Tomatoes are native to Peru, the Aztec name translates to a plump thing with a belly button. How a tomato plant grows depends on how a farmer mulches and fertilizes it, say researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They discovered some unexpected details about the biochemistry that contributes to the production of the juicy red fruit. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay During the winter, farmers grow hairy vetch, which belongs to the bean family. When spring comes, they change the vetch and plant tomatoes in cuttings. Vetch keeps weeds out and keeps nutrients in. Some research shows that tomatoes last longer and contract fewer fungal diseases when grown in dried vetch. “vetch.https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/growing-healthier-tomato-plants” During the winter, farmers grow hairy vetch, which belongs to the bean family. When spring comes, they mow the vetch and plant tomatoes in cuttings. Vetch keeps weeds out and keeps nutrients in. Some research has shown that tomatoes last longer and get less sick from fungal diseases when grown in dried environments. Adding more or too much water can also dilute the flavor. “We know that if you pick fruit from a plant and then it rains a lot and you go back to the same plant the next day, the fruit tastes less tasty,” Klee says. How much and how often you water depends on the amount of rainfall, but most experts recommend watering two to three times a week in the hottest part of the summer. Equally important, says Klee, is the soil. He recommends planting seedlings in rich soil with lots of organic matter or compost. And you can add a steady, slow-release fertilizer (like Osmocote). So why should the Netherlands have many tomato growers? This is where greenhouses come in, the Dutch are known for their efficient food production of tomatoes. It's not just tomatoes, but we sure have a lot of them. In most greenhouses tomatoes are not grown in regular soil. Normal soil is too variable for these greenhouses. Since everything in greenhouses can be controlled (water, light, temperature), they need a “soil” that can be controlled very precisely. Therefore they use a variety of commercial products. They need to feed the plant the exact amount of water the plant needs. The water is not lost because it is drained into the ground, in fact, almost all of it ends up in the ground. In the greenhouse we visited, almost no insecticides etc. were used, instead the natural protection of the tomatoes was used. They have several insects that they use to fight plagues or diseases, to keep tomatoes healthy. One of them is bumblebees. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Apparently bumblebees are the most suitable insects for pollinating tomatoes. Not only do they work all day, even when the weather isn't perfect. Additionally, once they start pollinating tomatoes, they will no longer be interested in other plants, making them very loyal workers. These bumblebees also don't seek out nectar and barely sting people, which is good since it still requires a lot of manual labor. This makes them very efficient pollinators for tomato growers.