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Tomatoes are such plants, when growing, it is almost impossible to do without feeding if you want to get a full harvest of tasty fruits. Of course, it is best to use complex fertilizers, but this does not always work out, in addition, there are cases when plants lack a specific substance. In the case of tomatoes, this most often occurs with calcium. This element plays such an important role in the life of tomatoes that gardeners cannot but recall its existence.
It is interesting that there are a great many fertilizers containing calcium, but most of them are rather slow-acting and are not suitable for use in cases where immediate help is needed for tomatoes. But in many situations, the so-called folk remedies, the action of which has been tested for centuries and does not raise doubts about their safety, may well help.
Calcium - what is it for
Calcium is one of the most essential nutrients for plants, in addition, it is absorbed by them in such large quantities that it can be safely ranked, if not among macronutrients (such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), then at least mesoelements in relation to most garden crops.
- Tomatoes show a need for calcium already at the time of seed germination: its lack can inhibit the emergence of seedlings, since it accelerates the consumption of seed proteins during germination.
- With a lack of calcium, first of all, the root system begins to suffer - the development and growth of roots slows down, root hairs are not formed.
- It is also necessary for the growth of shoots and fruits - therefore, its deficiency is reflected most quickly on the development of young organs of tomatoes: growth points die off, root tips, buds and ovaries fall off.
- Calcium plays an equally important role in the metabolism of tomato plants, it balances the ratio of other nutrients contained in soils.
So, calcium is able to eliminate the harmful effects of aluminum, iron and manganese, which can be active in acidic podzolic soils, an excess of these elements is harmful to any plants, including tomatoes, and the introduction of calcium converts them into sedentary forms.
- This element promotes the decomposition of organic matter in the soil, thereby forming and maintaining its structure.
- Also, calcium plays a role in photosynthesis, it is involved in the conversion of nitrogenous substances and promotes the movement of carbohydrates.
Signs of calcium deficiency in tomatoes
Tomatoes differ slightly from other plants in their response to calcium deficiency. At the very initial stage of the lack of this element, fruits with a brown or gray top appear on tomato bushes. This stain can quickly spread to most of the tomato.
This so-called top rot is not an infectious disease, but only a reaction of tomatoes to a lack of calcium. Moreover, there are varieties of tomatoes more or less susceptible to this phenomenon.
It is interesting that top rot can also appear on soils, which were applied with calcium fertilizers before winter. That is, soils can be filled with this element, but due to excessive doses of nitrogen or potassium fertilizers, it is in a form that cannot be absorbed by tomato plants.Therefore, for an ambulance to tomatoes, it is necessary to use foliar top dressing with instant calcium fertilizers, so that the element is directly absorbed through the leaves.
If the lack of calcium continues to worsen, then other signs appear:
- The apical bud and young leaves brighten greatly, while the old leaves remain dark green in color;
- Plants freeze in growth and development;
- The shape of the leaves changes, they twist;
- Finally, the tops of the shoots die off, and necrotic spots appear on the leaves.
Therefore, it is very important to observe the correct proportions in feeding tomato plants, so as not to overdo it with some nutrients to the detriment of others.
By the way, an excess of calcium can lead, in turn, to a violation of the assimilation of nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, as well as iron and boron. Accordingly, this can manifest itself in the form of the appearance of light spots of an indefinite shape on the leaves, when the veins themselves remain green.
Fertilizers containing calcium
Most often, calcium-containing fertilizers for tomatoes are applied during the autumn or spring digging of the earth. For acidic soils, this necessary procedure is called liming.
For this, the following types of fertilizers are most often used:
- Limestone flour - is ground limestone, which is a widespread sedimentary rock. The neutralizing capacity is 85 to 95%. May contain impurities in the form of sand and clay up to 25%.
- Dolomite flour - consists of 56% calcium carbonate and 42% magnesium carbonate. Impurities in the form of sand and clay make up, as a rule, no more than 4%. Thus, when this fertilizer is applied, the soil is enriched with both calcium and magnesium. This type of fertilizer does not decompose on acidic soils as quickly as limestone flour.
