Tomato

TOV / Truss Tomatoes.

The Dutch export standard, sold on the vine.

Cut once, for the whole cluster

A truss is cut in a single action, and every fruit on it leaves the plant at the same moment. The grower picks one point in time for a cluster whose fruit ripened in sequence. The closer that cut sits to full colour, the more of the vitamin C, the potassium and the pigment is already in the fruit rather than still being made.

Distance moves the cut earlier. A cluster that has to survive a long haul is taken while the last fruit on it is still green, so the first fruit is past its moment on arrival and the last one never finished. The vine holds the cluster together for the journey. It does not hold the fruit at the ripeness it was cut at.

A greenhouse near its market cuts the truss when the cluster is right and delivers it the same week. The whole thing then arrives as it left: the grade the crop is sold on and the condition the fruit is eaten in are the same condition.

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

Truss tomato is harvested as a whole cluster with the vine attached, and that is the product: the fruit is graded on evenness across the truss, not on individual fruit. A cluster carrying one pale or undersized fruit is downgraded whole, so uniformity is worth more here than peak size. It is the format Dutch growers built the export trade on, and it remains the reference crop for high-wire production.

What the crop needs

The crop is long-cycle, grown on substrate and carried on a high wire, planted once and picked for most of the year. Because the plant sets and ripens continuously, the climate has to hold a steady relationship between light and temperature rather than chase a target; a swing shows up several trusses later as uneven ripening. Root-zone control through drip and drain recirculation carries the fruit load, and screening and carbon dioxide dosing are part of the standard envelope rather than additions to it.

What the greenhouse has to do

The house is built for a season that never pauses. The structure carries a crop wire and a fully hung plant for most of the year, and gutter height sets the air volume the climate system has to keep stable underneath it. Light transmission is the first specification: light that reaches the crop in the dark months is production that does not have to be bought back with heat or lamps.

Uniformity is the second. A cluster is graded whole, so a cold corner, a dry section or a shaded bay shows up later as a downgraded truss rather than as a local problem. Even transmission, even air movement and even water delivery across the whole floor decide the grade, which is why the structure, the screening and the irrigation are specified as one package rather than bought as three.

DutchGreenhouses® specifies the structure, climate, screening and irrigation together around the truss tomato crop, its cultivar and the local climate, so the whole cluster reaches grade. Get in touch to plan a tomato greenhouse for your market.

Crop data TOV / truss tomatoes

Day climate^1,2,3,4,5

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 climate^1,3,6,7

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 zone^6,8,9,10

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

Growing systemDutchGreenhouses practice

Hanging gutters: Yes
Plant spacing: 2.5–3.3 stems/m²
Substrate: Rockwool slabs

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

Sourced rows carry their references; system rows are DutchGreenhouses practice. Neither is a specification — setpoints are calculated per greenhouse, crop and location.

Questions

Truss tomato, asked and answered

What makes truss tomato different from loose tomato to grow?

The cluster is graded as one unit, so evenness across the truss decides the grade. That puts more weight on steady climate and consistent fruit set than on reaching maximum individual fruit size.

What decides the size of a truss tomato greenhouse?

The market window and the harvest rhythm. A crop picked for most of the year is sized for continuous throughput, so growing area, internal transport and packing capacity are dimensioned together rather than around a single peak week.

Does truss tomato need supplemental lighting?

It depends on the latitude and the market window being supplied. Lighting extends the productive season in low-light months, and it brings its own heating load and electrical service, so it belongs in the greenhouse design rather than in a later upgrade.