What can you do with tomato tops? Infusion from tomato tops. Use herbal infusions

Anyone who has ever grown tomatoes has certainly encountered a situation where, after yet another pruning or thinning of the bushes, whole armfuls of “cut” greenery remain. But this procedure must be repeated regularly, the tops and torn leaves keep accumulating.

Where to put this wealth and what to do with it? Don't throw it away! After all, tomato tops are not just stems with leaves, but at the same time wonderful fertilizer, and a remedy against garden pests. Now we will teach you how to properly use tomato tops in your garden plot.

Tomato tops from pests

Tomato tops will be useful in the garden as a natural insecticide. Its effectiveness against a number of insect pests has been known for a long time and is due to the presence of a toxic compound, solanine, in all parts of the plant.

What insects can tomato tops protect against:

Colorado beetle,
spider mite,
cruciferous flea beetle,
ants,
leaf-eating caterpillars,
carrot fly,
sawfly,
fire,
gall midge,
codling moth.

For cooking effective means against these insects you need to prepare an infusion or decoction from tomato tops. All green parts of the plant are suitable - leaves, stems, shoots.

To prepare the infusion 1 kg of fresh chopped tomato tops is poured into 10 liters warm water, leave for at least 4-5 hours, and then add 40 g of planed bar soap (or 3 tablespoons of liquid soap) as an adhesive.

To prepare the decoction 4 kg of fresh crushed leaves and stems of tomatoes are poured into 10 liters of water and boiled over low heat under a lid for about half an hour. After cooling, the broth is filtered, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:4 and 40 g of soap are added.

Spraying of crops affected by pests with an infusion or decoction of tomato tops is carried out at intervals of a week. It is not recommended to do this only during the flowering phase. In this way, you can treat not only garden and vegetable plants, but also indoor plants, as well as seedlings.

This infusion or decoction can be stored for up to six months in tightly sealed glass containers in a cool place. Or you can dry the tops for future use (it’s better to do this in the shade on fresh air) and use as needed. A decoction of dry tomato tops is prepared in slightly different proportions. Take 1 kg of crushed raw materials per 10 liters of water, leave for 4 hours, and then boil under a lid over low heat for another couple of hours. The concentrated broth is cooled, and before use it is further diluted with water 1:4.

It is better to treat plants early in the morning or in the evening, when the heat subsides, so as not to burn the leaves.

Do not exceed the consumption rates of tomato tops specified in the recipe and do not use disease-affected tops for preparing infusions and decoctions, so as not to spread the infection throughout the area.

Tomato tops as fertilizer

If your plot does not currently need protection from pests, you can prepare nutritious fertilizer from tomato tops for other crops, and even more than one!

For example, you can simply chop the tops and plant them in the soil in the fall, and in the spring you can plant seedlings in this place, even tomatoes! They'll like it, you'll see.

Tomato tops can also be used as liquid green fertilizer. The herbal starter is prepared with it so that the volume of the tops is approximately a quarter of the total green mass of the raw material. To do this, fill any large container (barrel, bucket) with grass to 2/3 of its volume and fill it to the top with water. Then cover the container so that there is a small amount of air available - you can cover it with a film in which to make several holes for gas exchange - and leave the grass to ferment. This is ready to eat organic fertilizer from tomato tops will be available in about 10 days (in hot weather even earlier). A liter of infusion is diluted in 10 liters of water and watered at the roots of the plants.

The same “mash” with tomato tops can be sprayed on the leaves of plants to protect them from pests.

Another great option using tomato tops as fertilizer - burning them. Yes, yes, you heard right. The resulting ash will be a valuable source of beneficial macro- and microelements for your plantings and will be an excellent nutritional supplement. Ash as a fertilizer is applied to the ground in spring or autumn when digging beds, added to holes immediately before planting or to water for irrigation (100 g per 10 liters of water).

Tomato tops as fertilizer can also be used as compost, but in order not to risk the health of your plants, you will have to wait about three years before such compost can be safely used on your site. This is due to the high risk of the spread of fungal diseases, whose pathogens may end up in the tops and will not lose their activity for a long time, even when the tops decompose. If you are completely confident in the health of the plants used for these purposes, you can apply the resulting fertilizer within a year and a half.

For making compost tomato tops placed in a compost bin (pit, heap) in layers, alternating them with layers of earth and sawdust. Each layer for disinfection is spilled with a solution copper sulfate(2 tbsp per 10 liters of water), and then the entire volume is covered with a dark film, in which several holes are made for air access, or with dark spunbond or even a dense layer of straw. About once every two weeks, it is very advisable to shovel the entire mass, mixing the layers. To stimulate fermentation, some gardeners add compost heap a little chicken manure, mullein or urea.

