Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - [Market-farming] Salting tomatoes

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: <sunnfarm AT netscape.com>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Salting tomatoes
  • Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 08:26:46 -0700

In New Jersey we have always been proud of the flavor of our tomatoes but as we adopted modern growing techniques we got modern tasteless fruit as well. This year we are looking back to older production methods to regain that old fashioned tomato flavor. In the old days we used fertilizers that were low in nutrients and high in salt. A trial was done applying salt water collected from the Atlantic ocean to tomato plants. As you would expect the plants burned up but recovered and made fruit. In taste trials people prefer the taste of the fruits from the salted plants. Salt seems to increase the acidity of tomatoes and acidity is responsible for flavor. You increase the acidity you get more flavor. This year we are trying a product called Sea-90 which is a mineral product derived from evaporated sea water. I don't know what the results will be since we only have one year of test. One unexpected result was that sea 90 treated rows matured up to two weeks earlier in a fall crop. The application rate used at Rutgers research farm last year was 550 pounds of Sea90 per acre. You might want to try this on your tomatoes this year....Bob.
 

Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page