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grizzman_gw

My tomato hydroponics

grizzman
15 years ago

Here is an image of my plants on 27 June 2008. You can see how extensive the roots are and the tops are only about 18" tall.

I was still tweaking the system and thought it was a good presentation.

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This shot shows the roots exiting the 2" net pots. If you're not relying on the medium for anything you never need larger than 2". This shot was taken the same time as the first one.

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Finally, this shot was taken on 8 July 2008. Its an overall shot of the system. the plants are now almost 3 feet tall. Notice my handy job of waterproofing the timer on the left side of the picture :D

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Comments (14)

  • babalubird
    15 years ago

    Wow! That is some root system. Impressive.

  • greystoke
    15 years ago

    Good pictures {{gwi:998412}}
    I was also amazed to see the size of the roots of my chards. They are ± 1½ feet long!

  • hydrofil
    15 years ago

    Great work mate. Is that system aeroponic or DWC?

    Bye the way how do you post pics on this forum?

    Cheers Fil

  • grizzman
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    The system is truly a mutant hydrofil. I keep the can approximately 1/3 full, with a single 360° sprayer head hitting the exposed roots. the sprayer runs, I believe, about 30 minutes on, then 40 minutes off. I'm sure the roots are well submerged into the main volume of solution now too.
    to display images, first they need to be hosted (i.e. you don't upload them from your computer to this site) then you use the code below making sure to include the full web address where it is hosted (include http://www)

  • hydroponica
    15 years ago

    Those are some nice looking tomatoes, and I like your system design. I'd definitely like to have half a dozen of those lined up along the fence.

    There's no such thing as too many tomatoes.

  • technologygarden
    15 years ago

    Nice work, I also have tomatoes growing aeroponically and have had great luck. I have a seven plant heirloom setup and I just harvested my first ripe heirlooms , shown in the pics below.

    {{gwi:1010855}}
    {{gwi:1010856}}
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    In the heat of the day so far this summer, I notice my tomatoes can drink up a TON of water - my reservoir is over 40 gallons and then can consume 1/3 of that easily on a hot summer day! Overall I think that's my only drawback, the plants are huge and tons of fruit! More can be see on my site

  • wasserhund
    15 years ago

    Do they taste as good as they look?

    Beautiful.....

  • chuck
    15 years ago

    Well grizzman. I've got to build one of them. I think I have everything except the pump and net pots. I tried using the html for posting a picture and it failed to work. I used the http://, but I didn't put www. I am thinking of using a 12 volt bildge pump and hooking up a small battery charger to the timer. Do you think that there would be any difference in your results if your pump was to run 24/7? It occured to me that if the roots are already down into the nutrients, running the pump 24/7 would just help keep more oxygen in the water. Also, I read someones post some time ago where they used to trim the roots when they got long enough to dip into the nutrients. I don't know if the plants did any beter as a result. chuck

  • technologygarden
    15 years ago

    Yes, they taste just as good as ever....I have been getting 1-2 tomatoes a day (cherokee purple) and looking forward to my other varieties ripening.

    Chuck, I assume you could try a Bilge pump, but Im not sure of the GPH ratings on these, without enough GPH you may not have enough pressure to push the solution up to the roots. The 360 degree sprayers also require a certain PSI to get them to sray in the proper pattern..

    And lastly, make sure you use a NEW bilge pump, using on that's pumped nasty gas and water may not be the best bet for your plants!

    Happy growing!

  • hydroponica
    15 years ago

    I think if you pumped enough clean water through it, maybe with a bit of bleach, it oughta clean an old pump well enough.

    Depends I guess on how squeamish you are about that sort of thing.

    I just picked the first tomatoes of the year from my garden, but I'm still a long ways from any of my hydroponic tomatoes.

  • grizzman
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    yeah, I've been getting a lot of cherry and curant tomatoes from my dirt plants recently, but the big'ns still have a long way to go (dirt and hydro both)
    I actually had a few fruits in the hydro system with blossom bottom rot. I accidentally let the reservoir run too dry then, as a hasty patch, I filled it with straight water until I could mix up another batch.
    That's the only thing I can figure caused it. No problems though, there are still over a dozen fruits on the plants and more flowers coming. The plants are almost 4 feet tall now so I'll be needing to get to them from the deck pretty soon.

  • hydroponica
    15 years ago

    That's normally a problem with calcium deficiency in tomatoes. You might want to add some to the reservoir, or possibly mix some up as foliar spray with a dash of dish soap as a surfactant.

    Epsom salts is a common source for calcium but there's also a bunch of supplements specifically for plants if you'd rather do that.

  • grizzman
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    I believe epsom salts is magnesium sulphate. no calcium in it. the hydro formula has a good percentage of calcium nitrate though.
    I really think it happened when I let the reservoir run too low then topped it with water only for a day or so until I could mix up a fresh batch.
    I hasn't spread on the tomatoes since then.

  • hydroponica
    15 years ago

    You're right, my brain was apparently on screensaver.

    I've just used either hydrated lime or crushed eggshells for calcium, but I'm going to get some real Cal/Mag supplements soon.

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