Lecture 12:

Management of Fruit Vegetables Using

Soilless Culture System
 most commonly grown fruit vegetables using Nutrient Film
 soilless culture using Coconut Dust Culture in the tropics are
tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and melons.
 Good of hydroponic - yield improvement, no crop failure due to
the climatic limitation and soil borne pathogens.
• Eg. Pseudomonas solanecearum is one of the soil borne
pathogens which is found abundantly in tropical soil causing
bacterial wilt in most solanaceas
• The unpredictable weather often causes crop failure or loss
quality due to disorders on the fruit vegetables.

• under lowland condition, these vegetables are now grown

extensively grown using soilless culture under protected
structures. The crop management of the fruit vegetables is
discussed
 Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) - using
hydroponics systems in protected environment.
 classified in Family Solaneceae.
 two distinct species for tomatoes namely Lycopersicon
esculentum Mill, the cultivated species and the
Lycropesicon pennelli., considered to wild species and yet
to be explored for crop improvement program.
 In the tropics, tomatoes are cultivated in the highlands or
in the cooler region.
 There is few limitation for cultivation of tomatoes using
open field cultivation. E.g. soil borne pathogens, weather
which affect fruit quality and poor yield.
 In the lowland, high day and night temperature will affect
fruit set and result to low production.
 Tomato seeds are pre-germinated in petri dishes lined with moist
filter paper 24-36 h before planting out.
 Seeds are sown in growing media blocks of either rockwool or sponge
if a tomato is to be grown in NFT.
 Seeds can be directly sown in processed peat mixture in the seedling
tray if soilless culture substrate is to be used a method of growing
plants.
 The seedling tray is covered with old newsprint to maintain high
humidity for seed germination. When seedlings began to emerge, this
cover is removed.
 Seedlings are to be raised in nursery for at least 3 weeks. Growing
seedlings must be exposed to at least 80% radiation (Photosynthetic
Active Radiation) and the growth media is to be kept moist at all time.
 Under low humidity condition, Arial misting is required.
 Management of seedlings at nursery is critical to obtain short and
healthy tomato seedlings to be transplanted in the system.
 The seedlings are ready to be transplanted into the
system when first flower bud just emerges. At this
stage , healthy seedlings should not exceeded 25 cm
tall and with 7-8 leaves already formed.
 In NFT system, seedlings must be kept moist with
half strength of nutrient solution.
 In substrate culture, seedlings must be irrigated to
full substrate capacity after transplanting. 20-40 g
peat mixture is placed in the transplanting hole when
tomato seedlings are to be transplanted in the
Coconut Coir Dust Culture. This will eliminate
transplanting shock especially under prevailing high
temperature and low relative humidity. Transplanting
is normally to be carried out at late afternoon.
 After 7 days after transplanting, full strength of nutrient is
supplied to the plants.
 The EC of the nutrient solution should be maintained at 20-25
CF.
 In NFT growing plants , water loss is rapid ,hence EC should
be checked and maintained accordingly.
 In substrate culture, nutrient is provided by fertigation at least
4 times a day with 10 minute per fertigation cycle depends in
on the weather condition. On rainy days or under high
humidity , fertigation can be done for 2-3 times daily. To
avoid, accumulation of nutrients in the substrate, fertigation is
done only for 3-4 days, whilst the remaining days of the week,
only water is supplied to the plant. Using this management
practices, fertilizer cost can be reduced considerably.
 Each stem is trained to grow upward by twinning around the nylon
string tied to overhead support.
 Training can start when plants reaching 25 cm and continue until
the desired height for crop production. Tomato plants can attain a
length of more than 10 m during the growing season but only the
top 2-3 m carry the leaves, flowers and fruits.
 Training system is important in determining the efficiency of
