--- title: "Cherry Tomatoes" description: "Cherry tomato is a separate market class from truss, priced on flavour and appearance rather than weight. Reference values with their Dutch sources, and what the crop asks of a greenhouse." canonical: "https://dutchgreenhouses.com/crops/tomato/cherry-tomato" locale: "en" updated: "2026-08-11" --- # Cherry Tomatoes > Part of: [Tomato](/crops/tomato.md) · Provider: [DutchGreenhouses](/) Cherry tomatoes are a small-fruited market class sold on the vine and loose, priced on flavour and appearance rather than on weight alone. The small fruit means high numbers per tonne, making harvest and packing labour the dominant variable cost, grown long-cycle on substrate and high wire like truss tomato. Tomato # Cherry tomatoes. Small fruit, high count, and labour as the deciding cost. Cherry tomato is a separate market class from truss, sold both on the vine and loose, and priced on flavour and appearance rather than on weight alone. The fruit is small, so a house produces a very large number of them for a given tonnage, and picking and packing become the dominant variable cost. That is the crop’s central commercial tension: the premium is real, and so is the labour required to capture it. ## What the crop needs The plant is long-cycle on substrate and high wire, like truss tomato, but it carries a much larger number of smaller fruit. Plant load management is therefore the daily craft, and the balance between vegetative and generative growth has to be held tightly to keep sugar levels and fruit size consistent across a long season. Climate and irrigation strategy are directed at flavour and shelf life as much as at total mass. ## What the greenhouse has to do Cherry tomato asks the house for consistency and for flow. The structure and the climate envelope are shared with truss tomato; what changes is the number of fruit moving through the building every week. Path width, internal transport and the size of the packing area are part of the greenhouse design rather than something fitted around it once the crop is in. Climate is steered at quality. Screening and heating hold the day-to-night rhythm that keeps sugars and fruit size even across a long season, and drip supply with drain recirculation keeps the root zone from swinging. Where the market window reaches into the low-light months, supplemental light and the electrical service to carry it belong in the brief from the start, because both change the heating design with them. DutchGreenhouses® specifies the structure, climate, screening and irrigation around the cherry tomato crop, its sale form and the local climate, so flavour and count hold across the season. Get in touch to plan a tomato greenhouse for your market. ## Crop data Cherry tomatoes ### Day climate1,2,3,4,5 Air temperature 19–23 °C Relative humidity 82–88 % Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) 0.28–0.45 kPa Daily light integral 18–35 mol/m²/d Photoperiod 16–18 h CO₂ concentration 600–800 ppm Root-zone temperature 17–20 °C ### Night climate1,3,6,7 Air temperature 17–20 °C Relative humidity 85–90 % Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) 0.2–0.34 kPa CO₂ concentration 420–500 ppm Root-zone temperature 17–20 °C ### Irrigation and root zone6,8,9,10 Supply EC 3.5–4.5 mS/cm Supply pH 5–6.2 pH Drain fraction 20–30 % Daily water use 1–5 L/m²/d Dosing capacity ≈ 2 L/m²/h Sources (10) - Kas als Energiebron, 2020 — Lit tomato crop timing and lighting E015 - Kas als Energiebron Academy Tomaat, 2023 — Radiation–temperature ratio (RTR) E016 - Kas als Energiebron / Delphy, 2022 — Energy-efficient LED temperature and humidity E017 - Kas als Energiebron / WUR, 2014 — Tomato CO₂ operating range E023 - Kas als Energiebron project 20184 — Modern full-LED tomato project configuration E029 - Kas als Energiebron / Delphy, 2025 — Humidity, EC and transpiration under LED E018 - WUR / del Amor & Marcelis, 2005 — Humidity response and nutrient uptake E022 - Proefstation voor Tuinbouw onder Glas / WUR, 1994 — Closed-system tomato nutrient solution E021 - WUR / Li, Stanghellini & Challa, 2001 — Tomato EC × transpiration response E027 - Kas als Energiebron, 2023 — Nutrition under lower transpiration E028 Reference