Tomatoes in a Polycarbonate Greenhouse: Planting and Care

Growing tomatoes in a polycarbonate greenhouse, planting them, and caring for them have their own nuances and secrets. Before you begin growing tomatoes in such a greenhouse, you need to consider every detail to ensure an excellent harvest.

To prepare such a greenhouse for the growing season, it needs to be preheated, sealed, ventilated, and the walls washed with a sponge. All that's required is good ventilation and an open area that isn't shaded by trees or neighboring buildings. Now let's look at how to grow tomatoes in polycarbonate greenhouses and what to pay special attention to.

Preparing the soil correctly

By installing a greenhouse on your property, you'll be left with the same soil layer as the original site, but it needs to be improved. To do this, conduct a soil analysis. If the soil is clayey, add peat, sawdust, and compost. If the soil is peaty, add wood shavings, compost, and sand before digging. If the soil is black soil, add sand and compost as well (tomatoes don't like overly heavy, fertilized soils; they grow better in loose, light soils). Then dig the soil, loosen it, and add mineral fertilizers such as superphosphate and ammonium nitrate.

If you've decided to plant tomatoes in the same spot for the second year in a row, disinfect the soil with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or water it with a solution of copper sulfate. It's best to alternate planting tomatoes with cucumbers to prevent them from becoming infected and spreading diseases to each other. Prepare the beds in advance, spacing them 60-80 cm apart.

Read also: tomatoes bloom and bear fruit - necessary fertilizers.

Varieties for polycarbonate greenhouses

You can, of course, use any seeds, but to get the best harvest, you need to understand which varieties will perform best and produce more in a greenhouse. Experts advise choosing hybrids; this will reduce hassle and problems. The best varieties for such greenhouses are determinate varieties like "Modul," "Harlequin," and "Malinovy ​​Zvon," as well as indeterminate varieties like "Sprut" or "Alcazar." The latter varieties, which have no growth restrictions, bear fruit earlier and are trained into two stems. All their fruits ripen before frost, and they are less susceptible to diseases. If you sow varieties like "Nadezhda" or "Natus" in late February, you'll have your first fruits by mid-June. However, by late August, they no longer bear fruit; the entire harvest has already been harvested. Therefore, if you also plant indeterminate varieties in the greenhouse, you'll have plenty of tomatoes until frost.

If your pets have problems with the ovary, read on, What to do if tomatoes are blooming but no ovaries are forming.

Transplanting

When your indoor plants reach approximately 30 cm in height, water the prepared beds in the greenhouse and transplant them, planting them no more than 4 cm deep. Spread the roots out so they don't grow deep, but rather closer to the surface, allowing the plants to absorb more nutrients. Space the seedlings 55-60 cm apart. After planting, don't water them for 1.5 weeks, then water them once or twice a week, increasing the frequency when flowering and fruiting begin. You can use a watering system like the one in the photo, burying bottles with matching water near the roots, or you can use the traditional method.

To ensure good pollination of tomatoes in a greenhouse, shake them periodically, then water and spray them, and ventilate the room on a sunny day after spraying. Also, open the greenhouse on warm days and hang a jar of sweet jam or honey by the door to attract bees. During the growing season, be sure to fertilize the tomatoes with mullein, nitroammonium nitrate, and potassium sulfate. Three applications, spaced 2-3 weeks apart, should be sufficient.

A good approach is to plant low-growing, early-ripening tomatoes near the edges of the greenhouse, with taller ones closer to the center. While some are growing, others are already ripening, creating a constant harvest until the cold weather sets in. A polycarbonate greenhouse will protect your plants from inclement weather, sheltering them from rain, dampness, and wind, and safeguarding them from any unexpected surprises. Therefore, with proper care, growing and maintaining a good tomato harvest in a greenhouse is much easier than in an open field.

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