Description of tomatoes of the “Pineapple” variety: features of their cultivation in open and closed ground

The Pineapple tomato variety began to be grown in Russia relatively recently, and despite this, it has already become very popular among summer residents. Reviews about this variety are the most positive.

The delight is explained by the fact that Pineapple tomatoes not only have a pleasant taste, but also bear fruit for a long time. How to grow this tomato, what its distinctive features and productivity are, you will learn from our article.

Description of the variety

Tomato Pineapple is disease resistant and easy to care for. It belongs to the tall varieties; the height of the bush during the growing season reaches 2 m.

It is recommended to form the variety into 3 stems. The first inflorescences appear on the bushes near the 8-9 leaves. From 5 to 6 fruits ripen on one cluster.

There are several types of Pineapple tomato:

• Taiwanese.
• Yellow.
• Hawaiian.
• BIO.
• Steak.
• Black, etc.

Distinctive features

The varieties differ in the color of the fruit. Many of them have not only a pleasant taste, but also an unusual color. For example, Black Pineapple has a brown color with green stripes, but the flesh of a tomato is completely green.

But the Pineapple Beefsteak variety is bright orange, and when cut, it turns from orange to yellow towards the edges. Another difference between Pineapple and other varieties is the high sugar content in the fruit; tomatoes have notes of citrus.

Fruit characteristics and yield

The fruits of the Pineapple variety are quite large, the weight of one reaches 900 g, the average weight is about 250 g. The tomatoes are sweetish with a citrus taste and fruity notes.

By the end of the harvest season, the taste of the tomato becomes even more intense. The fruit has dense pulp and a small number of seed chambers. The vegetables are strong, do not crack, and can withstand transportation over long distances without losing their presentation.

One bush grows up to 40 brushes, each has about 5-6 fruits. With an average weight during the fruiting period, the bush produces at least 30 kg. If you artificially stop growth, you can increase yield without losing taste.

How to grow seedlings?

Tomatoes are delicious and beloved vegetables by many. They come in different sizes, large and small, meaty and juicy. And most importantly, they are easy to grow.

To grow seedlings you need:

1. Prepare the seeds.
2. Select a container and prepare the soil.
3. Sow change.
4. Grow seedlings.
5. Provide her with proper care.

Let's consider each of the points separately.

Seed preparation

So that your efforts when planting seeds are not in vain, you need to carefully sort them out. To speed up the sifting process, place them in a container of salt water.

Water is diluted as follows: 1 tablespoon per glass of water. After 10 minutes, bad seeds will float, and good ones will fall to the bottom.

After selecting the seeds, they need to be prepared for planting.:

• Disinfection protects the plant from diseases. For this:
  1. The seeds should be left in a 0.8% solution of vinegar or for a third of an hour in a weak solution of manganese.
  2. After the procedure, carefully rinse the seeds with running water and dry.
• Warming up the seeds This is done if they have been in a cold place for a long time.Warm them up as follows:
  1. Or leave it near the battery for 2-3 days.
  2. Or for several hours in a thermos with hot water. After this it is dried.
• Hardening helps young shoots adapt to different environmental conditions.
  1. Take a piece of cloth, place the seeds on one half, cover the other half on top, place it on a saucer, pour in a little water and leave it in the room for one day.
  2. On the second day, place the plate with seeds on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for 24 hours.
  3. Repeat the procedure a day later.

All these procedures are needed to prepare the future plant for various environmental changes and improve productivity.

Attention! After the seeds are prepared, they must be planted immediately. That is why, while the seeds are being prepared, prepare the planting site.

Container and soil

Before planting seeds, you need to prepare the soil and container for planting. Choose a large container to plant all the seeds at once.

When the tomatoes sprout, they are already seated in separate cups.

The soil for planting tomatoes should consist of three parts:

• turf;
• humus;
• sand.

If for some reason you do not have the opportunity to prepare the mixture yourself, then you can purchase it at a specialized store. Seeds are planted 1.5-2 months before transplanting seedlings to a garden bed or greenhouse.

If you do this ahead of schedule, the sprouts will not have time to grow stronger and will die. And if you delay this process, they will stretch out and replanting will be inconvenient.

