Tomato pinching technology
The quality of tomato fruits and the speed of their ripening depends on how correctly and at what time the pinching of tomatoes was carried out. Experienced summer residents give an unequivocal positive answer to the question of whether it is necessary to pinch tomatoes, because this procedure, together with pinching, affects the taste of vegetables.
Tatiana Orlova (Candidate of Agricultural Sciences):
Pinching (punching tomatoes) aims to shorten the growth period of the vegetative part of tomato plants and redirect nutrients to ripening fruits. On the one hand, this procedure reduces the potential yield of the bush, but allows the already set fruits to ripen. In the southern regions of the country, it is carried out only on indeterminate varieties (with unlimited growth) to stop growth at a certain height - so that tomato plants do not touch the surface of the greenhouse roof with leaves. Determinate (bush) tomatoes grow only in cold regions.
Tomato pinching technology
The purpose of pinching
Pinching tomatoes is the procedure for cutting off the top of a tomato plant. Pinching grown tomatoes means removing growth points.
The purpose of pinching tomatoes is:
- improving the quality characteristics of the tomato crop,
- shortening the ripening period of vegetables and increasing the duration of the fruiting stage of tomatoes,
- improving the quality of the mineral nutrition of the plant and achieving good illumination.
- reducing the number of deformed low-quality fruits, since pinching acts as a means of inhibiting growth and redirecting the main forces to the formation of vegetables.
For tall varieties, the removal of the top of the bush is mandatory.
The pinching procedure can lead to early wilting, and also cause the complete death of a vegetable crop if you do not know how to pinch tomatoes.
Tatiana Orlova (Candidate of Agricultural Sciences):
All green operations (pinching, pinching, breaking) should be carried out with clean hands or tools, because viral and mycoplasma diseases can be transmitted with plant sap.
Basic Rules
How to pinch tomatoes correctly? It is required to do this carefully, so that each action is performed, provided that the vegetable culture is preserved. Growth points are removed with the help of agricultural secateurs, which cut off the very top of the tomato stem, leaving 2 leaves above the last tomato cluster with the fruit ovary already on it.
Pinching in tall tomatoes is often done leaving no more than 7-8 tomato brushes with formed ovaries. If you remove them in excess, the tomato bush will weaken and wither, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the crop will decrease.
The procedure can be carried out early in the morning or in the evening. This will allow the wound formed after removal to tighten. Also, for quick healing after pinching, the wound is sprinkled with ash powder or ash.
Forming technology
There are several ways to cultivate tomato.
How to shape tomatoes correctly? There are several ways:
- The formation of a tomato plant is carried out in one stem; the technology assumes pinching throughout the summer season.
- Formation of a plant in two stems in a greenhouse or in the open field. With this cultivation, together with the main stem, the last shoot is left at the top - a step-son. This method gives a higher yield, however, it slows down the ripening period of vegetables, which in some cases do not have time to ripen before the onset of frost. The technology is not recommended for late-ripening varieties.
- Formation into 3 stems. According to this method, 2 of the most powerful stepson processes remain. This technology for the formation of tomatoes is suitable for the cultivation of early-maturing varieties that have time to ripen in established biological periods.
Time spending
The time when summer residents are going to pinch tomatoes usually falls on the last days of July or the first days of August. The procedure is recommended to be carried out regularly, from the first days of the stage of active development of the vegetable culture.
Removing growth points at the stage of germination of tomato seedlings and pinching young tomatoes right on the windowsill makes it possible to get dense greens on the seedlings and stimulate the development of the root system of a young seedling.
There is a difference in the timing in a greenhouse and in open soil.
In open conditions
It is recommended to pinch the growth points on the tops of tomato stems when growing a vegetable crop in open ground one month before the stage of full biological maturation of tomatoes. The deadline is between the last days of July and mid-August.
In greenhouse conditions
When growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, pinching is carried out later, the reason for this is the duration of the ripening of vegetables. Usually, the removal of tomato growth points in the greenhouse falls in September-October, in some cases it is delayed until November.
Conclusion
Now you know how to pinch tomatoes and why you need to. All recommendations must be followed for the procedure to be successful.