resources for production of the fruits.
 In the tropics, it is more economical for hire wire training system
in which tomato plants are trained upward reaching the maximum
height of at least 2.0 m.
 Topping is done when the plants reach the upper limit by leaving
3 leaves above the final fruit truss.
 Axillary shoot should be removed to avoid excessive vegetative
growth. This can be done by bending the shoot sharply to one
side until it snapped and the pulled off in opposite direction.
Removing side shoot or auxiliary shoots will balance the partition
of assimilate that affect the flowering and fruit setting in tomatoes.
 Under protected environment, assisted pollination is
required to trigger fruit set. Various fruiting chemical
treatments can be used to assist fruit setting. E.g :
1. 4-cholro-2-hydroxymethyl phenoxy acetic acid
2. sodium –4-chlorohydroxymethyl phenoxyacetic
acid ) that can viable with the brand name of
Trylone and tomatlane , respectively. O.5% of this
chemicals is sprayed on opened flowers in the
early morning on every third days to assist
pollination.
3. Other methods include the used of artificial
pollinators , honey bees and electronic bee
(vibrator).
 Fruits are harvested at early stage of ripening. The
conversion of tomato fruit from mature green to fully
ripe state involves dramatic changes in colour ,
composition, aroma, flavor and texture. Harvesting
stage has a close relationship with the market of
tomato fruit.
 For long distance market, tomato fruits can be
harvested at 66-34% green (34-66% orange) whilst
for short distance market, fruit can be harvested at
either 100 % bright red or orange turning red stage.
 Harvesting can be done manually early morning or
late afternoon. Leaves below the fruit truss should be
removed once all fruit from the fruit truss been
harvested.
1. blossom end rot (BER) is common under high
humidity and high nutrient concentration.
2. fruit cracks are common under high
temperature and intermittent high humidity.
3. fruit hollowness under condition of high root
temperature and lower solution concentration.
4. Other physiological disorders include blotchy
ripening, root death, leaf necrosis and
russetting.
5. In susbtrate culture, withering of flower can
occur when plants are exposed to limited root
zone volume and water stress.
 Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) belongs to Family Cucurbitaceae or
Gourd Family.
 This annual vegetable has vines spreading with triangular –ovate
leaves , 8-14 cm long and 3-lobbed. It has staminate and pistillate
flowers, yellow , about 2-3 cm across, are axillary , the staminate
being numerous.
 Through breeding , there is different shape of cucumbers
available for cultivation. The local cucumber variety has a
cylindrical shape between 10-20 cm long, with light green colour.
 Other cultivar commonly grown in the temperate and sub-
tropical region has longer fruits with more than 30 cm of
telegraphic-type and dark green in colour. The later cultivar is
commonly grown in hydroponics system in the tropics. The plants
are gynoenious and the cultivars are commonly parthenocarpic.
It is generally known as “Japanese cucumber” or seedless
cucumber.
 Similar procedure as in tomato seed
preparation can be followed. However,
the growth of seeds is vigorous that the
seeds emerge after 24-36hs in the dark.
After the first shoots emerge, the
seedlings must be placed under light
condition to prevent stem etiolating.
 Seedlings can be transplanted into the
system after 10-14 days depending on
the growth rate (2-3 true leaves)
 Similar to the tomato , half strength of
nutrient concentration is supplied to the
seedlings at transplanting .
 The seedlings are transplanted with intro
row plant distances of 60 cm.
 The plants are trained to single stem and male
flowers are pruned up to about 10 nodes.
 Assisted pollination is not required as insects
such as are leaves of cucumbers are good habitat
for pollinators such as beetles.
 Similar mode of nutrient application as in
tomatoes can be adopted in cultivation of
cucumbers.
 Pruning should be done from the first to the
fourth auxilary shoot. Leaf pruning should be
carried out after harvesting of fruits.