How else to use tomato tops in the garden?

It turns out that despite all of the above, the beneficial properties of tomato tops summer cottage are not exhausted!

For example, tomato tops can protect your fruit plantings from mice. The tops are crushed and sprinkled under young trees or shrubs (gooseberries, currants). During the summer season, you can supplement this protective mulching with freshly picked tomato shoots and leaves.

I place green tomato tops under currant and gooseberry bushes. Ognevka won! I received advice from an agronomist.

In the same way, tomato tops (even not chopped) can be used as mulch and on vegetable beds- simply laying it out in a dried form between the rows. The tops will do the job perfectly.

And tomato tops will help get rid of the smell in outdoor toilet. Just like nettles, the tops will repel insects and absorb ammonia, neutralizing bad smell and helping the contents decompose faster. You need to add these plants to the booth weekly.

Be sure to take this information for service and in the future do not get rid of excess tomato tops - after all, they can be an excellent budget addition (or even a substitute) for many chemicals that are used on the site as insecticides and fertilizers.

Tomato tops are a great assistant in growing vegetables and fruits. There are at least 5 ways to use tomato plant waste that will significantly save the summer resident’s time, effort and money.

Ways to use tomato tops

Sometimes it seems that tomato bushes are growing by leaps and bounds. I didn’t have time to remove the upper stepsons, and then the lower ones had already grown. While you are tearing off the lower ones, for no reason at all the leaves have grown as big as your palm and are about to lie on the ground - they also need to be torn off. As a result, over the summer an armful of succulent shoots and leaves accumulates, which you don’t know where to put. However experienced summer residents They rejoice at such a “harvest.” And here's why: tomato greens can act as a natural insecticide and fungicide. In general, tops are natural raw materials from which you can prepare useful fertilizer, rich in all kinds chemical elements, compost, nutrient mixture, mulch.

Pest Control

Most of all, green medicine is disliked by aphids, caterpillars and spider mites. Moreover, even the worst enemy of nightshades, the Colorado potato beetle, ceases to be interested in plants that are sprayed with an infusion of tomato tops. The smell of infused grass alone kills any desire in them to crawl onto the treated plantings.

First of all, the tops repel pests due to their toxic composition. Scientists have found that the fibers contain the alkaloid solanine, a toxic organic compound.

By the way!

Solanine has not only an insecticidal but also a fungicidal effect.

Recipe for infusion against harmful insects

It is necessary to prepare 2-2.5 kilograms of green tops, leaves and shoots, chop them. Pour the resulting shavings into a bucket of hot water and let it brew for 5-6 hours. To speed up the process, you can simmer the mixture over low heat for 20-30 minutes. Strain the resulting decoction (infusion) and dilute with pure cold water in a ratio of 1:4, then add a little grated soap for adhesion.

Any vegetable crop can be sprayed with this product, both for prevention purposes and when the first insects appear on the leaves. Ticks exposed to this solution die within the first 24 hours after treatment. To consolidate the result, treatment is carried out once every 7-10 days, bypassing not only the affected bushes, but also healthy ones.

In order to always be provided with useful raw materials, it is necessary to dry the collected tops and stepsons - in this form they are also suitable for preparing infusions and decoctions.

Precautions when using insecticidal decoction of tomato tops:

Concentrated solanine infusion can harm plants and cause burns. Therefore, you should adhere to prescription standards, and before treating the beds, the product should be tested on one bush in order to identify “ allergic reaction" If after spraying no swelling, spots or other ailments appear on the foliage, then you can safely begin treating the entire area.
Treatment with infusion from the tops is carried out in the early morning or evening. In cloudy weather, all work can be carried out during the day. It is important not to keep treated plants under scorching sun– this can cause leaf burns.
Plant poisons do not accumulate in the soil, and therefore are absolutely harmless to plants and humans, do not settle in fruits, and toxins disappear in the light, so you can eat processed fruits within a day.

Compost

Tomato tops are an excellent ingredient for a compost mixture. However for nutritional composition Only young, juicy and green tops that are not affected by diseases are suitable. It would be better to burn late blight residues, otherwise the entire area can be infected with the disease.

To prepare compost, not only greens are used, but also blackened fruits, which are placed in a large barrel, mixed with a small amount of earth. To disinfect the substrate, the mixture is spilled with copper sulfate. To make the process go much faster, mullein and urea diluted in water are added to the compost, or specialized products are used, such as the EM preparation, Sanex. In this case, the nutritious fertilizer for the soil will be ready already at next year.

