Tomato Cropping

[Scoop1]

Hi all i thought this may be of interest, I have used this system at times with hydroponic tomatoes and it may interest some growers who sometimes struggle to get the results they require in Thailand, i have used this system before and it worked great for a short term crop of long term cultivars [ indeterminate }, which may help in Thailand's weather {a quickie before the rainy season } its known as "Single Truss Cropping" and for those who are not aware of this system of cultivation it has some benefits in, fruit flavour , fruit size, and can be quicker than normal long term cropping , the seedling is treated as normal until the development of 2-3 leaves immediately above the first fruit truss, and then the growing shoot is removed and all subsequent lateral shoots are removed as they appear, and the plants can be grown at a density of about 10-12 plants per square metre as long as there is enough sunlight to drench the plant's leaf canopy, which is great if you don't have a lot of room or you grow in pots, since the average "Single Truss Plant" does not grow much taller than 80cm it can be grown in smaller areas than normal cropping methods, it has also proven that the taste of the fruit is enhanced and the size of the fruit is also bigger. since this "Single Fruit Truss" has no competition for assimilates from anymore developing shoots, new leaves or fruit trusses, these 7-9 leaves that each plant has all contribute to the production of that one truss of fruit, and in turn the extremely high compositional quality of the fruit in terms of sugars, acids and dry matter content and overall flavour. Single truss cops develop rapidly once the growing tip has been removed, and seedlings can be planted out every 3-4 weeks so there is a continued crop of tomato's being harvested when weather permits, the only disadvantage with this system of cropping, obviously you need a lot more seedlings.

Cheers

Scoop

[pigeonjake]

thats how we allways grow them in england, so thats how ive allways done them here, with good results, plenty of water and and good compost/pig poo

[Scoop1]

Hi Pigeonjake, i am glad you are doing well with your single truss toms, are you growing in a garden or in pots ? and do you notice the enhanced taste ? and what toms are you growing? tell us a little about your system if you dont mind, it may help others who sometimes have trouble growing good toms.

Cheers

Scoop

[pigeonjake]

hi scoop,

i grow some in pots and to be honest i grew some strait in the ground, but improved ground, we keep pigs,lol, and i didnt see much differance as long as you water plenty and also when ive got the 5 truses high, i pinch out the top growing shoot, this is what my grandfather told me, and it does work with better fruit, well i think so, ive made a green house out of plastic pipe bent over into a tunel and coverd with black net with a raised bed on one side, ill post some pics if i can find them,

take care jake

[Scoop1]

Thanks Jake that would be great, so you have single truss as well as five truss.

Scoop

[pigeonjake]

yes mate keep pinching out the side shoots then like i say once you have 5 fruit truses pinch out the top so all the strength goes to the fruit, seems to work for me, but to be honest youll have to do a lot of work with your soil, im in scotland at the moment working for a while, and ive got a compost heap that is 12ft x12ft, one tin sheet hight under a tarpolin at the minute and when i get home in 8 to 10 weeks time that stuff under there should be great for anything, pig poo, strw and husk, so ill be looking for a bumper crop when i get home,,lol, ive treid bringing many seed back from the uk but without much success, i did bring some toms, that were giant mediteranion veriety and they did well but i cant remember there name but ill bring some back with me again this time too, i keep trying differant things just to find things that grow well here in thailand, but the polly tunnel with black net does help,

i know people will say its cheaper to go and buy things at the mrkt, but i like to grow things, and what we grow is better to be honest no chemicals, i grow sunflowers that i brought over from england and the bugs love them so that keeps them off my veg, i grew some good carrots, but again the soil has to be very loose for them to form there root, and plenty of water again,,

ill see if ive got any pics here with me, if i have ill post them,, jake

[pigeonjake]

hi mate heres some pics when i was just starting the green house, long raised bed on one side that i tried onion sets in from england without success, and i start my seed off up there too, and ive started to try and grow potatoes under there, ill have another go at things when i get back home,,

jake

[pigeonjake]

sorry didnt go on last time

[Scoop1]

Looks good Jake, i dont have to worry about the soil because i grow in Hydroponics so i dont have those soil born problems,

Scoop1

[seajae]

