts. Because the seeds are expensive, to ensure a high plant survival rate, the seeds are required to be placed and sown individually, and covered with 0.5 cm of nutrient soil. Maintain a relatively high temperature before emergence. After emergence, to prevent leggy growth, attention should be paid to ventilation.

4. Post-sowing management: At the two-leaf-one-heart stage of cherry tomato seedlings, select healthy disease-free seedlings and carry out false planting on a clear evening with fertilizer, pesticide and soil. The false planting bed is the same as the seedling bed. After false planting, water to settle the roots. At the same time, cupric ammonium complex or Lü Heng No. 2 can be used to control damping-off and early blight, spraying once every 7 to 10 days, for 2 to 3 consecutive applications.

Cherry tomato planting management

1. Reasonable fertilization: Cherry tomatoes have well-developed roots and vigorous growth. Fertilizer should be mainly organic fertilizer, combined with compound fertilizer. Apply 2500 kg of decomposed compost and barnyard manure, or 2000 kg of human and livestock manure, or 100 kg of rapeseed cake, 30 kg of compound fertilizer, and 50 kg of superphosphate per mu as base fertilizer. Regulate growth through water management. When harvesting the early fruits, for every 2 to 3 clusters of fruit harvested, apply liquid fertilizer 2 to 3 times according to the strength of growth, but appropriately increase potassium fertilizer.

2. Reasonable irrigation: Cherry tomatoes are a vegetable crop that flowers and fruits continuously. After entering the flowering period, watering should follow the principle of seeing moisture and seeing dryness (meaning water thoroughly at one time, then wait until the soil is almost dry before watering the second time; the purpose is to prevent root rot and diseases and pests caused by excessive watering and moisture). Do not water too much, and do not let it dry out, otherwise it will cause flower and fruit drop and physiological fruit cracking.

3. Pruning and trimming: For determinate varieties of cherry tomatoes, try to promote their growth, 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 types, if early maturity is not the goal, double-stem pruning can be used. Because seeds are relatively expensive, single-stem pruning is mostly used in production. To improve quality, enhance light, promote ventilation, and prevent diseases, the old leaves below the fruit clusters that have been harvested can be removed.

4. Pest and disease control: For cotton bollworm and tobacco cutworm on cherry tomatoes, trichlorfon or dichlorvos 600 to 800 times diluted solution can be sprayed. For aphids, 10% imidacloprid 1000 times diluted solution can be sprayed. Common diseases include damping-off, early blight, bacterial wilt and viral disease. In the early stage of disease, spray 64% oxadixyl mancozeb wettable powder 500 times diluted solution, or 70% zineb wettable powder 400 to 500 times diluted solution, or 50% thiophanate-methyl 500 to 600 times diluted solution for control.

5. Harvesting and packaging: Because cherry tomatoes have high sugar content, harvesting only when fully mature can truly reflect their inherent flavor and quality. During harvest, be careful to retain the calyx and pick by hand from the abscission layer of the fruit stalk. However, yellow fruits can be harvested at the eight-tenths ripe stage, and the flavor is instead good, because the flesh is prone to deterioration after full maturity. Hard paper boxes are suitable for packaging to avoid crushing. Usually 500 grams is a small package, and 5000 grams is a large hard paper box or hard plastic box. The box has ventilation holes to prevent water droplets, so as not to affect transport and storage time.

Where is the origin of cherry tomatoes?

Cherry tomato is one of the members of the tomato family. Its original origin is the Andes region of the Americas, and there are still large distributions of wild species in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and other places. The tomato genus is divided into two complex population groups, the common tomato and the Peruvian tomato. The common tomato is the cultivated species, and the Peruvian tomato is the wild species. The cherry tomato is the ancestor of the tomato cultivated today. The origins of cherry tomatoes in our country are mainly in Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian and other places, and there are very large sales in northern cities.