What is the good variety of tomatoes `` Shuttle '' and what problems may arise during cultivation?

It is important for novice gardeners to choose a variety of tomatoes that can easily tolerate misses during cultivation. One of the representatives is the Tomato Shuttle, bred by VNIISSOK specialists in 1997.

Description of the variety

The variety is recommended for growing in open ground in regions with difficult climatic conditions - Central, Volgo-Vyatka, West Siberian. It bears fruit equally well in greenhouse and unprotected beds, and gives excellent performance in the south of Russia. It is grown mainly in private farmsteads and in small farms.

Description of the variety:

1. The cultivar is early maturing; in protected ground, fruiting begins already on the 80-90th day, in open beds - on the 110-120th day.
2. Superdeterminant, reaching a height of 55-60 cm. According to other descriptions, it is a low-growing stem, which bears fruit well on lateral shoots.
3. The stem is strong, powerful, withstands the load of ripening fruits without being tied to a support.
4. The bush is compact, which allows a dense planting, growing in small areas. The leafiness of the shoots is moderate.
5. Formation and pinching is not necessary, but more often the bush is formed into 2-3 stems.
6. The first flower raceme is formed above the 5-7th leaf.
7. Resistant to most diseases, provided timely prevention.
8. It tolerates low temperatures or sudden changes in temperature without losing the quality of the crop.
9. The average yield on unprotected beds is about 2 kg / bush, in greenhouses - up to 3 kg / bush, regardless of the region of cultivation.
10. Ripening of fruits is uneven, fully ripe and green ones are simultaneously on one brush. The first fruits are ready for consumption from mid-June, the last ones ripen before frost.

Fruit characteristics:

• Ripe berries are small, the average weight of one is from 50 to 80 g. Each cluster consists of 6-10 fruits. When rationing the yield, you can get fruits weighing about 150 g.
• Form - rounded-cylindrical with a pointed tip.
• The color is deep red.
• The pulp is fragrant, dense, juicy, sweet; when ripe in unfavorable weather, it has a slight sourness.
• The skin is firm, but not hard, without cracking.
• Keeping quality and transportability are high.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

Shuttle tomatoes have the following benefits:

• unpretentiousness;
• moderate growth of stepsons after the formation of the first flower brush, a kind of self-regulation of the crown;
• high cold resistance - plants continue normal development at an air temperature of + 15 ° С;
• stored for a long time without processing, tomatoes harvested before cold weather ripen well at home;
• excellent presentation;
• the universal purpose of fruits - they are used fresh, salted, canned, juice, mashed potatoes are prepared. According to the content of nutrients, they are classified as dietary products suitable for babies.

The disadvantages include the lack of complete immunity to diseases. Timely prevention protects against late blight and other fungal infections. However, even with full compliance with all conditions, the first fruits may be affected apical rot.

Fruit size is sometimes considered another disadvantage. However, it is this factor in combination with the amicable ripening of tomatoes that gives an excellent positive effect: The shuttle is ideal for conservation, since small tomatoes fit well into jars, the dense skin protects them from dehydration during heat treatment.

Features of agricultural technology

The cultivar is usually grown in seedlings.For heated greenhouses and open ground in the Krasnodar Territory and the Lower Volga Region, direct sowing is applicable when the soil warms up to 12-15 ° C.

Sowing dates for seedlings completely depend on the conditions for subsequent cultivation:

• for unheated greenhouses - sowing from February;
• for open ground - from March.

The exact time is determined by the estimated date of planting seedlings: 55-60 days after emergence.

Only self-collected seeds need additional processing:

1. disinfection with a solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide (3 ml / 100 ml of water) heated to 40 ° C for 10 minutes;
2. Rejection of unusable material.

Sometimes summer residents recommend pre-soaking the seed. The expediency is doubtful: the difference in the timing of the emergence of shoots from soaked and dry seeds is 1-2 days.

Sowing is carried out according to the usual technique, but the seeds are buried no more than 5 mm in an individual cup, 10 mm - in a seedling box.

Seedlings are grown according to the general rules adopted for the culture. Seedlings are fed only when they are weak, stunted. A weak (30-50% of the recommended dose) solution of complete complex mineral fertilizers is used.

The seedlings of the Shuttle easily begin to fatten with an excess of nutrients, so if its appearance is normal, it is better to leave it alone.

You can sow tomato seeds The shuttle can be loose, in this case, the seedlings of the total capacity are cut until the true leaves appear, when the cotyledon leaves grow to 5 mm. After picking, top dressing is recommended, but more often summer residents get by by spraying with Epin's solution or its analogues. When placing seeds in the grooves, they dive at the stage of three leaves.

The cultivar is especially sensitive to a lack of light, so additional lighting up to 10 hours is mandatory.

Seedlings, ready to move to a permanent place, ideally no higher than 22 cm, have a strong plump stem, bright leaves, the first fruitful brush begins to form.

Planting is carried out when the soil warms up to + 12-14 ° С.

The garden bed is prepared in a well-lit and ventilated area, protected from gusty northern and through winds, according to the standard method. The best predecessors are spicy garden herbs, pumpkin seeds.

The peculiarity of the placement of seedlings is a small distance between them, a step of 40 cm is considered an indecent luxury. The optimal layout is 25-30x25-30 cm, or 4 boles per 1 m².

Caring for tomatoes The shuttle in the beds is also standard. The variety copes well with drought, but after flowering, when the fruits are tied and poured, increased attention is paid to irrigation. Recommended watering schedule - 30 l / m² every 7-10 days depending on weather conditions.

Scheme for feeding tomatoes after planting on the beds:

1. The first is after fruit setting. Use dry azofoska, 20 g / m²by sprinkling the powder under the bushes before watering.
2. The second and third feeding is carried out with an interval of 3 weeks. Apply azofosku or mixture mullein, wood ash and superphosphate.

If the weather is cool and cloudy at the stage of flowering and fruit setting, tomatoes are sprayed with "Epin" (2 drops per glass of water), boric acid, biostimulants ("Zircon", "Ovary").

It is advisable to carry out treatment against diseases and pests with a decoction of onion peels, garlic infusion. If signs of disease are detected, biological products are used, for example, "Fitosporin", "Ridomil".

After setting the fruits on the first cluster, the lower leaves are cut off. The cultivar does not need pinching, so the lateral shoots are removed at will.

The rest of the care is carried out according to the general rules.

Why do summer residents love tomatoes Shuttle?

The yield and compactness of the bush, which is not bad for a low-growing bush, make it possible to cultivate it not only in summer cottages. The shuttle is willingly grown on window sills, balconies, loggias, receiving satisfactory results.

Neat bushes look very decorative during fruit ripening, so they are often planted in flowerpots, which are placed on terraces, recreation areas as an element of landscape design.

However, when growing the Shuttle in a confined space, you should pay attention to the fact that this tomato is ascetic in feeding and watering. He reacts to an excess of moisture and fertilizers with a colossal amount of leaf mass, and he is in no hurry with flowering and fruit setting.

The early ripe shuttle is often harvested for the winter by canning or salting, which is not typical for early ripening tomatoes - they are usually used only fresh. Often the variety is specially grown for these purposes, since it does not need a lot of space, and fruiting is extended over time.

Tomatoes Shuttle with their undemandingness won the love of not only novice gardeners. Ideal for beginners growing their first crop of tomatoes, it becomes more than just a great learning tool for them to forgive mistakes and neglect. Having appreciated its merits, the main of which is ease of care, summer residents leave it in their beds, despite the wide variety of suitable varieties available.