Скачать или смотреть Tomato Field Production: How to Trellis Using the Florida Weave

May 2025

This video is part of my 2025 Irrigation/Fertilization trial, we are testing four fertilizer treatments and 3 irrigation approaches and evaluate their impact on plant growth and yield.

In this experiment, the fertilizer used are different during the lifecycle of the tomato plant, and are dependent on the needs of the plants.

Stage 1 or Preplant: we are using a fertilizer high in phosphorus (P) which is known for improving root growth and health. In this study, we are using 11-45-11. This type of fertilizer is known as ‘Starter Fertilizer’ and available at any garden center. Just look for the high P value. Preplant fertilizer is applied for once or twice or 1 or 2 weeks before planting.

Stage 2. Vegetative Stage: in this stage, we are using a balanced fertilizer 20-20-20 during the early stages of plant growth where we want to encourage foliage and root growth.

Stage 3 or Fruiting Stage: In this stage, the plants are flowering and fruiting, and there’s no need to use too much nitrogen to encourage more leaves since the plants have reached their mature size. Similarly, we don’t need too much P for more root growth. But we need some N and P to keep existing leaves and roots healthy and productive. At this stage, our goal is to supply enough potassium (K) for fruit health and quality. This is why we are using 8-12-40 fertilizer. This is supplemented with calcium nitrate to reduce the risk of blossom end rot. Please note that 8-12-40 and calcium nitrate must be applied separately, either one following the other on the same day, or on two separate days.

Fertilizer is applied by weight weekly, for a period of 13 weeks (from mid-April to mid-July), and each week's weight of nitrogen is added together to get the cumulative total.

The 4 fertilizer rates tested in this trial are:
Treatment 1 has a total of 75 pounds of nitrogen per acre.
Treatment 2 has a total of 113 pounds of nitrogen per acre.
Treatment 3 has a total of 150 pounds of nitrogen per acre.
Treatment 4 has a total of 188 pounds of nitrogen per acre.



In addition to fertilizer, we are testing 3 irrigation approaches.
1. Time-based: this approach is similar to what grower use as they decide when to water.

2. ET-based: we are using weather data from a local weather station to determine when to water based on the amount of water lost from evapotranspiration or ET.

3. Sensor-based: we are using soil moisture sensors that measured soil moisture content in the soil and irrigation is triggered when the value reaches 23%.

Stay tuned and watch videos as they become available to follow the progress of this trial.