Friendly green sprouts delight your eyes on your windowsills. If the seedlings have sprouted thickly, congratulations! The time has come for her to pick. It should be noted here that gardeners cannot come to a consensus on whether plants need picking. However, as practice shows, correctly carried out picking makes seedlings stronger and more productive.

What is picking and why is it needed?

In the classical sense, picking is pinching or removing a small part of the root of a plant in order to stimulate it better development. But today many people believe that picking is transplanting seedlings from a common container into separate containers.

In order not to damage the roots of the sprout, a pointed peg is used for picking (from French “pique”). This is where the name of this procedure comes from. Gardeners have gotten used to using an ordinary pencil for this. Picking must be done if the seedlings have sprouted too densely. After all, plants need space and more light to develop. In addition, after picking, the plants have a well-developed root system, which means they easily take root and produce a high yield.

How to pick seedlings correctly?

In order to damage the roots of plants as little as possible, about a day before picking and half an hour before it, you need to moisten the soil well. When it becomes soft, fragile plants will be easier to remove. Use a pointed peg to make a hole in the ground, carefully pry and remove the sprout along with the soil. Important point: seedlings need to be held by the cotyledon leaves. The stem is very fragile and may break. Then you need to remove the seedling from the soil and carefully tear off, pinch off or cut off about one third of the main root. When planting plants, choose only strong and healthy seedlings.

As a rule, plants are planted in separate containers. In this case, during landing at open ground their roots will not be damaged and they will quickly take root. If you do plant in a common box, you must maintain an interval of 5x5 cm or 10x10 cm between seedlings to create a comfortable environment. After replanting the plant, you need to sprinkle it with soil, and near the base the soil needs to be pressed down more firmly.

How to care for seedlings after picking?

The seedlings need to be watered and placed in a cool, dark room for two to three days for the plants to take root. After three to five days, the seedlings can be returned to the windowsill. It is better to fertilize plants 10 days after picking.

What plants do not need picking?

Picking is not indicated for all plants. For example, you shouldn’t do it with sweet peppers. It cannot withstand even the slightest damage to the roots. This variety should be planted immediately in separate containers. Cucumbers, zucchini, squash and pumpkin can also do without picking. Usually they are immediately planted freely and nothing prevents them from developing.

Have a rich harvest!

When and how to pick tomatoes in 2016. Picking tomatoes in 2016. How and when to plant tomato seedlings correctly. Picking a tomato. At what age should tomato seedlings be transplanted? All these questions begin for gardeners after sowing and emergence of tomatoes.

Picking is a responsible matter! It is necessary to prepare in advance for this event.

1. Prepare containers for seating tomato. To pick tomatoes, you can use plastic cups (if you are using containers made from dairy or other products, you need to rinse them thoroughly and neutralize food residues with a weak solution of potassium permanganate). It is very good to plant tomato seedlings in peat cups, then when transplanting the seedlings into the ground, you can plant them directly in them.
2. Prepare soil for filling containers for picking seedlings. The main component of the soil for seedlings should be peat, manure humus or compost, and ordinary soil from the garden. If the soil on the site is loam, then it is necessary to add construction or river sand to it. To 1 bucket of the general mixture, add 4 tablespoons of ash and 2 tablespoons of complex fertilizers (if you do not have ash, then add 2-3 tablespoons of dolomite flour, and slightly increase the dose of complex fertilizers). Mix everything well.
3. A day or two before transplantation (picking) water the crops well tomatoes. If you water the tomatoes immediately before picking, the soil will be very heavy and, when transplanting, it will come off along with a piece of the root system and cause damage to the roots. And if the tomato seedlings are not watered before picking, the dry soil will easily fall off the plant, and the bare, easily vulnerable roots of the tomatoes will be damaged again.

Now we need to decide when to pick tomatoes when to plant tomatoes in separate containers.

