Tomato Katya has been known not so long ago, but has already gained fame as one of the best among super-early salad varieties. It ripens before most other tomatoes, gives a solid crop of smooth beautiful fruits of excellent taste, grows in a small bush, is unpretentious in leaving. Those who tested this variety in their garden agree that it can be recommended to anyone, even the most inexperienced summer resident.
Description of tomato variety Katya
Tomato Katya F1 is a hybrid of the first generation, which may already indirectly testify to its high consumer qualities: numerous scientific institutes are engaged in the selection of vegetables, and unsuccessful hybrids, as a rule, are not released for "wide circulation". The hybrid was introduced at the beginning of the XXI century and was included in the State Register of the Russian Federation in 2007, after which it quickly gained popularity.
The tomato variety Katya appeared in the State Register of the Russian Federation in 2007
Region and growing conditions
Officially, tomato Katya is recommended for open ground in the North Caucasus region. However, it is grown in most of Russia. Some gardeners plant it in greenhouses or greenhouses, which allows to increase the geography of distribution of varieties almost to the north.
Video: tomato Katya in the greenhouse
Plant characteristics
Hybrid Katya F1 is a determinant tomato, that is, plant growth is limited by the formation of flower brushes. However, the bush, although it grows to a height of only 60-80 cm, is not a standard, which causes some inconvenience to the gardener: tying the stems, or even individual fruit brushes is mandatory, otherwise the crop will lie on the ground. The leaves on the bushes are of ordinary green color, medium size, their number is small, which allows most fruits to be well lit by sunlight.
The hybrid is highly resistant to almost all known diseases of tomatoes. By the time phytophthora appears on the beds, Katya's entire crop has already been harvested. Alternaria, mosaic, vertex rot and other sores inherent in nightshade are not terrible for him. Consequently, the harvest of this tomato can be safely bought on the market: most likely, the owner did not process plantings with any chemical preparations. In addition, the hybrid is drought tolerant; it is not afraid of the opposite scourge - torrential rains.
Fruiting occurs very early: the first ripe tomatoes are harvested already 80-85 days after emergence. Tomatoes are almost round, slightly flattened, smooth, almost never crack. They are collected in brushes of 6-8 copies, the first of which is formed after the 5th or 6th leaf. In the mature state, the color of the fruit is bright red or scarlet, typical of traditional tomato varieties. The fruit weighing 80-100 g (maximum 130 g) has a dense pulp, contains 3-4 seed nests, is characterized by excellent taste and pleasant aroma.
Katya's tomatoes are almost round, even, juicy
Appointment of fruits, productivity
The bulk of the tomato crop Katya ripens at the same time. Some gardeners consider this a drawback, while most believe that it is convenient to pick tomatoes this way. Productivity for the early variety is very high: it reaches 10 kg / m2, and in greenhouses can be 1.5 times higher.
The hybrid belongs to salad varieties. Indeed, in the early summer, few people think about harvesting for the winter. However, in size, these tomatoes are ideal for whole-canning.
The excellent presentation of the fruit, early ripening, no cracking, long shelf life and high transportability of the crop makes the variety competitive in the market, so Katya is respected by farmers who grow tomatoes for commercial purposes.
To increase safety during transportation, tomatoes are removed from the bush in a somewhat immature state, after a few days they "reach" the desired condition.
Advantages and disadvantages, features
Most tomato hybrids, appearing in recent years, significantly surpass the old varieties in consumer properties. This fully applies to tomato Katya, which has a mass of undeniable advantages:
- very early ripening;
- high, especially for early tomatoes, productivity;
- great taste of ripe tomatoes;
- high commercial quality of the crop, lack of cracking;
- long shelf life and good transportability;
- friendly ripening of fruits;
- unpretentiousness to growing conditions;
- low leafy bush, allowing most fruits to be well lit by the sun;
- very good disease resistance;
- resistance to extreme weather conditions: both temperature and humidity;
- versatility of crop use.
Differences from other varieties
There are many early tomatoes of a similar purpose with a similar shape and color, but each of the varieties necessarily has some drawback that puts it lower than Katya. For example, the Liang variety ripens two weeks later, the Mongolian dwarf is clearly inferior in taste. The yields of Yablonka of Russia or Siberian precocious are about half lower. Classic White filling is not very resistant to diseases, and Betta does not have such high transportability.
As disadvantages are noted:
- fragility of stems, causing the need for tying;
- current risk of fomosis.
Phomosis is a very unpleasant disease, but with proper agricultural technology it will not appear
It is not difficult to prevent phomosis, for this it is necessary to spray the bushes with copper oxychloride. With proper agricultural technology (moderation in irrigation and top dressing, loosening of the soil, ventilation of the greenhouse, etc.), the likelihood of diseases is very low..
Features of growing tomato Katya
Growing tomato Katya is no more complicated than other varieties, and requires minimal knowledge and skills.
Landing
As for all hybrids of the first generation (F1), seeds cannot be taken from the fruits of the previous harvest, they will have to be bought. If you plan to grow Katya tomato in open ground, do not rush to sow seeds for seedlings: after all, planting it in the garden is possible only after the threat of frost has receded.
This year I stepped on an unpleasant rake for the second time. The first time this happened 10 years ago, when on June 10 the frost killed all the seedlings planted in the garden in most of the territory of Russia. This year, this happened on June 12, and although the frost was weaker and the most cold-resistant varieties survived, the damage was enormous. Katya does not belong to cold-resistant varieties, so it is not worth experimenting with the early planting of her seedlings in open ground.
In principle, you can sow the seeds of tomato Katya and immediately in the garden, under the film. If you do this in the middle lane in early May and keep the seedlings for the first time under a spanbond, then in a month you will be able to remove the shelter, and in the second half of summer you can already indulge in tomatoes. But the advantages of early ripeness will be minimized: the purpose of such varieties as Katya is to please vegetable growers with vitamin products already in early summer, and in the south of the country even at the end of May. Therefore, the variety Katya is almost always grown through seedlings.
