When to move rockwool seedlings to dutch buckets

[gdgdad]

Well, I think I’ve completed the green house, and just in time (see pics). We’ve already had a night go down to 39F – very unusual for this area this time of year. Luckily the greenhouse was completely enclosed and the undersized heater I had was able to keep temp just barely above 50F. I have a new heater coming Thursday that’s actually listed as “suitable for agriculture”. Ideally, it should only run at night, so hopefully it won’t kill my electric bill. It has a thermostat so I was thinking keep it at 55 – your thoughts???
Even when we have a rare 55 or so degree day (for the high), the sun takes that greenhouse well into the 80’s by 9 or 10 am. You can see from the pics the plants appear to be doing well, there’s some flowering and I’ve “pollinated” via the electric tooth brush method. All these plants are from the seeds you sent me, so you’d know better how they’re doing. I’ve removed suckers and placed them in the rockwool cubes per the method you described and into the aeroponic cloner. Can’t believe they already produced roots – not sure what I’m going to do with them, keeping them as “back up” for now. I’ll be making my annual Christmas pilgrimage to Michigan ~ the 17th., and my neighbor (the farmer from Jamaica) is going to keep an eye on things. Pumps are on timers, heater is automatic, and the 55 gal reservoir level has barely moved so I think I’ll be alright. Still running nutrients at ~ 30% - think it’s time to increase that? Thanks again for all your help, hopefully I’ll be able to send you some winter tomatoes!!

[Stan]

50 - 55 degrees on those cold nights will be fine. 80 degrees during daylight hours is optimum temps for those plants. They will thrive in those night and daytime temps.

I wouldn't go higher than 50% nutrients for these winter plants. I don't think you'll be able to have them grow more than 10+ feet in the greenhouse. Just see how it goes with 50% if plants look healthy during that time keep it at 50%. If you see signs of the plant nutrient deficiency then go up to 75%.

The suckers in the aeroponic cloner will develop roots real fast. I would start the suckers after you have plucked your first tomatoes off the plants you currently have. If you keep them in the cloner they will catch up to the current plants you have growing in the buckets in no time. I would start the suckers in the cloner after you have plucked off your first ripe tomatoes.

Have a safe trip and a wonderful Christmas!!!

[gdgdad]

Stan, thanks for the response! I’ll “up” the nutrients to 50%, per your suggestion, plus there’s a lot more flowering going on, and I’ll monitor them closely. On the plant height issue, I added wires the width of the greenhouse to the vertical frames (about 2” down from top), then ran strings across from center to over the Dutch buckets. From those I should be able to drop lines for the clips to train them on a “slow curve” (see pic with my arrows). And I can always add more lines up top to form more or less a matrix. That gave me ~ 8 ½ feet to the top of the Dutch bucket, and I can probably go out another 2’ via the PVC frame. I’ll try curving them early while they’re “soft”, and I’ve already started with the first plant (again see pic). We’ll see how that goes….

Question: I noticed a couple of the flowers have a real pronounced “bend” (see pics), making the flower face down. Is that normal for this variety or is something causing it? should I be concerned?

Lastly, the heater came and it seemed to do a great job. It’s first night the temps went to low 40’s, and it kept it at 60. I’ve since dialed it back hoping for the 55 range to hopefully lessen the hit on the electric bill.

As for the “clones”, I knew I was way too early, but it was a combination of seeing if I could get it to work, and for them to serve as back up’s should I lose one of the plants. Thanks for the tip on cloning when tomatoes start showing up, my goal is a continuous production. Also, I was thinking when I do replace one of the plants (with a clone) that I’d cut the bucket down to ~ 3 gallon size. That would add about 6” of height. Much of what I read says 5 gallon buckets are an over kill. Your thoughts?
Thanks, and I’ll keep you posted.

[Stan]

Don't worry about the flowers facing down those are the big heirloom I sent you. The stems are thick and needed to hold those tomatoes. Picks below 1 of the big heirloom with tomato forming and the other of the flowers on top of the same plant. You will see some of that downturn.

The last pic is of the heirloom black cherry tomato flowers with tomatoes. You'll get lots of these tomatoes sometimes between 8-12 tomatoes oo every flowering stem.

