Everything about growing tomatoes

 

✳️ Everything about growing tomatoes 🍅

⭐Tomato cultivation

🟣Tomatoes belong to the Solanacea family, like potatoes, peppers, and eggplants. 

They come in first place among vegetable crops in terms of area planted annually, production, and consumption. 

They are among the most consumed vegetable plants in the world, as they are consumed fresh or processed and grown in order to obtain their fruits, which are rich in the mineral elements they need. Humans are like iron, phosphorus, and calcium. 

They are also rich in vitamins necessary to provide the body with vital activity and regulate metabolic processes, because they contain a fair percentage of vitamin C. They also contain proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in fresh fruits.

⚙️Climatic conditions

⚫ Tomatoes need a warm, moderate climate, as their optimum temperature ranges between 15-30°C, while temperatures higher than 35°C lead to failure of the pollination and fertilization process and thus the setting. 

It also affects the degree of coloring of the fruits, as well as the fall of the small nodes and leads to fluctuation in coloring and its decline.

 During the coloring of fruits, it also leads to the appearance of areas of heterogeneous coloring on the fruits. 

Flowering and setting in tomatoes are not affected by the length of the photoperiod, but low light intensity affects the vitamin C and carotene content of the fruits.

⚙️ Suitable soil

🔵Tomatoes thrive in many types of soil, from sandy to heavy clay, provided that they are free of nematodes and fungi that cause wilt diseases and that they are well-drained.

 They can also tolerate salinity up to a salinity of 2.5 EC and give a good crop that gradually decreases as the salinity increases above that

⚙️ Planting seedlings in sustainable land

It is preferable to transplant in the afternoon or early morning to avoid high temperatures. The planting method depends on the condition of the seedling at the time of planting.

Seedlings with a length of 12-14 cm are considered the most suitable seedlings for planting tomatoes, as the seedlings can produce a good root system.

⚙️ Planting distances

🎯 Planting is done at a planting distance of 20 cm for tomato varieties with limited growth

🎯 Planting is done at a planting distance of 30 cm for medium-growing varieties and hybrids such as Super Astrin B - Hybrid Elissa - and Hybrid Farah

🎯 Planting is done at a planting distance of 40 cm. Strong-growing varieties and hybrids such as group 448-65010.

⚙️Irrigation

Irrigation of tomato crops depends on many factors, the most important of which are the nature of the land used, temperature, and stages of plant growth. Plants must not be thirsty except during the first irrigation to help the root system spread. Regular irrigation at flowering and setting, and in the summer months, irrigate early in the morning and do not increase the water so that the plants are not infected with fungal diseases and insects. Take care not to let the plants become thirsty as they mature, and to reduce irrigation periods at the beginning of maturity. Irrigation is prohibited after about 30% of the fruits are colored, in the case of varieties and hybrids with a short harvesting period. Take care not to become thirsty or satiate, especially during fruit formation and the beginning of maturity, because this is one of the most important factors that increase fruit cracking and the spread of flower tip rot disease. It is always preferable to irrigate at frequent intervals when there is a percentage of salinity.

⚙️ Fertilization

🔴The following quantities are added through fertilizers (amounts added 5 times a week) per acre.

🎯 Add 4 kg of ammonium sulfate + 2 kg of urea + 4 kg of potassium sulfate + 0.5 kg of phosphoric acid after the success of the transplantation, for a period of 30 days.

🎯 From 30-60 days, add 4 kg ammonia nitrate + 4 kg potassium sulphate + 0.30 kg magnesium sulphate + 1 kg phosphoric acid.

🎯 After 60 days of transplanting and even two weeks before the collection stops, add 6 kg of ammonia nitrate + 8 kg of potassium sulfate + 0.5 kg of phosphoric acid.

🎯 Adding calcium is essential, especially in the form of nitrate in the stage after vegetative growth, then in the sizing stage, and adding it in the form of calcium boron at a rate of 2 liters per acre in the flower setting stage, and then it is added to avoid hitting the seed with the screw head.

💎Note

Tomato plants are sprayed with microelements (iron, zinc, and manganese) on the vegetative system one month after transplanting, every 15 days, and even two weeks before the start of collection.

Add 150-200 kg of lime nitrate next to the plantings in two batches after 60 days, 90 days after planting.

Use nitric acid at a concentration of 55% to solve the problems of clogged drains at a rate of 250-300 grams per cubic meter of water once a week, injected with irrigation water.

🟡Do not mix foliar fertilizers with pesticides, and stop the fertilization program two weeks before collection.

⚙️ Diseases that affect the crop

First: Root system diseases

🎯 Root rot and seedling death

It is caused by many fungi, the most important of which are:

Rhizoctonia spp – Phytophtora spp – Fusarium spp – Pythium spp

These fungi rot the seeds before they appear on the surface of the soil, which is known as soft wilt before germination. This phenomenon often occurs in trays planted for the purpose of producing seedlings, and it also causes death to seedlings when planted in permanent land.

