Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes - Terminated 12/2/18

[cheddachasa]

19 days in from planting. Yesterday I thinned the pods to one apiece.

I’m using AeroGarden nutes but also bought some CaliMagic. When should I start using it?

Are there any tips to make sure they taste great? I’ve heard reviews ranging from tasting like water to candy-like sweetness.

[drbanks]

Around week 4-6, depending on whether it's done with its growth phase.

[Kate]

I started at this age with mine. Mine tasted great and all I did was feed Nutes and CALiMAGic, changed the water semi-regularly, and told them how amazing they were

[cheddachasa]

35 days in. I’ve done some pruning but the plants seem so dense. I’m worried I might have dwarfed them. Starting to see some flowers!

I am changing water on a weekly basis as it gets very acidic. PH was 4.5 after a week. I’m seeing new growth so maybe I shouldn’t be too worried but I want my plants to be the best they can be. 😂

What neat and tidy gardens you have, chedda! Your project looks great and seems to be doing its best!

One thing I like to do is to pick off the toms and munch as the project progresses..a bad habit. Because I am learning that good things come to those who WAIT!  The longer the tom stays on the plant..even though the temptation to pluck and munch is strong..the sweeter the taste of the well ripened fruit. FWIW

[Kate]

I'm assuming yours is the same as the ones I have. You can look at my images Red Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes to see where mine were at different stages. With the exception of topping at around 4 weeks, I didn't do any cutting until now, after the first crop. Bear in mind that mine were started in the winter in Alaska in a house at 62 degrees, tops. I keep a cool house, so there will likely be differences in growth. I'm sure the scary-major growth I'm seeing after the first crop was picked is because it's quite warm in the house. They do seem to be a dense foliage variety.

[MaryL]

 They sure do love what you’re doing with them. They look really, really healthy. 

[cheddachasa]

There is so much conflicting information when it comes to growing these tomatoes. AeroGarden says keep them close to the lights and feed them a certain amount of nutrients. Then I get advised to keep the lights 4”-6” and feed the plants according to their PPM needs. Now I think I didn’t raise the lights soon or often enough as the plants aren’t even 6” tall after 35 days.

Crazy thing is, I’m funny when it comes to tomatoes. I only like them raw in salsa but can eat them a million ways if they’re cooked. Love them sun-dried too. I’m growing them for my wife so she won’t mind if I get extra machines. “I can only grow two pods of tomatoes in the Bounty so I’m buying the Harvest for lettuce and will have to buy another Bounty soon so I can grow peppers, honey!”

[cheddachasa]

May 27, 2018 13:47:39 GMT -5 Kate said:

I'm assuming yours is the same as the ones I have. You can look at my images Red Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes to see where mine were at different stages. With the exception of topping at around 4 weeks, I didn't do any cutting until now, after the first crop. Bear in mind that mine were started in the winter in Alaska in a house at 62 degrees, tops. I keep a cool house, so there will likely be differences in growth. I'm sure the scary-major growth I'm seeing after the first crop was picked is because it's quite warm in the house. They do seem to be a dense foliage variety.

Kate, I’ve been watching your garden with much interest! Unlike yours, mine have been pretty dense from the beginning. Yours are definitely dense now so that gives me hope.

[cheddachasa]

We have fruit! I found three baby tomatoes on one of the plants. I would show you but Tapatalk won’t let me insert photos for some reason. I feel like a brand new dad!

[drbanks]

Woohoo!!!

[Shawn]

Way to go chedda.  I am but sure if it is listed somewhere on the forum but i think we have some type of instruction for adding pics via tapatalk.

Edit to add.. Check out Using photo repositories

[Kate]

Jun 2, 2018 18:39:17 GMT -5 cheddachasa said:

I feel like a brand new dad!

Right? I feel the same way. Well...a brand new mom.

[MaryL]

Congrats on your new arrivals!  That’s so exciting!

[cheddachasa]

The plants have now been planted for 55 days. The one on the right has more than 20 tomatoes in various stages of growth and the one one left has about half that. The plants are both around 8” tall and still quite dense but they’re still growing. I’m wondering if I should remove more of the suckers. Hmmm....

[Shawn]

They look nice but I have no experience with tomatoes at all.

[MaryL]

I don’t know enough about removing suckers, but I do remove regular foliage if I feel like the plant is getting too dense.

[cheddachasa]

I read somewhere that leaves provide sugar for the fruit so the more leaves the merrier. We shall see...

[MaryL]

That’s very true. Without any leaves, the chlorophyll doesn’t convert to feed the fruit. Or something doesn’t convert to chlorophyll to feed the fruit.  Something like that.  I still take ‘em though, lol.

[Kate]

Yours are much more compact than mine were at that stage. They look really good though. I didn't do much pruning for the first round, and now I just let them go nuts.