Tomato clips boost growth of young tomato plants

Stress-free plant

A stress-free plant grows better. Excessive care of the plant causes it stress and is detrimental to its generative growth.  This is because the plant must first put its energy into relieving that stress and is unable to put that energy into growth. With the use of clips, there is hardly any physical contact with the plant and stress is substantially reduced. This in contrast to winding the plant around.

The tomato clip: the ultimate in space and freedom for growth

The inside of the clip has a ribbed edge; when the clip is closed, the clip clamps onto the twine and can no longer move. So the clip is fixed vertically, the size of the clip allows the plant to move horizontally and the stem thickness also has room grow. The tomato clips are available in various diameters. A small plant is not something you want to put into a clip that is too big, because too much freedom of movement is not a good thing; nor is a large plant something that you want to put into a small clip, because then there is the risk of pinching it off and causing it stress. We sell 15mm clips with a tolerance of up to 1mm. We also have 23mm and 25mm clips in our range. The 15 mm clips are often used for cherry tomatoes, the 23 mm for vine tomatoes or Roma tomatoes and the 25 mm for beef tomatoes.

Colours of tomato clips

We supply clips from the Simonetti brand in a transparent version and in 3 colours: white, black and terracotta. The choice for one of the three is made by the grower themselves. Growers tend to have a personal preference as far as the colour to be used is concerned. The black truss support is our flagship product and consequently the one we sell the most.

Apart from that, the product in black is also made out of recycled materials for 70%, this is naturally better in terms of sustainability. Although a few people think that this means the quality is not as good, this is absolutely not the case.In fact, recycled plastic can be recycled and reused up to 7 times before its properties change in terms of strength.

Our choice for tomato clips from the Simonetti brand

We offer an excellent price for the comparatively high level of quality that we provide. This price-quality ratio was therefore decisive in our choice of distributor. The price is a major factor because large quantities are involved. We are happy to provide an example of a calculation based on a medium-sized Dutch vine tomato grower:

• 3 plants per m2;
• A clip spaced every 20 cm;
• One plant approx.16m in height;
• 80 clips per plant, 240 clips per m2
• 6 hectares (60,000 m2)

In this example, over 14 million clips are needed annually. The average price for clips at Hortus (especially for the 15 mm version) is 10 to 20% lower than that of our competitors. This means that we are talking about savings of between € 7,500 and € 15,000 on an annual basis for a medium-sized grower.

Both for larger and smaller quantities, the market confirms that we are cheaper every time. We have plenty of products in stock and are therefore able to deliver very quickly (1 to 2 weeks).  Manufacturer Simonetti continually invests in greater production capacity so delivery reliability is also guaranteed for the future.

Hortus has been a Simonetti supplier for two years now, and after a one-year trial period, we have been granted exclusive dealership for a number of geographical markets. We can see from the ever-increasing sales that the market is very satisfied with the tomato clips product group from Simonetti .

Some growers prefer to clip 50% of the way, so every 40 cm (instead of 20 cm). The advantage of clipping every 20 cm is that you then place a clip under every new node that grows (leaf/stem), this ensures the most optimal guidance and helps to increase the yield.

Would you like more information about tomato clips? Then please contact our specialists in tomato clips and truss supports at www.hsibv.nl or call +31 297 524919

Randor Cena (global) Randor@hsibv.com

Gijs van de Pol (Benelux) Gijs@hsibv.com