Tomatoes need to be pruned at age 7-14 days from the start of germination. By this time, their first true leaves will usually appear and young trunks will grow stronger. If you replant them earlier, it is very easy to injure the immature seedlings, since their root system will not be developed at all and the trunks will be very thin. If you delay picking, especially with thickened seedlings, the seedlings will become elongated, and their roots will intertwine with each other, difficulties will arise with the separation of individual plants, and the roots will suffer. And the elongated stems of the seedlings will have to be deepened during transplantation.

If you stick to Lunar calendar, then we choose favorable days for picking, taking into account that the age of the seedlings does not exceed two weeks.

Favorable days according to the lunar calendar 2016 for picking:

• in March: 1,2,3 (after 12:03), 4, 5 (before 18:06), 26, 27 (before 10:27), 28 (after 09:47), 29, 31
• in April: 1 (before 19:40), 4, 5 (before 13:34), 23, 24 (after 1 5:47), 25, 26 (before 18:52), 27, 28, 29 (before 10 :08)
• in May: 1 (after 17:35), 2, 3 (before 08:09), 4, 23 (before 18:39), 24 (after 08:35), 25, 29, 30, 31.

Tomatoes tolerate picking well, so some gardeners do not wait for the tomato seedlings to stretch out, but carry out picking several times (two, or even three), as the plants grow and the container is filled with roots. This is especially true when there is not enough space on the window sills in a city apartment. First, we dive the seedlings into small cups with a capacity of 150-200 ml. Then, after 2-3 weeks, you can carry out another picking into larger containers, when the weather is already above zero and the seedlings are comfortable being on a glassed-in balcony or moving outside the city to a greenhouse. When picked from a separate cup, the plant tolerates replanting painlessly and the roots are not injured.

How to pick tomatoes?

• When picking tomatoes, it is better to use a small spatula; this will allow you to touch the seedlings less and preserve the roots. Each plant that is picked must have an earthen lump, then it will be painless for the plant and the plant will immediately begin to grow.
• Having dug up the plant with a spatula, we transfer it to a previously prepared hole moistened with water. We place the seedlings in the hole in such a way that the soil reaches the cotyledon leaves. Then lightly press the soil around the stem with your fingers and sprinkle with soil. Try to hold the seedling by the cotyledon leaves and not by the stem.
• We water the picked seedlings generously and place the tomatoes away from direct sunlight. After 2-3 days, when the seedlings have taken root, we return the seedlings to the windowsill, where there will be enough sunlight.

According to many gardeners, when picking tomato seedlings, it is necessary to pinch off the central root; some recommendations recommend pinch off 1/3 of the root. But this is a very traumatic procedure for seedlings; when picking, the plants already receive slight damage to the root system, after which they have to recover somewhat after transplantation. Therefore, I don’t recommend shortening the root, but it’s up to you to decide.

Although recently many gardeners have questioned the need to pick tomatoes. You can grow tomato seedlings without picking and still get excellent results. Just decide in advance whether you will grow tomatoes with or without picking seedlings, since sowing and caring for tomato plantings are different in these cases.

When to transplant tomato seedlings into open ground in 2016? Tomato seedlings in the Moscow region are planted in open ground in early June, and in a greenhouse in mid-May. By this time, there is usually a stable above-zero temperature outside. The soil at a depth of 10 cm should warm up to 15 0 C.

Good luck with picking tomato seedlings and high yields!

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ATTENTION! This is an archived page, current now:

Lunar calendar for the gardener 2016 - Sowing, picking seedlings.

The table of the lunar calendar given on this page is a thematic selection from a universal one made for the convenience of planning work related to work in the beds. Garden strawberries are present in this section, since it is more convenient for us to view works related to them in the “garden” section of the calendar.

April picks up the water and opens the flowers.

In April, they continue to care for tomato and pepper seedlings and sow cabbage and cucumber seeds for seedlings. The most important and time-consuming procedure at this time is picking seedlings. After the snow melts, you need to remove foliage from the area that was not removed in the fall. Areas with strawberries are cleared of old leaves and tendrils. When the ground warms up a little, you can sow dill and lettuce. At the end of the month, you can sow seeds of cold-resistant plants (carrots, onions, radishes).

