Ultra Tomato & Pepper Garden (2/23/2019)--Terminated 7/12/19

[Shawn]

Nice peppers.  It is always a wonderful surprise when you lift leaves and find them.

AS for the yellowed leaves, I myself would take them off.  It may help send the energy to the new growth.

[clumsythumbs]

May 20, 2019 12:29:14 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Nice peppers.  It is always a wonderful surprise when you lift leaves and find them.

AS for the yellowed leaves, I myself would take them off.  It may help send the energy to the new growth.

Yes, I am slowly trimming back. Especially the tomato plant is very dense and I do not want to accidentally chop off a branch with little tomato-lings growing, as I pass by them I have been snipping off some yellowing and slowly cleaning them up. The 'hard' part is the areas that most need to be trimmed are packed inside close to where they are growing. Given how little attention I have given them, I am pleasantly happy with what they are doing! 

[clumsythumbs]

Day 56:

After trimming off a lot of dead and dying leaves on all four plants, they are looking a better.


The tomato still has a lot of dead and dying stuff in the underbrush, but it is hard to get in there and when I do, some un-ripened tomatoes threaten to come off. Harvested about 5 varying size tomatoes Tuesday night. So far have gotten 9 tomatoes off of it and I counted Monday, there are at least 40ish varying size growing. They seem to ripening faster now, and I can probably get enough 5-10 this weekend. I have had about 8 fall off still green. I am not sure why.  Either I am knocking them off, accidentally snipped something when trying to clean up and prune, or there are some weakened stems and vines due to whatever issues are going on. 


On the tomato,  te leaves are still curled up-- some curled 'down' (underside of leaves curling in) and some are curling up (underside curling up/topside curling in). Any ideas what this means? I think am going to post about this on the general board, but I am a little confused about signs between PH imbalance and nutrient uptake, over feeding, and not getting enough nutrients. I took a trip to the local hydro store and talked to the owner there and he had some interesting things to say (will post elsewhere). 

I have pics to post that was going to post yesterday, but never was able to do so before work due to the server issues...and now flikr is down. So...those will have to wait.

The Sweet Bell Pepper is looking good (photos coming), after trimming the yellowing and older leaves most are looking pretty fresh. A few premi-barely developed ones have fallen off when I try to shake the plant to pollinate. I am a bit worried as all of the pollinated peppers are in odd locations that when they start to get bigger, I am like 'where are they going to go?" like growing upside down and into a branch.... i figure once they get bigger and I know what their intentions are, I can just cut off whatever leaves or branches are in their way? I don't want to mess too much with them while they are young and delicate.

The Poblano is standing strong. It seems I just have the 5 peppers for now. None of them are flowering.  The Sweet Heat has several growing, and a few flowers have opened and I have tried to be the bee... we will see.

What is the flowering cycle like on these? As Shawn mentioned a few posts up, I can still add Mooch of calmag...?? I am not sure how the flowering on peppers works.

Ok, even though I said I'd post this question in the general forum, I am going to recount my story here and perhaps re-post the question more generally on another board (for more people to see).

So, as my posts have mentioned, I came home last week from a week long trip-- all 4 plants generally had a lot of dead and yellowing and curled leaves. I have only been doing the AG nutes and was a few days late on the feeding (was due Weds night, they got it Sunday morning). The fruit production has not been a ton (yet...maybe this is normal), with the exception of the tomato which has lots of them. [There are 4-5 poblanos, 5-6 sweet heats, and 6+ bells @ days].  So, I have had some difficulty getting a calmag supplement. So, found a new (to me) hydro store very close to my apt. Stopped in Tuesday after I went running at the lake. He told me based on what I had told him, it was not a nutrient deficiency, but a PH issue and that "9 times out of 10" people come in looking for a supplement and what they really need is to adjust PH. He even was kind of enough to say he would sell me a PH tester pen thing and if the PH was fine he would let me return it/exchange for whatever I wanted. He was selling for $30 and I saw ones on Amazon for $9, so instead of being locked into having to buy something for $30, I just said I'd order and come back. The tester will arrive today. From my [limited] understanding, if PH is off, plants cannot adequately absorb available nutrients, so it makes sense that a calmag supplement won't really help if PH is off. He also said he rarely finds hydro projects' PH to be too low, it is usually too high. I had mentioned that I have read many stories on here that the PH was veering too low. 

So, I guess my question is: how do you which it is? What are signs? Cuz from my ~30 min of reading while one of my students was doing a quiz yesterday found that the signs all seem to be similar.... yellowing leaves, especially on the younger or baby leaves, upward leaf curl, low flowering....I know this has been discussed over and over various places here. My gut sort of says you learn this from experience over time. 

Anyhow, when the PH tester comes today, I will test and see. I really did not want to venture into doing the tests, but I mean for $9 on amazon prime, I can't really be too upset. 

Will update this post once Flikr works again and I can access my photos.

[clumsythumbs]

Day 61:

I have continued to be able to harvest 3 - 6 tomatoes a day for the last several days. I think so far I have harvested about 20 in the last 2 weeks. There are many more green ones, so should be getting several small harvests once or twice a week. There haven't been flowers in forever, so not sure what will happen...

Here are some photos. These are from a several different harvests despite them looking more or less the same (same bowl, same location)  :

Last night:

20190527_152139 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr


Sunday morning:

20190526_202215 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr


Friday night:

20190526_202203 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr


Whenever I touch the plant usually a bunch tumble off (mostly green), but I find if you place them near the AG they ripen over the few days...they are just smaller.

The sizes range from about the size of a nickel to a half dollar / silver dollar. I don't really get the 'sweetness' that some people say, but they are very flavorful and tomato-y. They skins aren't as tough and mealy as the cherry/grape tomatoes I would buy in the store. Been having 6 or so a day on a large lunch or dinner salad.


All of the peppers are about the same. Saw a flower on the Sweet Heat Saturday, but it fell right off when I tried to pollinate.

Will update again in a few days.

[KarenR]

They look great but why do you think the tomatoes are falling off when you touch the plants?  What did you learn from the hydro store?

[clumsythumbs]

May 28, 2019 17:57:07 GMT -5 KarenR said:

They look great but why do you think the tomatoes are falling off when you touch the plants?  What did you learn from the hydro store?

I think it is a combination of them being so tightly clustered and the general weight of them versus the strength of the stems? 

I did not really learn much. He suggested to check the PH, which is off. And I have been adding vinegar to bring it down, but am going to order some ph down come pay day on Friday. I figure from there once PH is balanced, I can decide whether I think it is lacking nutrients? I am not sure what direction to go at this point so just kind of taking it easy since things are generally going ok (other than the pale upturned leaves). 

[clumsythumbs]

So I took my usual summer time trip back to CA and terminated this garden before leaving. I transplanted both plants and gave them to some friends. From what they have told me the tomato continues to do well, and the Sweet Heat is on the verge of death. I have not heard from the friends who took the poblano and bell pepper plants.

The tomatoes continued to produce and the sweet heats had a ton growing when I transplanted/gave it away. The poblano had a few more growing. Overall, the peppers were good sized on this, but the output was lower (about 6 or 7 total). The Bells were nice, but really small. The flavor was really nice. Not sure why they were so small, not sure I'd grow again (so little output). In the future, I might start in the AG and transplant. However, being that  am gone during summer, not sure it is feasible. 

[Shawn]

clumsythumbs, are you back from traveling?  If so will you be starting new gardens?  If you will be, why  not join in the GAL that will begin in two weeks?   If you can't, no worries.  We look forward to seeing your future AG gardens

[clumsythumbs]

Hi Shawn!  Yes, I am back home. I will be starting new gardens (probably today?!).  I just re-rinsed and sanitized all three of my gardens last night   which was a chore!  I did see that GAL.  I think I might! I was going to do two salad gardens, so if I plant one this week and then one first week of September (I have a few heirloom lettuce kits), I might have a good rotation of greens.  I am still trying to sort through and see what I want to do.  

I bought some Arugula from Park Seeds several months back when they were having all of those 10/$10 sales and realized it is a 'must plant this season', so will be planting some of that. No idea how much comes in the packet. I also want to try some of the other peppers I bought. I got a Sureno Hybrid pepper from Park that looks interesting. Compact and supposedly high yielding, so might plant that along with a sweet heat in one of the Ultras. I also want/need some herbs, but only a select few...and I know folks do not have much luck mixing herbs and lettuce.  

So, long story short still thinking it all over! I will post in the GAL thread if I am able to join it! 

[Shawn]

Well I hope your summer has been great! 

Those peppers look good.  I may have to place them on my list of things to try.  As for the GAL if you decided to join in we would be happy to have you

[clumsythumbs]

So...

The tomato plant and three peppers (Poblano, Sweet Bell, and Sweet Heat) that I transplanted and gave away have been given back to me.

The Sweet Heats did not quite make it. The tomato is technically live, but I maybe on its last legs, BUT the Bell and Poblanos are quite healthy....

Whether they flower or not again not sure...

20190903_094612 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

20190903_094626 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr


Even though I kept insisting to my two sets of friends I was GIVING to them, when I saw them over this weekend they gave them back. The one friend because she felt she killed them and felt guilty; the other friend because her cat was eating the leaves of the bell pepper plant.

I will admit I am happy to have them back. The bell pepper had a few flowers, but were lost in the car, and has a few flowers opening this morning. I saw some actual bees doing their thing...so I may be a few more peppers yet. Any one have experience using AG nutes on potted plants?

The AG site says you can use the old water from the machines , but I am afraid to do that...a few times the plants didn't seem to like it. Perhaps the ratio was off or something.  I always add some Mir Grow water soluble granules of the general plant food.

[clumsythumbs]

Thanks, @cornne!  The AG nute bottle says you can do 4ml/gal of water, but was not sure if anyone has tried. I guess I will experiment and see! I am not sure my friends even 'fed' the thing and it is doing fine, so will not stress too much about it   lol

The plants look like they still have good life to them and will be around for a while longer!

[clumsythumbs]

The last week or two the Bell Pepper plant was flowering. Looked like some did pollinate, but was not sure if they'd take. Well... see for yourself!!


2019-09-17_05-01-34 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

2019-09-17_05-01-01 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr


There are about 4-5 that have bore fruit. I have had several fall off very early on before, so we will see how many "make it". Nice that this is still producing, given that my initial harvest when it was in the AG was relatively small. The poblano (thus far) hasn't done anything. But it is still nice to have some green on the balcony.

[Shawn]

It surprised you!  Very Nice. I still have one out on the deck however with the low temps coming in I do not know how much longer it will last.

[clumsythumbs]

The tomatoes flowered last week and a few little growths have formed. Not many, but looks like I may get another small batch from these! Not sure if they will get killed off by the weather. Fingers crossed.  


2019-10-01_02-40-50 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr

still producing. Can you bring them in during the night..maybe in a hall away from your machines? That way they will bask and grow in the daytime sun and be safe at night and you could squeeze another harvest out of them. I am always so sad when gardening season is coming to an end, BUT Autumn is my fave...