The first string should be about 10 inches above the soil and should be strung when the plants are 12 to 15 inches high. It is important to keep the twine tight. Proceed to the end of the row and return on the opposite side passing the string along the other side of the plants, again looping each stake. It is helpful at the first stringing to cross the string between plants. Subsequent strings should be put up as the plants grow to maintain a well-trained system Figure 1b.
Three to four stringings are desirable, each about 6 to 10 inches higher than the preceding one. Such a tool can be made from a length of discarded broom handle or a piece of metal pipe conduit 24 to 30 inches long. The broom-handle stringing tool should have a small hole 2 inches to 3 inches from the bottom end of the handle and a similar hole through the handle near the top.
Twine—from a ball in a pouch on the back or at the waist of the operator—is threaded through both holes and is guided by the tool alongside and under the leaves of the plants and around the stakes. Some growers have successfully used other trellis systems for determinate varieties. One of these systems utilizes heavy 5-foot posts, driven every 10 feet to 12 feet in the row. As the plants grow, wire is stretched along both sides of the row and stapled or tacked on the posts at a height which will support the foliage.
Usually, four levels of wire approximately 8 inches apart are adequate. The wire and posts can be reused another year.
Pruning will help maintain the desired balance between vegetativeness and fruitfulness. Little or no pruning results in more vine growth with a heavy load of smaller fruit. Moderate pruning results in smaller vines and larger fruits which mature earlier. Remove by breaking all suckers up to the one immediately below the first flower cluster. Leave this lateral shoot to form a fork just below the first flower cluster Figure 2. A single pruning when basal suckers are no longer than 3 inches or 4 inches will usually be adequate.
Vigorously vegetative determinate and indeterminate varieties may need to be topped if vegetation exceeds the top of the stakes. Effective control of insects and diseases is imperative in commercial tomato production. Unless specialty varieties are being grown, look for varieties with resistance to Verticillium wilt and Fusarium wilt races 1 and 2 at a minimum.
Seed catalogs often code these as VF1,2. Soil insecticide may be applied during soil preparation or in the transplant fertilizer solution to reduce cutworm damage. Scout for fruitworms beginning at the time of initial fruit set. Spray schedules must be developed and maintained. Sprayers— A good sprayer for disease and insect control is essential for growing quality tomatoes. Adequate coverage of the leaf surfaces requires high pressure and several nozzles or high speed air movement to break up the spray material into small particles.
The main components of a tractor sprayer for disease and insect control will include a PTO driven pump that can provide adequate pressure to spray nozzles to operate properly, a spray boom with multiple nozzles select nozzles based on spray volumes and operating pressure to provide adequate spray coverage to the crop, and a spray tank with enough capacity to allow the operator to efficiently apply sprays to the crop without too many refills.
Growers with larger acreages may want to consider using sprayer tanks with up to gallons capacity. Booms can be specified, or built by the grower and added to the basic sprayer.
If five acres or more of tomatoes are grown, a larger-capacity sprayer of this type is highly recommended to ensure timely applications of pesticides.
Proper harvest management makes it possible to have a higher per acre return. Deciding when to harvest tomatoes is connected to how the fruit will be marketed and what is desired by customers. The breaker stage is when pink color first shows at the blossom end. A tomato at this stage is mature and is already red inside. Such fruits can be handled and shipped better than those with more color. Tomatoes for local fresh markets can be harvested somewhere between the breaker and firm ripe stages of maturity.
When 10 percent to 30 percent of the individual fruit is pink, it would be considered at the turning stage. Fruit could also be harvested up to and including the firm ripe stage where fruit are well colored, but still firm. The grower should harvest often and thoroughly to avoid having too many overripe tomatoes. Harvesting every day may be desirable during the peak of the season.
Less mature fruit will ripen with poor quality or may not ripen at all, and too many of this kind will affect the marketing of the vine ripe tomatoes.
Green fruit should be harvested for market at the end of the season before frost. Remove all diseased and cull tomatoes from the vines as soon as they are discovered. These should be removed from the field with cull piles well away from the production and packing sites. At the peak of the season, the rate of production of marketable fruit may reach to field boxes 30 to 35 pounds each per acre per day. Provide enough containers to handle the maximum harvest.
