When to move rockwool seedlings to dutch buckets

[gdgdad]

FINALLY – the tomatoes have been moved from the garage into a “semi-permanent” location in the back yard (see picks). Temps down here have been in the low 80’s during the day with plenty of sunshine, and low 60’s at night. It’s expected to stay that way for easily the next 10 days, with nighttime lows going into the 50’s briefly after that. I’ll be making (again temporary) a green house before then for future dips below 55. I cannot believe the nutrient solution being consumed – I’m adding 5 gallons every-other-day. I have plenty of flowers and about a week ago I reduced nutrients to ¾ strength, and have been adding ~ 1 gram of Epsom Salts per gallon, and maintaining PH at 6.5 (PH seems to holding steady – very little adjustment). A neighbor, who was an actual farmer in Jamaica, has been teaching me pruning and thinning techniques. The plants are so lush and full they’re suffocating themselves! 6 tomatoes so far, one starting to turn red. We’re training the plants to grow sideways – some are more than 5 feet long – trellising has been a challenge. As I expected, maintaining reservoir temp has been difficult, I’ve gone from a quart container of ice to 1 gallon (daily) – and can barely maintain temps under 72 during the day. I’ll re-post following the green house construction. gdgdad

[Stan]

I’m surprised I didn’t get a notification about your post like I usually do. Luckily I came here to take a look.

The plants look great!! As I mentioned in an earlier post you will need a bigger reservoir as tomatoes will suck up a lot of water. If you can bury a little 100 gallon water tank (pic below) or have it above ground in the shade or wrapped with reflective material or aluminum foil you wouldn’t have to constantly add water. It could be used this time of the year till it starts to get cold again.

Those plants will start to get very heavy when tomatoes start growing all over like crazy. I use heavy gauge cattle fencing in order to make round tomato cages for each plant. You can see them in my pics with the Dutch buckets. You will also need to separate the plants more for your next outdoor grow then go back to this during the colder months.

Once you see the plants are completely full with tomatoes cut down the nutes between 1/4 and 1/2. This is the time to add an extension with more 5 gallon buckets with new plants in them being fed the nutes. By the time you’ve picked your last tomato from this group you should already have plenty of tomatoes forming in the next group.

See I told you it’s easy. When using the right nutes the plants take care of themselves. Great work with this being your first attempt. You will get better and better after each grow. Keep a log book of the temps amount of plants and how much nutes you use and how much approximately each plant takes in of water. You will eventually know How much nutes you need during the full grow cycle.

Now I want to see pucks of some of the tomatoes you get. Cut them open and see how juicy they are and since you’ve been adding the epsom salt they will taste amazing!


https://www.interplantsales.com/imag...age%20Tank.JPG

[Stan]

You can usually find those food grade water tanks used for less than $50 and as low as $25.

[gdgdad]

Good to hear from you Stan, I was worried you’d left the forum! I did pick my first tomato, albeit rather small (2.29 oz.), it was bright red, the other tomatoes (still green) are much larger. On the reservoir, I’m looking into one of those plastic 55 gallon drums (the blue ones you’ve seen). My neighbor works for the county and got me a steel one years ago for a fire pit, I’m certain he can get plastic ones. I would plan on burying that but will have to make sure the pump cord is long enough and the pump has the strength for the additional height. On the trellis – I’ve added framework overhead (see pics) to allow trellising out further while maintaining “mobility”. I still have concerns about a bad storm. Also, I have to maintain a balance of visual esthetics and functionality – the wife doesn’t want anything looking “junk yard”. I’ve learned a LOT from this and my next bucket design will be radically different, and I intended to incorporate cattle fencing. As for the next batch, I wanted to use the seeds you sent me in a 5 bucket system, I’m looking around for 3 gallon containers this time (any suggestions?). I’ve not started your seeds in the cloner yet but will do soon. I’m not sure how long I can expect these plants to produce and I was afraid of getting too many going at once. I need to make a timeline predicting harvest backwards (accounting for hydroponics being faster). On the log book, I keep an Excel spreadsheet recording nutes (water) usage, % of nutes, PH and reservoir temp. Since I’ve moved them outside, I notice I have to lower PH – opposite of having to raise it constantly. One thing I have to get better at is the pruning and thinning out. Fortunately I have my neighbor – formerly a farmer in Jamaica – helping. I knew they were WAY to full and bushy, literally choking themselves, he thinned them out (and removed suckers) filling two grocery bags with “clippings”. It was hard to watch, but I've learned a lot. The new trellising allows us to train branches outward instead of only between the buckets. I’ll keep you posted on progress and new batch.

[Stan]

Yes when you went to full strength nutes the plants starts taking off producing tons of suckers that become almost uncontrollable. Mine last year got out of control as the grew to tall for me to reach. This year my plants will be more separated and I will go with less plants.

Be careful with the blue 55 gallon plastic barrels most of them were not good grade and were used to transport some type of liquid cleaning solution. Try to get the brick red 55 gallon they are food grade and were used for transporting olives or some other type food.

[gdgdad]

Stan, I went with a white 55 gal drum from Rural King, listed as “….for use as rain barrel…”. It did have an acrid odor to it so as a safety measure, I filled it with water and 3 gallons of vinegar to soak overnight (on line said that would take care of most chemicals) then the next day emptied and refilled adding a gallon of bleach to again soak overnight. Smells like plastic now. I made an access lid, mounted the pump, heater and air stones on a piece of tile and it’s ready to go (see pics). We had a cool front move in so I had to scramble to make a temporary “hoop style” greenhouse (parts of which will be used for a permanent one late summer). Temps did drop to upper 40’s overnight, but the small heater I used actually kept it too warm – it was 90 when I checked first thing in the morning – I’ll set it correctly next time. My timing was lucky however – ironically after many days of upper 80’s, they’re predicting a VERY COLD front coming, in 8 or 9 days – temps possibly into upper 30’s!! The weather’s been a roller coaster – we’ll be in 80’s before then! But barrel will be in ground, heated and operational - well before then. I have a remote thermometer scheduled to arrive tomorrow so I can monitor temp inside the “sealed” greenhouse. As of yesterday, every plant has tomatoes, ranging in size from just a little larger than a pea, to the size of an apple – all shiny green. I’m really optimistic I’m going to get a half decent production despite the setback late December / early January. Thanks again for all the help! GDG

[Stan]

If you’re going to bury the 55 gallon barrel in the ground I don’t believe you would need a heater for the water. You could paint the top of the barrel black so during cold months the sun should keep the water warm enough. During hot summer months you would want to put reflective sheet or same as you used for 5 gallon buckets to reflect the sun so it doesn’t get hot.