When and how to sow tomato seedlings in March 2024 – simple and accessible for beginners

Tomatoes are easy to grow, but a high yield can only be guaranteed with timely sowing of seeds and proper care of the seedlings. It's helpful to use the lunar calendar as a guide, as it will indicate favorable dates for March 2024. You should also consider your region, the variety, and the weather forecast for the near future.

Benefits of March planting

This period is suitable for sowing seeds of early, mid-season, and late-season tomato varieties. Daylight hours are already quite long, and supplemental lighting is not required. Even tomatoes with a long growing season will ripen within a season, even without a greenhouse.

Planting tomatoes in March has certain advantages:

1. By the time it is transplanted into the garden, the plant is already strong, but does not stretch.
2. In central Russia, in the Moscow region, the best time to plant seeds is early March. If you plant them in late March, you can plant tomatoes in the garden as early as the end of May. This is late for varieties that take more than 110 days to mature.

Planting in March has its drawbacks. Late-ripening varieties should be planted earlier (in February).

In cold climates, warmth sets in at the end of spring. If a greenhouse isn't available, sowing the seeds later allows the tomatoes to become established before transplanting them to the garden. Avoid planting the seedlings too close together.

To ensure proper plant growth and fruit production, leave 600-700 mm between plants. The same distance should be left between rows. Sparse planting allows oxygen to circulate freely within the plants, providing ideal ventilation and preventing disease.

Excessive soil watering is beneficial for young plants only after transplanting. After a week or two, the seedlings will take root in the garden and begin to develop. During this time, tomatoes no longer need to be watered heavily. Overwatering prevents plants from developing strong rhizomes.

The influence of the moon phases

A vegetable grower's lunar calendar is based on the phases of the moon. It provides information that can easily help you determine planting times.

Unfavorable ones include:

9, 10, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.

And here are the neutral ones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 16, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

By regional location

The regional climate must be taken into account when choosing the time for planting seeds and transplanting seedlings. In northern regions, such as Siberia, if a greenhouse is available, sowing can be done in February or early March, so that the seedlings can be transplanted in May.

If you don't have a greenhouse, it's best to plant in late March or early April, so you can plant tomatoes in May or June. In central Russia, you can sow tomatoes in March. In the south, you can sow them in early March. In the Urals and Siberia, you can sow them at the end of the month.

Taking into account the varietal type

All tomatoes can be divided into groups according to their growing season:

1. Early maturing (ripening period 90-100 days).
2. Medium ripeness (ripens in 100-120 days).
3. Late ripening (more than 120 days).

Early ripening:

1. Amber
2. Liverpool.
3. Big Momma.
4. Pink Bush.

Average:

1. Scarlet candles.
2. Black Baron.
3. Black Prince.

These are universal varieties. Late tomatoes:

1. Bull's heart.
2. De Barao.
3. Grandma's gift.

They can only be planted in the first days of March. These tomatoes store well. They have the thickest skin and excellent flavor.

Peculiarities of planting tomatoes

Tomato sowing must be done according to agricultural regulations. Beforehand, the seeds should be soaked in 1% potassium permanganate for half an hour. It's also helpful to treat the seeds with growth-promoting agents. Epin is a good choice.

You can treat the seeds, but for a stronger effect, soak them for 6 hours. Before treatment, inspect the seeds and discard any poor-quality ones (black or damaged). Such seeds will not produce strong tomatoes.

Soil requirements

Tomatoes prefer loose, rich soil, such as black soil. Loam and other types of soil need to be amended beforehand. A ready-made substrate, available at major supermarkets, is suitable for cultivation. It should be mixed with soil from a garden or greenhouse in a 2:1 ratio.

Seedlings grown in such soil adapt more easily after transplanting. You can make your own by mixing fertile soil with compost and coarse sand in a 3:2:1 ratio. Sand can be replaced with:

• coconut filler;
• loosened soil.

Store-bought soil doesn't require pre-treatment. Simply spread it out in boxes and water it. It's recommended to bake homemade soil in the oven and water it with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. This is necessary to eliminate parasites and prevent diseases.

Seed preparation and sowing

Before planting tomatoes, treat the seeds with a fungicide or soak them in potassium permanganate for half an hour. After treatment, rinse and dry the seeds on a paper towel. Sowing is permitted in:

1. Separate glasses.
2. Peat tablets.
3. Large boxes.

First, lay a drainage layer, then the substrate. Before sowing, moisten the soil. Plant the seeds to a depth of 10 mm. Space the seeds evenly (at least 20 mm between plants) to avoid damaging the rhizomes when transplanting. Water from above and cover with a polyethylene or glass sheet.

Caring for seedlings

After sowing, initially provide favorable conditions for development. To ensure rapid sprouting, maintain high temperatures and humidity. Care recommendations:

1. The container is covered with PE or glass to create a greenhouse microclimate.
2. The mini-greenhouse is ventilated twice daily (morning and evening). The container is left open for about 20 minutes. This will prevent mold.
3. When the soil dries out, water the ground with a spray bottle until the seedlings emerge.
4. To germinate tomatoes, create a temperature regime of at least 23-25C.

Recommendations must be followed, this is the key to success.

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Disease prevention and feeding

There are only three diseases that adversely affect crop yields These include late blight, blossom-end rot, and fusarium. After planting, preventative treatment with chemicals is necessary. However, it's important to keep in mind that when using chemicals, tomatoes from the garden can only be eaten after three weeks, so this method is only effective during the early stages of growth.

Fertilizing should be done no more than once every two weeks. Natural fertilizers should be used. Foliar fertilizers with yeast or bread infusions produce good results. Five days before transplanting into the garden, the seedlings can be treated with Epin (2 drops per liter of water). This will boost their immunity.

Planting scheme

Sow the seeds in shallow containers filled with the prepared substrate. They can be planted fairly close together in rows, spaced 20-30 mm apart, with 30 mm between rows. When the tomatoes develop 2-3 true leaves, they should be pricked out (transplanted into individual pots).

You can transplant into boxes, but keep the spacing between the seeds at 50-60 mm and the distance between rows at 60-70 mm. Sowing seeds directly into individual cups is permitted. In this case, transplanting is not necessary. However, individual cups will require a lot of space.

Low-viability seeds should be sown in large seed boxes and then transplanted. This allows for easier illumination of the seedlings, if needed.

How to care for seedlings

To ensure a high tomato yield, the plants require proper care. Watering is essential. The soil should be kept slightly moist at all times, so twice every seven days is optimal.

Overwatering is harmful. Overly wet soil will encourage fungi and rot. When the seedlings are still small, watering with a spray bottle is convenient. Be careful not to let the leaves get wet.

After transplanting, the seedlings are watered and loosened every 14 days.

Possible errors

Growing tomatoes can be problematic. Changes in the plant's appearance signal that all is not well, and urgent action is needed. Common challenges faced by vegetable growers include:

1. Low seed germination. This occurs due to poor quality seeds or poor agricultural practices. The substrate is too heavy, and there's a lack of moisture.
2. Plants are stretching due to lack of light and being planted too close together. Pricking out the plants will correct this.
3. Flowering of seedlings before transplanting into the garden (reasons: excessively warm air in the room, need to replant, feed with minerals).
4. Wilting of foliage due to lack of watering.
5. Spots on the leaves are due to fungal infection or violation of agricultural practices.

Once a problematic situation is identified, the cause must be addressed. Usually, everything can be fixed.