The labor required to harvest tomatoes is considerable. The distance traveled during a season of harvesting a typical tomato crop totally by hand is man-miles per acre. Having a break across the middle of the field for loading containers on a truck or trailer would reduce this figure to about 90 miles.
If no doubling back or wasted travel were spent, only about 50 miles would be required for the same field. Thus any arrangement for picking the full length of the field, as with a harvesting aid, would reduce considerably the distance traveled as well as the exertion spent and time required. For a hand-harvesting operation, following a few guidelines can minimize the distance traveled on foot while harvesting.
For a given acreage:. Harvesting Aids— Mechanical harvesting aids reduce the amount of labor required for harvesting and make the work easier and more pleasant.
Hand-operated carts or wheelbarrows to carry the tomatoes from the field are useful, but motorized 1-, 2-, or 3-row rigs, which transport the pickers as well as the picked tomatoes are more practical. Tractors that travel between rows can be used to transport a driver-picker, or to pull an over-the-row trailer on which additional pickers and box racks are carried. One picker per middle, picking the inside of 2 rows, or 2 pickers per middle can be used, depending on the speed of travel.
A canvas or plastic cover over the rig protects riders from sun and rain. Some tomato harvesting equipment is available commercially. However, most growers have found it necessary to custom-build part or all of their rigs to meet their needs. Cultural practices, accuracy and consistency of row spacing, uniformity of post placement and trellis construction, and careful pruning and tying become more important as production and harvesting of tomatoes are mechanized.
Very steep slopes are not compatible with mechanization; thus site selection is more critical. Turn rows must be adequate, and length of rows should be consistent with the box-carrying capacity of the harvester. Grading and packing requirements vary considerably with the type of market outlet chosen. USDA grade standards are available for tomatoes.
Market requirements, however, must take precedence. Fresh tomatoes in general are sized in accordance with the number which can be packed per layer in a standard tomato box, e. Each carton will accommodate two or three layers, with a net weight of 25 to 35 Ibs. Fruit must be graded to uniform size and maturity prior to packing. Machines are available to efficiently size grade tomatoes. Mixing sizes and maturities can result in a price reduction or, if supplies are plentiful, cause a load to be rejected by the buyer.
Less than No. Mistakes in grading and packing are the most expensive mistakes a grower can make. They can result in loss of the product after all other expenses have been incurred. Eleven semideterminate large-fruited red tomato varieties were evaluated in a replicated trial at the Pinney-Purdue Agricultural Center in Wanatah, Indiana. Four indeterminate varieties reported to be resistant to early and late blight were also included in the plot.
Two of these produced large round tomatoes, one produced small round cluster tomatoes, and the fourth produced grape tomatoes. Compiled by Elizabeth T. Maynard and Christopher C. Bulletin No. If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page.
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If "Other," please specify. Beds were six-inches high with a spacing of 5. A drip irrigation line was inserted in the bed at the time of bed shaping and plastic mulch application. Plants were pruned and trained to a stake and weave system. Prior to bed shaping, , , sulfur and Granubor were broadcast and incorporated at a rate of 75, , 27 and 7 pounds per acre, respectively.
Drip fertilization began the week of 22 June and ended the week of 17 August for a post-plant total of 63 and pounds per acre nitrogen and potassium, respectively. Weeds between rows were controlled when they were small with Gramoxone applied using a backpack sprayer. Diseases and insects were controlled using commercially recommended practices.
Plots were harvested six times; 12, 19 and 27 August and 2, 16 and 28 September. Fruit was graded into number 1, number 2, and culls. Number of number one fruit was counted so average number one fruit weight could be determined.
Data from the two trials was analyzed separately. The growing season proved to be difficult for tomatoes planted in late May. Cool, wet weather five inches of rain during June shortly after planting contributed to early disease development making it especially difficult to control bacterial spot Xanthomonas campesiris pv, vesicatoria , bacterial speck Pseudomonas syringae pv. Seven entries had similarly high average number 1 fruit weights Table 1.
The best overall performers high total and number one yield, low number two and cull yield and high fruit weight were Volante, Mountain Majesty and Red Morning Table 1.
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