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Speaking as a tomato addict, I have plenty of opinions about what makes a great tomato. I buy tomatoes at the market, and I grow a lot of tomatoes in my own outdoor and indoor gardens. However, I rarely enjoy tomatoes served to me in restaurants, and will even request tomatoes be left off my order. Most of the time the fruit is not ripe, the texture is terrible, and worst of all, it’s flavorless. Even restaurants that claim to serve fresh local heirloom tomatoes serve me unripe fruit. I know many people, including my husband, who claim to hate tomatoes. Many tomato-haters may not have been raised on, or have ever tasted, a truly well-grown, ripe, fresh tomato that tastes like a tomato should. They’ve probably gotten an overdose of restaurant tomatoes.

Restaurant tomato-haters aside, consumers buy a lot of tomatoes. According to the 2017 USDA Specialty Crops Project, “Increasing Consumption of Specialty Crops by Enhancing their Quality & Safety,” about 42 percent of participants buy tomatoes at a grocery store on a weekly basis. Another 35 percent buy them two to three times per month. That’s a lot of tomatoes. The study also lists tomatoes at the very top of the bushel when it comes to consumer knowledge of specific nutritional benefits. So, most grocery shoppers are already regularly buying tomatoes and are very educated about their value to health and wellness. Now our job is to adaptively respond to shifting preferences in fruit characteristics and provide creative uses to keep tomatoes fresh on the consumer’s mind.

Personally, I prefer the flavor and texture of tomatoes I grow myself because I have specific characteristics I’m looking for. I prefer unusual colors, such as orange; and I demand very meaty flesh that’s still juicy, with a sweet flavor. When you become accustomed to really good, fresh tomatoes it’s hard to settle for less. With the introduction of double and triple grafted tomato plants, home gardeners, even those who have struggled or given up on growing tomatoes in the past, will be encouraged anew to grow more tomatoes at home. Tomato producers must consider the impact of backyard tomato production on their own sales numbers, at least seasonally. But you can also use homegrown tomato trends and preferences to your advantage to help guide your commercial production and marketing choices.

When I buy bulk grocery store tomatoes, I look first for color, then fragrance, then level of firmness. I sniff them because I’m trying to find tomatoes that will taste good. Interestingly, the aforementioned USDA study has firmness ranked as the No. 1 tomato attribute for participating consumers, followed by juiciness and then color. Sweetness falls far behind those three attributes, as does aroma, which is interesting considering most people I talk to want more flavor from their tomatoes. I suspect that many consumers simply may not know best how to judge the ripeness and flavor potential of tomatoes they buy in the store. A packaging, labeling, and POP opportunity perhaps?

Despite my personal home-grown preference, I know that plenty of commercial tomato producers turn out wonderful tomatoes. When grocery stores are on point with their sourcing, timing, buying and maintenance practices, tomato lovers win. With off-season indoor production capabilities growing, there’s more opportunity to produce good product for store purchase year-round, another priority for the consumer: 365-day-a-year crop availability.

The popularity of heirloom tomatoes is still going strong with consumers, and unusual colors are also gaining popularity. The winning variety in my home garden this spring (we have two tomato seasons in Texas) was ‘Orange Blossom.’ The color is fantastic, the flesh is dense and juicy, and the flavor turned out better than many of my standard hybrids. Plus, production is early. ‘Chef’s Choice Orange’ is another winner. These orange-colored tomatoes are still a surprise to many of my friends, family, and followers; and they have the added benefit of being higher in Vitamin C and beta-carotenes than yellow tomatoes. Yet, I don’t see many unusual tomato color options in the grocery store, other than small cherry types. I’d say there’s growth opportunity for these healthy and colorful slicers.

If you want to take advantage of the consumer’s penchant for the unusual, but don’t want to mess with temperamental heirlooms, turn to hybrid heirloom look-alikes. Be sure to check out the Coeur de Boeuf tomatoes from Syngenta, ‘Arawak,’ ‘Tomawak,’ and ‘Gigawak.’ The names are fun too.

