Why do tomatoes dry in the greenhouse and what should I do?
The reasons for the drying of tomato plants in the greenhouse are many. However, almost all of them are based on one or another violation of the agrotechnical rules for the cultivation of tomatoes. This applies equally to the diseases and pests that provoke this problem, since to the maximum extent they act precisely on plants weakened by improper care. Read more about the reasons for the drying of tomato plants in the greenhouse, read further in the article.
Characterization of tomato culture
Belonging to the solanaceous family, tomatoes are a herbaceous plant with a stem reaching a height of 0.3 m to 2 m, and a root system that can deepen more than 1 m. Unpaired dark green leaves often resemble potato, yellow flowers are inconspicuous on species, but fruits in the form of berries of different sizes look spectacular when painted in numerous shades of red, as well as yellow, white, green and even black.
Did you know? The authority of botanists who attribute tomatoes to berries was not enough for the US Supreme Court, which sentenced tomatoes to be vegetables. The EU “ went further ” , adding tomatoes to fruits.
The main reasons for drying tomatoes in a greenhouse
The sources of such a disadvantage of tomato plantations in the greenhouse are, as already mentioned, the non-observance of agricultural practices of crop cultivation and the associated detrimental effect on weakened plants from diseases and pests.
The main agrotechnical methods of caring for tomatoes in the form of fertilizing, watering and ensuring optimal illumination when they are disturbed can lead to serious consequences:
- Excessive fertilizing of tomatoes with organic fertilizers often leads to an imbalance of nutrients in the soil. As a result, an excess of nitrogen and a deficiency of phosphorus, potassium and zinc provoke twisting of leaves on tomato bushes with their subsequent drying. In addition, feeding organic matter in the form of manure causes the active release of ammonia, which can cause tomato foliage burns.
- Although tomatoes are a moisture-loving crop, excessive watering can cause significant damage to them, which also leads to foliage twisting and dying.
- Being at the same time also a thermophilic crop, tomatoes in this regard do not suffer excesses, reacting to excessively high temperature by drying of leaves and death of a plant. This occurs at an ambient temperature of + 35 ° C and above.
- Another reason for the drying of a tomato plant can be a lack of illumination with a short daylight.
Did you know? Unlike most plant fruits, during the heat treatment, tomatoes do not lose, but, on the contrary, acquire useful properties. But in the refrigerator, on the contrary, they lose their beneficial properties - again, in contrast to most other plant products.
Pests and diseases
Plants weakened by improper care are exposed to attacks of pests and pathogenic infections to the maximum extent. This is especially evident in diseases:
- Fusarium wilting, especially actively spreading with an excessive presence of nitrogen in the soil and with excessive watering, as a result of which tomato leaves dry;
- late blight, the appearance of which provoke excessive watering and improper temperature conditions, which leads to damage to foliage and fruits.
Weakened by improper care, the plants become easy prey of pests in the form of:
- aphids, sucking vital juices from the plant and leading to its drying out;
- whiteflies, whose larvae destroy the green mass of tomato bushes and cause the plants to dry completely;
- spider mite, slowly but surely causing yellowing of the leaf surface and its death.
Possible solutions to problems
Accurate and timely determination of the causes that cause the drying of tomato bushes, allows you to effectively and quickly fix the problem:
- In case of unbalanced top dressing with an excess of nitrogen and a deficiency of potassium, phosphorus and zinc, it is necessary to abandon organic fertilizers and saturate the soil with mineral fertilizers containing the missing elements.
- Excessive moisture in the soil must be corrected by more moderate watering once a week, increasing its intensity to 2 times a week during fruiting and pouring up to 4 liters of water under each bush, which must be left standing and at a temperature not lower than + 24 ° С. Water the tomatoes under the root.
- Excessively high temperature in the greenhouse is eliminated by ventilation and shading of plants with the help of lutrasil. In this case, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that the daytime temperature in the greenhouse should be within + 23 ... + 25 ° С, and the nighttime temperature should drop to + 16 ... + 18 ° С.
- A deficiency of illumination, which leads to the drying of plants, occurs during the cultivation of tomato seedlings in the period with a short daylight hours. To eliminate this problem, artificial lighting is required, which can provide tomatoes with a daily daylight hours of up to 16 hours.
- All these measures, carried out in a timely manner, can effectively eliminate the problems that have arisen. Fortified plants will no longer dry and will be able to withstand diseases and pests.
Important! Do not save tomato bushes already affected by the disease. They need to be quickly destroyed, and the soil beneath them should be decontaminated.
The best prevention of drying of tomato bushes and other similar problems, as has been repeatedly emphasized, is scrupulous adherence to agrotechnical rules for growing tomatoes. In addition to this, it is useful:
- Collect seeds only from fruits grown on healthy plants.
- Dress tomato seeds before sowing them in the ground.
- Strictly observe crop rotation by planting tomatoes in the same place not earlier than after 3 years.
- Disinfect the soil before planting seedlings using copper sulfate, for which 70 g of the drug is dissolved in a bucket of water.
- Disinfect the greenhouse itself.
- In order to create a balanced saturation in the soil with useful substances, it is necessary not only to limit the use of organic matter as fertilizers, but also to saturate the soil with the help of the liquid drug Effekton-O.
- Be sure to destroy the tomato tops after harvesting.
Helpful horticulturists tips
Answering the question of what to do so that the tomatoes grow without problems and give a good harvest, experienced vegetable growers recommend:
- Regularly spud tomato bushes so that the soil rises above the root neck by at least 10 cm.
- To create optimal moisture in the soil, it should be mulched with dry sawdust, hay or chopped peat.
- In hot weather, water tomato bushes in the evening, when the root system absorbs moisture best.
- During artificial lighting in a greenhouse, on the floor lay a foil or white paper, whose reflectivity significantly increases the illumination of the room.
- When ventilating the greenhouse, direct the air flow along the upper and middle parts, since the movement of air below the soil excessively dries.