Tomato Solutions, Chatham Use of Topaz (propiconazole) for transplant size control and early maturity of processing tomato John Lang Kraft Canada, Dresden Jim Dick Tomato Solutions, Chatham John Zandstra Ridgetown College

Background managing transplant height can be challenging at times techniques to help manage height would be useful - transplants which establish and grow quickly are desired

Paclobutrazol (Bonzi) - application to processing tomato seedlings as a soil drench @ 5 ppm at the 2 leaf stage required up to 5 times the fertilizer rate to achieve the desired plant height - resulted in increased vigor in the field and advanced maturity

Propiconazole (Topaz, Tilt) presently registered as a fungicide on several food crops in Ontario: sweet corn - apricot rutabaga - cherry asparagus - peach and nectarine

Methods - Transplants produced in the research greenhouse at Kraft, Dresden Used 2 commercial varieties TSH 04 (early hybrid) CC337 (late inbreed)

Methods Treatments included: 1. Control 2. 5 ppm Paclobutrazol 3. 25 ppm Propiconazole 4. 25 ppm propiconazole (2 applications) 5. 37.5 ppm propiconazole 6. 50 ppm propiconazole - All treatments were applied at the 2nd true leaf stage at a volume of 100 ml per tray

Greenhouse Fertilizer Regime - used Plant Products 12-2-14 and 14-0-14 fertilizer Control: 60-5-65 fertilizer solution at all times Paclobutrazol: 150-25-175 for 5 days per week; 60-5-65 the rest of the time Propiconazole: 150-25-175 once per week 60-5-65 the rest of the time

Plant Height (mm) - 42 days c b a ab a ab

Plant Weights (g) 42 days c b d b b b c a b b b a c b b b b a

Plant Weights – Field (Ridgetown) TSH04 and CC337 b a a a a a b a a a a a

Flower Counts – Ridgetown TSH04 and CC337 b b a a a a a a a a a a

Yield (tons/acre) – Ridgetown TSH04 and CC337

Yield (percentage) – Ridgetown TSH04 and CC337 bc bc bc b a d cd bc abc ab a

Methods – Trial 2 Treatments included: 1. Control 2. 2.5 ppm paclobutrazol 3. 50 ppm propiconazole 4. 100 ppm propiconazole 5. 150 ppm propiconazole 6. 200 ppm propiconazole - All treatments were applied at the 2nd true leaf stage at a volume of 100 ml per tray Propiconazole treatments were made by applying 50 ppm solution at 5 day intervals

Plant Weight (g) – 36 Days c c c bc b c bc c c a b a b b b b ab a

Plant Weights – Field d c b b b a d cd b bc bc a

Flower Counts c c bc ab ab a c c bc bc ab cd a d bc cd a a

Uniconazole - presently registered for growth regulation in greenhouse bedding plants previous work demonstrated similar growth response of beans to paclobutrazol and uniconazole minor use request for use on tomato and pepper transplants in US

Plant Height a b b c c c a