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Tomato Plants are not producing....


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  #81  
Old 08-08-2011, 09:04 PM
Freshwater Freshwater is offline
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Omg, Cry me a river why don't you!

...and while your at it, change the title of the thread

Looks awesome dude, remember what those plants have been through... and you now have tomatoes coming in. How do the young buds look at the moment? Do you have allot of baby tomatoes already set?

I had something similar happen with my Green Zebra tomatoes this year...almost nothing this entire time but one dozen tomatoes from two plants over the last few months. Now... I have almost one dozen on one vine. Don't know if the plant(s) got stunted, and now are ok, or maybe it's just the variety.

I think your setup looks great!

Todd

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  #82  
Old 08-08-2011, 09:08 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Guess i should make a post down in the other section where you all have your set ups. I'm just not one for making a million threads.

Ya i figure with all the mistakes i've made with these plant's i better be counting my blessings that i have anything going on. LOL

I think i counted over 35 tomatoes, not counting ones that were just setting. And i swear when i go out every day i have 10x more blooms then i did the day before.
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  #83  
Old 08-08-2011, 09:17 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Default Crazy adventures of T'Mater and his Tomatoes.....

Not sure how to change the title but i thought you might like this one Fresh.
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  #84  
Old 08-08-2011, 11:05 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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You cant actually change the title of any thread. But it's simple to start a new one, then just use a new title. And I agree those plants have been through a lot. If I remember correctly even almost wiped out by a tornado, and their still hanging in there. Their doing the best they can...
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 08-08-2011 at 11:08 PM.
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  #85  
Old 08-09-2011, 06:41 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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T'Mater
I was updating new articles by Dr. Lynette Morgan in maximum yield tonight, and thought this would interest you.

Tantalizing indoor Tomatoes: Growing for Flavor and Yields
by Dr. Lynette Morgan 2011-08-01
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  #86  
Old 08-09-2011, 10:29 AM
Freshwater Freshwater is offline
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You know I'm just bustin' you a little bit now that your "Tomato plants ARE producing"!



Quote:
Originally Posted by T'Mater View Post
I think i counted over 35 tomatoes, not counting ones that were just setting. And i swear when i go out every day i have 10x more blooms then i did the day before.
That more like it, that's what you want to see.
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  #87  
Old 08-11-2011, 10:32 AM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Thanks GPS, def. a nice read. Prolly read it a few more time's. I tend to over analise things LOL.
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  #88  
Old 08-14-2011, 11:31 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Well finally chopped up one of my mini mater's and that sucker was GOOOD!!!!!
The exact reason i got into growing my own tomatoes, the store boughten mater's around here didn't hold a candle to the taste and color of mine.

Gave one to a friend to taste it and she sent back a text today saying that was the best damn mater she'd ever eaten. She can't wait till we're up and running right and are selling them.

Thanks again guy's for the patience and help you've all given me to get what i've got and it's def. not over.
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  #89  
Old 08-17-2011, 11:08 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Hey guy's, i was kind of going back through and rereading all the info you guy's have given me.

I noticed it seem's like your EC's go down over time as the tank water is getting used up???

I'm asking this cause my nutrient tank doesn't seem to be going down water wise, but my EC is going up greatly. Does that mean i'm needing to flush my system or do i have other problems. Might be why my tomatoes are not getting very big.

Basically my water usage doesn't seem to be all that great. I orig. thought it was cause i was using a 27gal nute tank. I finally was able to get a 45gal nute tank but the EC come's up a lot faster then the water is going down.

I tend to start out with around a 900ppm, as the water lower's it start's to go up, and it seems like the ppm goes up faster then the water is going down.

Last edited by T'Mater; 08-17-2011 at 11:35 PM.
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  #90  
Old 08-18-2011, 01:44 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Quote:
I tend to start out with around a 900ppm, as the water lower's it start's to go up, and it seems like the ppm goes up faster then the water is going down.
The PPM rising as the water level goes down is normal (it becomes more concentrated/stronger), and wont necessarily be proportional either (example: 50% less water/50% stronger nutrient solution). Their are a lot of environmental conditions that affect how plants uptake nutrients, and that will affect how much nutrients are actually left in the nutrient solution, thus the actual PPM/TDS/EC remaining of the water. Try keeping the water level the same, replacing what the plants use daily to the original level. That's the only way you can really compare. Think of it like mixing a glass of powdered drink mix. If you take a measurement of how strong a full glass of lemonade is. Then using the same amount of mix, but less water, it will be much stronger lemonade. The only way to compare the two measurements is to have the water volume the same.

Keep this in mind as well. Whatever the PPM/TDS/EC is of the water you use to replace the used water with, that will also be added to the mix too (even if using plain water). But on the same note, if you don't do a good job flushing the system and getting as much of the residual mineral salts out of the growing medium as you can, or pockets of nutrient solution (like often at the bottom of buckets), they will also affect the strength (PPM/TDS/EC) of your new nutrient solution as it's pumped through the system.

P.S.
I don't know what conversion rate your PPM meter is using, but 900 PPM seems low. The Vegetables PPM chart I have recommends 1400-3500. However there is no way of knowing what conversion rate the meter used for the recommendations uses either. That's the fundamental problem with using PPM or TDS values. But here's something to keep in mind also, nutrients are absorbed by the roots through osmosis (from a place of higher concentration, to a place of lower concentration). If the concentration of elements is higher in the roots than in the nutrient solution, the elements can actually move from the roots back into the water.
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 08-18-2011 at 01:57 AM.
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  #91  
Old 08-18-2011, 11:10 AM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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LOL grrr, the chart's i were going off were saying no higher then 1400 or 2.8 PPM/EC. I noticed someone else had mentioned 1400 to 3500. If that's the case then i'm really golden. I was worried about my nutes cause they were getting into the 1400 area's. Seem's like once they hit 1400-1500 they were not going up near as fast.

you think since i had such low PPM, 900 to start, that it was sucking the water up so fast cause the rapid increase?

Specially since we've had this heat like we've had, 90-100+ last couple of weeks.

HM Digital COM-100 Waterproof EC/TDS/TEMP Meter is what i have. Same brand for my PH meter too.

Last edited by T'Mater; 08-18-2011 at 02:40 PM.
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  #92  
Old 08-18-2011, 07:18 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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To the best of my knowledge the nutrient strength wont affect how much water the plants uptake. But heat and humidity will. High temperatures will cause the plants to transpire more (exhaling water vapor), trying to cool down. That's the only way they have of regulating internal temperature. Much like a dog begins panting heavily when their internal temperature rises, either from high temperatures or exercise.

Low humidity will also cause the plants to transpire more as well. Going back to the process of osmosis (from a place of higher concentration, to a place of lower concentration). Humidity greatly affects plant transpiration rate. If the water vapor (relative humidity) in the surrounding air is much lower than that the plant transpires (breathes out). The plants will transpire faster because the surrounding air has a lower concentration of water vapor in it. This will cause the plant to uptake more water to replace the water it breathes out in water vapor (transpires).

At the same time higher relative humidity (like 70%-80%-90%) will cause the plant to not be able to exhale as much water vapor (because the water vapor in the surrounding air is higher), so less water can move out of the plant. That reduces the amount of water the plant can uptake through the roots (because it cant replace water that's still in the plant), weather the plant is in high temperatures or not.

Without knowing the conversion rates of both the meter being used(your meter), as well as that of the meter used to determine any recommendations. There is no way to tell if they are the same conversion rate or not. Kind of like a recipe calling for 2 cups of milk. That works fine if both people use the same standard measurements. But if one person uses liters instead of cups, it wont come out the same. So even if you know the conversation rate for your meter, you need to know the conversion rate of the meter used for the recommendations to be sure your using the same rates. Bottom line, I simply cant say if there the same or not.

But if your plants nutrient solution starts out with a 900 ppm (using your meter), and after a while rises to 1400 ppm (using your meter), then becomes stable (with the same volume of water when both readings are taken). And assuming you flush your system well with every nutrient change, I cant help but to wonder if the concentration of nutrients is to low in your nutrient solution. As I mentioned earlier if the concentration of nutrients is lower in the nutrient solution than in the plants roots, osmosis would allow the nutrients in the plants roots to travel out into a area of lower concentration (back into the water). Then when the concentrations equalize (in both the water and roots), it becomes stable. If it's stabling at about 1400 ppm, I would raise it a little higher than that. To something like 1500-1700 ppm and see how the plants respond. Keep in mind that this all assumes the water level (volume of water), is always the same when the readings are taken, and the nutrients are evenly mixed thought the entire system.
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  #93  
Old 08-18-2011, 11:02 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Would that be a cause of my tomatoes not getting very big themselves before ripening or am i right in thinking of what happend to me that one day shocked them into ripening?

Well when i said stable, i ment it's a slower graduale rise in nutes. When i checked it i went a head and added some nutes to raise it. It's just from 900-1400 were talking a matter of a couple day's. I added some nutes to make it just over 1500 this morning after reading this. I'll see where it's at in the morning.

Last edited by T'Mater; 08-18-2011 at 11:10 PM.
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  #94  
Old 08-19-2011, 10:30 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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I'm not sure if low nutrient concentrations will cause the tomato's to ripen specifically. But low nutrient levels is certainly stress for the plant, and stress in general will trigger the plant into reproduction. Basically it's just trying to produce seeds for offspring before it dies. Heat is stress as well, and it may not even be one or the other. It can be a combination of things, including all the different stress the plant has been through in the past.
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  #95  
Old 08-20-2011, 12:10 AM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GpsFrontier View Post
including all the different stress the plant has been through in the past.
Not my plant's LOL

I'll get this hydroponic's thing figured out one way or another, altho i am surprised my plant's haven't just said the heck with it and all jumped out of there buckets and killed themselves LOL.
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  #96  
Old 08-21-2011, 01:49 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Ok nother ? about flushing, when you all flush do you just fill your tub full of fresh water, and then let it cycle through a day, or do you fill the tub and sit there and let it flush completely.

I've been filling a tub of water PH balanced and letting it flush the system till one tank is drained. I use 2 tanks when i flush, i fill one and use a dubplicate tank to catch.
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  #97  
Old 08-22-2011, 12:59 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Ok i think i got some funk going on now. I'll post a pic and tell me what you all think. BTW do you all think i should start new threads when i have these ?'s or just continue on. I figured i'd save topic space by just continuing this one.
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  #98  
Old 08-22-2011, 01:16 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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couple more pic's

and just for safety i went ahead and spray'd all my plant's with a fungal spray.
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  #99  
Old 08-27-2011, 04:35 PM
T'Mater T'Mater is offline
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Not sure what happend now. Didn't think my plants went that long with out the right PH balanced water but something is up. It looks like they are done tho. I can't keep the PH down, seem's like even after a fresh batch of water with the right kind of PH water. I checked and dropped the PH down to 5.50 like almost perfectly. Even checked it with the drops and it was in the right color area. Came home from a soccer game and it's ran 2x's while i was gone and the PH was back up to over 7.50 and checked with the drops and it fit the shade to somewhat patch the reader.

THere is something going on with the water, when i woke up it had this foamy looking white gunk on top. And i know it couldn't be any soap left over cause i did a flush like you were talking about GSP 2 day's ago. THen i ran 2x 27gal container's through the system.

THink my tomato plant's finally had enough LOL. Def. wanna thank you all for your input's and can't wait to start over. This time i have a much better idea as to what i need to be doing...
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  #100  
Old 08-27-2011, 05:10 PM
jamromhem jamromhem is offline
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the foam you say you saw in the water. Do you smell anything from the water?

You might have a fungal infection. I had a foam when I got one in my res.

The H2O2 didnt kill it or touch it really.. I drained and went with a bleach solution (about 10ml per 4 gal) to get to an optimum bleach level. (about 3.0 ppm) The plants are fine with it and don't mind the bleach at that levels that I have noticed. It might be an option for you. Just remember to drain the system and flush before adding bleach or the H2O2 will react with it and make your res salt water :P..

It might be worth a try. (a side note) bleach works as a PH down. So you might want to do a little planning when using it. It isnt a HUGE ph down and will adjust back a little while disipating.

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