| | H.Y. Hanna concluded the 12th annual tomato field day with a visit to the greenhouses at the LSU AgCenter's Red River Research Station in Bossier City. The 60 participants braved the rain to see the outdoor displays. (Photo by Mary Ann Van Osdell) |
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Intermittent rains didn’t stop commercial tomato growers from viewing outdoor exhibits and touring the greenhouse tomato operation during a tomato field day at the LSU AgCenter’s Red River Research Station in Bossier City on Feb. 29, 2008.
H.Y. Hanna gave 60 growers at the 12th annual event hands-on experience. Hanna is an LSU AgCenter researcher at the station in charge of the greenhouse tomato project.
The free four-hour event covered a variety of subjects on greenhouse tomato production and management.
Hanna encouraged growers to use perlite, which he has been doing for 12 years. “It is as good as or better than the first day we bought the material,” he said about recycled perlite, which has produced better yields than other media.
Hanna recommended the Quest tomato variety, which had the best shelf life in a research study, with one week of marketability when kept at a room temperature of 68 degrees day and night.
“It is a shiny fruit and at the very minimum has only fine cracks on the shoulder,” he said.
(This article was published in the winter 2008 issue of Louisiana Agriculture.) |