HortScience 34:848-851. 1999.
Mechanical Conditioning of Tomato Seedlings Improves
Transplant Quality
Without Deleterious Effects on Field Performance
Lauren Garner
and Thomas Björkman
Department of Horticultural Sciences, New York State Agricultural
Experiment
Station, Cornell University, Geneva, NY 14456
ABSTRACT Excessive stem
elongation reduces plant survival
in the field and hinders mechanical transplanting. Mechanical
conditioning
is an effective method for reducing stem elongation during transplant
production.
This investigation examined the consequences of mechanical
conditioning,
using brushing brushing and impedance, on subsequent field
performance of tomatoes
(Lycopersicon esculentum
Mill.). Mechanically-conditioned transplants of
processing tomatoes resumed growth after transplant shock as quickly as
did untreated plants, and subsequent canopy development was also equal.
In 4 years of field trials, yield was not reduced by mechanical
conditioning.
Transplants for fresh-market tomatoes may be more sensitive to injury
than
those for processing tomatoes because they flower sooner after the
conditioning
treatments. Nevertheless, neither earliness nor defects in the fruits
of
the first cluster were affected by mechanical conditioning. Early and
total
yields were equal in both years that fresh-market crops were tested.
Thus
there were no adverse effects on field performance of either processing
or fresh-market tomatoes as a result of reducing stem elongation by
mechanical
conditioning before transplanting. Improved wind tolerance was tested
both
in a wind tunnel and in the field.
In wind-tunnel tests brushed and impeded
plants resisted stem bending at wind speeds 4 - 12 km.h-1
higher than did
untreated plants. A 70 km.h-1
wind after transplanting that killed 12%
of untreated plants but only 2% of treated plants. Mechanical
conditioning
with brushing and impedance produced transplants with desirable
qualities
without adverse effects on field
performance.
Back
to publication list