When it comes to tomato breeding program trends, extreme climate issues are making things more challenging for the breeders. Plants that may be discarded from trials in one region might just have be perfect for regions with different climate issues. However, as more tomato production moves indoors and under lights, breeding programs are shifting to respond to these more uniform growing conditions.

Lastly, if you’re looking for new ways for your customers to use your tomatoes, you need to get on the homemade condiment bandwagon ASAP. Homemade condiments and vegetable sauces are the next big consumer culinary fascination. The trend got started with a resurgence of interest in homemade mayonnaise and is now spreading (pun intended) to other condiments. I’m already planning my first batches of custom homemade ketchup. If you currently have tomato varieties in your production arsenal that are perfect for making condiments, now’s the time to make it known.

And while you are all at it, can you work on a ‘Restaurant Ready’ tomato variety for me? Yes, I just came up with that name, so let me know when you’re ready to work on branding.

Growing high-wire tomatoes in the greenhouse is a labor-intensive practice recommended only to those who enjoy working in a dynamic growing environment. Without careful attention to detail, everything that can go wrong will go wrong! However, understanding key production concepts can help you produce high-quality, vine-ripened fruit that will make your business thrive.

1. Purchase transplants from the experts.

Typically, grafted transplants are purchased from specialized growers who provide flower-induced plant material that will enter production shortly after transplanting in the greenhouse. Buying transplants will allow you as a grower to concentrate fully on the intricate practices of exploiting this heat-loving crop.

2. Manipulate the environment.

One of the most important aspects of producing indeterminate tomatoes in the greenhouse is to understand that manipulating the environment can be to your advantage. Promoting vegetative growth will enhance root and shoot development that will be helpful in the initial establishment of your crop. On the other hand, promoting reproductive growth will stimulate flower development and thus, fruit production, which is what ultimately drives the success of your business. Maintaining a balance between the two is the challenge, and that is exactly what you, as a tomato grower, want to achieve. Remember that while you want your plants to be productive, they need their “engine” (i.e., roots to take up water and nutrients and leaves to photosynthesize) to produce fruit.

You know your plant is too vegetative if it’s producing thick stems, curled, thick, and dark leaves, or elongated flower clusters with pale petals and large sepals that are not setting fruit. If you see any of this, it is time to take action! Some common environmental techniques to steer plants towards reproductive growth are: increasing the difference between the day and night temperature, quickly transitioning from day to night cooling, raising ambient temperature, reducing relative humidity, limiting irrigation frequency, and if applicable, increasing your CO2 supplementation. Practices contrary to these will help steer your crop towards vegetative growth. To help you remember this, visualize excessive vegetative growth as foliage plants that evolved in the “jungle” (i.e., under high humidity, high temperature, experiencing small differences between day and night temperature, and exposed to frequent rain).

3. Favor conditions that allow for effective pollination.

Understanding the effect of your growing environment is also crucial for good pollination. Optimum conditions to ensure successful pollination are 50 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, 50 to 80 percent relative humidity, and bright, sunny days. If it’s too hot, pollen grains can dry and will not germinate. If it’s too cold, development of the pollen tube will be slow and the pollen grain may run out of energy before reaching the ovary. High humidity may cause the pollen to become too sticky to release properly from the anthers, or it may lead to clumping of the pollen grains, resulting in the physiological disorder known as cat facing, caused by uneven pollination and fertilization. Low relative humidity may desiccate the pollen grains, or it may cause the stigma surface to become too dry for the pollen grains to stick. Lastly, overcast days can slow the development and germination of the pollen grains and result in poor fruit set. Pollen is normally shed from morning to afternoon. Thus, you want pollination to occur sometime during the middle of the day. Bumblebees are excellent pollinators and can provide huge labor-savings compared to manual pollination. Commercial hives can be purchased from many reputable bio control companies.

