HARVESTING GREENHOUSE GRAPE TOMATOES - WAS HOPING NOT TO SEE THIS!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Filmed on May 10, 2024. The grape tomato harvest is officially underway and we have already encountered a problem we did exect to see this early in the season. We grow 400 Ruby Crush grape tomatoes in one of our 30x96 DeCloet double poly greenhouses.
I have spray over the top of plastic anxiety since we never can get a timely rain, and then there's always the ?? is if it did a good enough job. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Went to hooded on row middles. Good job. We're into our first sweet corn picking here.
Wow! I see that you are in Texas? Hard to believe sweet corn is already ready! I totally get your anxiety about that...I remember one year we didn't get a rain after I sprayed and drove my water wheel planter back and forth over the rows with it turned on full blast to try and wash of the herbiced and I never had any plant damage. I even do it with glyphosate and 2-4,d on later plantings if weeds come up bad and even then I've never really had any issues that I can think of but it's certainly risky!
It's clear that your hard work brings forth the best fruits, literally and figuratively.
Thank you!
Just found your awesome channel. Thanks! So I've had a terrible time the last several years with spidermites and tomatoes cracking. I grow in the ground only. Finally last year I found some miticides such as Spiromesifen that worked. I didn't have my plants die off in mid July like I've had the last several years. I also didn't have the tomato splits either. I attributed it controlling the mites but maybe I'm wrong. It was nice to have a good fall tomato crop too. I live in the middle of Kansas for reference and it gets really hot in July and August. Thanks again for the informative videos.
Yes, I think you might be on something there, if you don’t have healthy leaves, there’s nothing there to take up the water through photosynthesis, and it will be pumped into the fruit, causing splits. We usually get a couple big outbreaks in late June and July and if you don’t catch them early, it can often be too late to stop them.
@wishwellfarms If I may ask, do you spray anything to prevent a mite outbreak? They are nearly impossible to detect since they are so small. Took me several years to figure it out and then many more to find the solution. Neem oil just burns the plants in the heat and get expensive even though the good miticides are pricey. Malthion is listed for spidermites but never worked (or didn't seem too). Thanks
@@RayHChemEng I have never sprayed a preventative, but I do have a miticide that I will spray if there is a big outbreak. I grow my greenhouse tomatoes organically, and avoid spraying a miticide at all cost unless it’s necessary to save the crop. In the Greenhouse I use Floramite SC and in the watermelon crop I have used Brigade. Not saying that these are the two best and I’m sure there’s other better ones out there now but these are what I have on hand. Unfortunately, the organic stuff like neem oil or mpede or other organic soaps and oils require complete coverage and that can be difficult
Florimite contains Bifenazate. Because of the costs, I actually just received Acramite 50ws which is a powder form of the Bifenazate. It is listed for beans as some of the others aren't and has a lower PHI for tomatoes.
Brigade looks to be Bifenthrin and I'm surprised it will touch mites. I've been using bifenthrin for years on tomatoes and it hasn't helped. Maybe watermelon has a specific type of mite that bifenthrin kills? Or my mites have developed a resistance to it.
I thought I replied to this, but I don't see it now. I'll try again.
Florimite is Bifenazate and I just received Acramite (powder form of bifenazate) in the mail. It was cheaper for me. Bifenazate has a lower PHI for tomatoes and is also listed for beans. I just wanted another mode of action for the mites and the lower PHI will help during harvest season. Hopefully it will help in July when I need it the most.
Brigade is Bifenthrin and I'm surprised it helps with mites at all. I've sprayed bifenthrin for years with no success (on the mites specifically). Maybe the mites on watermelon are different or my mites developed a resistance.
You might be on to something backing off on the watering. Seems like my tomatoes at some point during the summer always split after too much rain. Which is why I pick them early to avoid the cracking and molding. Usually those go straight to the chickens. Your tomatoes are looking great. Mine blooming and have set a few, the largest ones are a couple inches across. Everything else in the garden is exploding with growth as we’ve had plenty of rain and warm weather. In the middle of strawberry season and just finished eating a piece of fresh strawberry pie compliments of my lovely wife! Really enjoying your channel and learning about things I’ve never done like greenhouse tomatoes. I can appreciate the time it takes you to try to film everything while working hard to make a living. Plus all the time spent editing. I really hope your channel grows this year. You’ve got a lot to offer here. Keep up the great work and hoping you have a successful season.