🎯 Fusarium wilt and crown wilt

Pathogen: Fusarium spp

The disease of wilt and root rot is widespread in sandy lands in particular, where the lower leaves of the plant droop, then turn yellow and dry completely and remain attached to the stem. The leaves wilt and dry from the bottom to the top of the plant, and when a longitudinal section is made in the stem, two longitudinal lines of brown color are seen, representing a blockage. Water-conducting vessels. When a cross-section of the root is made, the brown color is seen in the center of the root.

🎯White mold

The pathogen is Sclerotium rolfsii

This fungus causes soft wilting of seedlings when tomato plants are infected, whether in the nursery or the permanent field. The infection appears near the base of the stem with the appearance of a white growth, which is the mycelium of the fungus, covering the dead outer tissue of the stem. The infection with this fungus extends below the surface of the soil until it reaches the root system and causes rotting of the stem. Root.

🎯 If a root rot infection appears in the field, use a pesticide that helps aerate the soil, such as Crunch 10%SP pesticide. Water it around the infected plants if possible, or use it with irrigation water at a rate of 500 g/acre.

🎯 A mixture can be made of 100 gm Vitafax + 100 gm Rezolex + 100 gm Topsin, Sumi-Eight, or Benelite / 100 liters of water with irrigation water.

⚙️ Second: Vegetative system diseases

🎯Early seminar

The fungus that causes the disease lives on plant remains, which are considered a source of infection.

 It is suitable for warm weather and high humidity. It infects leaves, stems, and fruits. 

Symptoms appear in the form of spots on the lower leaves of the plant and then extend to the upper leaves.

 The spots are characterized by the presence of circular rings around their center (similar to a target plate or a fingerprint) and ulcers on the surface. 

The stem and spots on the fruits are also characterized by the presence of circular rings around its center, which are black or blackish brown in color.

Spots form on fruits where they connect to the neck. They often occur on fruits while they are green. They may also occur in fruits during the maturity stage, and when the infection increases, the spots unite on the leaves, dry up, and die.

🎯 Late seminar

This fungus is suitable for temperatures between 18-22°C and a humidity of 90%. This disease causes significant losses in the crop. Symptoms appear by the leaves bending with the petioles downward, with yellowing appearing on the edges of these leaves in the form of irregular water spots that are greenish and dark on the stems and leaves. It turns Its color turns to dark brown, and in cold, wet weather, a delicate white growth forms on the lower surface of the leaves surrounding this brown spot.

Large, irregular spots are formed on the fruits, which are solid, greenish-brown in color, and the surface of the spots on the fruits has a solid, greasy appearance.

🎯Anthracnose

They appear on ripe fruits in the form of sunken, round spots that increase in size and become deeper with a blackish color. 

The spots turn pink in wet weather. In general, symptoms do not appear on the stem and leaves.

Prevention and treatment of early and late blight and anthracnose:

Preventive spraying with preventive pesticides based on monitoring weather conditions.

🟠Oxy Plus 28.5% WP, its active ingredient is copper oxychlorine, and it is used at a rate of 250 cm/100 liters of water.

Zoom 2007 25% WP, its active ingredient is copper hydroxide, and it is used at a rate of 250 g/100 liters of water.

Crunch 10% SP, its active ingredient is anhydrous copper sulphate, and it is used at a rate of 125 g/100 liters of water.

When an infestation appears, use 6% DLC pesticide at a rate of one liter/acre, and the spraying is repeated every period depending on the existing infestation.

🎯 Powdery mildew

Symptoms of the disease appear on the lower leaves in the form of bright yellow spots that quickly turn brown, then the leaves dry and fall, and a fine powdery growth forms on the lower surface of the leaf, opposite the bright yellow spots, which gives a light grayish white appearance.

💎Prevention and treatment

⚫ Use Bandel pesticide 8% SC (8% sulfur + 1.3% calcium) at a rate of 500 cm/acre.

NB:

💎💎 It is possible for powdery mildew to combine with early blight, especially in the summer season.

🔵In this case, we recommend mixing one liter of cup + half a liter of pandal per acre.

⚙️Insects that infect the crop

🎯The driller

The borer attacks the tomato crop at all stages of its growth, as it feeds on tomato seeds in the nursery before they germinate, as well as on the root hairs of new seedlings. 

It also infects tomatoes after they are transferred to the permanent field, and feeds on the roots of the plants below the surface of the soil, which leads to the wilting of the plants while they are attached to the soil, which makes them easy.

 Extraction and damage is seen in the root hairs and growing tips of the roots.

 The borer can create holes or tunnels in tomato fruits, especially green ones, in contact with wet soil, which causes them to rot.

 The borer infestation is common in the summer shoot, and the most important symptom of borer infestation is the presence of shallow, slightly raised, winding tunnels. 

