Growing Guide and Tips! (Tomatoes)

[Shawn]

The AG Growing Guide for Cherry Tomatoes can be found here and Megas here

[Shawn]

Tip from today's Happy Hour

• Tomatoes taste best after adding Nutrients.

[Shawn]

Heirloom Cherry Tomato Harvesting Tips

Source:  AG Email

A ripe tomato feels firm but also has a bit of a give when pressed.  These turn red when ripe.

Harvest just before eating for a "sun-ripened" sweet flavor

If left on the stems they will continue to draw in moisture and nutes from the stems for several days after they have been harvested

And MOST IMPORTANTLY ...

Never refrigerate Fresh Tomatoes!  Cold temps make the flesh pulpy and destroys the flavor

[Shawn]

A member asked about how do you know when a tomato is ready to be picked.   T

Give the tom a gentle tug.  If you feel resistance it wants to cling to the plant and is not ready.  A gentle tug and an easy release is a sure sign it is ready for harvest.

[Shawn]

Source:  Burpee

Tomato Harvesting Tip: Generally, a tomato is fully ripe when it releases easily from the stem. Once you have picked the first few tomatoes of a particular variety, you will get a feel for what a ripe one will look and taste like

[Shawn]

My tomatoes have lots of green fruit but will not ripen
Referenced from AG

If your tomato plants have lots of fruit that isn't ripening, it may be that the plant doesn't have the energy to "feed" all of them. Imagine a mother cat trying to feed a litter of twenty-five kittens! If your plants are loaded with green tomatoes, consider removing some to let the rest get more of the mother plant’s energy.

Tomatoes are a summer-time crop; the fruit needs warmth to ripen. If the ambient daytime temperature of the AeroGarden is under 70 degrees, you need to find a warmer place for it, or use a space heater (but avoid radiant heat!) to bring the temperature up. Not too warm - try to keep them under 78 degrees.

You might also try a 'Rinse and Refill' and empty all the water from the bowl and refill with fresh water and fresh nutrients. You can do this at every other feeding (once a month) to keep the nutrients balanced and give the plants a fresh water bath.

[airscapes]

In the dirt world, once a tomato has turned yellow to orange on the bottom, it is no longer taking in nutrients (only water) and can be picked and it will ripen on the shelf, no need for sun, in fact sun is bad.  The end result tastes as good as one left on the vine.  The main reason to do this outside is to prevent splitting when you get a heavy rain and letting them cook in the 100F+ sun.  I assume neither of these issues are a problem in hydroponic since the water is constant and they are inside.   However I would think removal once yellow/orange would lighten the weight load on the plan.   

This was the source of the information on when to pick a tomato and I can tell you it is true, been doing it years and years.  My wife is a tomato freak, and eats about 1lb a day all summer. 
www.gardensalive.com/product/ybyg-how-tomatoes-ripen-and-when-to-pick-them
Good reading on why they don't ripen.
commonsensehome.com/tomatoes-not-ripening/

Hope this is helpful to someone.
Doug

[ry]

Question from an AG n00b here, I have 4 AG tomato plants growing in a Farm 12XL (reading the forums now seems like I should have done 3). My real question is, for XL models, is it still recommended to prune the meristem after the first 5 branches as in all the docs? Thank you in advance!

[Shawn]

Mar 6, 2021 8:24:51 GMT -5 ry said:

Question from an AG n00b here, I have 4 AG tomato plants growing in a Farm 12XL (reading the forums now seems like I should have done 3). My real question is, for XL models, is it still recommended to prune the meristem after the first 5 branches as in all the docs? Thank you in advance!

Welcome to the forum.  Can you post a picture (you can find out how here)  I think it also depends on how it is growing.

This is from our resident Pepper King.  It is about Peppers but I think can also be for tomatoes.   I hope this helps.    I am not a tomato person so you may also want to wit for one of them to comment.

Feb 2, 2018 18:28:29 GMT -5 mike said:

Topping them isn't always the right answer. If you know the plant is supposed to be about 18", you need to determine if the plant is a light-seeker, or a chubby-baby.

A light-seeker tens to germinate quickly. Then it grows vertically fairly quick. The problem is, the base of the plant hasn't a chance to develop, and remains quite thin early on. These are plants you definitely want to top off. I usually wait 6 weeks to make that determination. These tend to be more common in milder peppers.

