In a moment spring will start with us. It's near day D when I'm going to put tomatoes in a hotbed. When growing in a closed hotbed area I always had problems with the blossom drop and reduce tomato fruit. The reason was high relative humidity and low night temperature.
Theoretical basis:
Tomato fruit do not set until nighttime temperatures are above over 55 ° F for at least two consecutive nights (Chester 2004, Ozores-Hampton and McAvoy 2010).
The ideal RH for tomato growth and development is between 40% and 70%. If RH is higher than the optimal range, the pollen will not shed properly (Mills 1988, Ozores-Hampton and McAvoy 2010).
Yesterday, I set up my hotbed. I will be watering a pipe placed in the middle of the bed. I'll plant tomatoes in a woven black foil. The entire bed area will be covered with a thin cover foil to prevent evaporation of water from the soil into the space above it. This is what I tried last week - RH managed to reduce me to the optimal level.
Vladimír
PS.: Two fotos from yesterday
|