(Rogers, Broughton and Wszelaki)

High tunnels are unheated, protected structures that allow growers to extend the season by planting earlier in the spring and/or later in the fall. Tomatoes are a high-value crop and early season, locally, and organically grown tomatoes are in high demand.

The objectives of this study are to:

1) Determine the advantages of using high tunnels for early season production of heirloom and hybrid tomato varieties;

2) Compare yields and days to harvest (actual) of heirloom tomato varieties and hybrids grown at three different planting dates;

3) Compare incidence of disease in heirloom vs. hybrid and high tunnels vs. plants grown outside across three planting dates;

4) Compare soluble solids, titratable acidity, and lycopene content as indicators of quality of heirloom vs. hybrid and high tunnels vs. plants grown outside across three planting dates; and

5) Compare postharvest keeping quality of heirloom vs. hybrid and high tunnels vs. plants grown outside across three planting dates.

This experiment began in Spring 2009 and compared 3 heirloom varieties (Cherokee Purple, Arkansas Traveler and Valancia) to 3 conventional hybrid varieties (Fletcher, Primo Red and BHN 598) across 3 successional planting dates. We evaluated yields, days to harvest, incidence of disease, quality, as measured by lycopene content, soluble sugars and titratable acidity, and marketability.