Fortunately, I finally got a handle on the split fruit, hardly had any yesterday, I think it was just too much water during a stretch of cool cloudy days. We were hoping to transplant today, but the fields are still too muddy, but I am just glad I got the plastic laid, that video will be out Saturday morning. I appreciate all your kind and encouraging words. I will keep at it, hope your growing season is a success!
Split tomatoes feed the picker. 😊
My Determinate tomatoes didnt get the memo last year!😅
I’ve definitely been enjoying them while I pick ha ha fortunately we only had about a dozen individual grapes that were split yesterday out of 130 pints so not too bad.
Copper is related to skin elasticity so you could try a chelated foliar copper for the skin splitting.
Great tip, thank you
Jason did you watch the video on thrips . if you grow sweet alyssum on the sides of the greenhouse and cut about 1/4 of the bloom at a time will help keep the thrips away. nice video
Good tip, thanks Bill
no till grower who the pro grow tomatoes with sage hill ranch video. told my son we will try it also have a nice day
Ive always heard hydroponic tomatoes dont have the same taste that ones grown in soil do.
I thought thats why store bought tomatoes were so bland.
Wish i was close to Ohio and would see for myself.
Great job man.
These grape tomatoes are sugar sweet, it is amazing! The main reason hydroponic tomatoes from the stores get a bad wrap is because they are grown for the most part during the winter under grow lights and the days are very short. From my experience by growing in the spring and summer, the days are longer and lots of natural sunlight, and that makes a big difference in the tomato flavor. I actually used to grow my greenhouse tomatoes in the soil and when I had the opportunity to change over to hydroponic, I could not taste any difference but my yields nearly doubled. Now I will say that field tomatoes or garden tomatoes are hard to beat during the middle of the summer. They are just so meaty and flavorful and by that time of year we are done with our greenhouse Tomatoes and we move into our fields. I only grow hydroponic greenhouse tomatoes to have an edge on the market at farmers markets For three months
May I suggest a chest mount for your camera? Seems like it could be handy for some of your stuff! I am enjoying your channel!
Yes, I just keep forgetting to bring it out with me, when we start harvesting more crops I’ll definitely wear it. Glad you enjoy the channel, I appreciate it!
I would release predator mites or orius to control thrips and spider mites. Do you have a chiller for your irrigation water ? Your slabs could be getting to warm maby causing splits
I’ve tried all the predatory things in the past for many years and never had any success. If it was middle of summer, that could be the case, but I’m more worried about my slabs being too cold. This time of year we still have to temper our water to 70°. I’ve determined that it was just a little bit of overwatering on a stretch of rainy, cloudy days. They seem to be fine now fortunately, thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it.
Because the temperature is low but irrigation has not decreased
I’m sure you were referring to the outdoor temperature? We don’t ever let the greenhouse temperature get below 64° so it’s not an indoor temperature issue. We never have to deal with this issue with the Dutch Bato buckets because it’s so easy to monitor the amount of runoff but it’s much harder to keep a close eye on this using the Coco Core bags. Fortunately, we’ve got a good handle on it now and not really dealing with the issue any longer.
👍
We usually start seeing cracks with too much water, but not until later in the season. What variety are those?
Yeah, I haven’t had any problem with it for the last few harvest, I think it was just too much water during a stretch of cool cloudy days. We have grown about 15 different varieties of grapes over the last 20 years and have settled on Ruby crush as our favorite.
People grow tomatoes using the kratky system so they have their roots submerged in water all the time but without having big splitting issues. This tells me that it is probably not too much water but a lack of water when the split tomato was being formed possibly combined with a minor copper deficiency.
In the Dutch Bato bucket system, there is a 1 inch water reservoir in the bottom so there is always water available to the plants, but in the coconut coir bags can be a little more difficult to monitor.
@@wishwellfarms si I guess that would imply that a lack of water at critical times is the issue? I know for strawberries in grow bags over here in Europe the use a scales under one of the grow bags to control the irrigation. When the bags goes below a certain weight the irrigation comes on until the bag gets heavier
@@foodforhumans9152 That's a great idea! The watering is all controlled by computer and cycle length changes throughout the day dedending on temp...this is easy to monitor in the dutch bato buckets but much harder in the coco coir bags. Fortunately they are not splitting any longer...only happened for a day when they must have gotten too much during a cloudy stretch and they were a little dry before that event.
