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Recently it turned out that the thoughts of a significant part of the population of the capital of the Russian Federation are occupied not by iPhones, but by ... homemade cheese recipes. But for homemade cheese you need milk-producing animals. On the balcony You cannot settle such animals, but you can provide yourself with homemade tomatoes growing right on the window of your apartment without much difficulty. Variety "Balcony Miracle" - tomatoes that are well adapted to growing at home.
Description with photo
This is a determinant standard tomato variety with a height of no more than 0.6 m. The "Balcony Miracle" tomato is well suited for growing on loggias and balconies. The variety is early maturing. It takes 3 months from the appearance of the first true leaves to the harvest of tomatoes. One bush can bring up to 2 kg of tomatoes weighing 50-60 g each. The fruits of this variety of tomatoes are medium-sized, but such tomatoes have an excellent taste.
The advantages of the "Balcony Miracle" tomato variety are the ability to grow fresh tomatoes even in winter, if the plant is provided with enough light. The variety is resistant to late blight. Tomato also does not require pinching and tying.
How to grow a variety indoors
The "window garden" is gaining popularity in cities, but not all plants can be grown on the windowsill. Caring for "Balcony Miracle" tomatoes at home is simple, you just need to comply with certain conditions:
- the pot must be large enough for the plant;
- the soil in the growing container in terms of fertility should exceed the garden soil;
- sufficient duration of daylight hours;
- adherence to the feeding regime.
These conditions, dictating how to grow the "Balcony Miracle" tomato, are due to the limited space in which the root system of the plant can develop. There are also advantages in growing the "Balcony Miracle" tomato from seeds on the windowsill: the seeds can be immediately planted in the desired container and not worry later whether the seedlings will take root.
So, how to grow a "Balcony Miracle" tomato on the window:
- calculate the time by which you need to get the harvest;
- buy a special soil for tomatoes in a store or make it yourself;
- take a container of a suitable size;
- sow seeds;
- wait for shoots;
- provide the necessary daylight hours;
- during flowering and fruit setting, feed the plant with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers.
With the timing, everything is quite simple. If the bush begins to bear fruit 3 months after the emergence of shoots, then in order to get fresh tomatoes for the New Year, you need to sow the seeds in early - mid-September. Not later than.
Regular soil for flowers will not work for a tomato. In flower shops special mixtures are sold, one of which is called “Tomatoes”. You can also make the soil yourself. For the manufacture of soil, take 1 part of black soil and 1 part of humus.
According to reviews about the tomato, a balcony miracle when growing a bush in soil with fresh humus, the plant began to wither due to a lack of magnesium.
In addition to black soil and humus, ash can be added to the soil to increase the nitrogen content and superphosphate. But you should be careful with these fertilizers. Their excess can lead to the death of the sprout. It is better to add fertilizer little by little later during the watering process.
Next, you need to pick up a pot.A capacity of less than 5 liters does not make sense, since the root system in it cannot develop to the desired size.
From the reviews and photos of the owners of the "Balcony Miracle" tomato, it is easy to conclude that the bush requires a fairly large volume of the pot. The photo shows 10-liter containers. Those who had a good harvest did not grow tomatoes in pots less than 8 liters.
Sometimes the reviews of those who planted the "Balcony Miracle" tomato are unflattering, but the photo shows that the matter is most likely in the volume of the flower pot.
After picking up the soil and soil, it's time to sow tomatoes. There are some tricks on how to grow a "Balcony Miracle" tomato.
Preparation, sowing and growing of young shoots
To activate the soil, it must be moistened a few days before sowing. Since tomato seedlings in this case do not need to be grown, tomato seeds are not soaked for accelerated germination. Dry achenes are immediately sown into wet soil.
After sprouting, the tomatoes need to be provided with adequate lighting. With a short winter day, this can only be done with electric lamps. Today you can buy special phytolamps that can provide a tomato sprout with the necessary dose of ultraviolet radiation.
Unless the loggia, based on the garden, was glazed with expensive quartz glass, the plants will need an additional dose of UV rays.
But infrared rays pass through home window windows without any problems, and too close a tomato bush to the glass can lead to leaf burns.