From the surface of the soil with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 cm, especially near waterways and canals. The infection increases in fields fertilized with municipal fertilizers or near villages.

💎The fight

🔴 Use toxic bait consisting of 1 kg of Marshall pesticide 25% WP + 15 - 20 kg corn grits + 20 - 30 liters of water + 1 kg treacle, mix well, leave to ferment, and place a sediment in the belly of the line after irrigation and at sunset.

🎯 Cotton leafworm

The insect larvae feed on leaves, causing holes in them. They also feed on flower buds and small nodes, making holes in them as well.

 Economic damage results from creating tunnels or holes inside the fruits. The hole is irregular and resembles an American bollworm infestation. 

Fully-developed larvae are found under the plants and cause damage to ripe fruits in contact. Soil, and nocturnal insect activity. Insect infestation can be distinguished by the presence of eggs on the leaves.

💎Control:

⚪When cotton leafworm larvae appear, a pesticide can be used

Emactin benzoate

lambda 5%

Chloropyrophos

Indoxcarb

Marshall 20% EC at a rate of 200 cm/acre can eliminate the newly hatched cotton leafworm.

🎯 Manna

Aphids suck the plant juice from the leaves with their piercing-sucking mouthparts, which leads to the appearance of yellow spots on the leaves. 

As the infestation progresses, these spots fuse and all the leaves appear yellow. 

The infestation begins in spots on the edges of tomato fields. Aphid colonies are seen on the lower surface of the leaves and buds.

 Deformities appear on the plants, causing the plants to weaken, the leaves to curl into a cup shape, and the plants to be stunted, with the secretion of honeydew on which the black mold fungi grow, leading to dust adhering to them and reducing the efficiency of the plant’s vital processes. 

As well as transmitting the viral cucumber mosaic disease.

💎Control:

Removing weeds on which aphids breed.

Remove stunted plants infected with the virus and burn them.

Do not overuse nitrogen fertilizer.

Placing yellow sticky traps helps reduce numbers.

Spraying using acetamipride pesticide at a rate of 300 grams per acre, spraying on the vegetables.

🎯flies White e

The direct damage of the white fly is represented in the sucking of plant sap, which leads to the appearance of yellow spots on the leaves. 

Tomatoes may be infected with a large number of white flies, so the leaves are completely yellow, which leads to the weakness and wilting of the plant.

 In the case of an increase in numbers, the white fly secretes the honeydew on which the sooty mold fungus grows. 

Which blocks the respiratory stomata of the leaves and affects the chlorophyll of the leaves, so the leaves cannot carry out the process of photosynthesis, which leads to the weakness of the plant.

 As for the indirect symptoms of the white fly, it is represented in the transfer of viral diseases that have no treatment, and the most dangerous of these diseases is the disease of wrinkling and yellowing of tomato leaves (TYLCV)) and the symptoms of this disease appear

After transferring the seedlings to the permanent land, for a period ranging between 20-30 days, depending on the temperature, which is represented in the leaves wrinkling, curling, yellowing, dwarfing and deformation of the plants, lack of flowers, small nodes, immaturity of fruits, and a sharp decline in yield. Therefore, the nurseries must be completely prevented from being infected with the white fly and continue to control it in permanent fields after transferring the seedlings and for a period of at least 45 days, in order to combat the virus, especially from May until the end of November.

💎Control:

Removing weeds and plants infected with viral diseases during periods of growth and flowering until the beginning of the decade.

Nutritional balance between nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous, and not to over-fertilize nitrogen.

🔵 Spraying with Marshall compound 20% EC at a rate of 200 cm per acre

🎯 Potato tuber butterfly

Fertilized females lay eggs individually or in groups on the shoot, and the eggs hatch into active larvae that roam on the leaf, then enter the inside of the leaf, creating minute, transparent, irregular tunnels as a result of feeding on the leaf tissue between the two epidermis.

 With the passage of time, the tunnels become wider as a result of the increase in the size of the larva, then the larvae head towards To the midrib and then to the stem.

 Infection causes the leaf to dry completely. Faint spots appear on the leaves, where the larva feeds between the two epidermis of the leaf and takes its way to the midrib, where moulting skins and insect excrement appear inside the tunnel.

And when the fruits are formed, the larvae dig into the fleshy part of the fruit at the neck, making tunnels inside it, and a hole is seen for the larva to enter on the ripe fruits, and the insect excrement appears in a black color in the cup area, which leads to rotting of the fruits and the infection intensifies in the late summer season during the months of May, June and July.

✳️Control:

1- Remove the leaves and fruits of tomatoes infected with the potato tuber worm and destroy them.

2- Use potato tuber moth pheromone traps to attract males at a rate of 3-5 traps/acre

3-- Early planting in the summer crop to escape infection.

4- Not adjacent to tomato crops with potatoes, or after potatoes, or not storing potatoes next to tomato fields.