Cherry tomatoes are native to Taiwan Province of China and Southeast Asia. They are a variety of tomato cultivation subspecies. Its fruit is small, nearly round, cherry-like, good quality, and its sugar content and vitamin C content are much higher than ordinary tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are high-end vegetables with high economic value and they are temperature-loving vegetables.How to grow cherry tomatoes?
The temperature required for their growth and development is higher than that of ordinary tomatoes, and they are more heat-resistant than ordinary tomatoes. The main varieties are saint woman, millennium, Asian vegetable series and so on.
Tutorials to grow cherry tomatoes as follow(growing cherry tomatoes from seed):
- How to grow cherry tomatoes Step 1:Variety selection
- How to grow cherry tomatoes Step 2:Cultivation season
- How to grow cherry tomatoes step 3:sowing seedlings
- How to grow cherry tomatoes step 4:Colonization
- How to grow cherry tomatoes step 5:Field management
- Pest control for cherry tomatoes
- How to harvest cherry tomatoes?
Table of Contents
How to grow cherry tomatoes Step 1:Variety selection
According to their growth characteristics, cherry tomatoes can be divided into two types: infinite growth type and semi-stop heart type,you should choose the right cherry tomatoes seeds:
cherry tomatoes seeds
Infinite growth types such as saints and millennials are more prosperous, have long growth cycles, stable yields, more labor-intensive management, and are suitable for cautiously overwintering protected cultivation.
The semi-stop heart type, such as the Asian vegetable series, has weaker growth, more branches, natural capping, short growth cycle, convenient management, but concentrated production, suitable for over-summer and delayed extensive cultivation in autumn. When the price of the vegetables is higher, a higher concentration of output and a better profit can be obtained.
How to grow cherry tomatoes Step 2:Cultivation season
How to grow cherry tomatoes?You should realize that the cultivation season of cherry tomatoes is similar to that of ordinary tomatoes:
If cultivated in the open field, sowing in spring,seedlings can be cultivated in the protected area in February, start colonization after late April, and harvest in mid and late June.
As for sowing in Autumn(how to grow cherry tomatoes in Autumn),seedlings can be cultivated in July, start colonization in August, and harvest in October. Cultivation in protected areas can be properly cultivated earlier or later.
How to grow cherry tomatoes step 3:sowing seedlings
- Seedbed preparation.
- Seed treatment of grow cherry tomatoes.
- Seeding.
- Seedling management.
- Separate seedlings.
1. Seedbed preparation.
How to grow cherry tomatoes?Seedbed preparation is a basic step.
The nursery bed should be selected on a plot where solanaceous vegetables had never not been planted. Choose fertile soil and mix with 40%-50% decomposed organic fertilizer, and mix 1kg superphosphate and 5-10kg plant ash per cubic meter of nutrient soil. Sieve and spread on the nursery bed.
In early spring,the nursery beds should be set up in the greenhouse and electric heating wires should be laid when the temperature is too low.In summer, seedling beds should be set up in a cool and ventilated place.
2. Seed treatment of grow cherry tomatoes.
Use clean water to soak and knead to remove seed hair and debris, bleach away the stubble, and then soak in warm water to fully expand the seeds.
After soaking for 5-7 hours, perform surface disinfection and sterilization, that is:
Soak the seeds with medicine and scald the seeds with warm water.
The method of soaking seeds with trisodium phosphate is as follows:
Soak the soaked(water) seeds in a 10% trisodium phosphate solution for 20-30 minutes, remove and wash, and germinate, which can kill the tobacco mosaic and other viruses carried by the seeds.
Wrap the seeds along with a clean, moistened towel, and wrap the towel with a plastic film slightly shorter than the towel. The towel should be exposed at both ends. Then use a long scarf (or a long cloth strip) to wrap it close to your waist and place it under your body at night. Generally, it can reach the sowing standard throughout the day and night.
