Ring culture is a method of cultivating

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

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 plant organ, 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 bel ...

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 excret ...

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