The biological process of cultivating tomatoes starts with a seed. Seed breeders often work for years to obtain a good and strong tomato variety. A tomato variety must be disease resistant, produce tasty tomatoes and deliver sufficient kilos to be profitable. The seed is grown by a specialised mpany and becomes a young plant. The grower puts the young plants in the heated greenhouse. s well as heat, the plants in the greenhouse need light, nutrients, water and the expert’seye of the grower to ensure it grows successful. Although the computer takes over a lotof control from the grower these days, the grower must still carefully follow how plantsreact. The expert’s eye, the many years of experience and the grower’s passion make thedifference and can never be taken over by a computer.Maintaining the biological balance in the greenhouse also continues to be manual work anddemands a lot of experience. The grower checks for the presence of harmful bugs such asred spider mite, aphids and leafminer flies on a daily bis. Bugs are deployed to prevent diseases and pests in crops. These bugs are produced by a specialised company. Parasitic wasps, for example, are deployed to control aphids and predatory mites are deployed to control red spider mites. The bugs themselves do not damage the plants. This ensures that chemical pesticides do not have to be used and the biological balance is maintained.
Bumblebees are deployed for pollination purposes. The bumblebees are supplied as clouds in a special box with nourishment. They fly around in the greenhouse without constraints and ensure that every flower is pollinated so that tomatoes can start to grow. Bumblebees always want to return to their own queen and will not leave the greenhouse if they can help it. Simply allowing the plants to grow is not enough. Cultivation tasks must also be performed to ensure that the best fruit can realise a good production level. This manual work consists of nipping, pruning, tying, heading and cutting off leaves. Many hands are, therefore, passionately busy on a daily basis to deliver a tasty and responsible product and to be able to meet the demand for tomatoes that is still growing.