EVALUATION OF VARIOUS GROWING MEDIA AND VARIETIES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF GREENHOUSE TOMATOES IN MISSISSIPPI

Abstract

Several growing media were tested with 2 varieties of greenhouse tomatoes to determine which media would be most appropriate for production of this crop in terms of yield and fruit quality, yet still economically feasible for small, family-based growers. Six 7.3 × 29.3 m greenhouses were used at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs, MS, with a randomized complete block design in each. The media included pine bark fines, rice hulls, rock wool, and coarse sand in five of the greenhouses, with the Dutch hybrid varieties `Caruso' and `Laura'. There were 3 replications of treatments, with 14 plants comprising one plot. In the sixth greenhouse, one variety at a time (`Caruso' or `Laura') was used with 7 additional media, in 4 replications. These included 1) pine bark fines, 2) fines + 15% sand, 3) 90% fines + 10% chicken manure, 4) 90% fines + 10% peat, 5) 67% fines + 33% pine bark mulch + 4.75 kg lime m-3 + 4.75 kg gypsum m-3, 6) mulch, and 7) calcite clay. In most cases, yield of plants grown in pine bark fines or rice hulls was either superior to or not significantly different from those in rock wool. Those in sand and in calcite clay had significantly lower marketable and total yield and more culls than other treatments.