Hi, I have only recently planted tomato seeds here but I am going with the method I used in Australia. I dig holes where I want my tomatoes, place fertilizer(cow poo, chook poo etc) in the bottom them cover it with potting mix, then I place a plastic shopping bag inside another one, fill them with potting mix and poke a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage. I place these in the holes and peg the handles then replant the seedlings into them, I restrict the tomato to 2 growth tips with the second one being the one at the first flower set(I set stakes for each tip). This can produce around 7 kg of fruit per plant a season and they set full trusses with good size and taste, the other advantage is no soil bourne diseases because you use potting mix and at the end of the season you simply spread the bags of mix elsewhere and re-use the same holes again, you do not need to rotate at all. Worked great in oz so I am hoping it will work here but I have changed the varieties I am planting to those which handle the heat/humidity better.

Dennis

[grimleybob]

Thanks Jake that would be great, so you have single truss as well as five truss.

Scoop

What is the time-scale for the full growing cycle from seeding to harvest and what do you think the average yield is per plant?

Bob

[pigeonjake]

bob fancy asking me that, you no im only an old welder,,lol,

i dont bloody no,, i just plant some seeds, plant them out when big enough and then plant some more seeds,

one of the other boys will no,

thats a very good idea about the plastic bags, i was growing some in pots say a foot round pots, did well but so did the ones in the ground, i think its all about the soil you plant them in,

when i was at home i had lots of small plants outside, the little cherry thai ones just came up from last year,

thats how the mil plants them she just squashes a tom in her fingers and lets it drop on the floor next thing tom plants,

amazing thailand, welcome one and all jake

[rice555]

Hello All, if you know what seed you are using, most Co's list

what the average times are from TP to fruit.

If you are using NO-NAME fruit for seed, you are in the dark.

Pic 052 Thai OP cherry. Pic 056 are cherry(white bag), black

bag with "B" are 300grm + toms like I grew last year.

Most plants are starting to have some blossoms.

These plants were started 7/17/12.

rice555 .

[grimleybob]

bob fancy asking me that, you no im only an old welder,,lol,

i dont bloody no,, i just plant some seeds, plant them out when big enough and then plant some more seeds,

one of the other boys will no,

thats a very good idea about the plastic bags, i was growing some in pots say a foot round pots, did well but so did the ones in the ground, i think its all about the soil you plant them in,

when i was at home i had lots of small plants outside, the little cherry thai ones just came up from last year,

thats how the mil plants them she just squashes a tom in her fingers and lets it drop on the floor next thing tom plants,

amazing thailand, welcome one and all jake

No offence Jake but I meant to ask Scoop about his one truss method, but I welcome advice from anyone. My knowlege of horticulture is limited to say the least, but I need to learn.

Bob

[pigeonjake]

didnt think you could of ment me, im just growing them as my grandad did,,lol

[Scoop1]

bob fancy asking me that, you no im only an old welder,,lol,

i dont bloody no,, i just plant some seeds, plant them out when big enough and then plant some more seeds,

one of the other boys will no,

thats a very good idea about the plastic bags, i was growing some in pots say a foot round pots, did well but so did the ones in the ground, i think its all about the soil you plant them in,

when i was at home i had lots of small plants outside, the little cherry thai ones just came up from last year,

thats how the mil plants them she just squashes a tom in her fingers and lets it drop on the floor next thing tom plants,

amazing thailand, welcome one and all jake

No offence Jake but I meant to ask Scoop about his one truss method, but I welcome advice from anyone. My knowlege of horticulture is limited to say the least, but I need to learn.

Bob

Hi Bob, sorry for the delayed reply, it is hard to give an exact anwser to your question because there is so many variables that influence the growth, such as, climate, day v night temps, growing conditions, hydroponic v soil , and the actual cultivar you are growing, i have just pricked out 10 tigerella plants on the 2/9/2012 , they are in a 15ltr plastic drum grown hydroponically, i have just pinched out the growing tip, and they are about 500mm high and wont get any higher, i would say i will be picking them in about 3 weeks, but i will take some photos and you can follow their progress if you would like

Cheers

Scoop

[grimleybob]

bob fancy asking me that, you no im only an old welder,,lol,

i dont bloody no,, i just plant some seeds, plant them out when big enough and then plant some more seeds,

one of the other boys will no,

thats a very good idea about the plastic bags, i was growing some in pots say a foot round pots, did well but so did the ones in the ground, i think its all about the soil you plant them in,

when i was at home i had lots of small plants outside, the little cherry thai ones just came up from last year,

thats how the mil plants them she just squashes a tom in her fingers and lets it drop on the floor next thing tom plants,

amazing thailand, welcome one and all jake

No offence Jake but I meant to ask Scoop about his one truss method, but I welcome advice from anyone. My knowlege of horticulture is limited to say the least, but I need to learn.

Bob

Hi Bob, sorry for the delayed reply, it is hard to give an exact anwser to your question because there is so many variables that influence the growth, such as, climate, day v night temps, growing conditions, hydroponic v soil , and the actual cultivar you are growing, i have just pricked out 10 tigerella plants on the 2/9/2012 , they are in a 15ltr plastic drum grown hydroponically, i have just pinched out the growing tip, and they are about 500mm high and wont get any higher, i would say i will be picking them in about 3 weeks, but i will take some photos and you can follow their progress if you would like

Cheers

Scoop

When I finally start, I will have 320 sq M of beds in an Aquaponics system (8 x 20 x2 M)

I was thinking of trialing 1 bed for Tomato. They would grow in pea gravel with a constant height water flow thro system.

I was looking for crops with a 30/40 day growth cycle

The one truss system sounds feasible.

Any thoughts on yield per plant?

Thanks Bob

[Scoop1]

name='grimleybob' timestamp='1348562562' post='5698263']

bob fancy asking me that, you no im only an old welder,,lol,

i dont bloody no,, i just plant some seeds, plant them out when big enough and then plant some more seeds,

one of the other boys will no,

thats a very good idea about the plastic bags, i was growing some in pots say a foot round pots, did well but so did the ones in the ground, i think its all about the soil you plant them in,

when i was at home i had lots of small plants outside, the little cherry thai ones just came up from last year,

thats how the mil plants them she just squashes a tom in her fingers and lets it drop on the floor next thing tom plants,

amazing thailand, welcome one and all jake

No offence Jake but I meant to ask Scoop about his one truss method, but I welcome advice from anyone. My knowlege of horticulture is limited to say the least, but I need to learn.

Bob

Hi Bob, sorry for the delayed reply, it is hard to give an exact anwser to your question because there is so many variables that influence the growth, such as, climate, day v night temps, growing conditions, hydroponic v soil , and the actual cultivar you are growing, i have just pricked out 10 tigerella plants on the 2/9/2012 , they are in a 15ltr plastic drum grown hydroponically, i have just pinched out the growing tip, and they are about 500mm high and wont get any higher, i would say i will be picking them in about 3 weeks, but i will take some photos and you can follow their progress if you would like

Cheers

Scoop

When I finally start, I will have 320 sq M of beds in an Aquaponics system (8 x 20 x2 M)

I was thinking of trialing 1 bed for Tomato. They would grow in pea gravel with a constant height water flow thro system.

I was looking for crops with a 30/40 day growth cycle

The one truss system sounds feasible.

Any thoughts on yield per plant?

Thanks Bob

Hi Bob, this is a pic of 9 Hydroponic Tigerella Tomatoes in the 15ltr drum, pic taken 29/9/12 so i update once a week

Considering it will take 7-10 days for germination that does not leave a lot of time for fruit development .

[rice555]

Hello All, here's some tom pic's from the Korat Ag Show. Some were in pots outside

and some in the dirt under netting.

What is nice is that most are western verities. I just did a quick walk through of the show

so I may have missed some things or didn't list them as they our not what I like.

The #750 picture is why I joined TV, people couldn't grow Roma's or falang veges.

Just to point out a few things I saw there and from my own growing of toms here,

some just don't grow here for the effort/costs of one or two fruit.

#751, Giant Belgium the size of pool balls, #752 Yellow Brandywine weren't anything

to speak about and the White tom in the inside area by the #753 BlackPrince pic, br

the third BP plant at the lowest cross piece you can see a ripe BP, about what I got

growing hydro BP's.

