Aerogarden heirloom cherry tomatoes in Harvest unit

[hakaku]

Timeframe: Started on December 21st, 2019

Variety: 2 "heirloom cherry tomatoes" from Aerogarden's pod kit

Unit: Harvest

7 or 8 days:

14 days:

20 days:

29 days:

No pruning so far. Just trimmed the roots a little on day 29 (the roots of the two plants were mingling, but luckily none of them were even close to the motor). I got spacers a couple weeks in for the empty ones (no algae thankfully). I'm hoping to see them flower by the end of the week. Will continue to update this thread.

31 days:

You can see the flowers starting to open. I've been pollinating them using AG's bee pollinator (it's cute), as well as by gently shaking the flowers. There's a fan nearby, but it's not directly blowing on the tomato plants.

37 days:

Most of the flower buds that appeared are now blooming.

45 days:

Sometime around day 40 tomatoes started forming. By day 42 a few of them became sizable. Above is day 45, showing some that are still forming and others that are bigger.

55 days:

Some of the leaves started to yellow, but otherwise all the tomatoes are looking fine. Still green though.

60 days:

No photo yet. But a number of them have started to turn yellow and orange. I think the first yellowing ones appeared around day 58. New branches have also formed and new flowers have appeared on them.

I still haven't trimmed any of the branches or leaves. I was trimming the roots but stopped after tomatoes started forming.

62 days:

Colours are changing!

67 days:

Getting nice and red! We picked a few. Unfortunately most of them just tasted like water.

I started trimming some branches because the leaves were unsightly and/or too much in the way.

Note: The timer is off by 2 days because we had a couple outages.

79 days:

Both plants are starting to grow out to the sides.

At this point I got a PPM/TDS meter as well as a PH meter to keep the plants in check. Turns out the amount of nutrients in the water was far lower than what is recommended for tomato plants in hydroponic setups, so I started increasing the amount of nutrients in the water on a regular basis rather than follow AG's two-week schedule. The low PPM could also explain the tasteless/watery tomatoes.

84 days:

Current status. I will have to start picking off the tomatoes soon. Both plants are already growing numerous new fruits.

You'll notice here I got more aggressive with the branch pruning so that it stopped being a mess and so I could more easily access the tomatoes.

[Shawn]

Looks good!.

You can try turning the plants every few days to keep the roots separate.  I do this and they form soft root balls.

Lovely setup..and I love the bamboo!

[hakaku]

Jan 20, 2020 14:49:19 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Looks good!.

You can try turning the plants every few days to keep the roots separate.  I do this and they form soft root balls.

Thanks for the advice! I'll have to try it out

[dianne]

Jan 20, 2020 14:49:19 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Looks good!.

You can try turning the plants every few days to keep the roots separate.  I do this and they form soft root balls.

I'm going to try this too!

[hakaku]

Updated the first post with photos from 30-60 days. I expect to be able to start harvesting red tomatoes in the next week or so

Lush and Gorgeous!

[Shawn]

They are doing great!

[hakaku]

Added 3 more photos. Overall pretty successful & the plants are still bearing lots of fruits. The highlight of this experience is probably this:

At this point I got a PPM/TDS meter as well as a PH meter to keep the plants in check. Turns out the amount of nutrients in the water was far lower than what is recommended for tomato plants in hydroponic setups, so I started increasing the amount of nutrients in the water on a regular basis rather than follow AG's two-week schedule. The low PPM could also explain the tasteless/watery tomatoes.

I think it was probably around 250 PPM, whereas it should probably be closer to 800-1000 PPM, maybe even higher (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

Another thing has also been lowering the temperature in the room. We were hitting probably 30-32 °C due to so many lights/electronics in an enclosed area. Fixed that issue and now we're at 21-26°C, which should be helping (well, it's certainly helping the lettuce).

[Shawn]

Your plants look great!

[Sher]

Very beautiful and productive.  Kudos!

[urbandemeter]

Looking good!    My profile pic is my AG tomatoes from a prior year. We have a collective "Yumm...!"

Have any of us who've enjoyed AG's heirloom cherry tomatoes ever saved seeds from the fruits and successfully used them in DIY pods later?

I wish I'd thought to try this when I still had AG tomatoes. A bit hesitant to order them as I don't need anything more and shipping is steep!

[urbandemeter]

FYI, here are tips and experiment results from when I grew their tomatoes in prior years. AG said this can really improve quality and longevity of the plants, and I followed it and got good results:
 
-fully change the water once a month (keeps nutrient level right) and gives the roots an un-tangle and rinse opportunity
-add water after nutrients, whenever you add nutrients (circulates them better in bowl)
-keep water level filled without waiting for 'fill' indicator

I experimented with AG-type reflector to add more light to my lower-watt model. Tomatoes did not want it; leaves 'burned.' Tomatoes in the 45w model were very happy.

With AG's tips, their nutrients as stated on AG instruction, and plain old NYC tap H20, I got yummy tasting, not-at-all-like-water tomatoes (Golden Harvest and Red Heirloom) and plants that produced for many months.

I found that they did not need the trellis at all. In fact, they did not even need the 24" height of the Bounty Elite.

Happy gardening!

Great tips. I have never tried saving the e AG seeds, but that is something I would try in the future(I like to sample different ones). They should repeat well seeing they are advertised as Heirloom.

[urbandemeter]

I hadn't processed what 'heirloom' was telling me! Thanks for that.

I'll post how the experiment goes, but it will be a season away. I'll need to grow their tomatoes again and then save the seeds and try replanting.

[snuffaluffalee]

hakaku

How's the tomato plant growing? I on day 38 of the same type and starting to see flowers.

Love seeing your progress!

[thegrindre]

I, too, rotate my plants all in the same direction, clockwise to make a 'root swirl' type of thing.
Adding a handful of ice cubes a few times a week will keep the water cool if that's what you want to do.
Looking really good.

[hakaku]

Apr 19, 2020 20:08:30 GMT -5 snuffaluffalee said:

hakaku

How's the tomato plant growing? I on day 38 of the same type and starting to see flowers.

Love seeing your progress!

I admittedly didn't post any other photos since I considered it to be a completed/successful project, but I didn't actually terminate it yet. Here are the plants at 119 days in (roughly 4 months):

As you can see, there's been lots of new growth (I admittedly didn't trim much of it lately), they're still producing quite a few tomatoes and the tomatoes are actually tasting much better now than those that grew early on.

I forget specifically when, but at some point since the previous photo was taken (so > 84 days), we completely emptied the water, cleaned the unit, refilled with water trimmed the roots and slightly shifted the plants by rotating them one or two notches. That may have contributed to the subsequent growth of the plants.

[snuffaluffalee]

Nice! 

I'm looking forwarding to trying mine--though I have chronic heartburn so most of it will be eaten by my partner. I'm enjoying the plant itself--when I rub the leaves they even have a tomato smell!

[Sher]

What impresses me most is that you grew two tomatoes in a Harvest and they thrived!