The ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui is being used in Sussex nurseries to get the best out of tomatoes.

Expert practitioners have been called into Hazlewood VHB Runcton Nursery near Chichester and its Toddington Lane site in Littlehampton.

They are advising bosses on the siting of their beehives in a bid to create harmony at the nursery. The bees are used to pollinate the fruit at the country's largest tomato grower at two sites in Sussex. The firm has more than 200 acres nationwide.

Growing equipment and beehives are now being moved to the best places for the Chi, or energy, to flow in the nurseries. Feng Shui is an art which puts items in the best places to enable the Yin and Yang or harmonious balance to be right at the tomato-growing nurseries.

Many leading UK industries have used Feng Shui to help their businesses thrive but this is believed to be a first for tomato growers in Britain. Last year the firm played rock music to their plants to get them to grow better and recorded a five per cent increase in profits through the experiment.

Andrew Cooksey, managing director, said: "Tomato growers will look at anything that will improve the quality and flavour and help us provide a better product. We played rock music to the bees last year and this led to a five per cent increase so we are trying something new this year."

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