3. Seeding.
Water the nursery bed first and water should be much less than summer when sowing in early spring(How to grow cherry tomatoes in early spring). If you grow cherry tomatoes in summer, you should fill the nursery bed should with enough water. The seeds should be evenly spread after the water seeps down.Then cover the seeds with 1cm thick sieving soil. 3-5g seeds will need a square meter of nursery bed, and colonization needs 90-120㎡ nursery bed per hectare.
4. Seedling management.
In early spring, before emergence,you should control the temperature of the seedbed at 25-30℃. Summer seedlings should be protected from rain and temperature. When most of the seeds emerge, please cool the temperature in time:at 20°C during the day and 12-15°C at night. Start to separate seedlings when the seedlings have 2 true leaves.
5. Separate seedlings.
In early spring, the temperature will grow higher so that the sub-seed beds generally do not need a hotline.
This time you should separate seedlings(answers to how to grow cherry tomatoes) in the morning on a sunny day. Hydroponics in dark,open the ditch first, and then water. After the water seeps,place the seedlings in the soil and bury them. After burying, no muddy water can be seen on the surface, and keep the row spacing at a row spacing of 10cm×10cm.
In summer you should separate seedlings in the evening or on a cloudy day. The method is the same as that of early spring, with a row spacing of 10cm×10cm. After planting, irrigate, shading on the border, and remove the mulch after the seedlings are slowed down.
Keep the seedbed temperature at 25-28℃ during the day and 15-18℃ at night before the slow seedling and 20-25℃ during the day and 13-15℃ at night after the slow seedling. No watering in early spring, and frequent watering of seedbeds in summer. Start colonization when they grow to 8 true leaves.
How to grow cherry tomatoes step 4:Colonization
Firstly mix the soil in the land, apply 1tons/100m²of decomposed organic fertilizer, 5kg/100m² of nitrogen,phosphorus,and potassium ternary compound fertilizer,and 4kg/100m of superphosphate. Then make a 1.5m wide flat border (if the mulch is buckled in early spring, should make a small high border with a height of 10cm and a border width of 50-60cm).
For flat borders you can perform colonization with 3 rows per border, and the small tall borders you can perform colonization with 1 row per border. Row spacing is 20-30cm and 600-1000 plants/100m².Trim and lay the mulch firstly, and then planted in a colonization hole according to the distance between the plants. The planting depth should be 1cm from the ground to the cotyledons.
How to grow cherry tomatoes step 5:Field management
- Watering.
- Top dressing for cherry tomatoes.
- Foliar fertilization for cherry tomatoes.
- Temperature management for growing cherry tomatoes.
- How to prune cherry tomatoes?
- Blossom and fruit thinning.
1. Watering.
If you water enough during period of colonization,you don’t need to water again until the first panicle blooms and sets fruit. If not, you can ditch in the furrow and water some in a sunny morning. After the first ear flower sets the fruit, water heavily(The water demand is large in the result period). Water(for cherry tomatoes) once every 5-6 days, and it is required to see the soil dry and wet.
2. Top dressing for cherry tomatoes.
After the first ear flower sets fruit(cherry tomatoes), combine watering and topdressing.You should apply 3kg/100m²of compound fertilizer of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and compound fertilizer 2kg/100m².In order to improve the taste and quality of the fruit, 0.5kg/100m²of potassium fertilizer can be added appropriately.
3. Foliar fertilization for cherry tomatoes.
Foliar fertilization should be based on the growth of tomatoes to determine the types of nutrients.
How to grow cherry tomatoes?Fertilization is very important.
Generally speaking, in the early stage, the plant grows vigorously and easily cause excessive growth.Sparingly use the leaf nutrition that promotes the growth of stems and leaves. In the peak season, the plant growth vigor begins to weaken so you should use more foliar nutrition which can promote the growth of stems and leaves to promote the seedlings and protect the leaves.
At the same time,various types of special foliar nutrient solutions such as urea and potassium dihydrogen phosphate can be used. During the tomato fruiting period, it is advisable to spray calcium chloride, superphosphate, calcium amino acid and other calcium fertilizers to meet the needs of tomatoes for calcium.
