Tomato Cropping

[Scoop1]

Hey, Loong and Rice, thanks for your help, but i am still confused, but i could not see that the water would be EC 7.0, that would taste like sea water, i think that its just how the meter displays the reading, how often do you calibrate the meter Rice? and what is the brand of it? and i will google it and see what i can find out.

Cheers

Scoop

Edited February 12, 2013 by Scoop1

[rice555]

Hello All, Scoop my meter is an Accent SalTesta ST-3. It's getting

close to 12 years old, the directions are in Oz speak so I don't think

that it can be calibrated(555).

Its time to replace it for a new meter.

rice555

[Scoop1]

Hello All, Scoop my meter is an Accent SalTesta ST-3. It's getting

close to 12 years old, the directions are in Oz speak so I don't think

that it can be calibrated(555).

Its time to replace it for a new meter.

rice555

Thanks Rice i will check it out,i am sure that your meter reads in CF

[rice555]

Hello All, I didn't get to finish transplanting today as it was time fill up the cupboards

as I stay in during the water wars, but heres one of the Black from Tula. The bag has

not been topped up yet.

There hasn't been a lot of growth with the 2 weeks of 100+ temp's.

rice555

[Scoop1]

That looks ok Rice, when it gets to those temperatures, you should lower your EC and feed it more often and the growth rate will pick up a fair bit, { i know you are aware of that} are you drip feeding? if so the more irrigation will lower your EC and less will raise your EC, and and have a "STOP TIME" in the late afternoon [ just on dark } to allow for "DRAW DOWN" overnight and have a "START TIME" in the morning to enable drainage before the sun reaches 80% of its intensity, drainage during the day of around 30% is normal

Cheers

Scoop

[rice555]

Hello All, Scoop1 I'm still doing all my watering(feedings) by hand. During the HOTER times of the day,

I just use 1/2 water to nutes.

More of the Black from Tula.

rice555

[Jotham79]

Does anyone know if teh normal Thai tomatoes (not the tiny ones) are determinate or indeterminate?

Thx

[loong]

Does anyone know if teh normal Thai tomatoes (not the tiny ones) are determinate or indeterminate?

Thx

I can't remember which is which, but the Thai toms that I have grown have definitely not been bush type. If you leave them to themselves, they will fall over, put down adventitious roots and wander all over the place

The small cherry types have been bush type and need no support.

[rice555]

Hello All, you can find both Det. & Ind. Thai tom's, the size that in the States is called

saladedt(90-130grms) and the plum type(seda) used in som tum. That has been what

I have found with E-W Seed, C-T Seed and the Dutch seed Co out of CM.

rice555

[rice555]

Hello All, been running around doing the yearly visa paperwork and not

had time to set up a support for my Ind. toms. I just did a quick fix till I

could get the wire up for my plant hangers.

The 1st. pic is the Det. is staked and clipped as it wanted to lay down.

The 2nd. pic is with all toms done the same till the wire go's up.

The 3rd. pic was this evening, have had about 4 hours total.

rice555

[rice555]

Hello All, as of today, we are off to a good start.

rice555

pic 1. Burrell Special O-P

pic 2. Black from Tula O-P

[Scoop1]

Hi all, I thought I might post some pics of the results from the Hydroponic Single Truss Heirloom Tomatoes {using Coco Peat as the Medium and my own nutrient formula} i have been doing some test's on, bearing in mind that we are on a photoperiod of 12hrs at the moment and the results so far are quite pleasing, 2 were drip fed and the others were hand fed. There were 4 trusses per 15 litre bucket and had a height of about 1 meter.

L-R Gross Lisse, Gross Lisse, Gross Lisse, Rogue De Mamande, Rogue De Mamande, Brandy Wine, Brandy Wine.

The largest fuit on the Brandy Wine Truss will go well over 1kg and I will keep you posted on the total weight of the fruit that from each bucket. Also notice the severe "Leaf Roll" which some growers suggest that Leaf Roll can be caused by a Virus and sometimes suggest it is a psychological problem but mainly it is a direct plant defence against excessive "Photosynthetically Active Radiation".

