Newsletter truss tomatoes

Crop tips week 41 - 2011

Good weather. A few fine days for the last trusses to fully develop. More bad weather is forecast again for later, with much less light.
Do bear this in mind where watering is concerned. Consumption will increase again slightly now, but the fruit load is diminishing, of course, at the same time. This means, therefore, that you need to assess the crop's watering needs day by day. Pay special attention to the starting times. The plants will be relatively cool by morning and transpiration gets going only slowly. That means putting on the first round late and stopping in good time, as transpiration reduces rapidly, despite the currently good weather.
The quality has to remain good to the very end. Bear this in mind for the EC. Owing to the scant amount of water given, an EC of less than 2.5 - 3.0 is not an option.
For good development, the pipe temperature should also get the necessary attention. Try and use it to good advantage: activate where necessary and a pipe temperature of around 45°C during the day is also desirable.
The sun is still doing something, but really only for a limited number of hours per day. On a day like Wednesday - no light and only rain, i.e. a lot of moisture - the pipe may be increased to 50°C

In the final few weeks, too, botrytis and other diseases can still hit a crop hard, so decent set points are highly desirable. Supplying good-quality right up to the very last tomatoes is a good run-up to the new season, when people, we hope, can't wait to get their hands on those beautiful Dutch tomatoes again.

These are the last tips of the season. A season that has been incredibly bad and, we hope, will not be repeated next year, but turn out better. As a grower put it aptly this morning: "Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again." We wish you very good luck with that.