Which month is best for planting tomatoes?

Tomato, this well-known vegetable , also commonly known as tomatoes , is grown in many regions. For farmers, if they want to obtain abundant tomato yields, every link is crucial, from choosing the right time to sow to later field management. So which month is best for planting tomatoes?

Which month is best for planting tomatoes?

Tomatoes are vegetables that prefer warm climates, with an optimal growing temperature range of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. Although tomatoes prefer full sun, they prefer to grow in shorter day conditions. This plant has a high demand for water, but is not overly demanding on soil conditions. The most ideal planting environment is fertile soil with deep soil layer, good drainage and high organic matter content.

For tomatoes grown outdoors in spring, the ideal seedling age is 50 to 70 days, which means that they should be sown the corresponding number of days before transplanting. Taking Shenyang, located at 41 degrees north latitude, as an example, spring tomatoes are usually sown and raised in greenhouses in February, and then transplanted to open fields in early May after the late frost ends.

Tomatoes in autumn and winter are generally sown and raised from mid-to-late July to early to mid-August, and then transplanted from mid-to-late August to early September. The protective film begins to be covered from mid-to-late September to early October, and the harvest period lasts from late November to early February of the following year.

Tomatoes in the winter and spring seasons are sown from early November to early December, transplanted from mid-to-late January to early February of the following year, and finally harvested from early to mid-March to June.

Overwintering tomatoes belong to the long-term cultivation cycle. Seedling cultivation is usually carried out from mid-to-late September to early October, transplanting is carried out in November, and harvesting begins in January of the following year.

Key points of tomato management

1. Topping

Tomato pinching should be done after the first and second inflorescences on the main stem bloom, and the second pinching should be done when the side branches grow to 6 to 8 cm. Each time you pinch the vine, you should keep a fruiting branch below the inflorescence until you have 4 to 5 fruiting branches. When pinching, just remove a small part of the top growing point and keep the top 2 to 3 leaves. In addition, pinching is best done in sunny weather.

2. Leaf picking and leaf thinning

The purpose of picking and thinning leaves of tomatoes is to control the excessive growth of the plants, optimize ventilation and light conditions, and promote the high-quality development of fruits. This management measure is suitable for plants that are growing too vigorously. When no fruit is seen after the fifth ear of flowers blooms, it indicates that the plant is growing too vigorously. At this time, the long and large leaves covering the fruit should be removed, or half of the leaves should be removed. This will help control excessive growth and avoid hollow fruit. Leaf thinning is mainly aimed at plants with high planting density and poor ventilation and light conditions. The principle of "removing internal leaves instead of external leaves, removing yellow leaves instead of green leaves" should be followed. At least 10 functional leaves should be retained on each plant to avoid picking too many leaves at one time, so as not to affect the normal development of the fruit.

3. Flower

First, remove the first flower from each spike. When choosing flowers for dotting, you should choose flowers with good shape and similar blooming time. Since the flowers in a spike open from top to bottom, most of the flowers can open at the same time or only one day apart in clear weather. Flower selection should be done on the day the flowers bloom, and choose flowers with regular shape, fully expanded corolla and long stigma. This allows the flowers in an ear to be quickly identified which meet the criteria. The flowers that open later should be picked off in time to avoid flower dotting.

4. Leave the fruit

Properly retaining the first bunch of fruits in the early stage can use the weight of the fruits to inhibit the plant's vegetative growth, balance the plant's growth, and improve the development quality of subsequent inflorescences. It is recommended to keep 6 to 7 ears of fruit per plant. For the first bunch of fruits, it is usually advisable to keep three. The second ear should have 3 to 4 fruits, the third ear should have 4 fruits, and the fourth ear and above should have 4 to 5 fruits. Such a fruit retention strategy helps the fruit to expand evenly, maintain a neat shape, avoid the fruit being too large or too small, and meet the market demand for high-quality fruit.

The above is an introduction to the time and key points of tomato sowing. You can choose the appropriate sowing time according to the climate conditions and environment in your area. In addition, variety selection and field management are also very important.