Tomato Variety Performance in High Tunnels Liz Maynard and Erin A. Bluhm Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture February 15, 2018 Indiana Horticulture Congress Indianapolis, Indiana
Where: Pinney Purdue Agriculture Center, Wanatah, IN When: March 28(seed), April 28 (transplant) August 30 2 tunnels HT1 Organic HT2 Conventional 7 varieties 144 plants 7 harvests July 18 Aug 28
Tunnels: 6 beds per tunnel, 3 x 42 3 beds for trial, 6 plots per bed 4 plants per plot, 21 spacing Plants: seeded March 28 transplanted April 28
HT-1, Organic preplant: 90 lbs./a N from 13-0-0 (Nature Safe pelleted nitrogen blending base) (1286 lbs./a) HT-2, Conventional preplant: 30 lbs./a N from 46-0-0 (Shaw s Turf Food urea) HT-2, Conventional, additional nitrogen: 6 lbs./a/wk N from UAN (2.01 gal/a/wk) fertigation for six weeks 8 lbs./a/wk N from UAN (2.68 gal/a/wk) fertigation for five weeks April 2017 soil tests
Variety Trial Cultivars Big Beef (JSS) Red Deuce (HM) XTM 1134 (SAK) BHN 589 (JSS) Summerpick (SYN) Cherokee Purple (JSS) HT 1 only Grand Marshall (SAK) HT 2 only
Grading and Weighing USDA No. 1 Max Large (> 3 ½ ) Extra Large (2 ¾ 3 ½ ) Large (2 ½ 2 ¾ ) Medium and Small (2 1/8 2 ½ ) USDA No. 2 All sizes Farmer s Market (USDA No. 3) All sizes Record number and weight of fruit in each category Record number, weight, and reason for culls
Wind damage to HT2 May 18 Maximum wind gust all over 25 mph from 10:00 to 22:00 Sustained winds averaged more than 15 mph, mostly over 17 mph
Possible herbicide drift Adjacent field sprayed May 19, bleaching first observed on May 26. Tunnels closed for any spraying in nearby fields after initial incident.
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (white mold, timber rot) confirmed May 26 May 16 June 11 July 19
Organic BHN 589 Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 26.0 13.1 0.50 Max Large % No. % Wt. 19.9 25.8 Yield similar to others, fruit size in the middle. Among the earlier varieties.
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Organic BHN 589
Conventional BHN 589 Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 18.8 10.5 0.55 Max Large % No. % Wt. 14.6 20.71
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Conventional BHN 589
Organic Big Beef Red Fruit Per Plant No. USDA No. 1 Wt. Lb./ Fruit 24.7 12.4 0.50 Max Large % No. % Wt. 13.5 19.8 Lower No. 1 yield but among highest for total red and green yield. One of the earlier varieties. In HT 1 tended to have more cracking than others except Cherokee Purple
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 22
Organic Big Beef
Conventional Big Beef Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 17.7 10.0 0.56 Max Large % No. % Wt. 12.1 17.5
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Conventional Big Beef
Conventional Grand Marshall Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 22.1 11.5 0.52 Max Large % No. % Wt. 10.2 16.2 In the middle for No. 1 yield, fruit size, and total yield.
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Conventional Grand Marshall
Organic Red Deuce Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 20.2 12.8 0.64 Max Large % No. % Wt. 27.5 38.9 Largest No. 1 fruit, No. 1 yield higher or similar to others, total yield in the middle. One of the earlier ones.
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Organic Red Deuce
Conventional Red Deuce Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 21.8 13.9 0.63 Max Large % No. % Wt. 26.0 35.6
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Conventional Red Deuce
Organic Summerpick Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 28.5 12.5 0.45 Max Large % No. % Wt. 10.6 17.9 Smaller fruit, later.
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Organic Summerpick
Conventional Summerpick Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 22.8 11.5 0.50 Max Large % No. % Wt. 9.6 14.5
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Conventional Summerpick
Second largest No. 1 fruit, No. 1 yield similar to others, total yield among the lowest. One of the later hybrids. Organic XTM 1134 Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 22.3 12.4 0.56 Max Large % No. % Wt. 19.2 29.4
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Organic XTM 1134
Conventional XTM 1134 Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 20.2 11.5 0.57 Max Large % No. % Wt. 13.7 20.6
July 25 Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 25
Conventional XTM 1134
Organic Cherokee Purple Red Fruit Per Plant USDA No. 1 No. Wt. Lb./ Fruit 12.5 6.0 0.50 Max Large % No. % Wt. 5.0 6.89 Total yield in middle of range. High percentage of culls.
Aug 1 Aug 8 Aug 18 Aug 25
Organic Cherokee Purple
August 1 Harvest
High Tunnel 1 High Tunnel 2 Red Fruit per Plant (marketable and cull) BHN 589 Big Beef Cherokee Purple Red Deuce Summerpick XTM 1134 Red Fruit per Plant (marketable and cull) BHN 589 Big Beef Grand Marshall Red Deuce Summerpick XTM 1134 PPAC 2017
Thank you. Questions? Acknowledgments J. Leuck and Pinney-Purdue Ag Center staff managed field operations. S. Musgrave assisted with crop production and harvest. Seed companies HM Clause, Sakata and Syngenta provided financial support and/or seed. This project was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant (SCBG-15-002). The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA. Collaborators: James Farmer, Project PI, and Analena Bruce, Project Post Doc, Indiana University Bloomington