From the Fields: Ray Yeung, Yolo County farmer

By Ray Yeung, Yolo County farmer

The processing tomato company Morning Star developed a system called Gradient for irrigating their tomatoes. We use it on our tomatoes. It takes pictures of the plant, and it uses some kind of algorithm to measure the plant’s health and how much water it needs. It reads how much moisture is coming off the plant, and it uses all kinds of complicated mathematical formulas for when you should irrigate.

It’s a total game changer because a lot of times when you use a moisture meter, it may say the soil is wet, but the plants still need water. This thing is amazing because it goes in the soil, and it has a camera that takes a picture of the plant, and it figures out whether the plant needs water. It’s unbelievable because we have fields that we haven’t given a drop of water.

There’s another product called Skeepon made by Ac-Planta out of Japan that prevents transplant shock and heat damage. We’ve been using it since last year. I’m always willing to try something because you just never know. When I first tried it, I waited for the absolute hottest day of the year to plant the tomatoes, and amazingly, they survived. We’re working with it again this year. 

You apply the material, which is like vinegar, to the transplant at the greenhouse. You mix it with water and spray it over the top of the plant, and then you can put another application on before you plant. It makes the plant more resilient to heat. 

I’m so excited about this. That’s why I jumped on board because every other product out there tries to change the environment for the plant. This is the only product that changes the plant for the environment.

Because of this product, we’re probably the only guys in the state planting tomatoes in this heat because no one else is willing to take the risk. They’re afraid the plants are going to burn.