--- title: "TOV / Truss Tomatoes" description: "Truss tomato is harvested as a whole cluster with the vine attached, and graded on evenness across the truss. Reference values with their Dutch sources." canonical: "https://dutchgreenhouses.com/crops/tomato/tov-tomato" locale: "en" updated: "2026-08-11" --- # TOV / Truss Tomatoes > Part of: [Tomato](/crops/tomato.md) · Provider: [DutchGreenhouses](/) Truss tomatoes are tomatoes harvested and sold as a whole cluster with the vine attached, graded on evenness across the truss rather than on individual fruit. The format is the Dutch export standard and the reference crop for high-wire greenhouse production, grown long-cycle on substrate with recirculating irrigation. Tomato # TOV / truss tomatoes. The Dutch export standard, sold on the vine. 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 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 ### 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. Related ## Other tomato varieties and the systems behind them ### Cherry tomatoes Small fruit, high count, and labour as the deciding cost. ### 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. ### Hydroponics Substrate growing with drip supply and drain recirculation. ### Climate Heating, cooling, humidity control and carbon dioxide dosing. ### Grow lights Supplemental light for the low-light months. ## 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 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. 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