Characteristics and description of the tomato "Overture"

The hybrid variety Overture is perfect for lovers of small tomatoes suitable for both fresh salads and whole pickling. Its main advantages include high yields, excellent flavor, firmness, and resistance to cracking.

And they also store well: the harvested fresh tomatoes can be eaten even when the autumn cold hits outside!

Main characteristics of the variety

•         Early maturing (fruits can be harvested 100-110 days after sowing seeds).
•         Suitable for growing both in open ground and in greenhouses.
•         Hybrid variety - when re-growing from collected own seeds, there is no guarantee that the properties and qualities of the mother plant will be repeated.
•         Indeterminate - therefore, during the growing process, constant pinching of the bushes will be required.
•         Excellent yield: up to 6 kg of fruit can be harvested from a bush, and up to 25 kg from a square meter with proper care.
•         A tall variety: indoors it reaches 1.8 meters in height. Outdoors it grows slightly shorter, to 1.3 meters.
•         The bushes are sparsely foliated, with strong stems, and require mandatory tying to a support.
•         The fruits are small, each weighing up to 120-150 g, which allows them to be used not only in fresh salads, but also for pickling whole.
•         If necessary, ripe fruits can be left on the bushes without picking for 10 days.
•         The texture of the fruit is quite strong; if accidentally overwatered, the fruit does not crack, as with some other varieties.
•         Tomato is not affected by Cladosporia, Veticillium wilt, or tobacco mosaic virus.

Fact!

•         The specialty of this variety is that its fruits retain their marketable appearance for quite a long time. Without special conditions (such as being stored outdoors in boxes), they store perfectly for four weeks.
•         The variety has another advantage. Those who grow Overture for commercial use will appreciate it. The fruits sit firmly on their stems in the tomato clusters. This makes them much more presentable when sold this way.

Growing seedlings

Seeds should be sown approximately 50-70 days before the typical regional planting date. However, both the seeds and the soil they will grow in must be carefully prepared beforehand.

Pre-sowing preparation

•         Freezing the seeds in the freezer for one week before sowing produces good results. If this amount of time is not available, it's advisable to place them in the freezer for at least two days.
•         Soaking the seeds before sowing will also be beneficial. The easiest option is to soak them in solutions of commercial biostimulants such as Epin, NV-101, or Ecosil.
•         A good effect can be achieved by soaking the aloe vera leaf in a 1:2 water solution. A week before use, place the aloe vera leaf in the refrigerator's vegetable compartment to activate its beneficial properties.
•         Garden soil, sand, and store-bought soil used to prepare the soil mixture for sowing seeds must first be disinfected—at least by rinsing with boiling water. The best option is to irrigate again with a Fitosporin solution (see the instructions for the product for detailed instructions).

Sowing seeds

It's best to sow the seeds directly into individual containers to avoid damaging the roots during transplantation. Peat pots are ideal; you can also use them to transplant the seedlings into the soil of a greenhouse or garden. It's important to water the seedlings generously during the first few weeks to soak the peat pots, allowing the plant's root system to spread throughout the soil horizons.

Important conditions

To ensure that seedlings grow strong and healthy, it is necessary to know and take into account the basic nuances of caring for them.

•         A location with sufficient light, ideally on south-west and south-east facing windowsills.
•         On overly sunny days or in the midday heat (on a south-facing windowsill), the seedlings should be shaded. Even simple sheets of paper placed as a screen between the window glass and the young plants will help prevent them from burning and weakening.
•         Adequate air humidity (at least 60%). Regular daily misting of the seedlings with a spray bottle will help maintain this humidity.
•         Water carefully. Avoid overwatering seedlings, as this can lead to the development of diseases such as blackleg. Avoid overwatering, as this will dry out the roots and cause the plant to die.
•         If necessary, pick out the plants in the phase of the first pair of true leaves.
•         At the same stage (after picking), fertilize with a complex mineral fertilizer at half the dose recommended in the instructions included with the preparation.
•         Before planting seedlings outdoors, it's a good idea to harden them off. First, for a very short period of time, then gradually increase the time, bring the seedlings outdoors (into the garden or onto the balcony). The day before planting, it's a good idea to acclimate the tomato seedlings to overnight stays in the greenhouse. This will help them get used to the new environment they'll be growing in, and the process of acclimation will be much less painful.

Planting in a greenhouse and open ground

•         The seedling planting pattern is 40x50 cm, otherwise – 4 plants per 1 sq.m.
•         By the time of planting in the ground, the soil temperature should be consistently maintained at a level of at least +10 degrees.
•         In open ground, for the first 1-2 weeks (until they take root well), seedlings should be covered, for example, with spunbond.
•         The soil should be prepared in the fall: improve it with horse manure or complex mineral fertilizers (at the dosage specified in the instructions). Alternatively, you can add rotted manure or compost to the bottom of the planting hole. However, you'll need to be careful with the addition of organic fertilizers later. It's important not to overdo it, as this will cause the plant's foliage to develop rapidly, which will hinder fruit set and ripening.
•         You will have to tie up the tomatoes right away and then do it again and again as the bushes grow.
•         Side-sonning should begin after the first flower cluster has formed. All leaves below it are plucked, leaving a maximum of two main stems.
•         Water generously, but not excessively. After watering, ventilate the greenhouse well.
•         During the flowering period, to improve the formation of ovaries, it is useful to spray with a solution of boric acid (1 g of the preparation per 1 liter of warm water).
•         To protect against late blight, it would be a good idea to spray the bushes with milk whey.

Reviews

Last year, I grew the Overture tomato both in an open bed and in a greenhouse. I noticed that the fruits ripened a week or two earlier in the greenhouse, and the plants grew taller, resulting in a higher yield per plant. I was a little surprised that growing in a greenhouse didn't affect the size of the fruits. To me, the greenhouse tomatoes didn't seem any larger than those grown in the open ground.

Larisa Viktorovna

In my opinion, this is the ideal greenhouse tomato variety. I don't know who came up with the idea that small fruits are only good for pickling; they make excellent salads! I transplanted the first batch of seedlings to the greenhouse at the end of April, and the second in early March. Funnily enough, the second batch quickly outgrew the first and produced the first harvest earlier. In early July, I picked the first box of pink tomatoes so that the next ones would ripen faster and allow for more ovaries to form throughout the season. I placed the box in a cool place – the tomatoes remained firm and pink for a long time. From mid-July to mid-August, I could pick a box of tomatoes every week. A very productive variety!

By the way, my family and I finished off the last of our fresh “Overturk” tomatoes in December!

Viktor Timofeevich