Oakes Irrigation Research Site
Carrington Research Extension Center * North Dakota State University
P.O. Box 531, Oakes, ND 58474-0531, Voice: (701) 742-2189, FAX: (701) 742-2700, email: rgreenla@ndsuext.nodak.edu

TOMATO PERFORMANCE TRIAL
Richard Greenland, Leonard Besemann and Heidi Kerlin

Tomatoes grow well in southern North Dakota. Yield and quality may be reduced in cool or short growing seasons.

Result summary

Table 45. Yields and characteristics of staked tomatoes.

Table 46. Yields and characteristics of unstaked tomatoes.

Table 47. Cumulative yields of staked tomatoes.

Table 48. Cumulative yields of unstaked tomatoes.

Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site Variety Performance Trials

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Soil: Maddock sandy loam, Hecla sandy loam, and Embden sandy loam; pH=6.8; 2.9% organic matter; soil-P was high; soil-K was very high; soil-S was very low.
Previous crop: 1997 - field corn; 1996 - pepper; 1995 - cabbage.
Seedbed preparation: Disked on 31 October 1997. Multiweed (field cultivated) three times on 14 April 1998; once lightly because of trash and twice to incorporate herbicide. Drilled barley cover crop on April 17 (1 bu/acre, 6-inch rows) and later killed it with applications of Roundup and Gramoxone.
Planting: Tomatoes were seeded in the greenhouse on April 13. Plants were hand transplanted to the field on May 27. Rows were spaced 4 feet apart. In-row spacing was 1.5 ft. As it was planted, each plant received one pint of fertilizer solution (1 gal 10-34-0 in 100 gal of water). Half of the tomatoes were staked and half were not staked.
Plots: Plots were 17 ft long by 4 ft (one row) wide. Tomatoes were staked on half of each plot.
Fertilizer: On April 13, broadcast 14 lbs N/acre and 70 lbs P2O5/acre as 10-50-0, 16 lbs N/acre and 19 lbs S/acre as 21-0-0-24, and 94 lbs K20/acre as 0-0-60. Side dressed 47 lbs of N/acre as urea on July 24.
Irrigation: Underground drip irrigation as needed.
Pest control: Weeds were controlled by Treflan (1 pt/acre on April 14), Roundup + a nonionic surfactant (12 oz/acre + 1 qt/50 gal on May 22), Gramoxone + a nonionic surfactant (3 pt/acre + 1 pt/100 gal on May 26), Lexone (½ lb/acre on June 3), rototilling between rows, and by hand weeding. We applied Dithane F-45 (1.6 qt/acre on July 7 and July 25) and Manzate (1.5 lbs/acre on July 15) for blight control. We applied Provado (3.75 oz/acre on July 7 and July 15) and Asana (8 oz/acre on July 25) for insect control.
Harvest: Harvested 6 times from August 11 to September 15.


RESULTS

All tomato varieties produced medium yields. Tuscany, a processing type tomato, was the earliest. Mountain Fresh, a slicer type tomato, was the latest maturing.

Return to top of tomato performance trial

Table 45. Yields and characteristics of tomatoes in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1998 staked tomato performance trial.
Hybrid Seed source Yield Fruit size Fruit shape Cracked fruit Overall score Total fruit
US #1 US #2 US #3 total
------- 1000s of lbs/acre -------- oz/fruit 1 to 7 % 1 to 10 1000s/A
Mountain Fresh HM 66.4 9.2 b 6.9 85.8 6.0 a 3.0 c 17 c 6.3 228 c
Mountain Spring NV 49.8 15.1 a 10.3 82.1 6.1 a 3.0 c 14 c 6.4 218 c
Sun Leaper NV 49.9 13.5 a 9.8 81.9 5.2 b 3.0 c 7 b 6.4 251 c
Supra NV 62.3 7.2 b 5.5 77.8 2.6 c 6.9 a 2 ab 6.6 501 a
Tuscany JS 54.8 7.4 b 6.0 72.7 2.8 c 5.6 b 0 a 6.2 416 b
C.V. (%) 17 22 41 14 10 5 39 3 9

See appendix A for seed source codes.

Fruit shape - 3 = round, 5=plum, 6=square, 7=pear.

Values in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level. The values in columns without letters are not significantly different from other values in the same column.

Return to top of tomato performance trial

Table 46. Yields and characteristics of tomatoes in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1998 unstaked tomato performance trial.
Hybrid Seed source Yield Fruit size Fruit shape Cracked fruit Overall score Total fruit
US #1 US #2 US #3 total
------- 1000s of lbs/acre -------- oz/fruit 1 to 7 % 1 to 10 1000s/A
Mountain Fresh HM 61.5 11.4 6.8 89.6 5.5 a 3.0 c 7 c 6.4 262 b
Mountain Spring NV 43.4 10.3 7.4 69.6 5.5 a 3.0 c 5 b 6.1 203 b
Sun Leaper NV 50.4 11.2 5.0 77.9 5.2 a 3.0 c 6 bc 6.4 241 b
Supra NV 50.1 9.7 4.3 66.7 2.4 b 7.0 a 1 a 6.4 448 a
Tuscany JS 52.1 6.9 7.8 70.9 2.9 b 5.5 b 1 a 6.2 391 a
C.V. (%) 21 27 33 17 11 4 42 4 18

See appendix A for seed source codes.

Fruit shape - 3 = round, 5=plum, 6=square, 7=pear.

Values in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level. The values in columns without letters are not significantly different from other values in the same column.

Return to top of tomato performance trial

Table 47. Cumulative yields of tomatoes in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1998 staked tomato performance trial.
Hybrid Seed source Cumulative yield of US #1 plus US #2 tomatoes as of:
Aug 11 Aug 19 Aug 25 Aug 31 Sept 10 Sept 15
------------------------------- 1000s of lbs/acre -----------------------------
Mountain Fresh HM 0.0 b 0.9 c 6.2 b 28.6 c 71.6 75.6
Mountain Spring NV 0.5 b 4.4 bc 14.8 b 43.9 ab 63.9 64.9
Sun Leaper NV 0.3 b 3.1 bc 11.5 b 37.9 bc 60.9 63.3
Supra NV 0.9 b 8.8 b 15.8 b 47.8 ab 63.2 69.6
Tuscany JS 5.6 a 25.7 a 36.9 a 54.9 a 60.5 62.2
C.V.(%) 57 53 46 21 15 14

See Appendix A for seed source codes.

Values in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level. The values in columns without letters are not significantly different from other values in the same column.

Return to top of tomato performance trial

Table 48. Cumulative yields of tomatoes in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1998 unstaked tomato hybrid performance trial.
Hybrid Seed source Cumulative yield of US #1 plus US #2 tomatoes as of:
Aug 11 Aug 19 Aug 25 Aug 31 Sept 10 Sept 15
------------------------------- 1000s of lbs/acre -----------------------------
Mountain Fresh HM 0.0 b 3.2 b 9.1 c 43.3 69.1 72.8
Mountain Spring NV 0.7 b 4.7 b 13.8 bc 42.1 53.1 53.8
Sun Leaper NV 1.7 b 7.5 b 17.9 bc 47.3 60.9 61.7
Supra NV 2.1 ab 12.4 b 22.7 b 43.9 54.2 59.8
Tuscany JS 4.6 a 23.5 a 34.7 a 51.6 56.7 59.0
C.V.(%) 82 53 35 19 19 18

See Appendix A for seed source codes.

Values in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level. The values in columns without letters are not significantly different from other values in the same column.

Return to top of tomato performance trial

Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site Variety Performance Trials

Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1998 annual report

Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site crop index

Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site home page