Last Pic is bells on a stick.

rice555

[Scoop1]

Hi all,for those who are interested, this is a photo of the results of a Single Truss Hydroponic Grosse Lisse Tomato at 8 weeks and 10 weeks, biggest Tomato was 730 grams

Cheers

Scoop

[rice555]

Hello All, nice looking toms Scoop1, when you going to come and do your

craft in LOS?

rice555

[Scoop1]

Hello All, nice looking toms Scoop1, when you going to come and do your

craft in LOS?

rice555

Hey, Rice, good to hear from you and thanks for your comment, i was fairly happy with the result because i have never used that system of cultivation with the Gross Lisse and we have had extreme weather here, 40 degrees plus so it wasnt too bad with an average of 4 kg per truss with 6 plants { trusses } per 15 litre drum, LOS is still a work in progress, but i am getting closer and closer and i cant wait to get there and setup a hydroponic greenhouse, i have been looking at places to rent with a little bit of land so i have the room to do this, so i wont be to much longer, i will bring plenty of my favourite seeds with me to get started.

Cheers

Scoop

[Scoop1]

Hello All, here's some tom pic's from the Korat Ag Show. Some were in pots outside

and some in the dirt under netting.

What is nice is that most are western verities. I just did a quick walk through of the show

so I may have missed some things or didn't list them as they our not what I like.

The #750 picture is why I joined TV, people couldn't grow Roma's or falang veges.

Just to point out a few things I saw there and from my own growing of toms here,

some just don't grow here for the effort/costs of one or two fruit.

#751, Giant Belgium the size of pool balls, #752 Yellow Brandywine weren't anything

to speak about and the White tom in the inside area by the #753 BlackPrince pic, br

the third BP plant at the lowest cross piece you can see a ripe BP, about what I got

growing hydro BP's.

Last Pic is bells on a stick.

rice555

Hey Rice, i was wondering if you had an EC and Ph meter, and if so can you tell me if you have tested the EC and Ph of bottled drinking water is, i read somewhere on here, the Ph was 8.0 and i thought you may have checked it at some stage, the reason for asking is that because of the inconsistent water quality from place to place in LOS i will have to use bottled water to make the Hydroponic Nutrient Concentrate.

Cheers

Scoop

[rice555]

Hello All, Scoop1, I just use tap water to my nutes up, village water system.

the well is 250M from me.

I checked the EC and is 07.0 on my Accent meter, I don't have a pH meter.

From a fish pH and a Ag pH test kits it shows 6-6.5 for the pH. Hard to tell

as it was getting dark and I'm half blind in one eye and can't see out of the

other one.

The bottled water we use is just filtered water from the same water system.

We are moving out to the new house at the farm and will be pumping water

out of the lake/river/mud hole/flooded village depending what time of the year

it is.

rice555

[Scoop1]

Hey Rice, thanks for that, i think you mean the EC is 0.7 not 7.0 , i hope thats the case anyway, or i wont be growing to much in LOS , haha

thank you for your trouble

Cheers

Scoop

[Scoop1]

Hey Rice, thanks for that, i think you mean the EC is 0.7 not 7.0 , i hope thats the case anyway, or i wont be growing to much in LOS , haha

thank you for your trouble

Cheers

Scoop

Hey Rice , can you clariy this question for me

Cheers

Scoop

[rice555]

Hello All, Scoop1, just stuck my meter in a glass of tap water.

rice555

meter is 11 years old

[Scoop1]

Hello All, Scoop1, just stuck my meter in a glass of tap water.

rice555

meter is 11 years old

Thanks Rice, it looks like 0.70 ms which is a little higher than the town water here, but workable, i would love to know what the reading is on the bottled water from Tesco or the like.

Thank you very much

Scoop

[loong]

Hello All, Scoop1, just stuck my meter in a glass of tap water.

rice555

meter is 11 years old

Thanks Rice, it looks like 0.70 ms which is a little higher than the town water here, but workable, i would love to know what the reading is on the bottled water from Tesco or the like.

Thank you very much

Scoop

Image is upside down but looks like 07.0 to me, but I am not familiar with these devices. Other way up, looks like this. Better than standing on your head

[rice555]

Hello All, I get 08.0 with "Minere", natural mineral water from LOS.

I think other "drinking/bottled water" is just filtered tap water.

You need to check the water where you'll be living to get your #'s

dialed in, mine may be way off from the ones you'll get.

rice555