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Old 05-01-2019, 05:08 PM
Stan Stan is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 213
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OK you should start getting new plants ready to replace the ones you have. When these plants get over 10ft the size of the tomatoes gets smaller unless you are growing cherry tomatoes. Here's 2 different ways to do this.

1. The fast way pluck big suckers from your current plants put them in neoprene collars then into that cloner.

2. Start new plants from seeds in rockwool in net cups.

If you go with #1 run the cloner 24hrs a day until you see a good amount of roots forming. Then you can reduce the watering time. Use 10% nutrients in the cloner for the suckers.

With rockwool you want to run the water for 10 minutes or until the rockwool is completely saturated. Then again as you did the first time you don't want the sprayers off for long and let the rockwool dry out. So you might have to run it 24hrs a day until it spouts and roots start forming. Once roots start to show add a small amount of nutrients.

Once you start 1 or 2 or both and they have roots drastically cut down on the nutrients of your current plants down to maybe 10 percent since they are on the last stage.

With the rails I suggest putting the large plants on top and the smaller plants on the bottom. As for making it a NFT system I' am not a fan of doing it this way. I started with rails and found using the 360 degree sprayers with give you healthier plants. The root system will be gigantic with a aeroponic rail system. With a NFT system only those roots sitting in the water will thrive. With aeroponic spray system the root system will be like a bush coming out of the net pots. After a while you won't be able to lift those net pots to see the roots in an aeroponic rail. Thats just my opinion you could build it either way.

When you get the hole cutter for the net pots make sure you drill the holes with the drill in reverse for the rails. Yes in reverse otherwise it won't cut the net pot hole smooth using the drill the other way. The other way you will end up with big chips and will need to buy a new post.

As for the new cloner very nice work!! You are becoming a pro at this!

Last edited by Stan; 05-01-2019 at 05:12 PM.
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