A chubby-baby is a pepper plant that naturally wants to bush out. These plants typically don't grow more than 20" tall, and are very common in ornamental peppers. Ornamental peppers tend to be quite hot. Many of them have a bitter taste to them as well. One nice exception was the Loco Hybrid Peppers I grew three years ago. Very nice flavor, and very hot. But it has a lot of seeds for a 1" long x 3/4" diameter purple pepper. (matures red) You never need to top these.

Super-hots are notoriously slow growers. That gives them plenty of time to grow a sturdy base. However, I usually top these when the get to 9-inches or so. Every super hot I've grown is really too large for an AG. All of them get minimum 4-foot limbs if you leave them alone.

I also usually top off jalapenos, as well.

Just remember, topping them does slow down the pepper production. But, you usually get 50% more peppers overall.

[Sher]

Shawn, that post is golden. Wish I had seen it earlier, especially mike's explanation of which kinds of peppers to top.

I am trying to germinate some 3 year old lipstick pepper seeds, which are definitely light reachers. If they are successful, I owe you and Mike.

His post needs to be a sticky on the Peppers board, I think!

[Shawn]

Mar 6, 2021 15:55:15 GMT -5 Sher said:

Shawn , that post is golden. Wish I had seen it earlier, especially mike 's explanation of which kinds of peppers to top.

I am trying to germinate some 3 year old lipstick pepper seeds, which are definitely light reachers. If they are successful, I owe you and Mike.

His post needs to be a sticky on the Peppers board, I think!

DONE!

[Sher]

You are a great Admin, Shawn! 

[Shawn]

Mar 6, 2021 17:16:03 GMT -5 Sher said:

You are a great Admin, Shawn ! 

Thank you   I try

[airscapes]

 very interesting info on Relative Humidity and how it affects our plants.  This is directed to greenhouse growing but is applicable to any indoor growing of plants.  I will be exploring that site when I get more time. 
Relative Relative Humidity

[Sher]

Feb 23, 2022 13:04:09 GMT -5 airscapes said:

 very interesting info on Relative Humidity and how it affects our plants.  This is directed to greenhouse growing but is applicable to any indoor growing of plants.  I will be exploring that site when I get more time. 
Relative Relative Humidity

That was fascinating and informative.

[lynnee]

airscapes, you find so many easy-to-understand articles on the science of growing stuff! Thank you for that one on relative humidity!

[airscapes]

Feb 23, 2022 15:42:27 GMT -5 lynnee said:

airscapes , you find so many easy-to-understand articles on the science of growing stuff! Thank you for that one on relative humidity!

Out of necessity!  Plants were not doing well, looked sun burned and leaves all cured up and crunchy.  Seed vendor said she had seen that when they were in really hot sun for long periods, so I raised the lights and turned them down to 50%.  Temp was now in the mid 70s and vent fans not running so I googled "Humidity for indoor Tomatoes"  And yep,  I had been keeping them wayyy too dry at 35%.   After 2 days of less heat, and more circulating fan with no exhaust, Humidity is up around 50-60% and plants looking much better.

I am now waiting on parts for building a controller for my little exhaust fans, including a humidity sensor.  
I kind of fear humidity,  because when  I grew tomatoes in my office last year, they got serious leaf mold and humidity was only in the 55% range.. Going to shoot for mid 50s to 60 range and see how things go.



 

[lynnee]

You may find that 45-50% humidity is enough for the tomatoes, airscapes. When our furnace is in use, the bedroom gets down to 35% or less, so I usually run a vaporizer or humidifier at night. This raises the humidity to 45-50%, and it makes an enormous difference to my eyes and sinuses.

Of course, I'm not a tomato!

[agnoob]

I'm growing two AG golden harvest cherry tomatoes in my Harvest XL. At ~35 days, both plants have gotten very bushy but I haven't had to raise the light yet. There are also some flower buds too. Is now a good time to start pruning the lower leaves? They all still look fine so I haven't touched them yet. But with the plant starting to have flowers, I'm guessing pruning off some older leave will help direct more energy to the flowers?

[lynnee]

Yes, pruning will direct more energy to the flowers. Take off lower leaves that aren't getting light, any leaves that are twisted in the middle area without room to grow, and any leaves that are starting to yellow.