Tomato water cuttings for seedling raising save seedbeds, with fast propagation speed and good results

    For tomato water cuttings, it takes only about 18 to 20 days for the cuttings to grow into large seedlings with 7 to 8 leaves. The seedling-raising area needed to cultivate the seedlings required for 1 mu of tomatoes (about 3000 plants) is only 4 sq m, 10 times less than the seedbed area required for conventional seedling raising. In addition, it can accelerate the propagation of improved varieties and promote their popularization. The tomato water cutting technique is introduced as follows:

Tomato water cutting seedling raising

    1. Selection and preparation of cuttings:From tomato plants that grow vigorously and have the characteristics of the variety, select side branches, cut them into 8 to 10 cm small sections, with flat and smooth cut surfaces, and cut off the leaves within 3 to 4 cm of the lower part. Put them together indoors. After the cut surfaces naturally dry and heal, they can be used as water cuttings. Insert the tomato cuttings into rooting solution. After they root, culture them with nutrient solution, and strong seedlings can be cultivated.

    2. Preparation of rooting solution:Put 1 gram of indoleacetic acid powder into a small cup, add a small amount of alcohol, and after it dissolves, pour it into a container with 5 kg of clean water. This is 200 ppm indoleacetic acid stock solution. When making water cuttings of tomato, take 10 ml of the stock solution and pour it into a container with 10 kg of clean water, stir evenly, and this is the rooting solution for water cuttings.

    3. Preparation of nutrient solution:Take 10.2 grams of potassium nitrate, 4.9 grams of calcium nitrate, 2.3 grams of monopotassium phosphate, and 4.9 grams of magnesium sulfate, dissolve each separately in a small amount of water, then pour them in turn into a container with 10 kg of clean water, stir evenly, and this is the nutrient solution needed for water cutting seedling raising. When preparing, the magnesium sulfate solution should be poured into the container last to avoid precipitation.

    4. Water cutting container:The water cutting container can be a wide-mouth bottle with a volume of 500 ml. Place crushed stones with a diameter of 1-2 cm at the bottom of the bottle to fix the cuttings. Insert 10 to 12 cuttings per bottle. The water cutting container needs to be washed clean and disinfected with boiling water.

    5. Management of water cutting seedling raising:The site for tomato water cutting seedling raising can, according to local conditions, use a glass greenhouse, plastic tunnel, or small arched shed. After the tomato cuttings are inserted into the wide-mouth bottles, arrange the wide-mouth bottles on the layered racks in the seedling room. Keep the indoor temperature at 22 to 28°C during the day and 15 to 20°C at night. Every 1 to 2 days, add water once to replenish the water that has evaporated from the container. Because the temperature in the seedling room is high and the humidity is high, it is easy to cause disease in the cuttings. Spray 500-fold zineb solution once every 2 to 3 days to prevent early blight. Generally, after 5 to 7 days of culture, after the cuttings have rooted, pour out the rooting solution in the container and replace it with nutrient solution to supply sufficient nutrients. After the rooted tomato cuttings are cultured in the nutrient solution for 2 weeks, they grow into strong tomato seedlings with well-developed root systems that can be used for transplanting.