Description and photo of the "Balcony Miracle" tomato variety are recommended to place pots with tomato bushes on the windowsills. But the problem of growing indoor tomatoes "Balcony Miracle" on the windowsill is that modern houses have thin walls and, as a result, small window sills.
Only very small containers can be placed on such window sills. Tomatoes will try to grow and bear fruit even in such conditions, but you can not count on the yield. Reviews about the yield of the "Balcony Miracle" tomato in containers as in the photo are negative. A few tomatoes, instead of the promised 2 kg, are disappointing. But the tomato variety is not to blame for this.
If you make drainage holes in them, they quickly get wet. If you do not, there is a risk of watering the roots of tomato bushes. In addition, in the future, the proximity of the plant to the glass can play a cruel joke with tomatoes.
After the emergence of tomato seedlings, the container must be positioned so that in the future the plants are not crowded and do not have to reach for the sun. If the window sill is wide, you can place the pot on top of it. If it is narrow, it is better to put the bushes a little further from the window on a stand that is flush with the window.
In winter, phytolamps will have to be used to provide balcony tomatoes with the required length of daylight hours.
Sometimes cold air can blow into the crevices between the window sill and the window frame. In this case, the plants start to hurt. Also, the earthen lump in the pot should not dry out due to the effect of the heating radiator under the windowsill. Heating devices dry the air a lot. To maintain the desired humidity level, a container of water is placed next to the tomato plants.
The easiest way to measure humidity is to buy a hygrometer. Calculating humidity from a dry bulb and wet bulb temperature difference table can be overwhelming.
In summer, it is best to grow tomatoes on an open balcony.
The period of flowering and fruiting of tomato bushes
If during the growth the plant needed nitrogen fertilizers, then after the beginning of flowering, the nitrogen must be reduced. During this time, the plant needs more potassium.
Such a bush will "drive out" the green mass. There will be few flowers and low yields. In order not to overfeed the plants with fertilizers of any kind, it is better to buy ready-made ones and use them according to the instructions.
Pitfalls in growing tomatoes at home
There are also factors that are often overlooked.
The temperature on the loggia is too low... Tomatoes are thermophilic plants. Comfortable temperature for them is + 22 ° during the day and + 16² at night. In winter, on an unheated loggia, the temperature can drop to sub-zero.
Lack of opportunity for pollination... In the windless space of the loggia, pollen cannot get from one flower to another. There are no pollinating insects either. Therefore, during flowering, it is recommended to periodically shake the balcony tomato bushes so that the pollen scatters and pollinates the flowers. Manual pollination can also be applied.
Late blight disease... In the description of the tomato variety "Balcony Miracle", one of the characteristics was "resistance to late blight." In fact, this is not entirely true. More resistant to disease, the tomato bush of this variety can get sick if the room is too humid. When dark spots appear on the leaves of the plant, it is better not to risk it and immediately get rid of the diseased tomato bush. If you run the problem, bacteria will multiply and infect not only garden plants, but also "ordinary" indoor plants.
Unsettled water... When growing tomato bushes at home, you cannot water them with water immediately from the tap. Although they are now switching to more advanced water treatment systems, chlorine is still present in the water in many cities. In addition, the tap water is too cold. It should warm up to room temperature, and chlorine should evaporate from it. It is necessary to settle the water for at least 3 days.
Fattening plant... If the tomato bush is too tall, dense and with dark green foliage, then it was overfed with nitrogen fertilizers. Such a plant will not bloom and bear fruit. To make it bloom, you need to stop watering for a decade and raise the temperature on the loggia by a few degrees. After the flowers appear, pollination is done manually.
The appearance of stepchildren... This variety of balcony tomatoes should not give rise to stepchildren, but sometimes they do appear. You can immediately cut off the sprout. You can wait until it grows up and then root it separately.
Although the "Balcony Miracle" tomato variety is well suited for growing in an apartment, it gives a good harvest when planted in open ground, as in the video.
Testimonials
Conclusion
The "Balcony Miracle" tomato variety may be of interest to fans of "their own" vegetables who do not have a summer cottage, and just flower growers. But as an "industrial" variety of tomatoes, it is not suitable because of its low yield, although it grows well in the open field like a regular tomato.