Cheers

Scoop

Edited June 2, 2013 by Scoop1

[Scoop1]

Hi all, I thought I might post some pics of the results from the Hydroponic Single Truss Heirloom Tomatoes {using Coco Peat as the Medium and my own nutrient formula} i have been doing some test's on, bearing in mind that we are on a photoperiod of 12hrs at the moment and the results so far are quite pleasing, 2 were drip fed and the others were hand fed. There were 4 trusses per 15 litre bucket and had a height of about 1 meter.

Single Truss Gross Lisse Fruit 3.jpgSingle Truss Grosse Lisse Fruit.jpgSingle Truss Gross Lisse.jpgSingle Truss Rogue De Mamande Fruit.jpgSingle Truss Rogue De Mamande.jpgSingle Truss Brandy Wine Fruit.jpgSingle Truss Brandy Wine Fruit 2.jpg

L-R Gross Lisse, Gross Lisse, Gross Lisse, Rogue De Mamande, Rogue De Mamande, Brandy Wine, Brandy Wine.

The largest fuit on the Brandy Wine Truss will go well over 1kg and I will keep you posted on the total weight of the fruit that from each bucket. Also notice the severe "Leaf Roll" which some growers suggest that Leaf Roll can be caused by a Virus and sometimes suggest it is a psychological problem but mainly it is a direct plant defence against excessive "Photosynthetically Active Radiation".

Cheers

Scoop

Hi all, the king fruit on the Brandy Wine that I thought would weigh over 1kg only went 876 grams, oh well it was very very tasty anyway

cheers

Scoop

[Scoop1]

Hi all, here is a pic of the fruits of my Hydroponic labour, just picked these off one of the Rogue De Mamande's pictured in the previous post, this bucket contains 4 single truss plants and so far I have picked 4,302 grams of fruit .

Cheers

Scoop

[soidogs]

Need some Help. The photo is of some plants at the end of Nov. They grew nicely to over the top rung of the cage and had many flowers, but did not bear fruit. The temp got down under 20c and I have bee's in the area. I am thinking of starting new plants now, is it stupid to start in July? Any wisdom would be appreciated.

[teletiger]

Cement pots? New cement pots? Just speculating.

I never had a tomato going over a metre high with flowers and no fruit. Any sort of air flow and they self pollinate.

Rice555 is the man.

Regards.

[soidogs]

Cement pots? New cement pots? Just speculating.

I never had a tomato going over a metre high with flowers and no fruit. Any sort of air flow and they self pollinate.

Rice555 is the man.

Regards.

Yes they are cement, it is what is used for sewage openings. They were NEW. Is cement a problem?

[teletiger]

New cement can be a problem. It's very alkaline and is usually "aged" (left to soak for a few weeks) before use. Same reason limestone chips aren't used in hydroponics.

Whether that's your problem, I've not got a clue. Did the flowers just drop off?

The bamboo cages are nice

Regards.

[Scoop1]

tomato.jpgNeed some Help. The photo is of some plants at the end of Nov. They grew nicely to over the top rung of the cage and had many flowers, but did not bear fruit. The temp got down under 20c and I have bee's in the area. I am thinking of starting new plants now, is it stupid to start in July? Any wisdom would be appreciated.

Hi Soidogs, do you have any other pics or information? what media were they growing in? what were the average day night temperature differentials? how many hours of direct sunlight were they receiving and are the hydroponic or in soil ?

Cheers

Scoop

[soidogs]

tomato.jpgNeed some Help. The photo is of some plants at the end of Nov. They grew nicely to over the top rung of the cage and had many flowers, but did not bear fruit. The temp got down under 20c and I have bee's in the area. I am thinking of starting new plants now, is it stupid to start in July? Any wisdom would be appreciated.

Hi Soidogs, do you have any other pics or information? what media were they growing in? what were the average day night temperature differentials? how many hours of direct sunlight were they receiving and are the hydroponic or in soil ?

Cheers

Scoop

Hi Scoop, They were grown in 3/4 organic soil and 1/4 manure. Not sure exactly of the temps I know at night it was 18-21c they probably got 4-5 hours sun. I'm thinking of starting a new batch .When would you advise starting? I have a good variety of seeds. I live in Hua Hin if the location makes a difference. You did great with yours and made my mouth water.

