Tomato Plants are not producing....

[GpsFrontier]

I did find out why my PH just went up so quick, i didn't give it time to flush through the system and flush out the high PH water in the Bato bucket's(they have a decent amount of storage at the bottom of them) Soooooo maybe if i'm lucky here they'll come back to me if not i'll chalk it up to one hell of a learning experience.

I had a feeling it was mostly related to water volume, and/or the flushing process. Not to mention the change from adding the daily water that wasn't pH adjusted first. That's why I suggested taking accurate notes and readings, and precisely logging them. I figured that would be the best way to show it through patterns if it was. I know you didn't have time to do that before the other problem with something in the water, but I guessing somehow you made a connection to the residual water in your system and the flushing process (or actually lack of flushing it out completely). That's also why early on I was asking about the total water volume, not just the reservoir, but also how much the buckets hold. I just had a feeling it wasn't getting flushed out completely. That also means that the build up of mineral salts in your growing medium never actually got flushed out thoroughly either.

I attached a few of pictures of the mineral salt buildup on my past growing mediums. The first ones are of the build up on some coco chips, the others are the build up on some grow rocks after a grow, and how clean they came out after I cleaned them by soaking them in a white vinegar solution for a few days.

[T'Mater]

well i took one of the plant's in there 6x6 and pulled it up. That's how i PH tested the water. And while i was in there i was looking for any salt build up and wasn't seeing anything close to that.

When i flushed i was great about ending the flush and making sure the PH and EC/PPM was equaled with the water in the tank to the water coming out of the drain before i would stop flushing in hopes i was getting as much junk out of the container's.

BUT what i wasn't doing was after i would start a new tank i wasn't circulating the system near long enough(not thinking about the little holding) to get the PH and EC/PPM equaled....live and learn that's for sure.


How funny that i would remember the holding area's in the Bato bucket's when flushing but not when i would add the new nutes and adjusting the PH.

[Freshwater]

Hey T'Mater,

Haven't been around much lately, but as soon as I was catching up on your thread you answered your question yourself!

Originally Posted by T'Mater

I did find out why my PH just went up so quick, i didn't give it time to flush through the system and flush out the high PH water in the Bato bucket's(they have a decent amount of storage at the bottom of them)

I will usually slam my P.H. down to low 5's, let it run a day (knowing my P.H. was mid 6's), and by the time they turn over the bato res. my P.H. will be close to spot on (5.8's) I always let my P.H. travel a little bit from mid 5's to mid 6's, depending on the system of course.


Not sure why you where testing your P.H. by pulling up a plant, not sure that was needed, unless you where trouble shooting. The Bato res. I would think at least, would have a much greater P.H. swing than the main res.

I know you mentioned the maters are not huge, but how is your harvest?

Let me know!

Todd

[T'Mater]

Harvest is dead i'm pretty sure anyway's, atm i have one plant that was a runt that seem's to be kicking back into gear we'll see what happens with him the rest seem to be on the outs, but we'll see i'll def. keep playing with them. More then anything i can chalk it up to exp.

Ya i pulled the one plant up to see how the roots were looking, figured if it's dieing i'm not going to hurt it much more LOL. And ya just to see what the Bato bucket was looking like. Pretty clean to be honest, but when i seen all the water it just gave me that light bulb to check that water that's when i got hit with a stupid stick and realised all this time what one of my biggest issues were. Not cycling right. And yes had i remember'd the extra water in the bucket's i woulda done like you do and dropped the PH in the main tank down to 5.0 or so and let it roll. Live and learn.

Being green as green can get at this (literally took me 3yrs to convince myself to try this. I'd been reading and buying books and as you see it still didn't help it prolly hurt me more), i def. learned a ton. I think next year will be the year i have so many mater's it'll be insane(in a good way)

With having winter right around the corner to me there is no sense starting a new batch.

I do have some ?'s tho.

1. Do you go by the back of a tomato seed package to determine when you should start getting mater's? Like the plant's i planted said around 80day's, or do hydroponicly grown(if done right) seem to start producing sooner?

2. How do you know what phase your plants are in? That was one of my biggest problems. I come from growing them in the ground so i never paid attention to there size. I just added water and horse tea. So knowing what phase and trying to match that to nutrient strength had me for a loop and i didn't find you guy's till waaaay later in my process. Hell the plant's were something like over 100day's old before i got blooms.

Our goal is to try to have the plant's set up so that they start producing late March/early April. Temps stay up enough and i have a heating setup for my little tent and plan on either getting a bigger one(commercial size like mentioned earlier, but atm we got some stuff going on that may hender us from doing that right off the bat) or at least building a bigger one the cheap way for now so i'll have plenty of room for stuff. Also have plan's to build a storage box for my nute tank so i can keep it better temp. controlled and i'd like to buy a bigger RO unit for now. Unless we go big in which i'd get with a company like Crop King to test my water and build to suite.

[jamromhem]

I just had a thought on a way for you to push earlier production. If you were to keep a tomato plant (one for each variety you want) over the winter. either in hydro or dirt. come time you would normally be seeding you could start rooting some cuttings. Even if the winter plant never produces for you for one reason or another. This will give you a few week head start on the new season. This is something I am going to be trying myself. I have a friend who is going to be dirt growning some plants, as well as I will probably want more once these get going.

I will be keeping my tomatoes in a constant cycle. I am planning on 3 plants of each type going at a time. Each at different ages. and probably 3 systems running separately to prevent total loses.

This is just an idea. You can decide if you are going to do anything with it :P

[T'Mater]

I was actually going to do that with one of my tomato plant's that were pretty healthy looking and massive. Atm the only one i have left is a runt that's weak that i should've pulled along time ago but figured WTH i'm just learning anyway's.

[jamromhem]

Yeah a tomato plant is something I think to be worth keeping over the winter. I am thinking that I will be rooting all of the suckers that come off so any set backs are covered by a replacement in another location :P Even if I don't want the cutting I know people that would :P

Once my tomato plants get going I don't plan on being without them lol. I know I will never be able to grow enough once my kids taste a real tomato. I have all I can do to keep them from eating the small lettuce plants I have right now. I let them taste some lower cuttings I did, and they both got the wide eyed look and were saying it was the best lettuce they have ever tasted lol. My 5 and 6 yo love their salads :P

I have to get my onions and bell pepers going soon as well. I can't wait till I have room for cucumbers.. I have a lot of things to get done :P