Tomato picking: when and how to pick a tomato after sprouting?

Dive young seedlings of tomatoes - transplanting their young shoots from boxes or small pots, where the seeds were sown, in a box filled with fresh soil mixture. But this process is not a simple mechanical transfer of seedlings to a large container.

What is it for?

The pick is an important technique, it is necessary in order to turn the taped root system into a fibrous root. The fact is that in a plant with a core system, the roots go deeper into the soil poor in nutrients, and the fibrous roots formed after the picking penetrate the upper fertile soil layer.

A large number of small suction roots allows young tomatoes to grow quickly, and an adult plant - to bear fruit abundantly.

Besides the fact that such an event causes active growth and rapid development of the root system,pickling seedlings also helps to increase its resistance to adverse effects, preparing tomatoes for subsequent planting in an open garden soil.

Optimum terms and signs

The manuals for amateur gardeners indicate that a dive of tomato seedlings is carried out "when the plant forms the first true leaves."

These clearly visible signs — the first two or three leaves — usually appear on tomato shoots around the fifth or seventh day, but it is advisable to wait another one or two days after their appearance so that the seedlings are strong — they are easily damaged permanently during transplanting.

Therefore, 7-10 days after emergence of shoots is the optimal time for picking tomatoes.

Sowing seeds, diving tomatoes and planting them in open ground will be possible, guided by the gardener's lunar calendar for 2018, which lists the most favorable and unfavorable days for these activities:

Sowing lunar calendar for 2018
The most suitable dates for sowing seeds, planting and transplanting garden plants
February	March	April	May	June	July
Courgettes, squash and eggplants	18, 23	8-11, 19-23	10-12, 21-24	-	-
Asparagus, cauliflower and white cabbage, sunflower	19-22	18, 20, 21	8-10, 20-23	19-24	-	-
Potatoes, parsley on the root	19-23, 27	9-11, 19-23	21-23	-	-
Parsley for pasture greens, salad, spinach, sweet pepper	-	20-24	22, 23, 25, 26	20-25	19-25	-
Radish, beets, legumes (beans, peas)	-	19, 20, 23-26	19-24	-	-
Bow on turnip, horseradish	20-23	11, 20-23, 26	5-8, 20-24	8, 9, 10, 20-24	-	-
Corn, Celery	-	20-24, 25, 27	8-11, 19-23	11, 19-23	-	-
Cucumbers, tomatoes, melon, watermelon, parsnips, carrots	-	27, 28	20-24	19-23	-	-
Cumin, dill, fennel, cilantro, mustard	20-25, 27	5-8, 20-24	19-22, 24	21-24	-
Dates unfavorable for sowing seeds, planting and transplanting garden plants
16, 17, 18, 30, 31	16, 17, 29, 30	15, 16, 28-30	13, 14, 27-29	26, 27, 28

How to dive tomatoes

A seedling can be considered properly picked, if:

• Each transplanted plant has two or three true leaves.
• During transplantation, each seedling left at least a small, with a thimble, lump of "native land".
• Each plant is immersed in the ground almost under the cotyledon leaves.

If these rules are observed, the plant will transfer the picking painlessly and after a couple of days it will confidently rise.

What is needed

When it comes time to dive tomatoes, you need the following:

• Actually tomato seedlings - the right age and watered in advance.
• Tanks in which plants will be transplanted - pots or boxes.
• Fresh soil mix for filling these boxes or pots. Peg or scapula, they remove the plants from the ground and prepare the hole for seedlings.
• If the earth mixture needs to be additionally fertilized - a small amount of potassium sulfate, biohumus and a pinch of superphosphate.
• Attention and reserve of patience.

Process description

The procedure for diving tomato seedlings, in general, is not complicated.

• Earthen mixture is poured into boxes prepared for transplanting tomatoes into them, and a peg is made into them of a suitable size.
• Tomatoes are extracted from the total mass of the soil with the help of a small pointed peg - it is carefully placed under the plant and raised, trying to keep a piece of earth on the roots.
• The extracted seedling stalk is placed in a prepared recess and with a finger they compact the ground around it.
• When the seedlings are licked out, it is plentifully watered with warm water and transferred for a couple of days to a slightly darkened room.

Tips and tricks

• Despite the recommendations, pinching a third of the root of the sprout is unnecessary. During the picking, the finest roots of seedlings are inevitably damaged, and there is no need to injure the plant additionally.
• Instead of the usual peg or blade, you can use a toothpick for picking - in fact, this is a very small pointed peg that easily enters the ground in exactly the right place.
• When extracting from the ground, you can touch only the leaves of plants or take them for a soil lump, but in no case - not for bare roots.
• When transplanting stunted and diseased plants must be rejected. The second time seedling rejection is carried out after about three weeks.
• The strongest seedlings for planting come out if you transplant it not into a common box, but into separate peat-earth pots.

As you can see, diving tomatoes is simple, fast and easy. These simple actions will help the tomatoes in your garden to grow strong and bring a bountiful harvest.