Do you want to have strong and healthy tomato seedlings? Provide her with proper care, provide appropriate nutrition in a timely manner. If this is not done, after a while you may notice that the tomato seedlings are pale. This signals that your tomatoes are missing something or you have exaggerated something – read the article below for details on how to solve the problem.
Caring for tomato seedlings
Favorable conditions must be created for seedlings of capricious tomatoes.
Tomatoes are very picky about the temperature regime:
- They do not like either heat or cold. During the day for seedlings, it is desirable to maintain room temperature (from 18 to 23 degrees), at night – not lower than 15 degrees.
- Before planting in open soil, it is advisable to harden tomato seedlings so that they can more easily tolerate temperature changes. Two weeks before planting in the soil, you can start opening the greenhouse for a short time during the day and at night.
- If it is warmer than 12 degrees outside the window, you can take the seedlings to the balcony for a short time. Gradually, the time spent in the fresh air is brought up to 12 hours.
Moisture is also a very important factor in the development of young seedlings:
- The soil should be sufficiently moist, while tomatoes like dry air.
- To maintain the required level of humidity, tomato seedlings must be properly watered. At first – a little, only when all the seedlings grow. Then watering is done every 1-2 weeks.
- Water for watering should be warm, the temperature should not be lower than twenty degrees.
- Water should stand before watering. It is better to pour it under the roots of tomatoes, not leaves.
- It is impossible to overdo it with moistening the soil, the roots will start to rot. Especially if there is no hole for water drainage in the seedling container.
Lighting:
- Tomato seedlings need a lot of light. Even at night it is necessary to illuminate them with special lamps.
- During the day, seedlings should be on the sunny side of the house.
What else does caring for tomato seedlings include:
- To saturate the roots of seedlings with oxygen, the soil must be loosened. It is important to do this carefully, with a stick, without damaging the root system.
- When about two weeks have passed, tomato seedlings should be dived. Seedlings are moved to larger pots so that they can continue to develop normally. This should be done together with a lump of earth, without touching the roots.
- So that a young tomato does not die from pests, it must be treated with special insecticides at the first appearance of parasites.
- Prevention of viral diseases is also important. For this, the leaves are sprayed with skimmed milk (a liter of water per 100 g of milk).
- Mandatory condition for the development and growth of tomatoes is feeding. It can be root (watering) and extra-root (spraying leaves).
Learn more about feeding seedlings
It is better to feed tomato seedlings often, but in small amounts. The best time of day for this is morning or evening. The number of feedings may vary depending on specific growing conditions. But there must be two applications of fertilizers, after which they are additionally fertilized as needed. At the same time, it is important to monitor the plants all the time: their appearance will tell if they need feeding and what kind.
First, all the necessary nutrients must be introduced into the soil where tomato seedlings will grow.
It will be necessary to feed the plants for the first time when two or three leaves appear. Nitrogen is needed for this feeding. Why? It helps to develop greenery. But exceeding the application rate can lead to the accumulation of nitrates. Seedlings should be watered under the root with an aqueous solution of urea (a tablespoon per 10 liters of water).
The second feeding of tomatoes should take place after seven days. For this, nitrofoska is taken (a tablespoon per liter of water).
Compost or other organic fertilizers are good for fertilizing seedlings. They should be poured into a container with seedlings.
Top dressing is also important for young tomatoes. The method is very convenient to use. The solution is prepared simply: a tablespoon of superphosphate is dissolved in well-heated water (one liter in volume). Then it is infused for a day, after which the pale half of the solution should be poured out and nine liters of water should be added. Place the resulting liquid in a sprayer and treat the leaf surface of tomatoes.
Causes of seedling leaves turning pale
Why is the surface of the leaves pale? There can be several reasons.
- Excessive watering of the plant.
- Tomato seedlings do not have enough heat.
- Lack of oxygen.
- This is how a lack of light manifests itself.
- With an excess of light, the leaves will be light green and then turn yellow.
- There is not enough space for young tomatoes to develop properly.
- The roots are damaged or there are problems with their nutrition due to a sharp temperature drop or mistakes during transplantation.
- Seedlings are deficient in trace elements.
Tips for troubleshooting
- If the cause of pale leaves is over-wetting of seedlings, the amount and volume of watering should be limited.
- Do not let the tomato seedlings freeze, if necessary, cover them with a film.
- To avoid oxygen starvation, do not allow the soil around the roots to harden, loosen it in time.
- The lack of light is solved by additional lighting.
- To artificially prolong the daylight hours, the lamp must be used for at least six hours a day.
- If the leaves have turned light green or yellowed due to excessive lighting, create an opportunity for normal rest for the seedlings at night without additional light.
- Also, don’t forget about nutrition.
- A plant transplanted in time from a tight container will immediately feel better.
Do you know for sure that the leaves are turning pale because of problems with the root system? So, don’t rush to do anything. Why? The tomato itself will overcome this problem after some time.
Problems with a lack of nutrients can be eliminated only by applying properly selected fertilizers.
What elements are missing in seedlings that turn yellow?
- Nitrogen. In this case, the leaves turn yellow from below, the leaves are small, poorly developed. Red veins are visible on yellowed leaves. With dosed application of nitrogen fertilizer, the green color will return to the plant.
- Potassium. Apply potash fertilizer, otherwise later inflorescences and ovaries will be scarce.
- Lack of zinc or boron manifests itself in the appearance of yellow spots and curling of leaves.
- Iron deficiency is a common phenomenon. The leaves become thin, turn white, wither and hang down.
- Lack of calcium. The edges of the leaves are twisted, the leaves themselves turn white, fall off.
Tip: To feed tomato seedlings, buy suitable compounds in the store or prepare such a compound yourself. Irrigation solution: superphosphate – 35 g, urea – 5 g, water – 10 l.
The most important rule when growing tomatoes is constant monitoring of seedlings. Why should it be done? Having studied the possible causes of the appearance of yellowness and pallor, you can easily make a diagnosis based on characteristic external signs. Eliminate the cause of the malaise, and the leaves of the seedlings will turn green again.
Careful treatment and timely feeding with the necessary nutrients will help your tomato seedlings grow strong and have healthy leaves.