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Seedling Care

Basic Seedling care in hear

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Seedling Care

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  1. Cypress Creek Organic Farms Caring for Your Seedlings

  2. Summer Seedling Growth This information will assist you in growing your tomatoes during the first 30-45 day period of growth during a hot growing season. Contents: Heat Watering Training to Supports Pests Hand Pollination

  3. Heat • Heat buildup is the most significant issue that will come up over the next month. • You must keep the plants as cool as possible during this time. • Maintain air flow during the day. • The plants are very tolerant of heat up to 120 degrees if they have plenty of water, but will not pollinate above 92 degrees. • Visual signs of heat stress are curried leaves, soft stems, drooping plants, yellowing lower leaves, and plant death.

  4. Watering Water as needed up to 5 galloons per day. Work on external drainage. Tomato roots must have air in the soil. If the soil gets saturated, the roots will die and the plant won’t be far behind. If there are problems with water from heavy rain, scrape out shallow ditches around the outside of the greenhouse if needed.

  5. Training to Support As each plant approaches a foot in height: They will tend to develop multiple stems once they are above a foot tall. Pinch off lowest side shoots and keep the main shoot growing vigorously until it reaches the supports. Once the support is reached, allow a few side shoots to grow so the plant will produce more flowers and fruit.

  6. Fertilizing • Fertilizing the plants is critical at the point when the tomato fruits reach the diameter of a quarter • Plants transition from juvenile to adult at this point. • This puts stress on the roots • and over time makes the • plant more susceptible to • disease. • Fertilizing will maintain • growth and increase fruit size. • Apply an organic fertilizer every 3 to 4 weeks as the plants get larger. about 1”

  7. Diseases Monitor plants for diseases. There are few treatments for plants in an organic regime so avoiding disease is critical. A few signs a disease might be present are: • Do not get the leaves wet • Avoid working on the plants when humidity is very high. • Do not UNDER ANY CONDITION go near plants with cigarettes. • Cigarettes can carry Tobacco Mosaic Virus which is deadly to tomatoes.

  8. Pests Most common pest of tomatoes in a greenhouse are whiteflies. Typically whiteflies become more of a problem towards the end of the season, but keep an eye out for them. Hornworms and other pests might attack tomatoes depending on their ability to reach the plants. Hornworms can be picked off by hand.

  9. Pollination • As plants reach 18 inches in height, the will produce large numbers of flowers. Now its time to spread the pollen. • Because there are no pollinators in the greenhouse, they will have to be manually pollinated. • This can be done by walking down the rows of plants and directing the air flow at the plants and shaking flower clusters. • You can also use an old electric toothbrush, the type that vibrates back and forth. Touch the backside of the brush to the stem just above the flower. • Watch closely and you can see pollen fly out of the flower.

  10. Cypress Creek Organic Farms Questions? Concerns? Call our corporate office at 888-543-9990, contact your executive director, or email us at followthetomato@icloud.com

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