Tomatoes

[Brian]

It's been too hot to do much for a while now. So I thought I'd show you my hydroponic tomatoes. This is in the carport, where sometimes it's nice to just sit and lounge about and enjoy the bush. The problem is that on some days you get a howling gale through here. So I thought I'd set up my hydroponic tomatoes here this year and train them up some wire mesh as a wind break........and it works......to a degree!

[Clicker]

I understand you can control the uptake of nurtients and it's pesticide free but in the heat that you hve doesnt that mean you use lots more water due to evaporation ....  It looks a lovely spot to sit though ...all you want now is a bread and cheese tree next to them ...

 How are you getting on with the iMac ...btw

[CMunzel]

Your tomato plants are looking so vigorous, Brian. Love the system you have set up. I’ve been mulching and rigging up shade cloth over mine hoping to save them from predicted 46 degree heat this week. 

[Brian]

6 hours ago, Clicker said:

I understand you can control the uptake of nurtients and it's pesticide free but in the heat that you hve doesnt that mean you use lots more water due to evaporation ....  It looks a lovely spot to sit though ...all you want now is a bread and cheese tree next to them ...

 How are you getting on with the iMac ...btw

Thanks, Poly. Yes they do indeed use a fair bit of water, but the results are worth it. I had some plants left over when I set the system up and I'll do a comparison of some toms growing in potting mix compared to the hydroponics. Theres quite a difference.

The Mac is going well, although I do miss the outright speed of my old pc, which was an i7 with ssd and 16 gig of ram. But nothing compares to the resolution of  Retina 5K display especially with 27 inch screen.

I would add that normally I would trim most of the foliage off the plants. They use less water and more nutrient goes into the fruit. But as I said, this is to cut down the breeze, and seems to be working.

4 hours ago, CMunzel said:

Your tomato plants are looking so vigorous, Brian. Love the system you have set up. I’ve been mulching and rigging up shade cloth over mine hoping to save them from predicted 46 degree heat this week. 

Thanks, Cheryl. They do look nice, don't they. I've got to the stage now where we can't give them away fast enough. 46 deg. is a bit much. Even with hydroponics, the plant can't take up the moisture as fast as it looses it and they wilt. But they come good overnight.

[FUJI]

Those Toms look pretty good to me Brian.....

During my training as a Special-Needs teacher  in the late 1970’s Horticulture was on the curriculum alternating with cooking and life skills.....Hydroponics were being experimented with, I must have been among the first mature students to bring this unusual growing system home.

For three seasons I grew beautiful tomatoes using no soil, just a wall-Paper-paste mix in troughs that had tomato booster added......

Keep  cool Bri.

 

FUJI

[Brian]

1 hour ago, FUJI said:

Those Toms look pretty good to me Brian.....

During my training as a Special-Needs teacher  in the late 1970’s Horticulture was on the curriculum alternating with cooking and life skills.....Hydroponics were being experimented with, I must have been among the first mature students to bring this unusual growing system home.

For three seasons I grew beautiful tomatoes using no soil, just a wall-Paper-paste mix in troughs that had tomato booster added......

Coop cool Bri.

 

FUJI

Thanks, Fuji.........hard to keep cool in this weather. They've threatened us with over 40 degrees for most of this week. It makes it very hard to get motivated to do almost anything. 

Your tomato growing recipe sounds great, I think I might give it a try. Stay tuned!

[FUJI]

Hi, again Brian,

ive just been recalling how we were taught to grow tomatoes hydroponically in the early days of its commercial development in the 1970s .....a long time ago now

 

we used recycled Growbags....or and plastic grow/farm sack....we filled them with inert silver sand....not builders sand)  the wallpaper last we used was the very cheapest available, the kind without mound inhibitors.

the young tomato plants were set in the sand at circa 9 inch intervals....the sand makes the roots deep search the moisture and nutrients in the wallpaper past/ nutrient mix ......I’m still trying to recall how we fed that in.....

But it worked beautifully in my small greenhouse....producing good crops.

Other neutral hydroponic mixtures can be devised if no silver sand is available .... ground coconut shell ....  and that kind of thing, even very fine gravel..... just neutral and friable.

if I can find more I will send it to you.

 

FOUND IT.....here you go Brian

 

http://www.scienceprojectideas.co.uk/growing-plants-without-soil.html

 

FUJI

[NannyFerret]

I haven't grown tomatoes for years, but looking at yours makes me want to plant some again.

Nice pic of them too.

[Korky]

That looks a nice place to sit with a beer and a good book on the Kindle.

Korky

[Brian]

3 hours ago, FUJI said:

Hi, again Brian,

 

FOUND IT.....here you go Brian

 

http://www.scienceprojectideas.co.uk/growing-plants-without-soil.html

 

FUJI

Thanks for the link, Fuji. It gave me a few ideas to try. The nutrient I use is the stuff they use for marijuana and even has a picture of a marijuana plant on the label.

 

2 hours ago, NannyFerret said:

I haven't grown tomatoes for years, but looking at yours makes me want to plant some again.

Nice pic of them too.

I hope it gives you the inspiration to grow some, Nanny. One of my favourite breakfasts is fried tomatoes on toast.

 

1 hour ago, Korky said:

That looks a nice place to sit with a beer and a good book on the Kindle.

Korky

That's the reason for the tomatoes, Korky. To stop the breeze whisking the froth off my home brew! Incidentally, I've just started to re-read Game of Thrones on my Samsung tablet.

[Kobione]

They are doing well Brian, and the set up looks nice too. The best we can get atm is 4 or 5 Cherry Tomatoes daily from pots in the shade house.

[Korky]

On 14/01/2019 at 11:02, Brian said:

I've just started to re-read Game of Thrones on my Samsung tablet.

Funny you should mention Game of Thrones, we've just finished season one on BluRay.

All the gratuitous sex, violence and swearing make it perfect for when the grandkids call round on a Sunday afternoon.

Korky

[Clicker]

 Seems a long way from Bambi.  doesn’t it?

[Brian]

8 hours ago, Korky said:

Funny you should mention Game of Thrones, we've just finished season one on BluRay.

All the gratuitous sex, violence and swearing make it perfect for when the grandkids call round on a Sunday afternoon.

Korky

For gratuitous sex, violence and profanity, you should try "Deadwood". That'll make your hair curl. When I watched the first episode I only got halfway through it and turned it off. But I persevered and after a while you just seem to get de-sensitised. Eventually I found it was one of the most addictive series I've seen and watched the whole 4 series twice so far. Same with Game of Thrones.

 

7 hours ago, Clicker said:

 Seems a long way from Bambi.  doesn’t it?

Bambi it Aint!'

It makes you wonder if this sort of "Entertainment" isn't contributory to the violence in society today. Bring back Bambi and Snow White.