 Harvesting can be done 30-40 days after
transplanting. Fruits are graded in three
categories according to the angle of
curvature.
 The Grade A fruits are those fruits with the
angel of curvature less than100 whereas for
 Grade B fruit are those angel of curvature
between 10-200.
 Rejected fruit are those fruit that are
deformed with angle of curvature more than
300.
1. Fruit with high degree of curvature is a
common problem for cucumber grown in
the tropics. The deformed fruits may result
from incomplete pollination due to high
temperature stress prevailing the growth
period.
2. Fruit crack is not common but can occur
under prevailing high temperature
interspersed with high humidity.
3. In NFT , root death can occur at the fruiting
stage.
 The feature of cucumber leaves with large
surface area is a good habitat for the insect,
which is either beneficial or harmful to the
plants.
 Aphids and mites are common and may
cause complete damage to the leaves if left
unchecked.
 The high humidity experienced under
protected structure in the tropics often
result in fungal related disease such as
Powdery Mildew, Downy Mildew and fungal
wilt.
 Melon (Cucumis melo) can also be grown successfully in
hydroponics systems.
 It belongs to Family Cucurbiatceae with vines spreading,
hairy and leaves between 6-15 cm long and deeply hearted
shaped. It has yellow flowers and there are two type of
melon differentiate by the type of fruit produced.
 There are two categories of fruit namely Indorus and
Reticulatus. All fruits with the features of smooth waxy
surface and with whitish colour flesh are categorized as
Indorus.
 In contrast, fruits with netted or cork-liked tissue
developed at maturity which cover the surface and
possessed light green flesh is categorized as
Reticulatus.
 The latter melon type is commonly grown in hydroponics
system due to the high quality feature.
 Seeds can be sown directly in the peat mix
and placed under dark conditions. On
initiation of germination, seedlings are to be
transferred to 80% radiation interception
and leave until first 2-3 true leaves formed.
 Careful husbandry includes moisture, pest
management, humidity and radiation
requirements should be observed at
nursery stage.

 Similar to other fruit vegetables, melon
seedlings can directly transplant into
substrate culture.
 Half strength of nutrient solution is applied
at the first week of plant growth in the
substrate culture.
 Pest management should be carried out at
this stage especially when aphids and mites
are found on the lower part of the leaves.
This can be done manually by soaking
leaves in detergent solution or by spraying
low dosage of insecticide.
 After one week of plants in the system, solution
concentration of 20-25 CF can be supplied to the
plants. Nutrient solution is fertigated via drippers 3-
4 times for 10
 minutes duration at vegetative growth stage
depending on the prevailing weather.
 At fruit developmental stage, fertigation is carried
out for a longer duration of at least 20 minutes to
avoid plant water stress.
 In NFT system, pH of the nutrient solution may
change rapidly and it is important to maintain pH
between 5.5-6.0 to avoid deficiency symptoms of
microelements such as B, Mn and Fe.
 for the plants to grow upwards and terminal growth is stopped
after plant reaching 30-35 leaves stage.
 Pruning of side and auxiliary shoot is carried out throughout the
growth period.
 In melon, pruning is not to be carried out on side shoots between
leaves 9 to 12. All the side shoots that produced female flowers
together with two shoots.
 Rubbing the stamen to the stigma of female flower performs
assisted pollination. Assisted pollination is done early in the
morning to ensure viability of pollen and successful pollination.
 After 8-10 days after pollination, fruit will start to formed and two
uniform fruits is chosen for each plant while other fruits are
removed.
 Nylon string is used to tie the fruits and support to the overhead
wire. Since fruit growth is rapid and due to weight increased, it is
advisable to have strong overhead supporting wire to support the
developing fruit in the protected structure.
 Fruits can be harvested 40-45 days after pollination.
 Fruits are considered ready to harvest by observing either
small cracks at the lower end of the fruit or aroma in the
plant environment.
 At fruit harvesting stage, Reticulatus type had already
showed complete net on the skin of the fruit.
 Fruits can be sampled for total soluble solids
determination.
 Under normal cultivation, Reticulatus type can produce
fruit with TSS of at least 12% Brix at harvest.
 Fruits can be stored in cold room for 3-4 days to reach
market. After storage, fruit TSS can be increased to 16%
Brix and it tastes sweeter to be used for desert and
processing for fruit juice.
The End