4. Properly prune the indeterminate tomato canopy.

Knowing how to properly prune an indeterminate tomato canopy is important to divert the plant’s energy into growing fruit. New suckers (a.k.a. side shoots) growing as axillary buds are removed once the apical meristem shows visible signs of a newly formed flower cluster, never before! This is to prevent removal of the growing tip before securing a flower cluster. Keep in mind that the apical meristem can be easily confused with a sucker (it happens to the best of us!) and accidental “de-topping” can occur. In that case, the “undesirable” axillary bud on the top of your canopy can save the day and become your new main stem. Sucker removal can be done by simply grasping a sucker with the tip of your fingers and bending it sharply downwards to give a clean break from the branch. Constantly removing suckers will help you maintain a non-bushy productive crop stand.

5. Prune leaves from the lower canopy.

Older leaves below the upcoming cluster-to-be-harvested are typically removed to allow for air movement into the lower canopy, a strategy that can help speed the maturation process and will help reduce humidity levels that can be inducive to disease. Lower-leaf removal facilitates ease of harvesting and spraying and helps control insect pests that like to lay eggs in the lower-leaf canopy. In addition, removing older leaves allows your tomato clusters to capitalize from the energy produced by the plant. As a rule of thumb, a tomato plant will add three leaves per week. Therefore, three leaves should be removed per week.

6. Thin the body of the canopy.

In addition to lower-leaf pruning, canopy thinning, a more general leaf pruning from the body of the canopy, is sometimes recommended to help balance vegetative and reproductive growth. However, take into account that the number of leaves left on your plant will depend on the time of year and the variety grown: high light = more leaves to shade the fruit; dry climate = more leaves to increase humidity; wet, cool winters = less leaves to reduce humidity and/or disease pressure; vegetative varieties = less leaves; reproductive varieties = more leaves. Leaves are either cut with a sanitized tool or popped off manually at the abscission zone. Be careful not to tear off leaves, as this can lead to a slow-healing wound that can become an entry point for disease. Extra tip: it is best to remove leaves in the morning when plants are turgid.

7. Prune tomato clusters.

Cluster pruning is another practice to consider when targeting a consistent harvest. Tomato clusters with large number of fruit are not desirable because they will indirectly reduce individual fruit size and may result in fewer marketable fruit set by the newly developed clusters. Recommended fruit load varies with environmental conditions, production practice, and variety. Thus, it is best to follow breeder recommendations for a particular scenario. As a general overview, higher light availability will allow you to maintain more fruit. The opposite is true for light-limited environments. Keep in mind that the vigorous root system of a grafted plant may allow a crop to support more fruit per cluster relative to ungrafted plants. Also, remember that excessive vegetative growth will sometimes lead to suckers growing out of the fruit clusters (and sometimes from leaves!). If that’s the case, remove the suckers and adjust your environment to steer the plant in the right direction.

Understanding how to make proper use of the environmental control system in your greenhouse will help you maximize production. In addition, maintaining a properly pruned plant will help support a healthy crop and ensure good yields.

Celina is an assistant professor in the Environmental Horticulture Department at the University of Florida, IFAS. cgomezv@ufl.edu

Meeting the increasing demand for locally grown, fresh tomatoes and reducing carbon emissions go hand in hand for large produce growers. It’s a win-win situation for consumers, who get a fresher, tastier product — for growers, who can reduce shipping and energy costs — and ultimately, the environment.

Houweling’s Tomatoes is meeting the demand for fresh tomatoes and pushing the envelope to be as sustainable and friendly to the environment as possible.

“Houweling Group’s business and farming operations has woven sustainability and innovation into the company fabric,” says Lindsay Martinez, brand manager for the Houweling Group. “Consumers want more locally grown produce, which is why we display the CA Grown, BC Grown or Utah Grown license plate graphic, letting shoppers know exactly where our products are grown.”

