TOMATO CULTURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25629, 1 September 1944, Page 2

TOMATO CULTURE

ERADICATION OF PESTS EXPERIMENTS WITH TEAR GAS (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Aug. 31. One of the healthiest looking crops of glasshouse tomatoes in the Auckland district to-day is probably that being grown at the Government’s plant research station at Mount Albert, where tear gas has been used to disinfect the soil in a house of ordinary commercial size containing 1500 plants. Two other glasshouses, one at St. Heliers and the other at Hastings, are being used for similar experiments. The tomatoes are thriving under experimental conditions as the Government plant scientists try out new methods of ridding glasshouses of diseases and insect pests. If the results come up to Expectations one of the ipost laborious tasks connected with indoor tomato culture—namely, steam sterilisation of soil—should be reduced to a quick and simple method. Tear gas, known to scientists as chloropicrin, has been found effective overseas in destroying fungi and insects, and particularly in eradicating eel worm and overcoming wilt where tomatoes are grown under glass. Tear gas is not at present available for general use because of war conditions, but after the war supplies should be sufficient to meet the commercial demand. The practice adopted has been to inject the gas into the soil. It has been fqund that the gas has a beneficial effect on the fertility of the soil.