Never use chemical that are not registered by your local Department of Agriculture. A range of chemicals that can be used on cucumbers are provided below and must be followed to control most insects and diseases found in hydroponic production systems (in South Africa). Please check your local Agricultural extension officer for a list of [...]

Establishing the cucumber crop Cucumbers are tropical plants. In order to grow optimally a tropical environment should be created. This implies that temperatures should not exceed 32 °C and should also not fall below 16 °C. These are optimum values and are not always obtainable. Cucumber seedlings are sensitive to low temperatures. The ideal germination [...]

Trellising green beans is actually quite easy compared to tomatoes and cucumbers. One thing is sure, you have to trellis the plant. Although it is labour intensive and must be done weekly, the advantages are far greater than the disadvantages. Trellising green beans plants have the following advantages: Increases yield per square meter Reduces the [...]

Growth cracks symptoms There are two types of cracking found on tomato fruit. Concentric cracking are cracks that vary in depth and size found in circles around the stem and radial cracking which are cracks running from the stem to the blossom end of the fruit. Concentric growth cracks on tomatoes Cause of [...]

Cat-face tomato fruit Symptoms Fruits have a long scar at the blossom end that extends inwards and renders the fruit unmarketable and disfigured (abnormal). There are bands of scar tissue between swellings and cavities that extend deep into the fruit body. Most of these cat-face fruit ripen unevenly. Due to the scar tissue, cat-face fruit cannot [...]

Hollow fruit description Hollow fruit, also called puffy fruit or boxy fruit are angular in shape instead of round, however one should be careful since some tomato fruit are genetically more hollow or angular than other. The first signs inside the fruit are the lack of “gel” surrounding the seed, leaving a gap between the placental [...]

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 sensitive to water stress (too little water) and to water logging (over watering). They are not as sensitive as peppers or cucumbers. Water stress or water logging will reduce plant [...]

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 tomato plant be pruned in order to obtain maximum yields. Pruning tomatoes ensures that the energy is used in developing fruit and the main stem. The pruning and trellising (also [...]

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, the advantages far outweigh disadvantages. Trellising tomato plants has the following advantages: It increases yield per square meter Reduces the risk of disease development Improves ventilation between plants Allows for [...]