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Tomatoes are the most popular greenhouse crop on the planet today. And is that with the right conditions, you can get up to two annual harvests of these plants, so they provide a great production of their valued fruits.
It does not need to be large farm greenhouses, a smaller one in your garden can also provide excellent results for self-consumption. If you want to learn about it greenhouse tomato cultivation, join us in this Green Ecologist article.
Tomato varieties for greenhouse
There are a lot of tomato varieties that can be grown in a greenhouse. However, if you are looking for the most productive ones or the ones that can best take advantage of the conditions of a greenhouse, they are the following:
- The Caramba tomato is one of the ones with the highest production in greenhouse. It offers some large tomatoes, it is precocious and very productive.
- Tomato 73 - 36 is another variety that offers high production, as well as large fruits. However, its foliage is very thick, so the task of harvesting is somewhat difficult.
- The Antillas tomato variety is also a very good option, since its flavor is highly valued and, although it produces smaller fruits, it is of high production and precocity.
- The Cabrales tomato also offers high productivity, although it has a disadvantage that it takes a long time to start producing.
In this other Green Ecologist article we talk about more than 30 types of tomatoes.
Tomato cultivation in a greenhouse - care guide
Once you have decided the variety that you are going to put in your covered garden, follow these tips for growing tomato in greenhouse:
Temperature for growing tomato in greenhouse
The first thing when growing tomatoes in a covered garden is to control the temperature, which should be kept between 21ºC and 27ºC during the daytime, and between 16ºC and 18ºC at night. In addition to maintaining these temperatures in your greenhouse during all the months that you are going to maintain the tomato crop, it will be necessary to keep the humidity below 90%, in addition to ensuring that the environment is ventilated and with fresh air. Otherwise, you are likely to find yourself with mold problems on the leaves of your tomatoes.
Substratum
For the substrate or soil, it is necessary that the mixture you use has good drainage. If you make your own mix, don't use unsterilized garden soil.
Irrigation of tomato in greenhouse
It is highly recommended that you have a drip irrigation system in the greenhouse, so that each plant receives its measured and necessary dose of water. If you have hydroponics in mind, it is also a very good option for this plant.
In this other post you will find the instructions on How to make a home drip irrigation system.
Germinate greenhouse tomatoes
Ideally, you should germinate the seeds in a seedbed before taking them to the greenhouse, keeping them controlled and in adequate light and irrigation conditions. Two weeks after they have germinated you can transplant the seedlings into small pots and take them to the greenhouse. Once they are between 10 and 15 cm tall, it will be time to transplant them back to their final location.
Before this definitive transplant, check that the pH of the soil is between some values of 5.8 and 6.8. In addition, it is advisable to add calcium sulfate to the soil, which will help prevent necrosis in the crop.
Tomato fertilizer and pollination
Fertilize your tomatoes regularly, remove the suckers every week leaving only the main shoot and a single shoot (the tallest one). This way the plant will grow upwards. In addition, you will need to stalk your tomatoes, and unless you have your own bees or a large number of them nearby, you will need to pollinate the flowers yourself. For this, you can help yourself with a specific electric garden vibrator. Always do the pollination between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon every other day.
How to stalk tomatoes in a greenhouse
There are many different ways of staining tomatoes. In greenhouse, one of the most used is the florida fabric. For stalk tomatoes with rope With this technique some trellis-like structures are formed, which we keep up with stakes, and the ropes are tied, leaving them taut, so that the tomato plant grows by leaning on them.
It is also common to use the simple method of a stake for each tomato plant, that we will tie it carefully as it grows, or use tripods on which several plants can lean and that, in addition, protects them from the wind. Finally, the wire cages and fences They are also widely used to make trellises in the greenhouse, especially the first ones, since they do not require any type of mooring of the plant.
Now that you know the indications for growing tomatoes in a greenhouse to achieve a good production for self-consumption, we advise you to deepen your knowledge to take care of tomato plants and obtain good fruits. To do this, we recommend these guides from Green Ecologist on How to grow organic tomatoes and How to fight tomato pests ecologically.
If you want to read more articles similar to Tomato cultivation in a greenhouse, we recommend that you enter our category of Cultivation and care of plants.
