Having trouble reaching correct PPM for my dutch bucket tomatoes.
James Costello
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
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D. Smith
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Tomato yellowing top leaves
Comments (68)Hi Toe, Someone else could do better on that one. All I know for sure is to keep the potassium level high in the nutrient, having a good bloom/fruit formula. I've been worried about it too since I'm trying heirlooms. You gotta be careful, because some tomatoes just crack because it's in their DNA like Cherokee Purple. But the cracking I'm worried about I think happens when there is a step, or quick change in nutrient, temperature or watering. When it gets ripe the skin gets taught and below soft, so rain or sprinkling water can trigger it (like sweet strawberries), changing nute strength can do it, and from what I can tell most worrying is that we can be in situations where the temperature fluctuates suddently since our babies aren't buried in the heat sinking ground. So if it spikes in temperature variation I think you can forget about heirlooms. Back to DWC, besides the problem of rapid temperture changes if you're outside, because the roots have no heat sink that are in the air, if you're thinking that all the watering will trigger it, I'm gonna guess it's the opposite as long as you run your system with a pretty constant level. But if there is a big change in the water level I'm sure that would split them if they had that tendency. Your probably need a way to automatically siphon or float valve in water to keep the level constant. Get some crack resistent heirlooms like Thessaloniki, Google "crack resistant heirloom tomato"...See Moredeep water culture tomatoes too much work!
Comments (13)Thanks everyone. Broke down this weekend and converted the system to recirculating dwc. I think we went overboard with the reservoir bucket, 27 gallon container found at the home despot for $9. We made our own "bulkhead" connectors using pvc and garden gaskets, and attached dripsystem hoses. With the pond pump and parts, it was about $100 total. Drain from each bucket by gravity. Easy to reach equilibrium. We put all six bubblers into the reservoir instead of individual buckets, not sure why... probably should've left them in the buckets. Reservoir is not ideal plastic and likely full of bad contaminants, but this is all just a test anyway. We harvested soil-grown tomatoes already which were started a couple weeks AFTER we started the hydro grown ones, these are just going soooo slow, very anxious and frustrated, better be good :) Biggest mistake was putting the reservoir on the ground with no drain *face palm*. I will likely install a y-valve at the pump so we can easily pump out "most" of the water. We tried to setup the trellis on the table, however, it kept falling over, so for now, the trellis remains as is and we'll have to deal with arching tomato plants....See MoreDWC Tomato Questions
Comments (17)catmando6694 That's not hijacking, that's just how you have a conversation (back and forth exchanges). I agree with regular nutrient changes myself for that very reason. And also why I have not found a real need to buy a EC, TDS, or PPM meter yet. I can tell the relative strength of the solution by fallowing the mixing directions, but I usually mix a little week. Especial if it's, hot or the plants are small. Then I judge how long to use them for by the size of plants, and by observing how they look and plant growth, and/or ph swings (size of reservoir etc.). But I'll usually change them at 1 or 2 weeks (occasionally 3 weeks). Sometimes I will add some diluted nutrients back as well after the first week, especially if they are big plants. Though I know plenty of people who like to use the same nutrient solution for long periods. I know of one in particular that uses a large reservoir (not sure the size, about 50 gallons or more I think), and dumps 1 or 2 gallons a day, re-adds fresh water, and at the end of the week adds some new nutrients. He uses it in a drip/dwc system with many different types of plants, and I believe last count was about 60 plants. He does this for months on end and says it works great for him. But he also uses a $1000 Growtronix to control his grow room, including the dumping and adding of nutrients....See Moremy tomato seedlings need a doctor
Comments (9)Dody, The temperatures are fine, so the purpling is more related to a phosphorus deficiency because they are in Jiffy Mix and peat pots, and neither would contain phosphrous in an absorbable form. So, feed them as described above if you wish or ignore the purpling until after you pot them up. Either way the purpling is not a life or death issue and will correct itself within a few days to a few weeks. I can't answer for any seasoned gardeners except myself, but I can assure you I don't shake my head or chuckle at newbie antics at all because I remember things I did when seed-starting, for example, was new to me. We all do the same things at times like that and we all learn the same lessons. Everyone I know who grows from seed indoors under lights tends to overwater and overfeed seedlings the first year or two or three that they raise them, and you can guess what caused them to change their behavior, can't you? Damping off, of course. We all live, learn, and move on. Mistakes, problems, issues and outright disasters are great teachers! And, by the way, damping off can happen to anybody's plants and I don't care how well-seasoned a gardener they are. Damping off is a general term given to a handful of fungal diseases that kill seedlings, and well-seasoned gardeners are not immune to having their plants affected by those diseases. (Oh, if only it were so!) What well-seasoned gardeners might do that reduces damping off is they focus (based on what they learned when less well-seasoned) more on good air flow, correct temperatures and keeping seedlings moist, not too dry and not too wet, but just right (it is sort of a Goldlilocks thing.....). I will tell a funny tomatp story about a former neighbor of ours in Texas. She wasn't a very pleasant person to be around although her husband seemed nice enough. She's the kind of person who could live next door to you for 10 years and never once speak to you....so when she planted tomatoes, she never asked for any advice and I certainly didn't offer my unsolicited opinion. She planted in a shady yard that might have 2 or 3 hours a day of sun. She must have been using a gardening book written for northern gardeners who raised their tomatoes very differently (this was in the late 1980s or earliest 1990s) from how we raise them here. She diligently kept them pruned to one main stem and periodically pruned off EVERY branch and EVERY blossom. So, she had these 6 to 8' tall, leggy, thin tomato plant stalks with about 3 leaves at the tip-top of each plant, and every other bit of vegetation pruned off weekly, including the blooms. Her plants looked like green bamboo poles. Finally, her husband (poor henpecked thing that he was)came over to our house in late August and asked what they were doing wrong. He said they could see our plants were loaded with tomatoes and theirs had none. With a perfectly straight face I told him I believed their problem was she was pruning off 99% of the foliage and the few remaining leaves at the top of the plant could not conduct enough photosynthesis to produce tomatoes, especially since they were growing in shade. He understood that as soon as I said it. Taking a deep breath, I then told him that the other problem likely was that she kept pinching off all the blooms and since blooms develop into tomatoes, that's why there were no tomatoes. Give me brownie points here because I said it as kindly and gently as I could. The look on his face was both incredulous and sort of scared-looking. He looked down at the floor, then looked back up at me and said something like, "Well, I think we'll forget we ever had this conversation and I'm not going to say anything to her about it. She wouldn't take it very well." I solemnly nodded my head and agreed with him that he probably was making the best decision because I knew she didn't handle criticism well. I did suggest that maybe he might buy her a book about vegetable gardening in Texas if she wanted to give tomatoes another try the next year. She didn't. I will admit I snickered to myself every time I looked at her plants that whole summer and fall, but I was younger and less mature then. Carol, I only started broccoli seed this week, so if you start yours next week, yours will be only a week behind mine and that's not bad considering we're in different zones. I'm not in any hurry on the broccoli because I am sure the cold weather isn't done with us yet. It is very hard for me to look and see nice big broccoli plants in the stores now and mine haven't even sprouted yet, but those big plants are a whole lot more likely to button head than mine are so far, so I get over it. I've had you and your family and your friend's family on my mind all week and hope the week has gone as smoothly as possible, considering the circumstances. Dawn...See MoreJames Costello
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8 years agoJames Costello
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8 years agoJames Costello
8 years agoJames Costello
8 years agohex2006
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoJames Costello
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