@@wishwellfarms great work and thanks for the videos
Is rockwool better than soil?
It is for growing in greenhouses during winter and spring when the soil is cold. Tomatoes won’t grow much until soil is above 64 degrees F, they will just sit there doing nothing but turning purple due to lack of phosphorus being taken up from being too cold. I feed warm water and have radiant heating to keep roots above 70F.
Hello Sir, I need suggestion. I want to germinate cherry tomato seeds. Seeds collected from Rijk Zawan. Actually previously collected seeds from Johnny seeds but not germinated fully. Would you please suggest how I can get maximum result for germination.
1. What is soil mixture
2. What is best temperature for germination
3. Can I germinate to my greenhouse for optimal result?
Actually it will help me to achieve my target
Unless your seeds are from an heirloom variety, I would not suggest keeping seeds from hybrids because they will revert back to one of their parent varieties of the hybrid plus, I believe it is illegal because of seed patents.
As far as germination goes, it’s really very simple, just maintain an even temperature of around 80 to 85° for about three days and if the seed is viable, they should germinate and it does not really matter what kind of soil mixture you use but the finer the better, which is usually what germination mixes are.
You don’t necessarily have to germinate in a greenhouse, I start mine in my basement, but as soon as they sprout, they need light by either adding supplemental light or moving into a greenhouse
One of the draw backs of hydroponic tomatoes is no water reservoir like I have by growing in the ground. I have four lines of drip tape on each bed and start out only using two when plants are small and then open all four when plants are waist high. I watch the weather and don't water if cloudy weather is in the forecast in the next couple days. Cherries and grapes are prone to splitting, Sun Gold will split in the pint a day after picking. It is impossible to regulate everything when you can't control the weather. On sunny warm days, plants are respiring tons of water through their stomatas and on dark days they're taking a break and give some extra water to the fruit. I grew field tomatoes for years and always thought it was rain water that caused splits but when I started growing in hoop houses the tomatoes would split just as if they were outside on dark rainy days. Adding supplemental lighting would stop the splits but who can afford the additional expense. My tomatoes usually go till mid Nov and I water less and less as the days get shorter and cooler and finally stop by mid Oct, but Big Beef + can split on really dark days even when really pink after not watering for days. If you shut off the hydroponic water the plants would wilt and die but I don't know if you could cut back enough that they would go into a dark day just starting to wilt . Tough to do easy to say. My timer on my phone just went off, got to go shut off three hydrants on four houses, have 944 plants in the tunnels waist high.
Thanks for the detailed comment Wayne! Yeah, when I first started growing Greenhouse and tunnel Tomatoes 23 years ago we grew in the soil for the first three years in our greenhouse and the entire time in the high tunnel for about eight years which was a half acre and held 1800 plants. The soil is definitely more forgiving, but Dutch bato buckets do have a 1 inch reservoir in the bottom so even if the water was off all day they wouldn’t start wilting right away, but eventually obviously they would. Last year, I remember seeing the Grape tomatoes split in the picking tubs after they were picked, the craziest thing I ever saw in my life, fortunately, it hasn’t ever happened again obviously it is a light/temperature/water issue but fortunately, we have a pretty good handle on things now. Here’s hoping for a Great harvest season!
Ladybugs eat spider mites. Introduce them. I’m sure already know this though.
Yep, I’ve tried introducing beneficial insects in the past many times, but never had that much success with it unfortunately and it’s very expensive, but thanks for the suggestion
I have had tomatoes split during the hottest parts of summer. I always contributed it to heat, not too much water. I water every day by drip lines during that time. Just my observations.
Fortunately, we got the splits under control. It was just too much water during a stretch of cold cloudy days. Everything is controlled from a central computer system and it’s very simple to change the watering cycle and duration. I’m sure we’ll see it happen again in July but maybe we can keep them going longer this year. Thanks Mike.
Call John Kempf advancing Eco agriculture I am a 30 acre organic Grower using his programs fantastic results.
Yeah, I’m very familiar with who he is and actually got quotes from their company about five or six years ago and considered going with them for everything, but it was getting too late in the spring and I never followed through with it