Red Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

[Kate]

Mar 2, 2018 10:25:42 GMT -5 jcosmo said:

Impressive! I know the feeling... sometimes my plants get more attention than my cats do! I have 4 dwarf tomato varieties growing in AGs and 2 more in soil under a grow light.

My cats would maul me if I didn't lavish them with attention, lo.

I'd love to compare notes with you as we go on your tomato varieties compared to the Red Heirloom. I want to try several varieties, and would love your input on your impressions of the plants you have.

[Shawn]

Nice growth spurt you have going.

[Kate]

Mar 2, 2018 10:39:44 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Nice growth spurt you have going.

I'm sure if this was summer and 70-80+ degrees instead of winter waffling between -20 and +30 all the time, they would be even further along. This particular variety isn't as fast as many of the other cherry tomatoes but I'm sure my house kept around 65 degrees has some impact.

[MaryL]

Mar 2, 2018 6:45:50 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Mar 2, 2018 6:10:07 GMT -5 MaryL said:

After checking, CaliMagic is the brand I have too.  I call it mooch like the other brand because I can’t remember what it’s called, lol.  And, I can’t remember to use it either, being a new thing for me.  I am missing out.

It’s such a big bottle- do you decant some into a smaller bottle to make it easier to use?

Mooch bottle is small enough that I do not do it.  I think I also have a bottle of CalMagic and think used it once.  I do want to say that Mooch and CalMag have different dispensary tables.

Mooch:   2 tsp (or 10ml) for every Gallon (or 4L of water)

CalMag:  1 tsp for every Gallon (or 1ml per liter)

Looking at that you may need less CalMag then we add Mooch.  I am horrible at figuring this out, maybe mike can assist?

I think I used too much of my CaliMagic now, and I did observe a negative reaction which I thought was in my head. Ok, I’m straight now, and will up my supplement game. I’m glad you brought the differences up. Thank you!

[drbanks]

Looks like the mooch is a lot heavier on the nitrogen and not as strong on the Ca-Mg.  Probably buffers it a lot better.  On the other hand, if you have adequate nutrients before adding either, you've already got enough nitrogen in the system.

[drbanks]

Mar 2, 2018 11:22:19 GMT -5 MaryL said:

You know, maybe me, too.

I've been using 5mL per gallon of CaliMagic

[mike]

All I know is when I switched from the GH product to the Mr. Mucha Stash (Mooch), I had much better results. It is absorbed into the plant in a different manner. I don't know how, but I like the results. 

[Kate]

Here are my babies today at just over 7 weeks. They're covered in flowers. Some newly opened, some now closing, with a bunch of new bud clusters. I've been vibrating like a fool, so to speak. I'm pretty excited about it.

[mike]

They are looking terrific, Kate. But don't overdue the pollinating. You don't want to knock the blooms off.

[jcosmo]

That's what I love about growing tomatoes - each new stage is exciting! Seeing the first buds opening, then seeing the first tomatoes forming, then seeing the first tomato that starts to change colors...

[Kate]

Mar 11, 2018 18:19:55 GMT -5 mike said:

They are looking terrific, Kate. But don't overdue the pollinating. You don't want to knock the blooms off.

I actually knocked one off and almost cried. I seriously barely touched it too. I'm guessing it might have been a clunker. The rest seem pretty rugged.

I need to do a water change in a few days when it's time to feed again. I'm just going to siphon from a corner and refill. It's way to dense to lift the top off and I'd never forgive myself if I freaked them out or damaged them. I have a shaker/jiggler siphon. Have any of you used one of them in an AG?

[Kate]

Mar 11, 2018 19:03:59 GMT -5 jcosmo said:

That's what I love about growing tomatoes - each new stage is exciting! Seeing the first buds opening, then seeing the first tomatoes forming, then seeing the first tomato that starts to change colors...

I can't wait. I never get this involved in my garden or hot house. It's pure insanity.

[jcosmo]

If by shaker/jiggler siphon, you mean a tube with a ball in one end and shaking it a few times gets the water to flow, that's what I use. It works well but will try to suck up the roots if I'm not careful. I ordered a battery operated pump that was recommended on the forum, but it turned out to be a dud and by the time I discovered that it didn't work, it was too late to return it.

[Kate]

This is similar to what I have. I just hope the water depth is enough to get it started.

Hopkins 10801 FloTool Shaker Siphon with 6' Anti-Static Tubing

[Kate]

My tomato plants really went crazy again after their water change and new Nutes and CaliMagic. They literally rose up two inches overnight like a spider standing high on it's legs, and suddenly I have a bunch of baby tomatoes as well as a ton of new flowers and bud clusters. I have a feeling I've created a mini version of Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes. It's exciting to watch. 

The shaker siphon worked great, BTW. Super fast and easy. I did have to lift the top and tip slightly to get enough depth to prime it. It really sucks!

[mike]

Nice...

[Shawn]

That is a good pictures of the babies,

[MaryL]

Exciting, Kate!  I think it’s so phenomenal when they transform dramatically overnight.

[Kate]

Thanks guys. For some reason my Mailguard on my gci.net server blocked everything from this site for several days. It never did before. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe Proboards did a change. I whitelisted the site, so here's hoping it's fixed. I thought nobody was posting anything.

[Kate]

The plants are COVERED in tomatoes of various sizes with lots more to come. It's amazing. I literally can't get it all in one image. I took this from the side to get most of it in.