Russia: ‘We’ve continuously improved the results over the years’

Aksenov Valentin grows tomatoes under plastic covers in Russia. A few years ago he put his trust in the variety Mahitos RZ, which combines a good flavour with reliable production characteristics. With long-standing experience and an open mind, he claims to have gotten the best out of this variety.

Big fruits
“I have been growing tomatoes since 1983. My village, called Krivyanskaya, is a real centre for tomato production. There are more than 3,000 growers in total producing on 200 hectares. We all supply our products to the same wholesale market, where they are collected to be sent to buyers in Moscow. The buyers are looking for a good flavour and large, slightly pointed fruits.”

Flavour
“I had my first experience with Mahitos RZ six years ago. It was introduced by Rijk Zwaan’s regional representative Gennady, and stood out thanks to its good flavour. I decided to trial it and tried out different plant densities. I achieved the best results with 50 cm; since then it has been my standard variety.”

“No other variety stays in balance with such a high fruit load. And even when the soil quality is poor, Mahitos is still able to produce big enough fruits. Almost the whole village is now growing this variety, so that says enough.”

Discussions
“Nevertheless, our local climate is a continuous challenge. Planting problems and blossom-end rot are typical problems for this region, so it’s important to discuss how we can manage them. We do this with other growers, but also during visits by Gennady and seminars, and by sharing information on websites."

"For example, we’ve installed truss support, tried different kinds of fertilisers and introduced a shadow net for hot days. Over the years we’ve been able to increase the production of Mahitos to 9kg per square metre during our short season, which is 50% more than five years ago!”

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