Improving tomato quality

摘要

In the fifth of six articles for Greenhouse Canada, Grodan~R crop consultant Andrew Lee describes the processes and reasons why at certain times of the year tomato crops are more susceptible to a number of fruit quality disorders. Fruit is most susceptible to quality disorders of various kinds when the 24-hour temperature is high (>23°C), when the weather conditions fluctuate day to day, or in periods of dark, humid weather. During these times, stresses on the crop and fruit development from environmental influences, temperature, humidity, differences in water uptake and light levels are at their highest. For these reasons, it is important to understand how the outside climate influences crop water use, a subject discussed earlier in this series (Greenhouse Canada, December 2009 issue, pg. 14). it is also why it is important to understand the basics of substrate functionality and why certain substrates are designed to provide growers the opportunity to stabilize, refresh or change EC and WC levels according to the prevailing weather conditions (Greenhouse Canada, April 2010 issue, pg. 14).