Visit to Tomato Crop in Hydroponic Unit

Hy Steemians!
I am fine and I hope that you will be happy and healthy. May God bless you with lot of pleasures.

Today, I visited the tomato crop grown in hydroponic unit. This hydroponic unit is located at G.T road, Rawat. It is present 30km away from Rawalpindi Punjab, Pakistan. It was established by Holland in 2005. Then they gifted the hydroponic unit to PMAS- Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi. Now it is working under the supervision of this university.

Tomato is an important vegetable/fruit grown in hydroponic conditions. So I decided to visit this hydroponic unit and shared important information to my beloved steemians.

Tomato in Hydroponic:

During my visit, I observed the tomato plants that have been grown in hydroponic conditions. Hydroponic is soil-less medium in which tomato crop is grown in controlled environmental conditions. Tomato were supported by hooks that may be high upto 30 feet. In this way the tomato plants may be long upto this length with turning of tomato plant around the thread that support the plant.

Tomato Leaf Miner:

In today's visit, I also observed the attack of leaf miner on tomato crop. The scientific name of tomato leaf miner is Lariomyza trifoli. The leaves of tomato were wrapped and larvae of leaf miner were present inside the leaf. The devastating stage of leaf miner is larval stage. The adult of leaf miner lays eggs on lower side of tomato leaf. After few days these eggs are hatched and produce larvae. After production of larvae, the larvae pierce the leaves and suck the juices or nutrients of leaves. As a result, the nutrients of plants are used by insect larvae. So larvae inter into leaf and damage the tissues of leaf. When the leaf is damaged and detriorated, the food supply of tomato plant is hindered and plant become infested. At the end of severe attack by leaf miner the tomato fruit is wasted.
After observation, I was informed about the control measures of tomato leaf miner. The good method of control is manual deleafing of tomato plant espacially affected leaves. The control of adult leaf miner is done through fumigation at night. In this method methylene gas is used for suffocation for adult leaf miner.

Sowing of Tomato Seed:

In hydroponic unit, the workers were busy in sowing the seed of tomato in sowing trays. They mixed the peat moss and fill the trays. After filling the trays, they sow one tomato seed in one plug. Then they irrigate them with the help of machine operated sprayer for the purpose of gentle irrigation. These trays were shifted into hydroponic unit and covered with polythene sheet for creating heat that helps them to germinate in best way.

Irrigation:

The irrigation of this hydroponic unit is controlled by automatic system. I also visited the irrigation room which is equipped with all necessary equipmets that are required for proper irrigation. There are two different tanks naming A and B tanks with nutrients seperatly, nitrates and sulfates to avoid from precipitation. The basic source of water is rain. Rain water is collected into lagoon and then pumped into different tanks. This water is purified by filtration, sand filter and UV unit. Water and chemicals are mixed into an other tank. Then the mixture of nutrients with water is transported to different hydroponic units through pipes. Electrical conductivity (EC) of solution is maintained at 0.2-2.5 and pH of water is maintained at 5.5-6.5 under normal conditions. The concentration of nutrients is changed according to the requirements of tomato crop such as stage of plant.

Packing of Tomato:

I also observed the packing of tomato in this hydroponic unit. Workers were packing the tomatos after harvesting. There were three grades of tomatos naming A,B and C. There were also some classes of cherry tomato such as yellow, orange and red. The packing of tomato was very beautiful and attractive.

At last, I met with the director of hydroponic unit and discussed about the cost of production and profit of the unit. It was really an amazing visit that provided me the most important knowledge about the growing of tomato in hydroponic conditions.
So I shared this important information with respected steemians.
Thanks Steemians for providing me a forum to write up my feelings and experience.