When to sow tomatoes?

Despite the fact that on each bag withseedlings, as a rule, indicated the optimal time for planting, disputes about the most favorable time of planting among horticultural gardeners do not cease throughout the year. Practically everyone has his own individual opinion on this matter. In the article, we will tell you when to sow tomatoes so that they grow up healthy and bring the maximum yield.

According to the lunar calendar

Some in the calculations of the most optimaltime for planting various cultivated plants use the lunar calendar. It indicates the most favorable days for planting a particular plant, starting from a certain phase of the moon. Such a calendar is calculated every year anew. So, for example, in 2015, sowing tomatoes for open ground is recommended from 5 to 6, from 10 to 11 March or from 18 to 21 March. The most favorable time when you need to sow tomatoes for a greenhouse is from 10 to 12, from 15 to 16 February, and also on February 20, 23-24, February 27-28 and March 1.

According to people's signs

You can also trust in this question the following folk beliefs:

1. Planted tomatoes during the flowering snowdrop.
2. Tomatoes are also planted after the poplar or dogrose starts to bloom, as this is a signal that no frost is expected.
3. The color of chestnut, mountain ash, acacia and lilacs is also evidence that the frost has ended and it is possible to plant sprouts in the soil.

Based on the fruit ripening period

Other truck farmers in planning the time of sowing of cultivated plants proceed from the time for which the period of maturation will take place.

All the variety of existing varieties of tomatoes can be divided into 4 large groups:

1. Early ripening varieties ripen 105-110 days after sowing.
2. Medium-ripening varieties - after 111-115 days.
3. Late-ripening - after 116-120 days.
4. Very late varieties mature more than 4 months.

On the basis of what kind of seeds do you planplant, the time of their sowing will also change. To the specified period, allocated for fruit ripening, it is necessary to add the time necessary for seed germination. On average, this process takes about 18-20 days.

Let's say you want to have by July 1the opportunity to submit to the table own-grown tomatoes. Suppose you bought seeds of mid-season tomatoes. Then with the help of simple calculations we get the following: from July 1 we take 115 days and 20 days to shoot. Accordingly, it is necessary to start working on seedlings in the middle of February.

It is also necessary to take into account when the temperatureThe land will reach the optimal value for planting seedlings. As a rule, plants are not planted in the soil until it warms up to at least 11 degrees.

How the sowing process takes place

Briefly describe the process of how to sow tomatoes on seedlings, you can as follows:

1. When it's sowing time, you spread the seeds on wet gauze to make them come to life and begin to germinate. As a rule, it takes about 6 days.
2. Then you put sprouts in the ground, in pre-prepared boxes, at a distance of about 3-5 centimeters from each other.
3. When the seedling grows up (after about 20 days), each seedling is planted in an individual container.
4. After 40 days, when the seedlings are sufficiently grown and strengthened, and the earth warms up to the desired temperature, they can be planted in a greenhouse or in an open ground under a film.

Read also the article How to plant tomatoes.