The family-owned business was started in 1956 in Langley, British Columbia by Dutch horticulturist Cornelius Houweling. At that time, it was a small floral greenhouse and berry farm on a few acres. In 1976, his son Casey joined the business and started an expansion plan that would introduce tomatoes to the mix and eventually establish the company as one of the premier producers of tomatoes on the vine.

The company now has three locations — Camarillo, Calif., Mona, Utah and Delta, British Columbia — consisting of 125 acres under greenhouse glass. It uses hydroponic methods to grow tomatoes on the vine, roma, grape, cocktail, cherry and heirloom tomatoes that it sells to premium retailers and club stores. One of its greatest successes, according to Martinez, has been the development of its Sweetoms premium grape tomato. She says consumers are taking notice, ramping up the demand from retailers and subsequently keeping them stocked in their produce sections. All of its seed stock comes from non-GMO seed sources.

Cashing in on snacking varieties

The market for snacking continues to grow and Houweling’s has taken notice. It now offers “ultra-premium” snacking varieties to customers under the Signature Selection label. The branding and label ensures the consistency of the product.

“The value is driven by a consistent, superior flavor profile, Martinez says. “The variety is declared on the pack so that consumers know that they will receive the same premium eating experience time and again. This consistent high-quality consumer experience creates repeat purchases.”

Houweling’s Signature Medley Tomatoes are a good example of this brand of snacking tomatoes. Also used in salads, Signature Medley tomatoes are firm-textured ‘maters with a sweet taste and variable colors. The company says Medley Tomatoes offer the longest shelf life of any of their tomatoes.

The marketing is more than in the taste buds, although it’s essential to sell tasty tomatoes. It’s also in the message.

“We focus on the benefits of greenhouse-grown and locally grown, with an emphasis on flavor at the forefront of the products we grow,” Martinez says. “We also tout the leadership in innovation, experience and sustainability that Houweling’s brings as a grower.”

Martinez says the biggest marketing challenge is the differentiation of the premium varieties. “At face value, it would seem easy as you can taste the difference, but in the context of the retail environment, the consumer is challenged to tell the difference on-shelf.”

Its most popular tomato is the large tomato on the vine, which can be used to make sandwiches, salsas, sauces and salads.

Growing tomatoes, growing plants

Houweling’s not only produces tomatoes for consumption — a seed to harvest operation — but is also a specialized, grafted seedling propagator, grafting tomatoes to combine the attributes of two different plants. It grafts plants and sells the seedlings to growers from its propagation facility in Delta.

“We are a specialized, grafted seedling propagator in addition to a greenhouse grower and marketer of greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and herbs,” Martinez says.

Sustainability: smart for business, the environment

Greenhouse farming alone reduces emissions by being able to produce a crop of tomatoes more efficiently. Martinez says greenhouse production produces 24 times the amount as traditional farming in the field. Also, greenhouse production results in 1/6 the water usage as does field grown production.

Houweling’s is taking sustainability one step further by leveraging every technology and renewable resource available.

For example, in its Utah facility, it is capturing previously wasted heat and CO2 from an adjacent power plant and using it to promote plant growth. Throughout the operation, it has installed energy-efficient technologies, including energy-efficient grow lights, variable speed fan motors and motion sensors to activate and deactivate overhead lighting.

The company grows its tomatoes in recently erected Ultra-Clima Greenhouses it says help to optimize conditions that allow crops to flourish (the right temperatures, humidity, light and carbon dioxide levels). Herbicides are never used in the greenhouse and pesticide use is a last resort.

And of course, growing for local markets drastically reduces emissions that would be spewed into the environment if the product had to be shipped hundreds of miles.

Investing in the future

A business that stands still often loses market share and Houweling’s appears to be aware of that. It's throwing its money into its Utah-based operation with plans on doubling it in size by 2018 and continuing with its patented heat and CO2 recovery project, which captures waste exhaust from an adjacent natural power plant. It will also be transitioning much of its specialty packaging to top seal resealable packaging, according to Martinez.

