ISHS Acta Horticulturae 323: Symposium on Soil and Soilless Media under Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climates
SOILLESS CULTURE OF TOMATO IN DIFFERENT MINERAL SUBSTRATES |
| Authors: | P.F. Martinez, M. Abad |
| Abstract:
A commercial-scale experiment with Lorena Fl tomato in a polyethylene greenhouse, with sand, perlite, rockwool slabs, and sepiolite alone or mixed with leonardite (3% by volume), and organic fertilizer with 60% content of humic substances (dry weight), and automatically monitored and controlled from pH, EC and drainage volume, has shown the highest yields for perlite, sepiolite 4/20-mesh plus leonardite, and rockwool. Productions of 11.0 and 10.2 kg p.sq. m for perlite and the other two substrates have been recorded respectively, showing the possibilities of sepiolite as a new substrate for horticulture. Changes in physical and chemical properties of the materials have been registered as well. Perlite air-filled porosity decreased from 74.5 to 26.1% at the end of the growing period. Differences in the ability to keep the conductivity levels along the time were also shown by the substrates. Perlite and sand were the materials that kept the lowest EC until the end of the experiment. | |
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