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A good harvest of any crop begins with seeds. Tomatoes are no exception. Experienced gardeners have long compiled a list of their favorite varieties and plant them from year to year. There are enthusiasts who try something new every year, choosing for themselves that very tasty, fruitful and unpretentious tomato. There are a lot of varieties of this culture. Only in the State Register of Breeding Achievements there are more than a thousand of them, and there are also amateur varieties that have not been tested, but are distinguished by excellent taste and excellent yield.
Varieties or hybrids - which is better
Tomatoes, like no other crop, are famous for their diversity. What kind of fruits you will not find among them! And the bushes themselves are very different in the type of growth, ripening time and yield. This variety gives room for selection. And the ability to create hybrids that combine the best properties of both parents and possess tremendous vitality has allowed breeders to reach a new level.
The merits of hybrids
- great vitality, their seedlings are ready for planting faster, in open ground and greenhouses, plants develop faster, all bushes are leveled, well leafy;
- hybrids perfectly adapt to any growing conditions, tolerate temperature extremes, heat and drought well, are stress-resistant;
- the fruits of the hybrids are of the same size and shape, most of them are suitable for machine harvesting;
- hybrid tomatoes are excellently transported and have a good presentation.
Foreign farmers have long mastered the best hybrid varieties and plant only them. For many of our gardeners and farmers, tomato hybrids are not so popular. There are several reasons for this:
- hybrid tomato seeds are not cheap; obtaining hybrids is a labor-intensive operation, since the entire process is carried out manually;
- the inability to collect seeds from hybrids for planting next year, and the point is not that there are none: plants from collected seeds will not repeat the signs of a hybrid and will give a scanty harvest;
- the taste of hybrids is often inferior to that of varieties.
The first hybrid tomatoes, indeed, differed in taste from the varieties for the worse. But selection does not stand still. The latest generation of hybrids is making amends. Many of them, without losing all the advantages of hybrid varieties, have become much tastier. The same is true for the Asterix f1 hybrid of the Swiss company Syngenta, which ranks 3rd in the world among seed companies. The Asterix f1 hybrid was developed by its branch located in Holland. To understand all the advantages of this hybrid tomato, we will give it a full description and characteristics, look at the photo and read consumer reviews about it.
Description and characteristics of the hybrid
Tomato Asterix f1 was included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements in 2008. The hybrid is zoned for the North Caucasian region.
Tomato Asterix f1 is intended for farmers, as it is well suited for commercial production. But for growing on a garden bed, Asterix f1 is also quite suitable. In the northern regions, its yield potential will be fully revealed only in greenhouses and hotbeds.
In terms of ripening, the Asterix f1 hybrid belongs to the mid-early. When sown in open ground, the first fruits are harvested within 100 days after germination. This is possible in the southern regions - where it is supposed to grow. To the north, one cannot do without growing seedlings. From planting to the first fruits, you will have to wait about 70 days.
Asterix f1 refers to determinate tomatoes. The plant is powerful, well leafy.Fruits covered with leaves will not suffer from sunburn. The landing pattern is 50x50cm, that is, for 1 sq. m will fit 4 plants. In the south, Asterix f1 tomato grows in open ground, in other regions, closed ground is preferable.
The Asterix f1 hybrid has a very high yield potential. With good care from 1 sq. m plantings you can get up to 10 kg of tomatoes. The harvest gives back together.
The fruits of the Asterix f1 hybrid are not very large - from 60 to 80 g, beautiful, oval-cubic shape. There are only three seed chambers, there are few seeds in them. The fruit of the Asterix f1 hybrid has a deep red color and there is no white spot on the stalk. Tomatoes are very dense, the dry matter content reaches 6.5%, so high-quality tomato paste is obtained from them. They can be perfectly preserved - the dense skin does not crack at the same time and retains the shape of the fruit well in jars.
The high vitality of the heterotic hybrid Asterix f1 gave it resistance to many viral and bacterial diseases of tomatoes: bacteriosis, fusarium and verticillary wilt. Gall nematode does not affect it either.
Hybrid Asterix f1 adapts well to any growing conditions, but will show maximum yield with good care. This tomato easily tolerates high temperatures and lack of moisture, especially if sown directly into the ground.
The Asterix f1 hybrid is perfect for farms.
To get the maximum yield of Asterix f1 tomatoes, you need to know how to grow this hybrid correctly.
Hybrid care features
When sowing Asterix f1 tomato seeds in open ground, it is important to correctly determine the timing. Before the earth warms up to 15 degrees Celsius, it cannot be sown. Usually for the southern regions this is the end of April, beginning of May.
To make it convenient to mechanize the care and harvesting of tomatoes, it is sown with ribbons: 90x50 cm, 100x40 cm or 180x30 cm, where the first number is the distance between the ribbons, and the second is between the bushes in a row. Sowing with a distance of 180 cm between the belts is preferable - more convenience for the passage of equipment, it is easier and cheaper to establish drip irrigation.
For an early harvest in the south and for planting in greenhouses and greenhouses in the north, seedlings of the Asterix f1.
How to grow seedlings
Syngenta's know-how is pre-sowing treatment of seeds with the help of special dressing agents and stimulants. They are completely ready for sowing and do not even require soaking. When compared with the control group, the seedlings of the Syngenta tomato seeds were stronger, they emerged several days earlier.
Under these conditions, the seeds are guaranteed to remain viable for 22 months.
Seedlings of tomato Asterix f1 should develop at an air temperature of 19 degrees during the day and 17 at night.
In farms, germination chambers are used for this, in private farms, a container with seeds is placed in a plastic bag and kept in a warm place.
As soon as the Asterix f1 tomato seedlings have 2 true leaves, they are dived into separate cassettes. For the first few days, the cut seedlings are shaded from the sun.When growing seedlings, an important point is proper lighting. If it is not enough, the seedlings are supplemented with special lamps.
Tomato seedlings Asterix f1 are ready for planting in 35 days. In the south, it is planted at the end of April, in the middle lane and to the north - the timing of disembarkation depends on the weather.
Further care
A good harvest of Asterix f1 tomatoes can be obtained only with drip irrigation, which is combined every 10 days with top dressing with a complete complex fertilizer containing trace elements. Tomatoes Asterix f1 especially need calcium, boron and iodine. At the first stage of development, tomatoes need more phosphorus and potassium, as the bush grows, the need for nitrogen increases, and more potassium is needed before fruiting.
Tomato plants Asterix f1 are formed and the leaves are removed under the formed brushes only in the middle lane and to the north. In these regions, the Asterix f1 hybrid is led into 2 stems, leaving the stepson under the first flower cluster. The plant should have no more than 7 brushes, the rest of the shoots are pinched after 2-3 leaves from the last brush. With this formation, most of the crop will ripen on the bush.
Growing tomatoes in all details is shown in the video:
The Asterix f1 hybrid is an excellent choice for both farmers and amateur gardeners. The efforts put into caring for this tomato will ensure a large yield of fruit with good taste and versatility.