In April 2016, the lunar month was delayed by almost a week compared to the calendar month; the most favorable days for sowing seedlings of such vegetable crops how tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage fall in the second ten days of the month (on the waxing Moon).

ATTENTION! Our gardener's lunar calendar is kept Moscow time. (The calendar can be used throughout Russia, taking into account the difference between Moscow and local time *)

April is a month of contrasts. If at the beginning the weather is usually more reminiscent of winter than spring, then at the end it often seems that the cold is behind us. But that's not true.

In most cases, cold snaps and even frosts are observed in mid-May, which can destroy heat-loving crops. It is for this reason that there is a list of plants that are recommended to be grown by seedlings, sowing seeds in boxes in mid-spring. What to plant in April?

What is planted and sown in April

Watermelons and melons. It is too early to plant them in March, since by mid-May they will grow to such an extent that they will clutter all the window sills. And in the first half of April - ideal! Just remember that they are extremely heat-loving, so you can plant them in the beds no earlier than mid-May and provided that the long-term weather forecast does not promise cold spells.

Cucumber. Another representative of the pumpkin family. Sometimes cucumbers are even planted directly in open ground, but still, this is fraught with a shortage of harvest due to the late ripening of the fruits. Therefore, the optimal month for sowing cucumber seeds for seedlings is April, preferably the first half.

Pumpkin. Pumpkin is even more often than cucumber sown directly into the beds. But there are two unfavorable factors that can destroy the harvest. Firstly, May is a rather contrasting month in terms of precipitation. Pumpkin seeds can either dry out in the ground or rot. Secondly, returning cold weather in mid-May can increase the likelihood of barely germinating seedlings rotting. As a result, the summer resident is left without a pumpkin. To reduce these risks, it is advisable to plant seedlings in mid-April and move them to the site when the weather stabilizes (usually the second half of May).

Tomatoes. Indeed, it is not too late to plant them in early April, especially early ripening varieties. So, don’t be upset if you thought about doing this back in March, but for some reason you couldn’t or didn’t dare. In the same way, you can sow early ripening varieties of hot or sweet pepper. These restrictions are lifted if there is a greenhouse that can extend the growing season of plants by 3-5 weeks. In this case, you can plant late seedlings of any varieties, preferably greenhouse determinate ones (for tomatoes).

Corn. This crop grows well in the middle zone and when grown without seedlings. However, seedlings produce an earlier harvest of the long-awaited cobs. Optimal time- mid-April. Corn is a little more cold-resistant than the above types, so it can withstand uncritical May cold snaps.

Cabbage. It is customary to plant any type of cabbage in April, and this is a reasonable approach. Cabbage is heat-loving, and the summer is short middle zone ends too quickly for her. In order for the heads of cabbage to ripen, cabbage seeds should be sown for seedlings in the first half of the month.

Some flowers: dahlias, carnations, sunflowers, asters.

The peculiarities of April plantings include the fact that the plants do not need to be illuminated, since the duration of daylight hours already exceeds 12 hours, as well as the possibility of earlier planting of some cold-resistant species (corn, sunflowers, flowers). The latter is convenient for unloading window sills, when by the beginning of May the seedlings have already become large. If long-term forecasts don't promise extreme cold, why not make it easier on yourself?

Thus, the seedling method protects the summer resident from weather risks, accelerates the fruiting of plants, increases their productivity and prolongs the favorable period for fruit ripening, since the ovaries form earlier. We wish you success in the coming season!

To choose the most favorable days for sowing vegetable and flower crops, as well as for carrying out other work in the garden, you need to check the table of work for a gardener, gardener and florist.

Lunar sowing calendar for April 2019

The calendar shows Moscow time.

• Favorable days for sowing, planting and transplanting
• Unfavorable days for sowing, planting and transplanting

Tomatoes are one of the most beloved, popular vegetables on our table, which we surround with care and attention at all stages of growth - before planting in the garden, greenhouse or greenhouse. Do you need to pick tomatoes? The opinion of most gardeners leans towards a positive answer. How and when to pick tomatoes? What is tomato picking? What is it for?

