What Causes Hollow Tomatoes? Detailed Explanation of Causes and Preventive Measures

Tomatoes are a common vegetable, rich in vitamins, with a sweet and sour taste. With the development of greenhouse technology, tomatoes can now be eaten all year round, but many growers say that greenhouse tomatoes are very prone to hollowing. So what causes hollow tomatoes? Follow the editor to learn about it.

I. Causes of Hollow Tomatoes

1. Variety reasons

There are hundreds of tomato varieties in China at present, and according to their maturity time they can be roughly divided into early-maturing varieties and late-maturing varieties. The hollowing of tomatoes is largely due to poor development of the placental tissue during fruit development, and this situation mostly occurs in early-maturing varieties.

2. Poor fertilization

The tomato is a monoecious plant. When flowering and pollinating, it needs external pollination channels such as wind and insects. However, if continuous rainy weather occurs during pollination, the best pollination time will be missed, thus affecting normal fertilization and causing hollowing.

3. Too high temperature

Tomatoes have strong heat tolerance. During pollination and enlargement, if the high temperature is above 36 degrees, it will also affect the pollination and enlargement speed of the tomato, causing hollowing.

4. Improper fertilizer and water management

During the growth of the bee colony, fertilizer should be applied in time according to the growth condition. If there is too much nitrogen fertilizer after the fruit enlarges, it is very easy to cause excessive stem and leaf growth, which competes with fruit growth and development for nutrients, causing the fruit to become hollow due to insufficient nutrients. In addition, if fertilizer is not applied in time during the rapid fruit enlargement period, hollowing will also occur.

5. Too many fruits

Fruits that have just set will not show hollowing, but as the plant continues to grow, the position of the inflorescence rises continuously, the tomato bears more and more fruits, and the probability of hollowing also increases. When the plant bears too many fruits at one time, the fruits growing at the top become hollow due to insufficient fertilizer and water.

II. Preventive Measures

1. Light management

In the middle and late stages of tomato growth, pruning and leaf removal should be done in a timely manner to increase air and light penetration. Generally, after picking, the side branches below the fruiting branch should be removed in time to ensure the nutrient supply of the fruit-bearing branch, and at the same time all the leaves below the fruiting branch should be removed. The leaves on the fruit cluster should not be removed, so as to ensure good development of the upper fruits. If the light is insufficient, artificial supplemental lighting can be used.

2. Reasonable watering and fertilizing

Water is the prerequisite for ensuring normal tomato growth. Generally speaking, keeping the plot at 60%-75% is sufficient, and during the fruit development period it can be maintained at about 80%. When irrigating, pay attention to controlling the water temperature, which can prevent hollow tomatoes to a certain extent. The strong growth of tomato plants is inseparable from the coordination with fertilizer. Applying sufficient organic fertilizer in the base fertilizer can greatly reduce abnormal fruit growth, and at the same time pay attention to the reasonable combination of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

3. Artificial pollination

Generally, greenhouse tomato cultivation requires artificial pollination. Wait until more than half of the first inflorescence has bloomed, then use biological regulators to dip the flowers. Note that the amount of flower dipping should not be too much, and it is best to dip the flowers only once, not repeatedly. When dipping flowers, avoid high-temperature weather, and it is best to do it in the morning and afternoon when the temperature has dropped.

4. Pinching and crown shaping

In order to prevent too many tomato fruits from affecting fruit enlargement, generally keep 3-4 nodes of fruit per branch. After growing 2-3 clusters of fruit, keep 3-4 leaves and pinch the tomato. After pinching, it can prevent the plant from excessive vegetative growth and promote the growth of branches. Then, after 2 clusters of fruit grow on the branch, keep 2-3 leaves and pinch the branch, and so on.

The above is an introduction to the causes of hollow tomatoes and preventive measures. I hope it can help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please follow us.