How to reduce defective fruit during tomato cultivation

In greenhouse tomato cultivation, reducing defective fruit and improving quality is very important, as this directly relates to the level of economic benefit. Adopting the following management measures can make tomatoes high-yielding, excellent in quality, uniform in size, and low in defective fruit.

1. Sacrifice the "pawn" to save the "rook"

Remove the first and second flowers that bloom earliest on the tomato truss, or the first and second fruits, to reduce nutrient consumption, so that sufficient nutrients are accumulated and concentrated to supply the other flowers and fruits above. In this way, by suppressing the front and promoting the rear, the tomato fruits can be uniform in size, close in maturity, and low in deformed fruit.

2. Pollinate more flowers, keep fewer fruits

Pollinate more of the flowers opened on each truss. Generally, when keeping 4-5 high-quality fruits per truss, 8-9 flowers must be pollinated. When the young fruit reaches 1 cm in diameter, select and keep 4-5 fruits similar in appearance and size, and thin out the larger fruits, deformed fruits, defective fruits, and fruits with pests or diseases. At maturity, the fruits will be uniform and consistent in both size and appearance.

3. Promote coloring before ripening

When the tomato fruits are 80-90% ripe, use a brush to apply a 100-200 times dilution of 40% ethephon at the branching node of the truss above the fruit stalk (5-8 mm long), to promote earlier ripening and coloring of the fruit and increase yield. However, note that when applying to the flowers, it must not be applied at the "joint" (where the fruit stalk and the branch connect), otherwise it will cause serious fruit drop; do not spray ethephon on the fruits, otherwise it will not only cause the plants to age prematurely, but also affect the marketability of the fruits, and artificially ripened fruits do not tolerate transport; the concentration of ethephon applied must not be too high, and the timing must not be too early, otherwise it will cause the fruits to ripen early, resulting in reduced yield and income.

4. Apply potassium fertilizer

When tomatoes lack potassium, coloring is poor, rib rot is prone to occur, and yield is low. Therefore, after pollinating the flowers, when the fruit diameter exceeds 3 cm and begins to enter the expansion stage, apply 10-20 kg of potassium sulfate per mu with each watering, to increase fruit weight, reduce hollow fruit, and make the taste good and the color bright.

Xinji City Agricultural Technology Center Zhang Yun