- (4 - 6 weeks) = Pure Vegetative
- (4 weeks – 3 months) = B/F Max Fruit Load (fruiting yield increasing)
- (3 - 9 months) = Max Fruit Load (fruit yield maximized)
Important Note: There ALWAYS needs to be a balance between vegetative and reproductive, even during the final stage of crop growth, in order to maintain continuous crop growth and therefore fruit production.
That being said the particular growth stage the crop is undergoing should be encouraged by preforming the PRACTICES below in Table 1, which can be used to steer the tomato crops towards a particular growth stage:
|
Practices/Factors |
Steer towards Reproductive |
Steer towards Vegetative |
|
Day/Night Temp. Diff. |
Larger Difference (10-12 F) |
Smaller Difference (<8 F) |
|
Relative Humidity |
Lower (near 60%) |
Higher (near 85%) |
|
Irrigation: EC (mS/cm) |
High, Very Low (3-4 , 1-1.5) |
Low, Moderate (2-2.5) |
|
Irrigation: Drip Output |
Less frequent for longer |
More frequent for shorter |
|
Truss Pruning |
Less |
More |
|
Leaf Pruning |
More |
Less |
The Growth Stages can then be verified by observing specific CHARACTERISTICS of the tomato crops as outlined in Table 2 below:
| Characteristics | Reproductive Growth | Vegetative growth |
| Leaves | Flat, Open, Light Green, Soft | Curled, Thick, Dark Green |
| Stem Diameter | Thinner | Thicker |
| Flowering | Close to top, open fast and uniform | Further from the top, open poorly w/ no uniformity |
| Flower Color | Dark Yellow | Pale, Light Yellow |
| Truss Stem | Thicker, Shorter |
Thinner, Longer |
| Fruit | Large, Many, Uniform Shape and Fast Growth |
Small, Few, Inconsistent Shape and Slow Growth |
