How to feed tomato seedlings for growth at home ⋆ 👨‍🌾 Farmer-online ⋆

Every gardener wants his tomato seedlings to be not only healthy, but also strong. However, it often happens that the seedlings begin to actively stretch and become very weak. To fix this, you will need regular top dressing, for which you can use both mineral fertilizers and various time-tested folk remedies.

Do I need to feed tomato seedlings?

You can understand whether tomato seedlings need top dressing by its appearance. If the bushes are strong, do not stretch, have a thick and stocky stem, as well as green dense leaf plates, then they can not be fed at all.

But in most cases, in order to get strong and well-developed seedlings, she will need several top dressings before transplanting into open ground.

By the appearance of the seedlings, you can understand exactly what nutrients they lack, for example:

due to a lack of phosphorus, the color of the bush acquires a purple hue;
with iron deficiency, the top of the stem turns yellow, while the foliage may turn white;
lack of nitrogen is manifested by yellowing of the leaf plates, after a while they wither and die;
due to a lack of magnesium, the foliage becomes brittle.

When the first signs of a lack of nutrients are found, it is imperative to carry out top dressing, while the fertilizer used should be dominated by the element that the plant lacks. And very weak seedlings that have begun to stretch also need mandatory feeding.

Important! From an excessively large amount of fertilizer in the substrate, young tomatoes can also suffer. Therefore, experts recommend that feeding only when necessary.

When and how many times to fertilize after picking

Experienced gardeners must feed tomato seedlings at least twice before planting them in the ground:

the first time fertilizers are applied 2 weeks after the seedlings are picked in separate cups;
the second time they are fed a week after the first feeding.

Very weak, faded, elongated seedlings with signs of illness or mineral starvation are fed regularly.

She will need 6 dressings:

After the first true leaf plate is formed on the seedlings, they are fed with a solution of Nitrofoska. To prepare it, one teaspoon of the substance is combined with a liter of water. This amount of nutrient mixture is enough for 40 bushes.
Top dressing with superphosphate (1 tablespoon per 3 liters of water) or Effecton (1 tablespoon per liter of water) is carried out if the seedlings began to stretch. If the stems continue to stretch even after top dressing, then you can use the Athlete, which stops the growth of the stem in length, and it begins to gradually thicken.
When 7 days have passed after the second feeding, the plants are fertilized with nitrophosphate. In 10 liters of water, dissolve 1 teaspoon with a slide of the substance, and pour the seedlings with the resulting solution (half a liter per bush).
After another 10 days, the seedlings are fertilized with potassium sulfate, which will help strengthen its root system. To prepare the solution, combine 1 bucket of water with 1 tablespoon of the substance, pour about half a liter of the mixture under 1 bush.
When another week and a half passes, the bushes are again fed with a solution of nitrophoska (10 tablespoon per 1 liters of water), while 0,6 liters of the mixture is poured under one plant.
After 7 days, foliar top dressing is carried out with the same nutrient mixture as for the fifth time. The foliage is moistened abundantly.

When about 7 days remain before the start of hardening procedures, all top dressing is stopped, and the plant is abundantly moistened with soft and clean water from a spray bottle, which will remove fertilizer residues from their surface.

How to feed seedlings so that the tomatoes are plump

Folk remedies

In order for tomato seedlings to be strong and have a plump stem, they need to be properly fed, while many gardeners prefer those that are made by themselves to purchased fertilizers.

There are many folk remedies that are highly effective. Several of these recipes will be discussed in more detail below.

Tomato seedlings respond well to feeding with wood ash, which contains about 5 percent potassium, as well as important trace elements.

As a rule, the surface of the substrate around the plants is mulched with dry ash, while the layer thickness should be about 5 millimeters.

If desired, you can prepare a nutrient mixture, which includes ash:

combine half a kilogram of wood ash and chicken manure with 10 liters of water;
add 10 grams of dry yeast to the mixture and mix everything well;
after 7 days the infusion will be ready;
before feeding, it is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 2, while under one plant, in which the first pair of true leaf plates has formed, 0,3 liters of nutrient mixture must be poured.

