What is the best distance to plant tomatoes in a greenhouse?

Tomatoes are thermophilic plants. And in a short summer, they sometimes do not have time to fully mature, so they are often grown indoors. When planting on greenhouse beds, the spacing between plants must be strictly observed. How far to plant tomatoes in a greenhouse to get a good harvest?

Preliminary subtleties

In order to be able to count on a good harvest, it is important to take into account many factors affecting the seedling planting scheme.

When purchasing tomato seeds, you need to know exactly for what purposes the tomatoes will be grown.

• For transportation (for example, for the purpose of sale), varieties with a high keeping quality and dense skin are needed so that they do not crack or deteriorate during transportation.
• For fresh use (in salads, juices), the earliest, more juicy large-fruited varieties are suitable.
• For canning and salting, later fleshy small-fruited varieties are more suitable.

In addition, the following characteristics are important for greenhouse conditions:

• growing conditions (varieties must be adapted to indoor conditions);
• taste, meatiness;
• yield;
• ripening terms;
• fruiting period;
• type of bush formation;
• fruit size;
• resistance to disease.

The seasonality of the greenhouse itself also matters - whether it is unheated or year-round, with heating.

When planting tomatoes in your greenhouse for the first time, purchase several different varieties that are suitable for indoor conditions. So you can quickly select those varieties that will be more preferable for further cultivation.

Why does distance matter?

When growing in a greenhouse, it is important to correctly determine the scheme for planting tomatoes. Too sparse will lead to the fact that plantings take up too much space, which could be used more rationally. But the main thing when choosing the distance between the bushes is not to thicken, because too dense plantings will bring a lot of trouble and trouble.

• Tomatoes love light very much. If the distance between the bushes is too small, good illumination is difficult to achieve. Plants will be weak, pale, elongated, which will certainly affect the yield.
• The thick shade of the foliage slows down the ripening of the fruits, which can affect their quality.
• If the distance between tomatoes is too small, the developed root system of each plant will compete with the root system of others, taking away the necessary moisture and nutrients.
• Taking care of dense plantings is not easy: you can damage the stems, inflorescences.
• Indoor conditions do not make it possible to ensure normal air circulation, which, when the plantings are thickened, leads to the occurrence of fungal diseases.
• The close arrangement of plants contributes to the contact of their leaves and the rapid spread of diseases between the bushes.

In order not to injure the delicate stems of tomatoes when tying to a support, use a soft material for this purpose: hemp, twine or cloth cut into thin strips.

Distance and variety of tomatoes

The variety directly depends on how far you need to plant tomatoes. After all, the taller and more spreading the plants are, the more space they will need.

• Low-growing tomatoes do not grow higher than 45 cm, they have a compact root system. Therefore, they can be planted up to 7 bushes per square meter. Such varieties are also convenient in that they do not need tying.
• Medium-sized tomatoes can grow up to 1.5 m. Bushes of these varieties must be formed during the growing season.Their root system is powerful enough, so they plant no more than 4 bushes per square meter.
• Tall indeterminate varieties grow up to 3 m, so they also need tying. They gain height throughout the growing season and require particularly careful shaping of the bushes (pinching, pinching). Their root system is very well developed, so you need to plant no more than 2 plants per square meter.

Do not grow tomatoes in the same greenhouse for two consecutive years or longer. Otherwise, the soil will accumulate the same waste products of plants, consume the same substances. Tomatoes will start to hurt much more often, which will hit the crop.

Tall tomatoes will take up quite a lot of space in the greenhouse: they need to be planted at least 60 cm later.It is allowed to plant in a checkerboard pattern with row spacing of at least 75 cm.

For smaller tomatoes, consider how the bushes will form. If they have 2-3 stems, when planting in a zigzag from plant to plant, there should be at least 45 cm, the row spacing is left up to 60 cm.

If short tomatoes are formed into one stem, they will have enough light and nutrition even when planted at a distance of 30 cm between rows and 45 - between bushes.

When planting in a checkerboard pattern, you can save a little the greenhouse area and place more plants on it, providing them with the right amount of light. This decision is very reasonable, if you do not be too "greedy", keep the distance from bush to bush.

Planting scheme and size of the greenhouse

When planning to plant tomatoes in a greenhouse, you need to correctly correlate the area (in particular, the width) of the greenhouse with the size of the bushes of the selected tomatoes. The number and size of the beds will depend on this. This issue is relevant for small greenhouses, when it is important to save space.

If the greenhouse is no more than 3.5 m wide, it is possible to arrange two or three beds (respectively, there will be 1 or 2 aisles between them). It should be remembered that with one pass, the beds will turn out to be quite wide. This makes the plantings more compact, but makes it much more difficult to care for them, especially for plants near the walls. This arrangement works well when the greenhouse is less than 3 m wide.

The presence of two passes simplifies agrotechnical work. But then the question arises about lighting for plants in the middle garden. It is better to plant tall varieties on it, and lower ones on the extreme ones. This will distribute the light more evenly in the greenhouse. In this case, undersized tomatoes are placed in 2 rows, high - in one. Or the lowest plants are placed near the walls, medium-sized plants in the second row, and the highest in one row on the central garden bed.

The optimal width of the beds is 1.2 m, the aisles are at least 50-60 cm. Narrow aisles are extremely inconvenient.

You can plant tomatoes in two beds as follows:

• Low-growing varieties are planted in a checkerboard pattern, maintaining a row spacing of 40 cm, leaving a row spacing of at least 50 cm.The passage between the ridges will be wide - about 80 cm.
• Medium-sized varieties are planted linearly or in the form of a zigzag, keeping at least 30 cm between plants in a row, 60 cm between rows.The passage will also be wide: 80 - 90 cm.
• Tall varieties are planted with an interval of 50 cm between bushes and 70 cm between lines, leaving also 80 - 90 cm for the central passage.

Tomato seedlings in 3 beds in a greenhouse are planted as follows:

• undersized tomatoes are placed in one line, leaving at least 40 cm between the bushes;
• medium-sized varieties are planted in 2 lines in a checkerboard pattern, keeping about half a meter between plants, row spacing on one bed will be at least 30 cm, at least 50 cm for aisles;
• tall tomatoes are planted in one row, placing the seedlings at a distance of up to 60 cm, leaving the same amount for the aisles. Bushes in adjacent beds are zigzagged to provide sufficient light.

Taking into account all the important factors when planting tomato seedlings in a greenhouse, you can make optimal use of the area and provide the tomatoes with the necessary conditions for growth and fruiting.