Thanks.

[Scoop1]

Hi all, Soidogs, you say you "had bees in the area" if they are honey bees they really don't help that much because tomato flowers only supply pollen, NO NECTAR, so they are not that attractive to honey bees, bumble bees have bigger furrier bodies and can collect a lot more pollen from the stamens and buzz the flower with much more vigour and at a frequency which causes the pollen to explode upwards and showers their bodies with the pollen and this obviously gets transferred to other flowers and aids in optimal fruit set which is very important and what we want, it simply sounds like a pollination issue because from what you have said the temperatures seem be ok for pollination although you don't say what the daytime temperatures were, maybe they are too high, fruit set from pollination is dependent on warm temperatures, and will occur at optimal temperatures above 20 degrees c at lower temperatures some pollination does occur but there is a risk of poor fruit set and the fruit tend to have a higher percentage of deformities, particularly with the Heirloom Varieties that I grow, high temperatures above 35 degrees c { ????? } will interfere with the formation of viable pollen and often result in the prevention of any fruit set at all, so some shade cloth maybe required to cool the plant's immediate environment, and it is important that you get the correct shade percentage so the light intensity does not fall below P.A.R. { Photosythetically Active Radiation } 30% - 40% shading is a good average because it will help with the very bright sunny days but will not shade to much on the cloudy days.

Can I suggest that the next crop you grow, that you do the pollinating yourself, by gently, but with a fast vibrating motion with two fingers on the main stem immediately behind the flower truss and this should be carried out in morning { when temperatures have reached that 20 degree mark }, everyday if you can, so that the pollen tube has a few hours under warm daylight conditions { but not to extreme } to grow and fertilize the flower before the cooler night temperatures arrive and this needs to be done while the flower is open for about 3-4 days and receptive to pollination, so everyday if possible, the more the better.

Also, Soidogs you stated "they probably got 4-5 hours of sun" depending on the intensity of the light, that should be ok, considering that a tomato plant only requires half of the light intensity of a clear summers day which is about 2000 micro moles/m2/second, if the light intensity { Photosythetically Active Radiation } is any where near this than the plant will be under stress and that wont help matters, a mature tomato plant requires only about 550 - 800 micro moles/m2/second and as I am sure you are aware a "healthy plant is a happy plant" I also noticed that the concrete pots are not full of growing media, why is that?, and how big are the pots?, were the plant leaves healthy looking?, did you notice any sign of a deficiency or toxicity?, what were the daytime temperatures and the humidity levels? ,and what type of tomato cultivar were they?, all this simple data is very important for you to be aware of and not to hard to obtain.

I grow hydroponic heirloom tomatoes all year here in Australia and the weather conditions are far from ideal and I very rarely have and problems , the tomatoes in the previous posts were grown very simply and partly in our winter with no bells or whistles, so understanding the optimal conditions in which the plant will thrive is so very important because you can make adjustments to suit the conditions that you face in the climate that you are growing. Now armed with that information, what do you think the problem may have been?

Cheers

Scoop

[1Ping1]

Very new to growing a garden in Thailand but a farm boy from birth. We though had four seasons, you planted when the last frost was gone, harvested last everything when fall frost came back. Here, hot, hot, hot and wet and hot. I could really use some simple guidelines on just when to plant, and, or does it matter. I am at this time growing tomato, carrots, peppers, celery, and three or four thai vegtables for soups along with assorted basil and lemon grass. Very small scale, yard garden with pots and ground plantings. Just a great hobby that gets me kicking around outside and also hopefully some good chemical free veggys down the line.

May be off topic and if so I apologize but is it the right time of year, I live in Hua Hin so not get as much rain as north or south. Just a dumping each afternoon and then gone again. Everything appears to be doing great other than the carrots and celery. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. I also US, Canadian border area used the same basic trussing method you guys are talking about to force the energy to the fruit branches of the tomatoes. They are close to having this treatment and have been doing good so far.

.

[Scoop1]

Hi Sawadeka, that's great, lets know how you get on, just make sure you look after those leaves, and you will notice the difference .

Cheers

Scoop