What to do when tomato seedlings lengthen and turn pale?
Tomatoes are a crop that is most often grown by seedlings. If the tomato seedlings are stretched out, do not panic and worry. First you need to determine why this happened. And then decide what needs to be done to stop the growth of seedlings.
Factors contributing to plant elongation
In order for the actions to strengthen the seedling stems to be correct, it is necessary to determine why the stems have become longer. Let's name the main reasons for sprouting.
- Insufficient illumination
Small daylight hours or cloudy weather do not allow plants to receive the required amount of light. Also, an insufficient amount of light is obtained by sprouts when they are densely planted in one box.
To save tomatoes from further stretching and blanching, transporting the container with sprouts to a brighter place will help. Also, to eliminate this factor, you can use additional lamps, and you need to hang them not only from above, but also on the sides of the boxes with tomato seedlings, so that each part of the sprouts is illuminated. If the plants are planted tightly in one box, then you need to plant them in separate containers.
How to prevent the problem? Initially, the seedling containers should be placed on the southern windows, where a large amount of light enters. In other places, it is necessary to immediately install additional lighting devices that will make up for the lack of sunlight. It is necessary to turn on these devices in the morning and in the evening to provide the seedlings with a daylight hours of about 16 hours.
Also, in order to prevent the seedlings from pulling out due to lack of light, it is recommended to plant them in separate pots and replant after the formation of the first pair of true leaves. This is done in order to provide each bush with the necessary amount of light and space that it needs so much.
- Incorrect temperature conditions
Tomatoes are heat-loving plants; for proper growth and development, they need an optimal temperature regime. If the temperature regime is constantly fluctuating, then the tomato seedlings become long and thin.
What to do? Decrease the temperature by 4-5aboutC, so that the sprouts cease to reach for the light, and direct their energies to strengthening the root system.
So that this problem does not affect you, in the first two weeks after germination, it is necessary to provide the seedlings with additional lighting and a temperature of 15aboutFrom to 18aboutC, then, to stimulate development, increase the temperature to 25aboutC. As soon as the sprouts reach the desired height, the air temperature must be lowered again. If all conditions are met, the seedlings by the time of transplantation are small lush bushes with a thick, slightly purple stem and dark green foliage.
Advice
If possible, you need to combine the air temperature and illumination: in bright light, maintain a temperature of +25aboutC - +28aboutC, in low light - about +19aboutFROM.
- Too active care of seedlings
Abundant watering and an oversupply of fertilizers also lead to stretching of seedlings. If there is a large amount of nitrogen in the soil, this can be determined by the appearance of the plant: the upper leaves begin to curl inward, and the more fertilizer, the more the leaves are curled.
In such a situation, it is necessary to balance the feeding and watering less often.
Advice
Water the seedlings it is necessary only after complete drying of the soil, and top dressing is done in optimal quantities.
- Lack of nitrogen
If tomato seedlings are elongated, thin and pale, then there are few nitrogen compounds in the soil.
Tomatoes need to be fed urea... Well watering the seedlings with a solution (it is prepared from urea, taken in the amount of one spoon per ten liters of water), it is rearranged in a cool place with a temperature of about 10aboutC. Despite a slight stop in growth, the color will become darker and brighter after a few days. After the color change, the seedlings are transported to their original place.
In order to prevent nitrogen deficiency, it is worth applying fertilizers containing this element as needed.
How to reduce the length of the sprout?
Long seedlings can be planted in a deeper container if there is still a lot of time left before planting in a permanent place. In this case, it is necessary to gradually add soil before watering to cover the elongated stem.
You can reduce a very long stem with a slightly different method. For this purpose, it is slightly dried so that the sprout withers a little. Then the stem is laid in a spiral along the walls of the container, sprinkling each row with soil. After that, the earth is slightly compacted and shed well. Adventure roots are formed on the covered part of the stem, and the bush itself will develop better.
To normalize the development of tomatoes, you can also use growth regulators, such as "Epin", "Athlete" or "Zircon". It is necessary to dissolve two drops of the product in a glass of water and spray the plants. They should be back to normal by the end of the week. Of course, there is a certain risk of using this method, because it leads to an artificial arrest of the growth of plant cells.
Transfer to soil
If, nevertheless, by the time of transplantation, the sprouts have elongated, then they can be planted in a permanent place in the following ways.
- Bury the plants in the soil.
First, prepare grooves about 10 cm deep and water them well. It is necessary to plant sprouts with a slope, so that the top is on the north side, and the roots are on the south. There should be about half a meter between the bushes. Then the sprout is carefully sprinkled with earth, leaving the upper part above the ground. Soon, roots are formed on the covered part of the stem, the sprout will straighten and grow.
- A few weeks before planting, cut the elongated seedlings just above the fifth or sixth leaf.
Put the cut off top in water until roots appear. When the roots reach 1.5 cm in length, the sprout must be planted in a container. Thus, from one long sprout, two short ones are obtained. When transplanting the lower part, a plant with two stems is formed, leaving the two upper stepsons when pruning. And a single-stemmed bush is formed from the top.
- You can reduce the length of the plant in a western way.
To do this, cut off the sprout at the roots and apex with a sharp, processed blade. Connect the upper and lower parts, fix the junction with ordinary tape, plant the sprout in the ground in the usual way.
- You can also plant a stretched tomato in a double hole.
To do this, in a prepared hole about 10 cm deep, make another one so that a container with seedlings can fit in it. First, the sprout must be planted in a recessed hole. After it takes root, the top is covered.
If tomato seedlings are stretched out, become thin and pale, do not worry too much. It is necessary to take the necessary measures in time and do everything possible so that by the time the time comes to plant the tomatoes in a permanent place, the sprouts are strong and healthy. After all, an elongated sprout adapts longer during transplantation, later begins to bear fruit, is more susceptible to various diseases and gives less yield than a healthy and strong seedling.
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