The compost is “prepared” under a black film in which small holes are made to allow air to enter. In spring, compost can be supplemented with complex fertilizer. Fully ready compost looks like crumbly humus that can be used to mulch the ground under fruit trees, shrubs and winter crops of vegetables or bring in for digging.

By the way!

It is best to “cook” compost from tomato tops for at least three years. This way you minimize the risk of survival of fungal spores that may have remained on the tops when they were removed from the bush.

Herbal fertilizer

It is known that tomatoes respond well to liquid fertilizers, especially if they are herbal. But most of all they favor green fertilizers from their own tops. Such feeding is a source of a large dose of nitrogen and others necessary for growth. tomato bushes microelements.

For the nutrient mixture, stepchildren, leaves and other parts of plants are mixed, adding weeded weeds. It is imperative to check the greens for signs of diseases - if any are detected, then they cannot be used.

Preparation:

The grass is filled with two buckets of water, the container is closed with a lid and allowed to brew for a week. The finished mash will be covered with bubbles (methane output) - sure sign that the useful fertilizer is ready.

Application:

The concentrate is diluted with water at a rate of 1 liter of mixture per 10 liters of water and water the tomatoes at the root, without affecting the ground organs of the plants. For foliar feeding, the concentration is reduced, the solution is filtered and the bushes are sprayed. This feeding will help the plant get vitamins faster and will also destroy insects that appear on the tomatoes.

Ash

When burned, the tops turn into valuable fertilizer with beneficial properties.

firstly, the resulting ash is a natural and therefore completely safe product;
secondly, burnt plant residues contain a huge amount of micro- and macroelements, which would be blasphemy to “throw away”.

Ash enriched with phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and other elements must be added to the ground during the autumn digging of the site. Over the winter, dry fertilizer will supply the soil with nutrition, which will significantly increase its fertility. Ash from tomato tops can also be applied to perennials preparing for the winter period. The fertilizer is mixed with water and poured onto the ground under the bushes, allowing the ash to sink thoroughly into the ground.

Mulch from tops

The tops of tomtoes can be used as mulch, placed in the spaces between the beds, under bushes and covering the trunk area under fruit trees. Green mulch copes well with weeds - it stops growing, delays the evaporation of water, protects the roots from overheating during summer heat, and when rotting, it supplies the soil with necessary microelements. Mulch from tomato residues alone can reduce a gardener’s labor costs by a third. In addition, dried tomato tops, laid out under fruit trees and shrubs, will protect them from dangerous insects, who love to winter in the bark of trees. The smell of tops will simply scare them off, and they will go to the neighbor’s garden to look for shelter during the cold weather.

Now you also know about beneficial properties tops of tomatoes, all that remains is to apply all the tips and recommendations for using healthy greens on your site and be happy for good harvest, grown without the use of chemicals.

Tomato tops secrete phytoncides that destroy pathogenic microorganisms and pests. Gardeners use the plant to fertilize their garden plots, get rid of aphids, caterpillars, spider mite, moth and others harmful insects. Scientists have recognized the benefits of using tomato tops infusion in the field of traditional medicine. Pathologies of the rheumatoid type and fungal infections of the skin can be treated with products based on it.

Use in folk medicine

Tomatoes contain tomatotin, a substance that is part of drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid pathologies. Traditional medicine specialists use not only tomato fruits, but also leaves and tops.

To prepare the infusion, you need dry or fresh tomato tops. Collection is carried out at any period of plant development. The collected greens are washed under water, excess moisture is removed, finely chopped and laid out on parchment. During drying, the pieces are periodically turned over. Dried tops are stored in fabric or paper bags in the basement or refrigerator. The shelf life of such raw materials is 1 year.

Plant based recipes used for rheumatoid syndrome:

1. To prepare the infusion, take 2 kg of tomato tops and 6 liters of water. Finely chop the plant, passing it through a meat grinder several times, pour boiling water over it and leave at room temperature for 1 hour. Strain the product and take hot baths with it every day until the pain disappears.
2. 1 kg of tomato tops and 400 g of chamomile are ground into a fine powder and mixed together. Pour 6 liters of boiling water, leave for an hour, then filter. The solution is added to the bath until the attacks of pain are relieved.
3. 10 kg of dry tops are crushed, poured with boiling water, kept for half an hour at room temperature, filtered. 10 ml of infusion is combined with 20 g butter and mix. Rub the ointment into the affected areas of the body daily until the pain disappears.
4. Dry 10 g of tops, grind into powder, add 200 ml of boiling water, leave for half an hour. Strain, add 200 g of butter and 40 g of crushed birch buds. The resulting mass is rubbed into the affected areas daily until the pain disappears.
5. 10 g of chopped dry tomato tops are poured into 400 ml of boiling water, left for half an hour, and filtered. Combine with 800 g of honey and mix thoroughly. Rub the ointment into the affected areas until the pain disappears.
6. 10 g of tops and 20 g of blueberry and burdock leaves are ground into powder, pour 0.5 liters of boiling water, leave for 20 minutes under the lid. Used in the form of compresses and lotions.

Use of tomato tops for fungal infections:

1. Take 20 g of tomato tops, oak bark, calendula, blackberries, and verbena horsetail. The dry plant mixture is ground to a powder state. 20 g of herbs are poured into 400 ml of boiling water and left to stand at room temperature for half an hour. Strain through gauze and use for compresses - up to 5 times a day.
2. Take 20 g of burdock root, hop cones, tomato tops and calendula flowers. The herbal mixture is ground into powder. 20 g of the collection is poured into 400 ml of boiling water and cooled. Strain and combine 20 ml of infusion with 20 g of Vaseline. The resulting ointment is applied to the affected areas of the body 3-5 times a day.

Patients with malignant neoplasms are recommended to eat tomatoes daily, as they contain carotenoids that prevent the development of cancer cells.

Use in gardening

Tomato tops are suitable for fertilizing land on personal plot. But you need to wait 2-3 years before using the plant. This is due to the risk of late blight spreading.

Tomato tops can be used to control the following pests:

1. Spider mite.
2. I pray.
3. Larvae.
4. Caterpillars and other insects.

A decoction of the plant is used for spraying various crops:

Luke;
garlic;
potatoes;
cucumbers and others.

Features of the chemical composition of tomato tops

The demand for the vegetative part of tomato plantings is due to the presence in its composition of such components as vitamins B, C, PP, organic acids, potassium, sodium, nitrogen, essential oils. Using simple ways preparation of fertilizing, it is possible to produce a worthy alternative chemicals with triple benefits:

there is no excessive vegetation on the site;
the process of forming bushes is carried out on time;
there are no costs for purchasing effective and safe fertilizers.

Tomato tops are a complete nutritional complex that sufficiently satisfies the vegetable crop’s need for useful elements. In addition, products based on it help protect plantings from the invasion of harmful insects.

Areas of application and recipes

Using tomato tops in the garden allows you to grow strong plants that differ high level resistance to adverse factors environment, pathogenic microorganisms. In addition, it is also good to use tomato tops as a mulch layer, a nutrient mixture, and an ingredient for making compost.

Against pests

Recipe for preparing an infusion from tomato tops against pests:

Grind 2-2.5 kg of green tomatoes, including leaves and shoots.
Place the raw materials in a suitable container and pour in 10 liters of hot water.
Let the infusion brew for 5-6 hours. To speed up the process, boil the mixture over low heat (20-30 minutes).
Then the working solution is filtered and diluted with water in a ratio of 1:4 before use. To make it stick better to the leaf blades of damaged agricultural plants, add to the mixture laundry soap(50 g).

They use green medicine to treat everyone vegetable crops, and not only for medicinal purposes, but also as preventive measures from the attack of most pests, in particular as a remedy against slugs. For example, ticks die within the first 24 hours after spraying. Repeated manipulations are carried out after 7-10 days; both affected plantings and healthy specimens are treated. You can prepare useful raw materials by drying the collected tomato tops and shoots. They are good to use for decoctions and infusions.

A decoction of tomato leaves is prepared taking into account 400 g of raw material per 10 liters of water. It is boiled for 30 minutes over low heat, then filtered, and diluted with water 3:10 before use. Grated soap (40 g) is also added to it. The decoction is popular against caterpillars and aphids.

Despite all the effectiveness of natural insecticide from tomato tops, there are some nuances that should be observed when using it:

To avoid the appearance negative consequences In the form of burns on the root system of plants, it is recommended to use solanine concentrate in strict accordance with the dosage. It is better to first do a control treatment of one bush and, if no allergic reaction occurs, proceed to spraying the remaining plantings. Side effects look like spots and swellings on the leaf blades.
The optimal time for spraying with infusion of green tomatoes is morning or evening hours. If the weather is cloudy outside, then there are no time restrictions. The main thing is that the plants that have been treated are not exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. Otherwise, burns will appear on the leaf mass.
It is noteworthy that the poisonous herbal remedy is not concentrated in the soil, and therefore does not pose any threat to either the bushes themselves or the human body. The product is ready for use after just one day.

As a fertilizer

Tomato bushes respond gratefully to applied nutrient mixtures, especially if they are made from herbs. Liquid fertilizer based on tops has a high percentage of nitrogen, which is so necessary for plants to grow green mass. In addition to cut stepsons, leaves and others vegetative organs bush, experienced gardeners also add weeds to the mixture. But only raw materials without signs of disease should be used.

To prepare fertilizer for feeding tomatoes, you need:

Place the chopped tops in a container.
Pour 20 liters of water and cover the container with a lid.
Let it brew for a week.
The signal that the mixture is ready will be bubbles on the surface, indicating the release of methane.

Before use, the concentrated product must be diluted with water at the rate of 1:10.. Watering is done at the root, preventing the working liquid from getting on the leaves of the tomatoes. If there is a need for foliar feeding, then the solution is prepared in a reduced concentration. The strained mixture is sprayed onto the plantings. Thanks to such procedures, it is possible to quickly deliver useful components to the plant and get rid of harmful insects.

Tomato tops are also burned, mixed with ordinary ash and used as organic fertilizer when planting young seedlings. A handful of this nutritional composition is added to each well.

Making compost

Tomato tops are recognized as an excellent component of a compost mixture. But it is recommended to use only young and succulent vegetation, without signs of disease. If there are traces of late blight on the tops, they should be destroyed immediately in the fire, otherwise the dangerous disease will short terms will infect all vegetable plantings.

Not only the vegetative part of tomatoes is used to prepare compost, but also the darkened fruits. They are placed in a large container and mixed with a small amount of soil. To disinfect the substrate, it is recommended to treat it with copper sulfate. To speed up the process, add mullein or urea, previously diluted in water, to the compost heap. As an option, specialized drugs like Sanex are used. It will be possible to use such fertilizer already next season.

After all the ingredients are laid out, the compost is covered with black film on top, small holes are made in it through which air will flow. In the spring, it is good to pour complex fertilizer diluted according to the instructions into the heap. The resulting crumbly humus is excellent for mulching beds under fruit trees and shrubs. It is effective to add it to the soil before digging the area. But it is optimal to leave the compost to prepare for three years. During this period, all spores of pathogenic microorganisms remaining on the tomato tops will die.

Tomato tops affected by pests must be destroyed, but untouched tops can be put to good use and even indoor plants.

Tops against pests

1. Dry the tomato tops and place them under berry bushes. After the procedure, the insects will go to spend the winter in another place.

2. An effective solution against pests can be prepared from tomato tops. To do this, use any parts of the plant: leaves, shoots and stems without signs of disease. The tops can be used fresh or dry. It is better to dry the tops gradually in the shade.

Soak 4 kg of fresh or 1 kg of dry tops in a bucket. Take approximately 10 liters of water; the less water, the richer the infusion.

When using fresh tops, leave for 3 hours, then boil for 30 minutes over low heat. When using dry tops, leave for at least 5 hours, and boil for 3 hours over low heat, adding occasionally hot water. Afterwards, cool the solution and strain. Before use, dilute the solution with water in a ratio of 1:4.

The solution is used to combat aphids, mites, flea beetles and whiteweed by spraying the affected plant. The solution can be used for both indoor and garden plants. The resulting solution is stored in glass container with a tight lid for six months without changing its properties.

Tops as fertilizer

1. To humus, cover the collected tops at the end of the gardening season with a small layer of soil and leave them until spring. For winter period the tops rot and can be used for fertilizing land plot. This is a quick method suitable for fertilizing garden trees.

2. Place the tops and rotten tomatoes in a small hole in layers with soil and sawdust, pour a solution of one percent copper sulfate on top and bury them. From above this place is covered with a dark film with gaps. After a year, fertilizers are poured into these holes.

You can use the resulting substrate the next year, that is, two years after collecting the tops. Some gardeners withstand humus for 3 years. This method takes longer, but is safe to use in case of late blight infection.

3. Tomato tops can be burned, and the resulting ash can be dug up with soil in the garden in spring or autumn. Also, a small amount of ash can be added to the hole immediately before planting the plant. During plant growth, you can water the plants using ash. To do this, add 100 g of tomato ash to a bucket of water for watering plants.

4. The tops are added to the barrel to settle the water and then the plants are watered with this water.

Tsemenko Margarita, especially for the Adviser.