Sowing:

1. Pour the soil mixture into the prepared container and lightly compact it.
2. We water the finished soil and cover it with film overnight.
3. The next day, the soil must be leveled and grooves made for sowing at a distance of about 4 cm from each other, the depth of the hole is 1 cm.
4. Pour the seeds evenly into the prepared holes, sprinkle them with soil and water them.
5. Cover the container with film and place it on the window.
6. After a week, the film must be removed and the container moved to a room where the temperature is up to +16 degrees.
7. After another week, the container with seedlings must be returned to the windowsill and the sprouts should be provided with a temperature regime of up to +24 during the day and up to +12 degrees at night.

Cultivation and care

The main thing in caring for tomatoes is to properly provide and maintain certain environmental factors at the required level. Such as:

• humidity;
• temperature;
• Fresh air;
• lighting.

Let's look at all the factors and necessary conditions in more detail:

1. Watering. Until the seeds sprout their first shoots, soil moisture must be checked every day. If the soil is dry, moisten it with a spray bottle.
   

   Important! Never water the soil with seeds without a special device, otherwise you may wash the seeds out of the soil.

   Water with warm water, second watering after a week. But monitor the soil moisture every day. If it dries out, the sprout will die. The plant is watered with a pipette at the root, without getting on the leaves.

2. Lighting. For seedlings, choose the brightest place in the room. Most often this is a window sill. In addition to natural light, the plant will also need artificial light, which can be organized using a lamp. The plant must be illuminated at least 14 hours a day.
3. Temperature. For the sprouts to sprout, the room temperature must be from +25 to +28 degrees. After a week, the temperature can be lowered to +20-25 degrees.And in another two weeks - up to room temperature.
4. Ventilation and humidity. While the seeds are under the film, the container should be lifted and moisture removed so that mold does not appear due to excess moisture. If mold does appear, remove the affected soil and water the soil with a solution of potassium permanganate. The film can be removed only after 1-2 weeks after shoots To prevent this from causing injury to the plant, the film should be opened briefly every day.
5. Fertilizer. After the first sprouts have appeared, at least 10-14 days must pass before the first complementary feeding. After this, the plant is fertilized every week. Fertilizers are introduced when the sprouts produce their first leaves with teeth. After the tomato sprouts produce their first true leaves, they need to be pruned.
   

   Reference! Picking is the procedure of transplanting a plant from a common container into an individual pot or glass no smaller than 10x10 in size.

   During the picking process, all sick and weak plants are eliminated. When picking, the seedlings are transplanted deeply, the stem is buried right up to the leaves.

How to grow tomatoes

Before planting seedlings in a garden bed or greenhouse, they need to be hardened off. To do this, it is enough to leave the windows open at night.

Landing

Tomatoes are planted in open ground at the end of May or beginning of June, when they are no longer threatened by frost. By this time, the plant already has a strong stem and at least 5 leaves.

Before transplanting tomatoes you need to prepare the soil:

1. Rake the ground.
2. Make holes at a distance of 30 cm.
3. Fertilize each hole with 1 tablespoon of superphosphate.
4. Water each hole.

When the soil is ready for replanting, it is necessary:

1. Stick a peg next to each hole, which will become a support for the bush.
2. Before planting, water the hole again and plant the sprout along with soil from a cup.
3. Next, the plant is lightly compacted with earth and watered.

Care

After the plant has been transplanted into a garden bed or greenhouse, it must be cared for as carefully as seedlings on a windowsill.

Basic procedures:

1. Loosening. During the first time after replanting the plant, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the soil and prevent it from cracking. When the plant takes root and gets stronger, the soil can be loosened once every 4 days.
2. Watering. When watering, water should not fall on the plant. While the tomato bush is growing, the frequency of watering is increased, and when the first fruits appear, it is reduced. Tomatoes are watered with relatively warm water; cold water can chill the roots, which will lead to the death of the plant.
3. Top dressing. Two weeks after transplantation, the tomato must be fed with a mixture of: saltpeter, urea, superphosphate and potassium salt. Three weeks later, the procedure is repeated.
4. Weeding carried out every 14 days in parallel with loosening. You need to weed the bed manually. Removing weeds promotes good plant growth and productivity.
5. Planting a plant – one of the important activities that must be carried out at all stages of development. Pinching is the removal of side shoots from a plant. This can be done using pruning shears or manually. It is advisable to do this before the shoot grows to 5 cm, then it will injure your plant less. Before you start removing unwanted shoots, decide how many stems you want to grow the bush. If it is 2-3, then the growth of young shoots must be stopped in time.
6. Bush formation. One of the main questions when growing the Pineapple variety is how many stems to grow. Tall varieties, which include the Pineapple tomato, grow in one stem. To do this, we form a bush using the pinching method already known to us. When choosing a method for forming a bush, also do not forget about such an important factor as climatic conditions.
7. Garter of tomatoes - a mandatory event. Pineapple is a tall variety and has delicate and weak stems that can break under its own weight or under the weight of ripening varieties. A tied plant is easier to water and loosen. Tomato garter also protects its fruits from pests and various diseases.

