Watering a tomato in a greenhouse: how often and correctly to water, types of organization of watering tomatoes

Few people know how to properly water tomatoes. Most people, for some reason, are confident that the more watering, the more harvest will be. Although, in fact, excessive soil moisture has a detrimental effect on plants. Moreover, tomatoes do not tolerate much moisture, but they also do not like drought. Therefore, watering a tomato in a greenhouse should be optimal and regular, otherwise it will negatively affect both the plant itself and the future harvest. If the plants are not watered correctly, then the tomatoes can start to hurt and, accordingly, will give a very small and lower quality crop.

Watering a tomato in a greenhouse: a short about watering

When planting tomatoes in a greenhouse, all conditions must be taken into account before watering them. The fact that tomatoes need to be watered strictly at the root so that water does not fall on the leaves is known to everyone, but few people know why this is done. And this is done in a greenhouse in order not to increase the humidity level. When growing tomatoes, a certain moisture is needed, the soil should be 80% moistened, but the air humidification should be no more than 60%, ideally 50%. If you water the tomatoes right at the root, then the water will practically not evaporate into the ground. But if you water in such a way that the water gets on the leaves, then in any case it will begin to evaporate quickly, thereby increasing the humidity of the air, which is sometimes even destructive for a tomato. If there is too much moisture in the greenhouse, then it will be an excellent environment for the development of phytophthora, the more moisture there is, the faster this fungal disease will develop, and for this, just a couple of days are enough. Accordingly, it immediately becomes clear that excessive moisture has a detrimental effect on tomatoes and they need to be watered correctly, otherwise there is a very high probability of saying goodbye to seedlings and future harvest.

Watering a tomato in a greenhouse: the climate in a greenhouse

You need to water vegetables in the greenhouse either early in the morning, or in the evening, when the sun has already risen. After watering, the greenhouse must be ventilated. It is not advisable to water it late in the evening, because at night the temperature on the street drops and the humidity in the greenhouse rises greatly, and you simply will not have time to ventilate it. You also need to remember that if you pour a lot of water on the tomatoes, the roots simply will not cope with the moisture supply and will begin to rot very soon. But little moisture is not suitable for tomatoes, then the roots will have nothing to eat and the plant will begin to dehydrate, accordingly it will dry out and soon die. When there is too little moisture for tomatoes, it is immediately noticeable from the outside. At the same time, the leaves of tomatoes immediately begin to curl towards the center. When you adhere to the norms of watering and moisture in the greenhouse, you will protect your tomatoes as much as possible from fungal diseases, which are easier to prevent and prevent than to further cure. To create the most comfortable climate for tomatoes, you need to follow the rules of high-quality watering: you need to pour five liters of water on one bush, no more and no less, because this threatens with undesirable consequences, water the plants twice a week, more often watering them simply cannot otherwise disturb the moisture balance ... In no case should water fall on the leaves, otherwise there will be not only waterlogging of the air, but the leaves can easily burn from the scorching sun, because the walls of the greenhouse are a kind of lens in sunlight.And it is for the same reason that watering in the daytime is by no means impossible.

There is one more of the main rules for watering, the water for it should only be warm, not less than 22 degrees. If you water tomatoes with cold water, then this threatens hypothermia of the roots. From the moment of planting, tomatoes are watered once a week, five liters of water are poured onto each bush. A week after you have planted the seedlings, it begins to grow rapidly, but its roots are still very weak. From this moment until flowering, the seedlings need to be watered twice a week. But in this case, no more than three liters of water should be poured onto one bush. When your bushes are already starting to bloom, they are again watered by five liters, once a week. But when the fruits begin to set and develop, they are again watered twice a week, three liters per bush. In no case do not pour more water than the specified amount, otherwise the soil will again be too wet, and the roots may rot, because at this time the plant gives all its strength to the fruits. When the tomatoes begin to sing, this is a sign that the watering should be drastically reduced, otherwise the fruits will be watery, and may even burst. At this time, tomatoes are watered once a week, but no more than three liters per bush. Also, when watering, you need to take into account the weather conditions, you cannot water in the heat and you need to wait for the evening, but everyone knows that, in dry, not hot weather, you can water at any time, because there will be no sun burn on the leaves. But if it is damp, rainy weather outside, it is best to refuse watering on this day, because this is additional humidity, and it is simply impossible to ventilate the greenhouse in such weather. But you definitely need to know that in the greenhouse, in addition to airing, a window must always be open so that fresh air gets in.

Types of watering tomatoes

There are two ways to water a tomato in a greenhouse; these are manual watering and drip irrigation.

Manual watering is the most common. Each plant is watered strictly at the root from a watering can or a bucket, but it is impossible to water the tomatoes from a hose with water from the water supply system, because then they will be watered with cold water, which, as written above, cannot be done in any way. And if you water with a hose, you will not be able to control the exact amount of water that is needed for one bush. So hand watering from a watering can is the best option. Usually a container with water for irrigation is placed in the sun, near the greenhouse. This is done for convenience, and the water in the barrel will have time to warm up to the desired temperature for the whole day. But just as often, the barrel is placed inside the greenhouse. This is not the best option, but if you did so, then the barrel must be tightly closed with a lid. This must be done so that the water does not evaporate from it. Because if evaporation takes place, it will very much humidify the air, and the consequences of this are already known.

Drip irrigation

The best option for watering a tomato in a greenhouse would be drip irrigation. This type of watering saves you the time you would spend manually watering and makes watering easier. This method also has many advantages: water will immediately enter the ground and nourish the roots of the plant, but it will not evaporate, and accordingly it will not humidify the air. Water drops will definitely not fall on the trunk and leaves of the plant. In the case of drip irrigation, it can be carried out at any time of the day, because the leaves will be dry, there will be no high humidity, respectively, neither the daytime heat and the scorching sun, nor the night coolness of the plant are terrible. For drip irrigation, there is a special system that is installed in the greenhouse. They consist of special pipes through which water enters the ground, and a container that is filled with this very water. You can simply buy this system ready-made and install it in your greenhouse, or you can make it yourself.

Gardeners are very resourceful, therefore, in addition to doing this system themselves, but in addition to watering, root feeding of the plant is also carried out through it. If there are no special materials at hand to make an irrigation system, our inventive people have found a way out. They take plastic pipes, make side holes in them to the height that will enter the ground, set a bottle of the corresponding volume on top of the pipe and fill it with water, it gradually enters the ground and nourishes the roots of plants. You can make this method of watering a lot easier by using plastic bottles alone. To do this, take bottles and make a large number of holes at the bottom, then put the bottle in next to the bush, with the neck up. Water is poured into it and it is also slowly absorbed into the soil. Since one bush requires up to five liters of water, it is better to take the appropriate bottles. There is also an automatic type of drip irrigation. But this type is best used in production, where there are large tomato plantations, because the installation of such irrigation in a small greenhouse on the site is simply not cost-effective.

If you correctly follow all the conditions for watering and feeding and care, then the harvest will delight you both in quality and quantity.