Introduction

Quality production of nursery seedlings depends on the soil and

climatic conditions in which the seedlings are grown and germinated

like:

Nursery area is covered with 50 per cent shade net to maintain

favorable micro-climatic condition.

Seedlings must be grown in protrays or raised beds of recommended

dimensions to facilitate proper growth.

Sterilized Cocopeat must be used as medium for raising seedlings @

300 kg/ha mixed with 5 kg of neem cake along with Azospirillum and

Phosphobacteria bioinoculants each @ 1 kg.

Care at Sowing:

Pre Sowing Treatment:

•The seeds are mixed with Azospirillum @ 200 gm/100 gm seeds and

dried in shade for half an hour before sowing.

Sowing:

•About 250 gm seed of indeterminate or 125 gm seed of determinate

variety produce seedlings sufficient for planting 1 hectare area.

•Seeds should be sown at 0.5 cm depth. Seedlings require 8 days to

emerge at optimum soil temperature (20-30o C).

•Sown in protrays / beds are watered twice a day until germination

Sowing Methods:

• Tomato seeds can be sown on Seedbed as well as protrays.

Growing seedlings in protrays has several advantages like,

• Seedlings grown in protrays are healthier and vigorous.

• Transplanting process is also easier and plant roots remain intact

during the process.

• The transportation of such portray grown seedlings is easier than

any other systems available.

• Faster growth enables capturing an earlier market and fetching a

better price.

• At the same time raised bed method is cheaper and economical for

raising tomato seedlings.

Post Emergence Care:

Protrays are placed on raised beds inside the shade net. Six days after

germination, following sprays are taken as per schedule:

•‘Panch gavya’ spray @ 3% (30 ml/liter water) at 15 days after sowing.

•19:19:19 NPK Fertilizer + Manganese @ 0.5% (5gm/liter water)

solution is drenched at 18 days after sowing.

•At the two leaf stage, seedlings are irrigated once with 0.5%

ammonium sulphate solution (5 gm ammonium sulphate dissolved in

1Liter water), 0.25% urea solution (2.5 gm urea in 1Liter water).

•Seeds can be treated with broad spectrum fungicides, such as Captan

or Thiram, to reduce losses from damping off disease.

Hardening is an essential part in nursery production of seedlings.

Seedlings are grown in optimum conditions and microclimate so that

they can attain faster growth. Such seedlings are not tolerant to

unfavorable open field climatic conditions after transplanting. This

results in higher mortality of seedlings in the field. To avoid such

mortality it is necessary to harden seedlings before their sale.

Hardening can be possible by reducing water supplied to the plant or by

gradual exposure of seedlings to direct sunlight. Hardening process

should start around 6-9 days before transplanting.

Hardening of Seedlings:

Tomato Seedlings with following indicators / characters must be

preferred for transplanting:

1.Plant age: 4 weeks old

2.Leaf stage: 4 or 5 leaf stage

3.Growth: Vigorous and with a healthy stock.

4.No visible symptoms of disease and pest infestation.

5.Roots healthy without any root knots, discoloration, etc.

Selected seedlings must be irrigated about 12 hours before

transplanting to the field. This is important in case of the seedlings

grown in beds.

Quality Indicators of Tomato Seedlings: