Understanding tomato taste and flavour
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) is the world’s most valuable fruit and essential greenhouse crop. They deliver vital nutrients to our diets and serve as a pivotal...
Category Archives: Tomatoes
Solution heating of a tomato crop has limited effect on early yields
Heating the nutrient solution of a NFT hydroponic system may sound like a lucrative option for early yields. Tampering with the nutrient solution temperature is...
When to harvest tomato fruit
The ripening stage when tomato fruit are harvested will depend on the variety, the market segment (do they want red full ripe tomatoes or does...
Manganese levels in nutrient solution do not influence tomato growth
The concentration of manganese (Mn) can vary significantly in re-circulating nutrient solutions. Crop uptake of manganese cannot be explained to this high variation and the...
Heating nutrient solution increases growth rate of tomatoes
Heating the nutrient solution in order to increase growth rate can provide growers an edge over competitors. This applies to all business categories. Heating up the...
How important is the ammonium/nitrate ratio
The ammonium/nitrate ratio in the nutrient solution is important since it can have a significant effect on the quality and total yields of the tomato...
Tomato fertigation in hydroponic greenhouses
Tomato fertigation is a complex subject in hydroponics. It is climate sensitive and everybody has an opinion of what works. The point is, tomatoes are...
Pruning tomatoes – a simple neglected task
Pruning tomatoes is an essential activity during the maintenance of the tomato crop. Just as the plants should be trellised every week, so should each...
Trellising tomato plants in a greenhouse
Trellising tomato plants is only required when growing indeterminate types in greenhouses. Although trellising tomato plants it is labour intensive and must be done weekly,...
Tomato types available for the commercial grower
Tomatoes originated in tropical America. Tomatoes were first exported from Peru to Italy, then to Northern Europe and finally to the USA by 1781. In...
Ideal temperature and humidity regime for greenhouse crops
Temperature and humidity regime for peppers. Temperature and humidity go hand in hand. Quite often increasing the one has an effect of the other. So...
Planting density of various vegetable crops in hydroponic systems
Planting density in bag culture systems Pepper & tomato planting density influences yields, diseases and quality of the end product. Get it right the first...
