SEE HOW OUR TOMATOES ARE GROWN
Sown on the 6th of January and germinated in trays of vermiculite at a temperature of 22 deg c.
The young seedlings are kept compact by 24 hour lighting.
After 1 week the young seedlings are transplanted into rockwool blocks and lit night and day with sodium lights.
The temperature in the green house is 20 deg c regardless of the weather outside.
On February 13th the young plants are ready to move to the main growing house.
Each plant has its own water supply via a smll drip tube.
The environment in the greenhouse is controlled by a computer.
March 9th many of the tomatoes are flowering on the first truss.
They have not been planted yet as we normally wait until the next truss is showing colour.
Our crop of cucumbers have just been spaced out in the greenhouse.
Even though they are only 6" high we will have cucumbers ready about the same time as the tomatoes at the end of April.
The crop was planted on March 13th, there is lots of flowers so now is the time for the bumble bees to do their job and collect pollen and at the same time fertilize the tomatoes.
Within a few minutes of opening the hive the bees got their bearings and started work.
Pictures above taken on March 31st.
Plants are growing well and have almost full sized tomatoes on the first truss.
1 month from now the cherry tomatoes will be ripening with the other varieties following about 10 days later.
The first ripe tomato!
Our own grown Tomatoes are on sale at our nursery shop from May until the end of October
The first cucumber!
Our own grown cucumbers are on sale at our nursery shop from April to October
NEW VARIETY FIRST GROWN IN 2016
Papeletto
Papeletto is a fleshy sweet tomato with a good shelf life.
Great sliced on salads.
Makes a fantastic pasta sauce.
Tomato growing on the nursery.
The temperature, humidity, ventilation and watering are all controlled by
computers.
The fruit is ripened on the plant and picked daily.
Fresh picked tomatoes are available to buy at our nursery or at our fruit shop in Pickering.
We grow the following types of tomatoes: Round, Cocktail on the Vine, cherry plum, blocky (papaletto) and Cherry.
Bumble bees and pollination
The pollination of the tomato crop is carried out by a specially introduced colony of bumble bees numbering from about 50 to 100 per hive. The bees collect pollen from the tomato flower by clinging upside down and buzzing to vibrate the pollen out of the top of the flower this is a very efficient method of fertilizing the flower and so ensures a full sized tomato fruit is formed. The process of clinging onto the flower leaves bruises giving vital evidence that the flowers are getting pollinated.
No chemical pesticides are used in our tomatoes
| The main pest of glasshouse tomatoes is the whitefly, to control these we introduce a small parasitic wasp called Encarsia Formosa into the crop each week. The encarsia lay their eggs within the egg case of the whitefly egg this breaks the life cycle of the pest. |
| Another pest is the red spider, for this we introduce a insect called Phytoseiulus Persimilis. This works by simply eating several red spiders per day. |
| A major problem in glasshouse tomatoes is grey mould (botrytis). We never use chemical fungicides to control this but rely on a computer program which controls the humidity in the crop automatically using minimum heating pipe temperatures and complex venting techniques. This controls the mould by never letting the humidity reach the level at which it can thrive. |
Our nursery is heated by a woodchip burning boiler.
The woodchips are sourced from a local firm and often only have a short journey from Dalby forest.
Tomatoes don't taste like they used to.
We have been growing tomatoes on the nursery since 1968.
Much has changed in this time. The question I am asked over and over again is why do supermarket tomatoes have no flavour. The answer to this lies in the way fresh produce is distributed and sold by the multiples. All fruit and vegetables have to withstand the journey to the distribution centres and then out to the stores. Over the years the supermarkets have demanded from their growers varieties that have a long shelf life not necessarily good flavour. In the case of tomatoes this means picking before the fruit is ripe so it can ripen during the several days of distribution. The sugars in tomato fruit develop much better if they ripen on the plant so fruit that is picked ripe and sold the same day will always taste much better.
Cucumbers growing at our nursery.
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