Competition is good for the industry

Competition in the industry is not always the bogeyman it’s portrayed to be. “Competition in the produce business is complicated and ever changing,” Martinez says. “Depending on market conditions with shortages and overproduction, our competitors may not always be competition, they can also be partners or customers.”

Competition may also result in a cheaper, tastier tomato — which is good news for us tomato lovers!

Neil is a horticulturist and freelance copywriter for the green industry, assisting businesses with advertising copy, blog posts, articles, and other digital content. greenindustrywriter.com

Photo: istock.com

We’re kicking off this year’s third annual State of the Tomato Report with our latest research, which shows that tomatoes are still the top crop for produce growers; 83% of Produce Grower readers are producing finished tomatoes or tomato transplants in a controlled environment. This year, growers, researchers and consumers alike are honed in on taste, deemed to be the most important attribute in a tomato crop by our grower respondents, an area of focus for researchers, and a desired trait for consumers who won’t settle for less.

On page 44, you can read about one of these growers, Huron Produce, that’s focused on sustainability as they produce the Suntastic brand of tomatoes.

If you’re among the 83% already growing tomatoes, or the 17% who may be interested in starting, you won’t want to miss University of Florida assistant professor of horticulture Celina Gómez’ seven greenhouse tomato crop management tips, starting on page 49.

Leslie Halleck shares her perspective on her favorite tomatoes, and how to connect with tomato-loving consumers (or those who despise them) on page 51. Two researchers at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre have been on the quest for the tastiest tomato, and discuss their latest consumer research and breeding projects on page 54. Lastly, if you’re looking for a new tomato to try in your greenhouse, check out the varieties on page 55.

Growers weigh in

Types of tomatoes

Tomatoes are, by far, the most common produce crop being grown in controlled environments, and consumers are buying them regularly. U.S. consumers ate about 21.3 pounds of fresh tomatoes in 2016, up from about 20.5 in 2014 and 2015, according to the USDA-ERS 2016 Vegetables and Pulses Yearbook; this is the highest consumption by weight of any of the fresh products surveyed, besides potatoes. The next most popular crops are hot or sweet peppers, grown by 73% of growers, and cucumbers, grown by 65%.

The most popular tomatoes are the beefsteak varieties — about 69% of growers produce them. The next most popular tomatoes were cherry varieties (69% produce them) and heirlooms (62%). Overall, the average greenhouse is filled with about 25% beefsteak tomatoes, 20% heirloom tomatoes, 16% slicers, 13% cherry tomatoes, and about a fourth of it is made up of other varieties such as sauce, on-the-vine, grape and grafted plants.

This year, we’re seeing a 4% uptick in growers producing indeterminate tomatoes, and a slight increase in determinate tomato production. However, fewer growers are producing both determinate and indeterminate, down about 6-7% compared to the previous two years.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, flavor far outranked any other attribute for tomato crops. If a tomato doesn’t taste good, consumers won’t buy it again, and growers may end up with an unsellable crop. However, if the tastiest of tomatoes produces a very low yield or isn’t particularly disease resistant, growers may hesitate to grow it.

For more insights on what makes a tomato variety great, turn to page 51 for Leslie Halleck’s perspective on “restaurant tomatoes,” and page 53 to learn about the consumer research and breeding being done by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.

Production

This year, 39% percent of respondents said they would increase their finished tomato production in 2017, while 30% said their tomato transplants would see an increase. Overall, those produce growers anticipating an increase in either finished or transplant production, or both, totaled 49% this year, compared to 39% last year.

One of the advantages of growing produce in a controlled environment is the ability to sell year-round, even in harsher climates. This year, we asked growers if they’re able to obtain different price points in different seasons, and nearly 40% said that they do. Presumably, growers are able to command a higher price when supply is low, such as during the winter months.