With proper care, the plant will delight you not only with stable growth and development, but with excellent productivity.

Features of cultivation and possible difficulties

The Pineapple tomato is a mid-season variety: to get an earlier harvest, the seeds need to be planted at the end of March or beginning of April.

7 days before planting the Pineapple tomato, you need to start hardening the plant. To do this, they are taken out into the fresh air. Every day, the time spent in the open air is increased; on days 3-4, they are left in the air overnight.

Attention! Avoid direct sunlight on the leaves, otherwise they may burn.

When planting a tomato in open ground, do not forget that the plant is tall and there should not be more than 2-3 bushes per square meter.

You should water the tomatoes carefully and moderately, otherwise fungus may not only develop in the soil, but the roots will also begin to rot. Plants are fertilized once every two weeks. If you properly care for your tomatoes, they will delight you with a bountiful harvest until autumn.

Difficulties in growing tomatoes can arise in a variety of ways.:

1. Seedlings that grow on a windowsill become pampered under favorable conditions and will not easily adapt when transplanted. To avoid this, harden off the seedlings.
2. The leaves of seedlings turn yellow and dry out - these are the consequences of a lack of light or excess moisture.
3. The plants do not have enough light due to the plants being planted too close, and they begin to stretch towards the light.
4. If the leaves are limp and drooping, the plant does not have enough moisture.
5. If white spots appear on the leaves of a tomato, they are sunburned, but brown spots indicate a fungal disease.

To overcome all these difficulties, it is enough to carefully examine the plants and follow the basic rules of caring for them.

Diseases and pests

Diseases and pests affect growth and yield. There are several problems that can be identified by appearance. All diseases, except fungal ones, can be prevented or cured by feeding the plant with one fertilizer or another.

But the spread of mold on a plant threatens you with the loss of the entire bush and infection of neighboring ones. This happens because the fungus spreads quickly.

But there are several more dangerous diseases and pests that you need to know about.:

1. Blooming rot on the back of the fruit. It is easy to recognize: a dark-colored spot the size of a two-ruble coin appears on the back of the fruit. You can get rid of the disease by removing the affected fruits. To prevent a recurrence of the disease, you need to monitor watering and fertilize the plant with calcium (some gardeners use crushed eggshells as a top dressing).
2. Flowers set but fall off and the fetus either does not have time to develop at all, or is developed very poorly. This often happens due to sudden changes in the weather, for example: during the day the temperature was above 35 degrees, and at night it dropped to 10. Mulching will help to avoid the problem.
3. Sticky and misshapen leaves. The cause is the pear-shaped aphid. It causes damage to the plant by sucking the juice out of it and leaving behind a sticky substance on the leaves and fruits. In addition to aphids, whiteflies and spider mites can cause the same visible symptoms. Special insecticidal sprays and removing weeds around the plant will help get rid of pests.
4. Cracking of fruit skin. Cracks may appear due to accelerated growth caused by increased humidity, for example: rain after a long drought. Another reason may be banal overripeness of the fetus.
5. Formation of black-brown spots on leaves. The cause of these symptoms is a fungus that survived on old plants and transferred to new ones. To cure the plant, you will need to purchase special aerosols and remove all old plants from your garden.
6. Nematodes. The bad news is that the plant cannot be cured of this scourge. Good - despite this, the plant is capable of producing edible fruits. To prevent new plants from getting sick, plant marigolds next to the garden bed; they release chemicals that kill nematodes.

Attention! Under no circumstances should such plants be left in the garden or placed in a compost pit. Otherwise, infection of healthy plants cannot be avoided. It is best to burn old plants or remove them from the site.

