A high-performance, natural solution for tomato crop improvement

BVT’s comprehensive, stackable system uses commercially-reared bees to deliver highly targeted pest and disease control without harmful chemicals.

Increase your crop yield

Experience more fruit yield in tomatoes per acre

Reduce fungicide and pesticide usage

Reduce (or even eliminate) the number of fungicide and pesticide sprays applied

Grow healthier plants

Plants achieve a higher vigor rating than fungicide or pesticide treated crops

Extend shelf life

Provide a longer lasting crop that offers more economic value to retailers

Learn how the BVT system can prevent outbreaks in your tomato crops

Common diseases and pests affecting tomatoes

Tomatoes are susceptible to a number of common diseases and pests that can wreak havoc on plant health, fruit yield and ultimately shelf life from farm to plate. The BVT system has been specifically engineered to target these fungal diseases and pests, dramatically improving crops all season long.

What is it?

Botrytis (or grey mold) is a common and destructive disease of greenhouse tomatoes, and in some climates, field-grown tomatoes. The disease can affect all above-ground parts of tomatoes. A characteristic sign is a fuzzy grey-brown appearance on leaves as they turn yellow and brown, and on affected portions of the stems.

How does it enter the plant?

Clouds of Botrytis spores are readily released from the fuzzy areas and dispersed in the air throughout the crop, thereby spreading the disease. In greenhouse tomatoes, stem lesions often develop at sites where green leaves are removed as a management practice and may enlarge sufficiently to cause the entire plant to wilt and die. The flowers are readily infected by spores dispersed from diseased foliage, but may remain deceptively healthy to the naked eye. Flowers are major entry points through which Botrytis invades the fruit. Fruit symptoms often develop soon after harvest especially at the stem end or blossom end.

Where does it come from?

Botrytis is ubiquitous in many kinds of cultivated and wild plants outdoors and is extremely common in greenhouses. Botrytis can enter greenhouses as airborne spores through open doors and ventilators, and on plant materials and soil brought into the greenhouse.

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What is it?

Rhizopus rot appears on tomato fruit as watery lesions which become covered in whitish whiskery fungal growth with minute black capsules at the ends of the whiskers. The capsules easily rupture and release spores into the environment. Rhizopus can affect fruit at all stages of ripeness and symptoms are commonly found during shipment, on the grocery shelf and after final sale.

How does it enter the Plant?

Rhizopus can enter tomato fruit via wounds, however minute. It is also thought to enter directly through the “skin” from adhering flower tissues and in association with Botrytis infection.

Where does it come from?

Rhizopus is an extremely common and cosmopolitan fungus. It is familiar also as whiskery growth on spoiled fruit and vegetables.

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What is it?

Thrips are brownish insects about 2 mm long that can damage tomato flowers and foliage. They are particularly important because they can carry and transmit the destructive tomato spotted wilt virus as they feed on the foliage.

How does it enter the plant?

As thrips eat or bite the plant, they commonly cause irregular areas of whitish discoloration on leaves and petals and leave behind tell-tale deposits of dark colored frass or excrement.

Where does it come from?

Thrips can survive and multiply on many kinds of weeds and crop plants.

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What is it?

Adult spider mites are about 0.3 to 0.5 mm long, are reddish brown, often spotted, and have four pairs of legs (in contrast to insects which have three pairs). Adult mites, pale larvae, round eggs and silk like webbing can be seen with a hand lens on the leaf undersides. Mites often migrate in the air on strands of the webbing.

How does it enter the plant?

Mites damage the leaves as they feed and cause yellow to brownish stippling or mottling of the leaves. Affected leaves are often covered with the silken webbing.

Where does it come from?

Mites survive and multiply on many kinds of crop and wild plants. Crop management operations may cause mites to become airborne and spread within the crop or to other crops. Harvesting of outdoor crops may result in influxes of airborne mites into greenhouses.

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The natural way to improve yields

BVT’s easy-to-use tray system introduces natural organic compounds to tomato plants using commercially-reared bees.

As the bees pollinate a crop, they leave behind the foundation for a season-long pest and disease management program that encourages even and progressive growth, resulting in a healthy, high yield harvest.

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Bee walking through Vectorite and Active Ingridients in Vectorpak
A commercially-reared bee walking through the BVT system, picking up beneficial material as it exits the hive.

The BVT dispenser system contains the inoculant crop control as a part of the Vectorpak™ tray with Vectorite™ powder. The mixture allows the bees to effectively pick up the product on their way out of the hive.

 

Reduce your chemical sprays

BVT can help growers reduce chemical sprays!

growth of tomatoes - comparison of BVT with conventional fungicide spraying

Eliminate traditional spraying

Spraying of fungicides is the most commonly used method for combating disease in a tomato crop. Because many diseases do not exhibit symptoms until it is too late, spraying is used preventatively across an entire crop. Fungicide spraying is usually done at intervals over a calendar period, prohibiting consistent crop progression since each spray cycle stunts plant growth.

 

Start your demonstration today!

Contact one of our representatives to setup an on-site demonstration of the BVT system to experience the improvement it can have on your crop yield.