- Slaked and burnt lime - contain only calcium, the neutralizing ability of these fertilizers is very high. There are almost no foreign impurities. But their cost is much higher than other calcium fertilizers and they are not so convenient to use.
- Ground chalk - is a soft unrefined form of limestone, contains pure calcium carbonate with an admixture of silicon oxide and clay. It neutralizes acidity one hundred percent.
There are also two calcium compounds that do not generally have the ability to neutralize soil acidity, but are nonetheless valuable calcium fertilizers. They are usually used as top dressing on neutral and alkaline soils. It is gypsum, which is calcium sulfate and calcium chloride.
Calcium nitrate
There is a fertilizer that, unlike most previous varieties, dissolves well in water, which means it can be used for foliar feeding of tomatoes. This is calcium nitrate or calcium nitrate. This fertilizer contains about 22% calcium and 14% nitrogen.
Calcium nitrate is produced in the form of white granules. It is highly hygroscopic, therefore it requires storage in a dry place, in a hermetically sealed form. Granules dissolve well in water of any temperature.
Using calcium nitrate has the following advantages for fertilizing tomatoes:
- Accelerates the development of plants and the maturation of tomatoes, which allows for an earlier harvest.
- Increases overall yield by 10-15%.
- Helps tomatoes withstand sudden temperature changes.
- Increases the immunity of tomatoes to diseases and helps protect against pests.
- Improves the taste and presentation of tomatoes, increases their keeping quality.
Calcium nitrate can be used already at the stage of growing tomato seedlings.For this, a tool of the following composition is used: 20 g of calcium nitrate, 100 g of ash and 10 g of urea are dissolved in 10 liters of water. With the resulting solution, tomato seedlings are watered at the root 10-12 days after the pick.
When planting tomato seedlings in the ground, calcium nitrate granules can be added directly to the plant wells. Each bush will require about 20 g of fertilizer.
Finally, foliar treatment of tomatoes with calcium nitrate is used to prevent tomato apical rot, as well as to protect against ticks and slugs. To do this, dissolve 100 g of fertilizer in 10 liters of water and carefully spray the tomato bushes with the resulting solution. This procedure can be carried out either during flowering or during the period of fruit formation.
Other water-soluble fertilizers
Calcium nitrate is the most popular and widespread water-soluble calcium fertilizer used for fertilizing tomatoes. But it is far from the only one. First, for foliar feeding, you can also use calcium chloride, which dissolves well in water. To prepare a spray solution, 100 g of this fertilizer is diluted in 10 liters of water.
There are also a number of modern tomato fertilizers that contain calcium in the form of chelates, which is the easiest form for plants to assimilate. These include the following fertilizers:
- Calbit C is a liquid chelate complex with a calcium content of up to 15%.
- Brexil Ca is a chelate complex with ligninpolycaboxylic acid with a calcium content of up to 20%.
- Vuksal Calcium is a fertilizer with a high content of calcium (up to 24%), nitrogen (up to 16%), as well as a wide range of chelated microelements (magnesium, iron, boron, molybdenum, manganese, copper and zinc).
Folk remedies containing calcium
The most famous and popular folk remedy for replenishing the calcium content in tomatoes is wood or straw ash. Depending on its origin, it can contain from 25 to 40% of this essential element.
To prepare a solution for watering tomato bushes at the root, dissolve a glass of ash in a bucket of water. After thorough stirring, tomato bushes are watered at the rate of 1-2 liters per bush. To prepare foliar feeding of tomatoes with ash, they act in a different way: 300 grams of ash are diluted in three liters of water and boiled for 30 minutes. After that, they insist for about 4-5 hours, add water so that the volume of the solution is brought to 10 liters, as well as a little laundry soap for sticking and sprayed with tomato bushes.
Finally, spraying with eggshell infusion is a fairly simple way to replenish the loss of calcium in tomatoes at home. The finer you can crush the shell, the better. For one liter of warm water, crushed shells from three eggs are added and infused for several days. After the appearance of the characteristic smell of hydrogen sulfide, the infusion is ready for use.
Let's summarize
As you can see, the choice of fertilizers containing calcium is quite extensive and can satisfy the needs of any gardener when growing tomatoes.