4. Temperature management for growing cherry tomatoes.
The cultivation temperature in the protected field is higher than that of ordinary tomatoes. The temperature should keep above 10℃ at night, 20-25℃ during the day, and the highest temperature should be no higher than 35℃. When the temperature in the shed is higher than 35°C, it must be ventilated in time.
5. How to prune cherry tomatoes?
How to prune cherry tomatoes?Infinite-growing cherry tomatoes, such as saints, are tall and have poor uprightness. When the plants grow to 50 cm, you should use the rack to prevent lodging. For those cultivated in a protected area, the branches should be lifted with a string at the right time. Generally,leave 2 strong branches first, and the others should be erased. It is also possible to leave only the main branch with 1-2 leaves on the side branches for topping, and leaving the main branch without topping.
Pruning shears for cherry tomatoes
How to grow cherry tomatoes?How to prune cherry tomatoes? Pruning is the key step.
Cherry tomatoes are generally erected on a stand or grid (derrick), which is conducive to harvesting and light transmission. When the seedling height is 30-40cm,you should begin to tie the vine, and the support height is 2m. After entering the fruit picking period, at which stall the fruit is picked, you should pick the old leaves at the base at that stall position. The semi-stopping heart, such as the Asian vegetable series, has strong side branches and weaker overall growth. Generally, you can perform double-stem pruning or multiple-stem pruning to obtain yield in a more concentrated time.
6. Blossom and fruit thinning.
In early spring, when the temperature is low, the pollination is not good and the flowers are easy to fall. It is best to manually apply 2,4-D( (2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) to the newly opened calyx and flower stalk (only need to apply once). If time limited, you can also use a small watering can to spray flowers, the latter will produce more deformed fruits, which will affect its commodity rate.
After that,cherry tomatoes have more flowering and fruit per ear. Choose 20-30 fruits with good fruit setting and remove the smaller top and underdeveloped fruits as soon as possible.
Pest control for cherry tomatoes
The main diseases of cherry tomatoes are virus disease, morning and evening blight, stem rot, gray mold and so on.
- For viral diseases, soak the seeds with virus A, Phytophyllum, and 0.1% potassium permanganate solution, and wash the seeds with clean water after 15 minutes. 100 times the solution of NS-83 enhancer or 20 times the solution of raw soybean juice at the seedling stage or after colonization is also good. Spray 3-4 times from the seedling stage to the flowering stage. Prevention first, treatment second.
- For the prevention and control of morning and evening blight, use Dupont Kelu 600 times liquid, mix Green Fenway No. 1-3,1% calcium nitrate, etc. for rotation.
- Stem rot can be controlled by agricultural streptomycin and pyrethroid insecticides to prevent Pieris rapae when spraying.
- For the prevention and control of gray mold, use anti-mold wettable powder plus foliar fertilizer and pyrethroid insecticide, and spray it evenly in the afternoon on a sunny day.
How to harvest cherry tomatoes?
Cherry tomatoes ripen on the same panicle and should be harvested in batches. So, how to harvest cherry tomatoes?If plant tomatoes in the open air in summer,you should watch the weather forecast in time during the harvest period. Before the heavy rain comes, pick the 8 mature fruits and put them in the house. One day before frosting, pick the white ripe fruit and put it indoors, wrap it in a film, and not sell on market until the fruit is red and ripe.
There are some methods of ‘when to pick cherry tomatoes’ especially for long-distance transportation.
For long-distance transportation,harvest during the color-changing period without leaving fruit stalks. After harvesting, the initial selection can be picked early, but if the picking time is too early, it will damage its quality and taste.
After reading this article I think that you can harvest large cherry tomatoes.By the way you can also use these principles to find the answers of ‘how to grow cherry tomatoes indoors’.
That is all my experience of grow cherry tomatoes.Till now,do you know how to grow cherry tomatoes?
You may be interested in: