On Friday, October 25th, we carried out a transplant day at the Cooperative of Agroecological Production (COPA) in Guernica, Buenos Aires province. There, together with Minka, we evaluated the behavior of one of the heirloom tomato varieties rescued by FAUBA.
It is a pear-shaped heirloom tomato called “Ronita.” The seeds of this variety were multiplied and provided by the Gorina Experimental Station, which depends on the Ministry of Agrarian Development of the province of Buenos Aires.
At the beginning of September (01/09), 36 seeds were sown in “speedling” trays, along with the other three varieties of heirloom tomatoes (7, 56, and 172) that are being evaluated collectively as part of the “Rescuing the Heirloom Tomato” project.
A few days later, the Ronita variety began to emerge, reaching 100% germination after 20 days after sowing (20/9). It should be noted that, in the same period, the rest of the heirloom varieties had not yet germinated.
At the end of a month, the seedlings had reached the necessary size and robustness to be transplanted.
The transplant day was attended by Paula, Agustina, and Luai from Minka; and Román from Bioleft. We began with a beautiful ceremony around the sowing of two varieties of corn, “Maíz chipá” and “Maíz Mezdi,” after weeding and working the soil.
After sowing, we moved to the tomato sector. There, the land was already prepared to receive the seedlings. There are 2 ridges 7 meters long to which “bokashi” (an organic fertilizer, enriched with minerals, produced from the fermentation of organic materials) and cow manure were added as a fertility booster.
These ridges are located in the same sector that was used in the previous campaign for the evaluation of the Ox-Heart tomato and have drip irrigation.
A total of 31 pear-shaped heirloom tomato “Ronita” seedlings were transplanted at a distance of 50 cm between plants in a linear form, interspersed with basil seedlings.
After transplanting, there was some rainfall, which was very good for achieving a good establishment of the seedlings.
We thank Minka for their interest and willingness to work together. We hope that this campaign will be very fruitful!