Managing the greenhouse environment to prevent fruit disorders

摘要

Fruit disorders have both genetic and environmental components, and in many cases, the exact cause of the disorder is not well understood or a complex of factors is involved. Some fruit disorders are also caused by insects or pathogens. The objectives of this article are: (1) to present some general guide lines on optimizing the environ ment to prevent disorders before they occur, with specific information on preventing ethylene contamination; and (2) to help growers and crop consultants distinguishbetween the various types of fruit disorders they are likely to encounter in the greenhouse, sort out the probable causes and offer possible corrections. Most of this material refers specifi cally to tomatoes, but peppers also develop blossom-end rot and cracking, and respond similarly to correction.