Ring culture is a method of cultivating

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

plants. Tomato plants are grown in a bottomless pot, a "ring", and the pot is partially submerged in a tray of water. It is perhaps best described as Two Zone Culture. The gardener aims to have one layer or zone of roots in a container (bottomless pot) and a second layer or zone of roots in some permeable material like gravel, sand or coarse ashes below. Ring culture forces the plants to develop two

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

systems: one which will absorb the

nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excre ...

s contained in the soil and another which will absorb the water from the tray. It enables a gardener to grow an excellent group of tomatoes in shallow soil. It is used in greenhouses largely for tomatoes and enables a heavy crop to be grown above, for instance, a gravel path or an ash bed.

References

* Tomatoes {{Horticulture-stub

See also

References