Ordinary yeast will also help to make tomato seedlings stronger. They include a large number of useful mushrooms, as well as amino acids, iron, macro- and microelements.

Yeast top dressing is prepared as follows:

a small amount of warm water (from 28 to 30 degrees) is combined with one hundred-gram pack of dry yeast;
add a little sugar to the mixture;
after the yeast is activated (foam appears on the surface of the mixture), they are poured into a bucket and so much water is added to make 10 liters of the finished solution;
after two real leaf plates are formed in the senets, they are fed with the resulting mixture, while 0,5 liters of solution are poured under one plant.

You can also prepare top dressing from yeast and bread:

a glass jar with a volume of three liters is filled by two-thirds with dry crusts of black bread;
warm water is poured there (about 40 degrees) and 80 grams of raw yeast are added;
the infusion will be ready after 7 days;
before feeding, it is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10, while half a liter of solution is poured under one bush.

Tomato seedlings also respond well to feeding with hydrogen peroxide:

combine 1 glass of water and 30 drops of peroxide;
the resulting solution is enough to feed one plant, which has formed the first pair of true leaf plates.

Feeding tomato seedlings with iodine – video

Mineral Fertilizers

Most often, purchased mineral fertilizers are used to feed tomato sents, the most popular of them are:

Agricola. The composition of the fertilizer includes 20 percent of potassium and phosphorus, as well as approximately 13 percent of nitrogen. It also contains magnesium and trace elements. Fertilizing with Agricola is carried out half a month after sowing seeds for seedlings. It can be applied dry to the substrate or prepared as a solution.
Nitrophoska. This complex fertilizer is the most popular among gardeners. It contains phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium, which are necessary for tomatoes in the seedling period.

But in order not to harm the plants, the solution should be prepared exactly according to the instructions on the manufacturer’s packaging. In no case do not exceed the dosage. Fertilizer is applied to the substrate 15 days after sowing.

To make your seedlings stocky and increase the thickness of the stem, the growth regulator – Athlete will help. It differs in that it slows down the growth of the bush, but at the same time makes it stronger and improves the development of the root system.

There are several important rules:

In order for the effect of the Athlete to be maximum, the bushes are not watered before and after top dressing. Only after 1-2 days can the surface of the substrate be moistened with a sprayer.
In the event that the seedlings are very thin and weak, they are fed with the drug four times with an interval of 4–5 days.
When 7 days remain before planting the seedlings in open soil, the application of the agent to the soil mixture should be stopped.
The first top dressing by the Athlete is recommended to be carried out only after the third true leaf grows in the bushes.
The solution of the drug can also be used for foliar top dressing. As a rule, three top dressings are enough for a seedling, which are carried out with an interval of 7 days.

How to properly fertilize

If it is wrong to feed tomato seedlings, then instead of the expected positive result, significant harm can be done to it. That is why experts recommend that you study and remember a few important rules:

It is recommended to feed the seedlings in the evening or in the early morning, it can also be done on a cloudy day. If you need to fertilize during the day when the sun is shining, the bushes will have to be shaded, for this you can use simple sheets of paper or newspaper, and fabric is also suitable.
Before and after fertilizer is applied to the substrate, it must be watered. To do this, use soft water and it is best if it is rain or melt.
Before you start feeding, be sure to read the instructions that should be on the package. It is highly not recommended to independently increase the dosage, as this can negatively affect the development of plants.
Even if you have an excellent memory, keep a special notebook in which you will write down when and how you fed the tomatoes. Thanks to this, you can always feed on time, and it will also allow you not to overfeed the seedlings.

How can I feed young tomato seedlings – video

The main thing to remember is that not all tomato seedlings need regular feeding. If they grow healthy and strong, then they have enough of those substances that are contained in the soil mixture, and they do not need additional fertilizer.