"We have regained the confidence to continue growing organic tomatoes in the future"
In recent years, organic tomato growers have been struggling with root-knot nematodes in their crops. The new Sanaterra rootstock from Takii is giving growers an effective tool to control these pests, even under high temperatures. "Thanks to Sanaterra, we've regained the confidence to continue growing organic tomatoes in the future," says Sjaak van Spronsen of Viridis Eco (formerly Tabos Eco), an organic vegetable grower on Voorne-Putten in the Netherlands since 2014.
For years, the nematodes caused major headaches at the company. "They puncture the roots, leaving them damaged and unable to produce fine root hairs. This severely reduces the plant's ability to take up water and nutrients, especially in warm weather. For us, that meant yield losses of 15 to 20 percent," Sjaak explains in a video.
The pressure from root-knot nematodes became so severe that Viridis Eco was forced to stop growing organic truss tomatoes altogether. Last year, they cautiously ran a small trial on just a few gutters. The results were so positive that this year, with the help of Takii's new rootstock, they've once again planted their entire greenhouse with truss tomatoes. "Right from the start of the trials, we saw that these roots stayed clean, while the rest of the greenhouse was suffering from heavy nematode pressure. For us, it's been a real breakthrough, and we're absolutely thrilled," Sjaak says.
