Cocktail Tomatoes — DutchGreenhouses

Between cherry and truss, and a class in its own right

Cocktail tomato sits between cherry and truss in fruit size and is sold both on the vine and loose. It is a distinct market class rather than a size variant, with its own cultivars, its own price position and its own buyers. Growers choose it to reach a segment that finds cherry too small to use as a cooking tomato and truss too large to eat whole.

What the crop needs

The crop is long-cycle on substrate and high wire. Its demands sit between the two neighbouring classes: more fruit per plant than truss and fewer than cherry, with a correspondingly intermediate harvest rhythm. Consistency of fruit size within the truss or the pack is the quality that carries the price, and it is held through steady climate and controlled plant load rather than through grading after harvest.

What the greenhouse has to do

Cocktail sits between two crops in what it asks of a house, and the sale form decides which way the specification leans. On the vine, the truss has to reach grade as a unit, so evenness across the floor governs. Sold loose, grading and packing capacity governs instead. Both run on the same long-cycle high-wire structure, and both need the climate held steady enough that fruit size does not drift through the season.

Light moves the answer most. Cocktail is grown commercially under full light-emitting-diode installations as well as under glass alone, and that choice changes the heating load, the electrical service and the screening strategy together. It is a structural decision taken with the greenhouse, not a fixture chosen after the house is standing.

DutchGreenhouses® specifies the structure, climate, screening and irrigation around the cocktail tomato crop, its cultivar and the local climate, so fruit size holds within the pack. Get in touch to plan a tomato greenhouse for your market.

TOV / truss tomatoes

The Dutch export standard, sold on the vine.

Cherry tomatoes

Small fruit, high count, and labour as the deciding cost.

Beef tomatoes

A large-fruited class where the Dutch evidence is historical.

Grow lights

Supplemental light for the low-light months.

Climate

Heating, cooling, humidity control and carbon dioxide dosing.

Questions

Cocktail tomato, asked and answered

How does cocktail tomato differ from cherry?

It is a larger fruit sold into a different segment, with its own cultivars and price position. It is a separate market class, not a grading outcome from a cherry crop.

Does cocktail tomato need full LED?

Not necessarily, but the decision belongs with the greenhouse. Full light-emitting-diode installations are in commercial use for this class, and choosing one changes the heating load, the electrical service and the screening strategy at the same time.

On the vine or loose?

A market decision that changes the crop. It affects harvest labour, pack format and how saleable yield is counted, so it belongs in the brief before the house is designed.

Crop data

Cocktail tomatoes — reference values

Reference values from the DutchGreenhouses crop model, each traced to its Dutch source below. Ranges describe published practice across systems and seasons; a project setpoint is calculated for the actual greenhouse, crop and climate.

Day climateMedium confidence¹²³⁴⁵

Air temperature: 19–23 °C
Relative humidity: 82–88 %
Vapour-pressure deficit: 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 climateMedium confidence¹³⁶⁷

Air temperature: 17–20 °C
Relative humidity: 85–90 %
Vapour-pressure deficit: 0.2–0.34 kPa
CO₂ concentration: 420–500 ppm
Root-zone temperature: 17–20 °C

Irrigation and root zoneMedium confidence⁶⁸⁹¹⁰

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

Where these come from

Kas als Energiebron, 2020 — Lit tomato crop timing and lighting. University/extension · High confidence · E015One Dutch full-LED trial; cultivar and planting date apply.
Kas als Energiebron Academy Tomaat, 2023 — Radiation–temperature ratio (RTR). University/extension · Medium confidence · E016A practice method and participant example, not a universal optimum.
Kas als Energiebron / Delphy, 2022 — Energy-efficient LED temperature and humidity. University/extension · High confidence · E017Observed successful trial conditions; not proof that RH values are universal optima.
Kas als Energiebron / WUR, 2014 — Tomato CO₂ operating range. University/extension · High confidence · E023Economic and ventilation context still changes the optimal dose.
Kas als Energiebron project 20184 — Modern full-LED tomato project configuration. University/extension · High confidence · E029Demonstration configuration; installed capacity is not a universal crop optimum.
Kas als Energiebron / Delphy, 2025 — Humidity, EC and transpiration under LED. University/extension · Medium confidence · E018Interim results; final minimum-transpiration guidance was not yet published.
WUR / del Amor & Marcelis, 2005 — Humidity response and nutrient uptake. Peer-reviewed · Medium confidence · E022Controlled-condition mechanism; not a mature commercial recipe.
Proefstation voor Tuinbouw onder Glas / WUR, 1994 — Closed-system tomato nutrient solution. University/extension · Medium confidence · E021Authoritative Dutch basis but old; modern root-volume and cultivar effects require monitoring.
WUR / Li, Stanghellini & Challa, 2001 — Tomato EC × transpiration response. Peer-reviewed · Medium confidence · E027High-salinity experiment; use for risk response, not the normal operating setpoint.
Kas als Energiebron, 2023 — Nutrition under lower transpiration. University/extension · Medium confidence · E028Supports a feedback strategy rather than a static nutrient recipe.

These are reference values, not a specification. DutchGreenhouses does not publish project setpoints; those are calculated per greenhouse, crop and location.

From the knowledge base