How to Grow Tomatoes with Soilless Cultivation? Key Points of the Latest Technical Methods and Tutorial

As a common vegetable in China, tomatoes are grown on a very large area in the country. Now China's scientific and technological development is becoming more and more mature, and there are now very many ways to grow tomatoes. Soilless cultivation is one of them, so how should soilless tomato cultivation be done? Today the editor brings you the key points of soilless tomato cultivation techniques, so let's take a look together below!

1. Seedling raising and planting

Before soilless cultivation, the seeds must first be handled properly by soaking them in warm water at about 60°C for about 20 minutes. Then soak them in trisodium phosphate for 25 minutes, and place them in normal-temperature water for about six hours, which can effectively eliminate viruses. Then place the seeds evenly on a moist gauze, cover with a layer of wet cloth, and put them in an environment at about 30°C. The seeds and gauze must be washed twice a day for germination. Generally, they will sprout in about 3 days, and after sprouting they can be sown. Before sowing, use the Japanese Yamazaki tomato formula to water the nutrient solution thoroughly, then sow the seeds in spots, and cover with a layer of sterilized substrate.

2. Seedling stage management

In the early stage of raising seedlings, the seedling bed should maintain a water layer of about one centimeter. After the cotyledons of the seedlings have fully unfolded, apply nutrient solution into the seedling bed. Prepare the standard nutrient solution according to the professional formula. Before the seedlings emerge, attention should be paid to maintaining a relatively high temperature. After emergence, lower the temperature to about 20°C, and the nighttime temperature to about 12°C. Humidity must not be too high, to prevent disease. Then, according to the seedling growth, substrate, and weather, reasonably spray one to two doses of the Japanese Yamazaki tomato formula to provide sufficient nutrition for seedling growth.

When the seedlings reach one month of age, have grown 3 leaves, and the plant height is about 12 cm, and there is no excessive spindly growth or pest and disease phenomenon, they can be planted. It is mainly based on planting small seedlings, and it should be done in the afternoon when the temperature is not high. The plant spacing should be controlled at about 30 cm, and large and small seedlings should be properly separated to facilitate management. After planting, attention should be paid to watering once with nutrient solution. After planting and before the seedlings recover, ventilation and air exchange work may be omitted. Keep the temperature at about 30°C, and it must not exceed 35°C at the highest. Then control the humidity at about 75%, and it must not be too high, maintaining suitable sunlight. When the light is too strong, attention should be paid to doing a good job of shading.

4. Plant management

When planting, we must also do a good job of hanging vines for the tomato plants. Pull a wire above the plants, and then use hanging string to suspend the plants on the wire. The main pruning method is single-stem pruning, because tomatoes have a relatively strong ability to send out side branches, so attention should be paid to promptly removing side buds to avoid consuming too much nutrition. Then, as the plants grow, the plants should be wound around the hanging string, usually once about every 7 days. We should also do a good job of flower and fruit thinning. For medium-fruit types, keep about 4 fruits per cluster, and thin out excess and abnormally growing flowers and fruits, so as to concentrate the nutrition. Then promptly remove old, diseased, and yellow leaves. When the plants grow to the wire part, the vines can be lowered.

The above is a brief introduction to the key points of soilless tomato cultivation techniques. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!