Ido Seginer

A method is described, which can be used to estimate the most economical night-time greenhouse temperature for a particular crop. The method requires growth data, engineering data and economic data to produce a solution.

An example is presented to illustrate the method: Growth-chamber data for tomato seedlings are used to obtain the sensitivity of that crop to deviations from the physiologically optimal night temperature. The available data seem to indicate that a 12 K deviation from the optimum results in a yield decrease of 20%. The recommended night temperature in the example is about half-way between the physiological optimum and the outside temperature.