values, not a specification. Setpoints are calculated per greenhouse, crop and location. Related ## Other tomato varieties and the systems behind them ### TOV / truss tomatoes The Dutch export standard, sold on the vine. ### Cocktail tomatoes Between cherry and truss, and a class in its own right. ### Beef tomatoes The large-fruited slicing class, and the load it puts on a house. ### Climate Heating, cooling, humidity control and carbon dioxide dosing. ### Hydroponics Substrate growing with drip supply and drain recirculation. ## Eaten raw, priced on flavour Cherry tomato is eaten raw and whole, usually out of the hand rather than out of a pan. Nothing is peeled off and nothing is cooked away, so what the fruit carries when it is cut from the plant is what reaches the person eating it. Flavour is where that shows first. Sugar and acid are built in the fruit while it is still attached, and they stop being built the moment it is picked. Fruit harvested early enough to survive a journey colours on the way and still tastes of the day it left. The class is priced on flavour, which makes the harvest date part of the price. A short chain also keeps more of the crop saleable. Cherry is sold by the punnet, and one soft fruit takes the pack with it, so days spent in transit are days the pack can be lost. Picking at colour and delivering the same week protects the eating quality and the pack together. ### Nutrition facts Tomato, red, ripe, raw — year round average Per 100 g Energy 18 kcal Fat 0.2 g Carbohydrate 3.89 g Sugars 2.63 g Fiber 1.2 g Protein 0.88 g Sodium 5 mg Potassium 237 mg Vitamin C 13.7 mg Source: USDA FoodData Central, FDC 170457 Questions ## Cherry tomato, asked and answered Is cherry tomato more profitable than truss? It carries a higher price per kilogram and a higher labour cost per kilogram. Which wins depends on local labour rates, the degree of harvest and pack automation, and the premium the market actually pays. What changes in the greenhouse when the crop is cherry rather than truss? Mostly the handling. The structure and the climate envelope are shared; the difference is the number of fruit moving through the house every week, which sets path width, internal transport and the size of the packing area. What decides cherry tomato flavour? Cultivar sets the ceiling; climate, irrigation strategy and plant load decide how close a crop gets to it. Flavour is steered before harvest, not after. From the knowledge base ## Reads you might find interesting ceacultivationbusiness-case ### Grow Like a Pro: Starting Smart, Growing Strong How Grow Like a Pro combines smart farming, CEA technology and local partnerships for eco-friendly, profitable, pesticide-free greenhouse pr Read article education ### The Case for a College Greenhouse Why a college greenhouse belongs in the curriculum: teaching science, craftsmanship, business logic and sustainability, and preparing studen Read article education ### The Case for a High School Greenhouse Why every high school greenhouse matters: how it makes STEM tangible, builds responsibility and teamwork, and helps students discover their Read article education ### Greenhouses in Education: The Case for Schools Greenhouses in education reconnect students to reality — the full case for why every school, high school, college and trade program should h Read article historyconstruction ### The Origins of Greenhouse Horticulture: My Backyard A tour through greenhouse horticulture history: from 19th-century Westland fruit walls to the “City of Glass” and today’s international high Read article company ### DutchGreenhouses Rebranded: A New Corporate Identity Announcing our new corporate identity — a visual style reflecting our dedication to advanced, high-quality greenhouse projects and The Futur Read article ## Related [Tomato](/crops/tomato.md) · [TOV / Truss Tomatoes](/crops/tomato/tov-tomato.md) · [Cocktail Tomatoes](/crops/tomato/cocktail-tomato.md) · [Beef Tomatoes](/crops/tomato/beef-tomato.md) · [Hydroponics](/irrigation/hydroponics.md) · [Climate](/climate.md) ## See also https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6540634 --- Canonical HTML version: https://dutchgreenhouses.com/crops/tomato/cherry-tomato