Instead of a home nursery, you can arrange a small garden bed in the garden, where to sow seeds for seedlings
To assess the timing of sowing seeds of tomato Katya, it should be remembered that after 2 months the seedlings will need to be planted in the garden, and after a month it will be possible to harvest. And then it all depends on the climate. In the North Caucasus region recommended by the State Register, you can safely begin sowing in boxes at the end of February, because seedlings can already be planted before the May Day holidays. But in the middle lane, if you do not use greenhouses and shelters at all, planting seedlings in the open ground is risky before the start of summer, so you can only sow in the last days of March, then the tomatoes will ripen by the end of June.
Growing seedlings includes the following steps:
- Seed preparation (calibration, soaking, hardening; disinfection of reliable store seeds can be omitted).
Sometimes seeds germinate, but do not wait for the appearance of long, fragile roots
- Ground preparation (you can buy it in a specialized store).
When buying soil, it is advisable to choose the one that is intended for tomato seedlings
- Sowing seeds in a small box, with a soil layer thickness of 5 cm, at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other.
Any small box is suitable for planting seeds.
- Maintaining temperature: first around 25aboutC, when seedlings appear (for 4-5 days) - not higher than 18aboutC, and then - 20-24aboutC. Light should be enough.
To seedlings received enough light, it is usually placed on the windowsill
- Dive seedlings at 9-12 days of age, preferably in individual cups.
When picking, seedlings are buried to cotyledon leaves
- Rare and moderate watering, 1-2 top dressing with complex mineral fertilizer.
- Hardening: it begins a week before you need to plant seedlings in the garden, for which periodically seedlings are taken out to the balcony.
Tomato seedlings Katya never grows tall: 15-20 cm is the normal size. This is convenient: it takes up a little space on the windowsill. Planting seedlings in open ground is possible only when there is confidence that the cold will not return. Otherwise, the construction of a temporary film shelter is mandatory.
The bed is prepared in a sunny area, pre-introducing the usual dose of fertilizer. The optimal scheme for planting seedlings is 50 x 50 cm or 70 x 30 cm, which is more convenient for the owner, but not denser. An additional dose of fertilizer (0.5 tbsp. Ash and 1 tsp. Nitrophoska) is added to each well. After planting, the seedlings are well watered, mulch the soil and, if the weather is clear, shade for several days from the sun.
It is advisable to immediately drive in and low (up to half a meter) pegs: soon they will have to tie fragile stems to them. However, when growing this tomato as a support, you can use a rare fence, and any other improvised means, and recently a rare plastic mesh is often used.
Care
Tomatoes are not chilled, but in the first half of the bushes in the garden, they need to be watered weekly, and in hot weather more often. Water must be warm (at least 20aboutC), therefore, usually watered in the evening, when the sun warms up the tanks well.
Bushes respond positively to a small hilling. Before this, it is useful to scatter wood ash between plants with a thin layer. 2 weeks after transplanting the seedlings, the tomatoes are fed with complex fertilizer, or better, with mullein infusion (0.5 kg of manure in a bucket of water, pour infusion under 10 bushes in a day). During the second feeding (during the period of mass flowering), the concentration of mullein should be doubled; in addition, it is advisable to add 15-20 g of superphosphate to the bucket. After another 2-3 weeks, they are fed already without nitrogen: only with infusion of ash or phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
Recently, a small amount of nitrogen compounds has been added to superphosphate, but pure superphosphate for tomatoes is no worse
Tomato stalks are tied when it becomes clear that without outside help they are no longer very confident. Tying is carried out with a soft twine in the "eight" way. With the formation of fruits, when the hands become heavy, it will be useful to neatly tie them up.
Some gardeners do not step up this tomato, however, the correct formation of the bush significantly increases the quality of the fruit and overall productivity. Even with a shortage of time, it is worth periodically breaking down the lower stepsons and yellowing leaves, and if "according to the rules", then you should form a bush of two or three stems using the strongest stepchildren, and remove the rest weekly.
Video: bushes of determinant tomatoes
Harvesting can be done as the fruits fully ripen, or a little earlier: brown tomatoes ripen well during storage. Overheating does not threaten this tomato, so some delay in harvesting is not fatal.
After passing the main wave of ripened fruits, Katya continues to bear fruit, but subsequent tomatoes, as a rule, are smaller, and their number is small.
Grade Reviews
The variety is really good. I’ve been planting it for 8 years already. Every year with a good harvest, regardless of the weather.
Tanya 04
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This year ... I planted tomatoes of the Katya variety, I really liked it. Street, low, fruitful and sweet and the taste is good, tomato. Next year I will plant them necessarily.
Verochka
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I’m planting Katya from Semko for the fourth year. Wonderful tomato! Magic wand. Unpretentious, not sick, very productive. Tomatoes are all the same, there are no sloppy, no shoulders, etc. Here now in the greenhouse he was the only one who did not drop flowers in the heat, tied everything up. I thought that there was no certainty about the tomato harvest, but Katya certainly would not let you down.
Irusya
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Stepson necessarily and constantly. Katya is a determinant hybrid. I leave from 4 to 6 brushes on the bush. It depends on the weather. In mid-August, the top (I remove the tops) of all the bushes. And I remove the red tomatoes so that the others gain weight.
Lyudmila 62
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Tomato Katya is one of the representatives of ultra-ripening varieties, but super-early ripening practically does not affect the taste of the fruit. Most experts rate it as excellent. Attractive presentation and the simplicity of cultivation allow the hybrid to be in demand among professional farmers and amateur gardeners.
