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Abstract
Seeds of tomato (Lycopersicon escuientum Mill., cv. Wisconsin 55) were germinated and grown in opaque polyethylene containers with mesh bottoms which were suspended over resin‐buffered nutrient solution. As seeds germinated and radicles reached nutrient solution, the resins maintained preselected ion activity ratios. Free‐ion activities of nutrients were controlled by a series of flow‐thru columns containing synthetic resins (strong acid, weak acid, strong acid resin with a partially‐neutralized hydroxy‐aluminum surface, and chelating resin) loaded at specific ratios of element concentrations. Activities of P, H, Ca, Mg, K, Mn, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Ni were buffered at concentrations similar to those found in natural soil solutions. Of 552 seeds started, 97% germinated, 92% survived, and 58% produced uniform seedlings suitable for transplanting. To minimize transplant injury, each seedling and the container in which it was germinated were transferred together to nutrient solution buffered by flow‐thru resin systems at the selected ion activity ratios. Experimental nutrient treatments were imposed continuously from germination.

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