Tomato Tub with air and pump

[airscapes]

Have not posted any pictures of the indoor bush.. I still have not figured out how to prevent the edema, but I have started to feed it between changes and prune off more branches not it has become an unruly bush. There is not enough room for it on the dresser and no way to properly trellis it.  Wish I had room I would use a much larger tub and have it sitting on the floor.

Here are some of the readings, from the past couple days you can see how fast it eats and how fast it pushes up the PH with only 3.5 gallons of water.  I am now mixing Full Strength Solution to water it with once the EC drops below 2.3 to see how that works.. The lower the EC gets the more edema, as it is looking for food.  After a week or 2 of FFS watering I may increase the initial amount of nutrient as it will have a full load of fruit very soon..   All just an experiment!

   

[airscapes]

Guess these first tomatoes will be ripe by July 4 

[Shawn]

Nice and heavy with fruit.  They will be a nice if ready for the fourth.

[airscapes]

Just finished my weekly drain, flush and refill for both the tom tub inside and the outside bucket.  While the tote was empty I stuck my phone in to see how the roots are looking.. 

[campingcorgis]

They look to be clean, healthy and plentiful!  

[Sher]

They look picture perfect!

[Shawn]

Perfect looking roots

[airscapes]

Tubtom  has a couple ready to pick!  

[airscapes]

Since my last post I picked about 2lb of tomatoes and they were included in the 3way blind taste test done by my wife. Since the taste of the tomato grown in artificial (grow lights) is not up to her requirements, and because the plant is suffering from Leaf Mold, I do believe I will terminate it this weekend since we have more than enough good tasting tomatoes from the outside plants.  Below you can see the damage the mold is doing, it can not be cured and I am not sure where the spores came from, but I have been growing tomatoes for years and they say the spores can last a long time. So far no issues with the plants out side..  And I just picked the second 2lbs of fruit. The last image show the difference in shape/size  between the fruit grown outside in sunlight (same variety same hydroponic formula) Left and under LED grow lights with some sun from the window.. (right side of image)





 

[campingcorgis]

Interesting.  Thanks for sharing!  

[Sher]

That is a very interesting comparison, airscapes. Thanks!

[airscapes]

This plant has been terminated due to leaf mold and the abundance of much better tasting tomatoes grown out side..  

[Shawn]

Too bad.  While I have not grown tomatoes outside I can say the tomatoes/varieties I have grown in my AG have been really good and just as good as those my neighbor has given me from her garden.

[airscapes]

Jul 26, 2021 4:59:32 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Too bad.  While I have not grown tomatoes outside I can say the tomatoes/varieties I have grown in my AG have been really good and just as good as those my neighbor has given me from her garden.

Taste is seriously subjective.. When I did the blind taste test, I liked the ones off of this indoor  plant best.. I knew it was the indoor plant as I know what the outdoor tomatoes taste like.. they have bite and the inside was more mild less tomatoy/acidy .. (wife called them watery and bland)  However those who eat tomatoes like apples with a sprinkle of salt seem to really go nuts for  the ones with bite.. Anyway, it was an interesting project, I leaned a lot about the science of hydroponics and how difficult it is to simulate an environment at scale.  I am also kind of glad it is over, my office is no longer lit up like the sun, and it is nice and quiet and cool! 

Some photos of the tare down



Mold



Mold on stems








 

[Sher]

The first time I grew AG heirloom tomatoes, I thought they were bland and tasteless. They were simply awful.

But the next time, when they started fruiting, I upped the ppm to the recommended levels, and the tomatoes were bursting with flavor.

I saw a video on Youtube by a commercial hydroponic tomato farmer, and he said they could manipulate the sweetness, tang and taste by manipulating the pH and nutrients.

Based on my experience, I agree.

Some of my hydroponic cherry tomatoes have had a better flavor than the big tomatoes growing outside in rich, organically fertilized loam.

So there are a huge number of variables that figure into tomato taste.

But you gotta go with what the wife sez.

If you are using Masterblend at the recommended rates, it will be good for most plants, but not optimum for all.

[airscapes]

In this case both plants, inside and outside, were the same variety from the same seed pack, and the fertilizer system amounts and change/feed times were the same, but one was under sun and one was under LED..  Again what one person things is good, another does not..  

When to pick tomatoes, break the myth

[Sher]

airscapes, I finally got around to reading that article.

I had noticed that when I left my tomatoes on the vine, some of them got almost too ripe.

I still wait until they are over half ripe before picking, and they still ripen and taste wonderful.

[airscapes]

yes, I let them get to breaker and prick them. This year I am trying to pick all the same level of color, put them in the containers and date them.  Hopefully I can manage them better and waste less..  We used to have a very large rack, not sure this one is going to cut it.