First Tomato Setup

[GpsFrontier]

I don't hate you. Don't hate your plants?

How much water is being replaced by the fill valve in the reservoir daily?
And what does that .52 EC in your city water consist of?

[JHazzardB]

You know GPS, I actually don't know how much water gets refilled per day. That's a good question. I'll close the water valve tonight and monitor water levels till I redo the reservoir Friday. I'll also watch the EC levels too just to see whats going on.

As far as what is in my city water...I'm not really sure. I've never done a water test. The City Water Report here lists some stuff but its not very easily digestible to me if that makes sense.

[JHazzardB]

Okay got the low down for the water consumption. I shut the water off to the reservoir Wednesday afternoon about 2pm. So it's been roughly 48 hours.

Wedensday: 26 gallons EC 2.87
Thursday: 25 gallons EC 2.99
Friday: 23.5 gallons EC 3.10

So my 16 plants are NOT drinking as much as I thought they would. This would mildly explain the BER as Calcium is not moving to the fruit as well (just a theory). EC is rising slowly. I'm debating internally whether or not to actually redo the reservoir because I'm kind of shocked at how little they are using. It's been 8 days since the last change. Each plant is drinking .07 gallons a day? (2.5gal/16 plants/ 2 days) Humidity has been high with the rain and has been at 75% during the day and around 55% at night/afternoon. I have a fan blowing 24 hours on them so air should be wicking moisture away.

Any thought or comments would be great throughout the afternoon and evening so I can assess if I should remake the res tomorrow morning.

[JHazzardB]

I took a pic just now of the plants. I put a yard stick in front. On average, the plants are about 26" tall. 14/16 have multiple flower clusters and about 5/16 have fruit set so far.

[JHazzardB]

Just a quick update. Turned the water back on and remade the reservoir. In 4 days, my 16 plants managed to drink 6 gallons. That comes out to roughly .09 gallons a day per plant which seems low to me. Anywho, no BER on the newly forming tomatoes yet. I've lowered my EC level also to about EC2.67 but am continuing on with CalMag supplement.

[GpsFrontier]

What nutrients are you using?
How much are you using per gallon of water?
Where did you get the amount to use per gallon from?
How often do you check your pH?

[JHazzardB]

Hey GPS!

1. I am using Masterblend fertilizer that was distributed by Morgan County seeds. I also add Calcium Nitrate, Epsom Salts, and CalMag.

2. I am currently using 6g a gallon.

3. Here's the tricky part. Morgan County Seeds relabels Masterblend fertilizer and calls for roughly 9g/gal for mature flowering plants. After running my EC near 4-5.5EC, I knew something wasn't right. I contacted Masterblend and they sent me the correct label and couldn't understand why MCS relabeled and boosted the concentration. Masterblend label calls for roughly 2.4g/gal. If I run 2.4g/gal, my EC only hits .7EC or so. I fear this is too low. I've been adding enough nutrients to get me to my desired EC level.

4. I check my pH every time I check the nutrients. It stays roughly between 5.6-5.8.