Jointless truss favours Dutch grower to choose Merlice again

With six hectares, nursery Van Ruijven is one of the tomato growers in the Netherlands that cultivates with supplemental lighting. The past year, Van Ruijven (in spite of excellent results) ceased the production of the Merlice variety. The shift was short-lived, because now grower Geert van Ruijven returns to his familiar formula for success with Merlice from De Ruiter.

Geert van Ruijven about his choice: "Not every variety performs as well under supplemental light. Each tomato has its own issues and characteristics. Our current variety has quite a few dropouts, and is not jointless. Merlice has none of these disadvantages, which makes a return to this variety an obvious decision.”

Van Ruijven will plant Merlice in both greenhouses next season, which has everything to do with the ease of processing, the sorting floor processing tomatoes from both the lit and the regular greenhouse. Geert says: "We opt for a smooth growing strategy. We’ll harvest the tomato when it’s between 145 and 150 grams. With this variety, we are sure to get a good production cycle, while maintaining excellent quality.”

For more information: www.deruiterseeds.com