A Study on Single-Truss Tomato Production by Hydroponics

II. Relationship between Environmental Parameters and Plant Growth

Abstract

We quantified the relationship between the environmental parameter and the growth rate of hydroponic tomatoes at different seasons of the year. The mean cumulative temperatures were, 1135.4°C from sowing to the first flowering, 1007.8°C from the first flowering to the first harvest and 346.8°C from the first harvest to the final harvest. During the season with higher solar radiation, the growing days was shorter and the cumulative temperature was lower. During the season with lower solar radiation, the growing days was longer and the cumulative temperature was higher. Growth rate was expressed by the summation of the daily average temperature corrected according to the accumulated solar radiation. The difference between the actual date and the predicted date by this method was about±2 days at each growth stage. The growing days in each monthly sowing was predicted by this method based on the weather data of the last 6 years. Annual cropping models of single-truss tomatoes could be planned by combining the predicted growing days for several seasons.