To speed up the time of fruiting and make the seedling bushes stronger, gardeners use an effective agrotechnical technique - picking.

What is tomato picking

After the tomatoes produce the first two or three full leaves, it is time to pick them or transplant the bushes into a larger container. The picking method (transplantation) allows seedlings to form a stronger root system. Prevents stretching and allows for early harvest. When diving, the root of the plant is buried, this makes it possible to form new lateral roots.

With proper picking, weak specimens are rejected, and promising seedlings are planted in separate pots for subsequent development.

Typically, tomato seeds are sown towards the end of the calendar winter (February or early March). If you did everything correctly in advance: sowed the seeds, took into account the requirements for lighting, watering, temperature changes during the day or night, then it’s time to pick.

How to properly plant tomato seedlings?

After a certain time after the emergence of seedlings, it becomes clear which sprouts are weaker. They should be removed so that they do not pull vitality from strong brothers. After about a month, the plants will gain strength, their first real leaves will appear - this will serve as a signal - you can start diving.

Tomato seedlings need to be watered thoroughly within a few hours; the water temperature should not be lower than +20°C. New containers for seedlings (cups, pots, special shapes) should not be very large, approximately 8x8 or 10x10 cm in diameter.

If these are not special containers, then you need to prepare them first, for example, pierce the bottom of the pot several times so that the water does not stagnate.

Then you need to fill it with pre-prepared soil, press the soil down a little, and make indentations. If you have potassium permanganate at home, you can make a slightly pink solution and water the soil with it before planting. In the absence of potassium permanganate, you should simply moisten the hole with water at room temperature - this will have a positive effect on the further survival of the tomatoes.

How to pick tomatoes if they were initially sown and grew all together? To carefully and comfortably remove a tomato bush from the ground, you can take a sharpened wooden stick or a small fork, and then carefully remove the sprout along with the earthen lump.

If it doesn’t work out with a lump, then at least don’t shake off the soil from the roots.

Be careful not to damage the roots. Try to keep your hands in less contact with the green part of the seedling. Tender tomato sprouts are very sensitive. Contact of human hands (skin temperature) with the stem or leaves can cause stress. The plant may get sick. Try to hold the plant by the part of the stem that is located closer to the root. Or, even better, for a lump of earth with roots.

I know that some gardeners remove the cotyledon leaves before picking.

I tried it in different ways. Mainly removed cotyledon leaves if the seedlings stretched out,

and the plant had to be buried when picking in order to slightly retard growth.

How do you pick up tomato seedlings if they were previously grown in individual molds or cups? The only difference here is in the process of extracting the earthen clod along with the sprout. It is much easier to remove the lump from separate molds, for example, by transferring it. To do this, a day and a half before picking, they stop watering the seedlings, the soil dries out a little, and when the mold is turned upside down, the seedling with soil falls out freely. It can be helped by lightly pressing on the bottom of the container; the stem itself with leaves is passed between your fingers. This method is also good because the roots of the plant are not injured during the process.

How to pick tomatoes if the root system has formed differently? Properly formed roots should be approximately the same in size, and their structure should resemble a fluffy ball. Such roots do not need to be pinched or sunk too deeply into the soil - deepening to the level of the cotyledon leaves will be enough. After this, you should carefully press the soil around the sprout. Digging too deeply has a negative effect on the further growth of the bush, as it will spend all its energy on the formation of new roots.

If one of the roots is more actively developed than the others, it should be slightly shortened - pinched by about 1-1.5 cm. If, when removing the seedling, you damaged this main tap root, then do not worry too much. Favorable development of the bud system is the main condition for tomatoes; when transplanting a bush to a permanent place of residence, the roots of the plant will deepen exactly as they need (downwards or to the sides).