Now the decision between 5 or 3 gallon buckets. With the 5 gallon buckets I have sometimes found roots growing into the drain pipe back to the reservoir. Not a lot of roots just some. If I had 3 gallon buckets I would expect lots of roots in the drain pipe. It could possibly clog up the draining of the buckets themselves during water cycles something that has never happened with 5 gallon. Maybe try 1 or 2 of the 3 gallon buckets and see what happens but don't go full 3 gallon until you have had the chance of growing some plants full cycle.

Now if you plan on growing plants with short roots that'll work fine tomato plants have some really long roots.

[gdgdad]

Hello Stan – first off happy New Year and I hope you had a great Christmas! I returned from my annual Michigan Christmas excursion, I was gone from Dec 17th. Until Jan 4th., and as was the case last year, my neighbor kept an eye on things. Most everything is automatic, so the only real upkeep is training the vines. The heater I put in seems to be doing a good job, and we were blessed with mild weather in Florida while I was gone. At this time the heater’s on a timer from 8pm to 8am, utilizing the thermostat on the heater itself. I have an actual “wall type” thermostat coming that will run the heater regardless of time. I included a pic of my “not so sophisticated” heating system. The fan rotates blowing warm air left to right and so far so good. We’ll see what the electric bill looks like shortly…. It looks like we’ve got 4 or 5 days of low 80’s coming soon (lows never below 60) so I’ll be able to leave them uncovered all day and night - they love that sunshine!!.

Anyway, from the pics you can see they’re doing well. There’s still a lot of flowering going on. I upped the nutrients to about 75% (and I’ve run out - I’ll be making a trip to Verti Gro this month). I’ve also introduced the Epsom Salts @ 1 gram p/gallon. It’s been a challenge training them to “curve” along the roof line, but via a “network” of strings and clips, it’s working. These tomatoes really are heavy!!! Had one tomato with blossom rot, but haven’t seen any more so I’ve held off on the pickling lime. They’re consuming nutrient pretty well too – I topped off the reservoir before I left and 19 days later when I got back it took 37 gallons! Reservoir temp maintains consistently around 68/69 degrees (F).

Lastly, I’m hoping to start the aeroponic rail system soon, and I’ll continue cloning tomatoes via suckers to – hopefully - keep a continuous supply. Thanks again for all your help!

[Stan]

Happy New Year!!! Looks like everything is running perfectly.

Very nice setup with the heater. The plants look great you already have nice forming tomatoes and a lot of flowering. The weather is working in your favor. If only 1 tomato had blossom end rot I wouldn't worry about it as long as the others show no signs of it.

Those plants will be sucking up a lot of water once those flowers start forming even more tomatoes. I don't think you need to increase the nutrients you have plenty of flowers forming the plants look really good with what they are getting at the moment. Only up the nutrients when the plants look like they need it and at the moment they don't. Yes give them the epsom salt that will make them taste really good.

Keep me updated on how everything turns out.

[gdgdad]

I’ve received most of the seeds I ordered for the aeroponic rail system and have started the seeds in rockwool in netcups. I wrapped the “cage” in plastic wrap to create a “humidity dome”, seems to be working – was “foggy” when I came out this morning. So far I have a mix of vegetables, herbs and spices – 14 different types. We’ll see what happens. I have 27 “spots” on my rail system but only 21 openings in my “super cloner”, so some veggies will be started later.

Question on the Aeroponics –cloner and rail system – do I need to have an aerator in the reservoir? Given it’s “spraying” it seems that would accomplish the same thing. Your thoughts?

As for the tomatoes, they’re looking good – they’re being trained on a “learning curve” (pun intended) – as you can see in the pic. Last “top off” of the reservoir on the 12th. took 12 gallons, so they’re definitely drinking up the nutrients. I head out tomorrow to Verti-Gro for a new batch, the original batch lasted a year exactly. The tomato clones have been growing faster than I can give them away, I have a friend driving out from Sorrento to pick up the whole batch (5) and I’ll start over.

Weather has been unbelievable, 80’s and sunny for days, but it’s about to change. Long range prediction says we could hit 32F Tuesday the 21st., though a couple days later we’re back in the 70’s. I purchased a wall type thermostat to run the heater (and fan), hoping for more consistency. The “built in” thermostat didn’t seem to kick on when it should have, so this is a big test. Two of the reservoirs have aquarium heaters that seem to do a good job, and each reservoir has it own thermometer (w/ external LCD display).

That’s where I’m at – I’ll keep you posted on seedling progress – my most difficult part.