When to move rockwool seedlings to dutch buckets

[Stan]

When you see flowers forming on all the plants up Fertilizer to 50%. The pic of the plant looks really good and healthy. It has plenty trichomes (hairs) which is excellent. It doesn’t look like it needs to go to 50% yet. It will when all the plants firm flowers then tomatoes.

What you should do is self pollinate any flowers you see that are open usually mid morning to midday. You can do it 2 ways either by slightly tapping on the stem the flower is forming on or by using a battery operated toothbrush and let it vibrate the stem. Here’s an amazing slo-mo video of the pollen that comes out of the flowers. That flower is pollinated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFzyIi6yn8Q

I would start putting a little bit of pure epsom salt in with the nutrients. First mix the miracle grow ph the water let run thru the system wait 1 hour. Add small amount of pure epsom salt in a bottle of warm water let desolve add to reservoir ph the water. This will make plants bloom lots of flowers and as tomatoes grow add 1 time each month will make the tomatoes taste amazing!


Can your neighbor send you pics of the plants in case of any changes while you are gone? I would stay with same strength of nutrients but would make 1 batch of 50% just in case as these plants will skyrocket when you do and you want to be present for it or only be gone a week at most.

You’ve done an incredible job with your plants. It really is easy once you get that first grow out of the way and you’ve built confidence in yourself.

[Stan]

I forgot to mention can you take the neoprene sleeves off the plants and make the openings larger than the actual stem? If you take a look at the stem on the pic I posted the stems are really large. I'm wondering if the sleeves will prevent those stems from getting larger. The larger the stem the stronger the plant will be. If those stems stay slim and lots of tomatoes form it might split the stem killing most of the tomatoes on the plants. Just something to think about.

[gdgdad]

Thanks Stan,
I’ll be flushing the system today and I’ll add in (separately per your instructions) some Epsom salts. You mentioned in a previous post “…maybe 3 tablespoons once a month”, is that per my ~ 16 gallon reservoir, or per gallon of water? I removed the last neoprene collar and added hydroton around the stems, do you think that will still constrict the plants? My intent is to block out sunlight to prevent algae, but I doubt that’ll be a problem this time of year. Just a note on the pump timing, it remains at 15 min off & 3 min on, 7/24, and the plants seem to be OK with that, so I’ll leave it be – though I do have an additional timer to run the Spartan® timer. I custom built a panel to house the four timers so it doesn’t look like the wiring in the Griswald Christmas vacation movie! I’ll post a pic when it’s complete. And... that video was awesome - I'll be the "bee" for now, though I have actually had a couple bees wander in when the garage door is open.

[Stan]

LMAO Griswald Christmas !!!

I use a palm full which is about 3 tablespoons in a 48 gallon reservoir. I would start with 1 tablespoon in an 18 gallon.

Hydroton won’t constrict it the stem will actually move the hydroton as it gets larger. I don’t even use a lid on my 5 gallon buckets and they sit in sunlight for 14 hours a day in the summer. When it rains they get fresh water. I usually keep reservoir 3/4 full when I know it’s going to rain.

pump timing the plants will let you know if you need less or more time. As long as the plants look good keep the timing unless you want to adjust a little at a time either reducing watering by 30 second - 1 minute intervals. You could also play with the time the pump goes on from every 15 minutes try every 18 - 20 minutes see if plants look good after 24 hrs. Again these are things you will eventually dial in for your area and the time of the year.

[gdgdad]

Stan, just thought I'd touch base and give an update. Hope you had a good Christmas. I'm still in Michigan but the neighbor "watching" my plants says they're growing like crazy. He's opening the garage during the day - we're having 70's to even 80's with lots of sunshine! He's only added 1 gal of my PH balanced nutrient solution. I'll be home in a couple days and will send pics. When I left - tallest plant was just over 2 feet. I'm remaining optimistic!

[Stan]

Glad to hear the good news!! Happy New Year to you and family!!

I’m 100% sure you will be very surprised of how fast those plants grew.

[gdgdad]

Stan – Got back to Florida the 3rd. , settled back in and back I’m on the tomatoes. First off – WOW did they grow! The tallest is 40” ! There are two tomatoes – the larger 1 ½” and the smaller <1/2”, on 2 different plants. My concern is there’s yellowing on the center on many of the leaves, and brown curling on a few (see pics). I checked the PH, it was slightly low @ 5.5, but that’s still within range (I shoot for 6.0). I can’t attest to how much sunlight they’ve been getting – it was hit and miss with a neighbor opening the garage on sunny days, weather permitting and him being home – so some issues might be from sunlight deprivation? OK – some details: Fertilizer was at 25%, temps were low 80’s and now upper 60’s to mid 70’s but sunny. I contacted Verti Gro about the fertilizer you suggested – turns out they’re about an hour away so I’ll be picking that up in a day or so (confirmed they still have the 2 bag set). I’ll add Epsom salt to the mix in the dose you suggested. Next concern: suckers all over. My neighbor (the Jamaican farmer) had to fight every urge to cut them off! He also says I should be removing all “lower” leaves/branches. Your thoughts / suggestions. Again, thanks so much! Can’t believe I have 40” tomato plants in early January! Best “crop” since I’ve lived in Florida (>10 yrs. Now).