Caring for tomato seedlings after picking

After pruning, tomato seedlings need to be placed where they will be hidden from direct access. sun rays. Daytime temperature should be +20..23°C, night temperature - +15..17°C. After 4-5 days, the seedlings can be irrigated with a spray bottle or watered with water at room temperature. Previously, it is impossible to moisturize, since the roots, looking for moisture, begin to stretch and, accordingly, grow stronger. As soon as you see that the sprouts have freshened up and taken root in their new place, they can be taken out into the light.

After 10-12 days, carry out a control inspection: if the tomato seedlings have acquired a juicy green color and sprouted new leaves, the process was successful.

Fertilizing is done two times:

1. 2 weeks after the pick,
2. 3 weeks after the first application of fertilizers.

Feeding for tomato seedlings is important - they have a beneficial effect on root development, growth, and fruit formation. Complex mineral supplements that contain potassium sulfate, superphosphate, ammonium nitrate, urea. After feeding, seedlings must be watered clean water(as if to wash off the fertilizer), carefully loosen the soil.

Additional questions about picking

Is it possible not to pick tomato seedlings?

The answer to this question will be positive - yes, it is possible. But at the same time, the seeds are sown about a month later (late March-early April). Sow either directly into the ground (in established warm weather) or in a greenhouse. The seeds are pre-soaked for several hours and sown in small increments - this is a seedless method of growing tomatoes.

Feeding with urea or nitrophoska will have a beneficial effect on general condition, development of bushes. When two full-fledged leaves (not cotyledons) appear, the tomatoes are thinned out - simply pinch off weak shoots with a fingernail. After 3 days, the seedlings are fed with a solution of nitrate (15 mg/10 l of water), approximately 1 liter of fertilizer is poured under each bush. The second, potassium-phosphorus fertilizing is done before the fruits begin to increase in size.

Also, seeds can be sown immediately in separate pots, and then transplanted into the soil in the garden using the transfer method, bypassing the picking process.

What to do if tomato seedlings stretch to the point of picking?

Seedlings are stretched due to lack of light. This is a natural process, since all plants are drawn to the sun. A similar phenomenon can also be observed when the bushes are planted too close (a common tray, not individual molds), they do not have enough light, because they obscure it from each other.

Another reason is non-compliance temperature regime. Seeds need warmth to germinate. But when the seedlings have already seen the light, the temperature needs to be lowered so that they do not actively grow until the moment of picking.

To correct the situation, the tomatoes should be transplanted into boxes, having previously made elongated grooves in the soil. Fertile soil should be mixed with humus and sand; before planting tomatoes, the furrow itself should be watered with warm water. The seedling is laid along the groove, tilting the earthen ball with roots at an angle of 45 degrees. In this case, the roots lie, and the top is visible on the surface. Root system carefully covered with earth, then the rest of the plant.

Thus, new roots will grow on the stem buried in the soil, it will straighten up, and will bear fruit normally, perhaps a little later. The same method is used when bushes are planted in open ground in a permanent place of growth. To give the bushes a horizontal direction, tying is additionally used. Support pins are installed along the edges of the grooves, between which ropes are stretched. The stem is carefully tied to them.

There is another method of “reanimating” elongated seedlings: before diving, the elongated top of the sprout is pinched off, this is done in such a way that a fragment of the stem of about 1 cm remains above the cotyledon leaves. After this, the seedling is dived into a separate container and buried as usual (to cotyledon leaves). Place a transparent plastic glass on top of the pot or stretch plastic wrap. After 7-10 days, a new full-fledged leaf appears on the remaining stem.

We hope that after reading this information, you understand why you should pick tomatoes.

Perhaps you will choose the seedless method of planting tomatoes, that is, you will do without the picking stage. And immediately plant the bushes removed from the cups directly into the ground.

It all depends on your preferences, the time you either have or not.

Sometimes, in order to strengthen the seedlings and avoid stretching the sprouts, gardeners use double or even triple picking, each time planting the bushes in a larger container.

In any case, now you know when to pick tomatoes, we hope that the results of this method will be beneficial and will delight you with a generous harvest.