If you are growing tomatoes in pots, sow only one seed per pot. If you are using tray, make a crinkle in the soil with stick and maintain a gap of 1.5 inch between crinkles. Now, place the seed in that crinkle, cover it with soil and then wrap the tray with plastic wrap.
If the temperature is ranging between 24-26°c or the plastic wrap is dry, moistening of soil in the tray must be done.
If you don’t wrap the tray with plastic cover, you need to provide little amount of water to it. Moist them for every couple of days and place them near windows.
It takes nearly 7-9 days for a seed to germinate and for leaves to loom. If the plant is having access to sunlight, there will be a healthy growth of leaves which is the indication of a healthy plant.
If no proper leaf growth is observed, move the tray to a place which is having access to sunlight.
The selected pot should be 4 inches deep and must be filled with high quality moistened potting soil.
After 45 days, you will observe seedlings in your pot or tray. Now, transfer these seedling to another pot.
When you are transferring the seedlings, hold the leaves instead of stems.
Remove the seedling gently with the help of fork from tray and place the removed seedling in potting soil of new container.
Adapting The Tomato Seedlings To The New Temperatures
The plants should adapt the new climatic conditions. So, move the pots to shade region which helps them to grow in outdoors.
After a week, place the pot in partial sun light (early morning and evening).
Planting your Seedlings:
Practice staking because it provides stability and support to the plant.
Container:
Tomato Plant requires more space for its roots. Plant growth and size of the fruit depends on the size of the roots(larger roots absorbs more nutrients).
Selected container size must be 20 liters. If you select smaller container, you should grow dwarf varieties in it.
Your selected container must have drain holes to provide proper drainage.
Cover the drain holes with mesh so that potting soil does not get washed away by the excess water and also you can restrict the access of pest.
Place small pebbles near mesh to improve drainage.
Soil:
You should not use gardening soil because it contains pests, bacterial and fungal infections and also it will not have proper drainage.
The selected soil should be rich in nutrients and must have proper drainage.
Maintain pH in the range of 6.0-6.8. Add compost to the soil for healthy growth of plant.
Before planting in new container, remove the leaves at bottom part of the main stem.
Plant the tomato seedling in a way that the removed leaves region of the stem must be covered in the soil and next set of leaves should be above the soil.
Tomato plants develop new roots at bottom part of the stem which helps them to provide extra stability and also helps in intake of more nutrients.
After planting the tomato seedling, cover it with mulching layer because it helps in keeping the potting soil moist and prevents the escape of moisture. In large pots, between the plants you should maintain a space of 20 inches.