Introduction

Principles of water and fertilizer management discussed in this chapter apply equally to greenhouse and field production. However, because of greater standardization and degree of control, more precise information is available on irrigation and fertilization requirements in soilless culture than is available for field crops. Information developed in soilless culture, such as essential elements, pH, and salinity, should also be applicable to field-grown tomato crop when the specific soil characteristics are taken into account, however.

To some extent, fertilization practices for greenhouse soilless culture and field production are converging, as drip irrigation with constant or periodic feeding of fertilizers (fertigation) becomes increasingly common for field tomato crops, especially in plasticulture production (use of plastic mulch and drip irrigation). Watering and fertilization guidelines for crop production are given in this chapter, but additional information is also available in the chapters dealing specifically with greenhouse and field production systems. This chapter highlights the water and fertilization requirements of the tomato plant at various stages of development, the interactions between nutrients, and the interactions between watering and fertilization regimes as they relate to various physiological disorders, including blossom-end rot, goldspot, edema, fruit cracking and russeting.