The nuances of breeding in open ground and in a greenhouse

When growing any plant there are certain nuances that must be taken into account.

The nuances of growing Pineapple tomatoes in open ground and in a greenhouse:

1. Wrong choice of landing site. Choose a sunny area where nightshades have not been planted before.
2. Growing different crops together. For example: cucumbers and tomatoes cannot be planted in the same greenhouse, since they need completely different climatic conditions.
3. Incorrect formation of tomatoes. Sometimes gardeners feel sorry for removing side shoots, or they forget to pinch the tops in time. The bush grows lush and weighty, but, unfortunately, does not bear fruit. A plant that is planted in open ground should not have more than 4 stems.
4. Stem constriction. When gartering tomatoes, you need to be extremely careful not to damage the stem.
5. Late stepsoning. If the side shoots are not removed in time, the yield will suffer. They need to be removed at a size of 3-4 cm, since they consume all the nutrients and do not allow the plant to develop.
6. Eating disorder. Sometimes gardeners get carried away with feeding the plant and, instead of a large harvest, end up with a lush bush with large, strong leaves. This is due to the large amount of manure.
7. Closed greenhouse. If the greenhouse has high humidity and temperature, it should not be closed. In tomatoes, pollen grains stick together and normal pollination does not occur, which means the plant bears fruit worse.
8. Late processing. Tomatoes growing in a greenhouse should be treated with biological products once every two weeks or after each harvest.

Harvesting and application

Tomatoes of the Pineapple variety are harvested after the fruits have fully ripened. The plant is a mid-ripening variety, so the risk of fruits not ripening before the end of the growing season is minimized.

Tomato variety Pineapple is consumed:

• fresh;
• in salads;
• first and second courses.

Tomatoes are also well suited for whole-fruit canning.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

The variety got its name not only because of its appearance, but also for its taste.

The main advantages of tomato include:

• the appearance and taste of the tomato resembles pineapple and citrus fruits;
• suitable for both fresh consumption and winter preparations;
• high yield rates;
• easy care.

The main disadvantage of the variety is frequent pinching, which will take more time when caring for the plant. There is also a small drawback - large fruits must be eaten immediately; they are not suitable for pickling.

Varieties Black, Gold, Hawaiian and Beefsteak

Pineapple tomatoes have several varieties:

• Black pineapple originally from Belgium. The fruit is colored in three colors: yellow, burgundy and orange. Despite its excellent taste, it is not suitable for winter preparations. The weight of one reaches 700 g.
• golden pineapple has a golden color with a pink cap. It also has excellent taste. Suitable for eating raw and for preparations. Fruit weight 200-600 g.
• Hawaiian pineapple has an orange color, the fruits are large, the weight of one can reach 700 g.
• Tomato Beefsteak Pineapple, one fruit weighs about 300 g. It is bright red in color.

All of them are approximately similar in their taste, resistant to diseases and pests.

Photo

Below you can see photos of varieties of Pineapple tomatoes.

Black:

Gold:

Steak:

Hawaiian:

Farmer reviews

Reviews left by farmers after growing and eating Pineapple tomatoes:

1. Victor, Taganrog: “A good variety that ripens earlier than others.Does not require special care, everything is according to the standard scheme, watering, feeding, etc. The only drawback is that the bushes need to be tied up, otherwise they break or fall.”
2. Valeria, Volgograd: “I recommend the Pineapple tomato variety to those who sell vegetables or like to eat them. The vegetables grow well and don’t get sick, but our family didn’t need their high yield, since we can’t eat a lot, and I don’t use them for pickling because of the color. Therefore, one bag of seeds is enough for one bed.”
3. Sergey, Ivanovo: “The variety is good, but those who have not planted it before will have to get used to the different taste qualities. And so there are no more complaints. The yield is high, it bears fruit all summer, just have time to collect. The main thing is not to forget to pick and tie up the bushes in time, as they grow very wildly. If planted in a greenhouse, the bush can grow up to 2 m.”

Pineapple tomatoes are an unpretentious plant, which will not cause you much trouble, is positive in terms of cultivation, yield and consumption. It can be planted both in open ground and in a greenhouse. Bush formation and pinching are required.

Video on the topic

We invite you to watch a useful video about Pineapple tomatoes: