A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Tomatoes

Well I know if the leaves are turning yellow they need chelated iron.

But do you need to prune them or train them a certain way to get the most fruit out of the plant?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sylvia Bernstein on January 25, 2011 at 12:26pm

Hi Albert. IMO you do need to prune indeterminate plants. Here is a link to a video I did on just that process - http://www.youtube.com/user/aquaponicgardening#p/u/13/amIhZnKEPp0. Let me know what you think!

Permalink Reply by Kobus Jooste on January 25, 2011 at 1:20pm

Ha! I was just thinking about trying to find this old thread and here we go. NICE. I also want to clump my tomatoes better. Last season's yield was good, but the bushes got scraggly. On a nutrient note - Is tomatoes full of _________ or am I unlucky? I constantly seem to have discoloured leaves on them while the other plants are doing OK. Any thoughts? Trying to figure out what exactly is wrong is difficult as I am colour blind. I have a plant disease / nutrition book and try to match pics up as well as possible, but it is not always easy.

Sylvia Bernstein said:

Hi Albert. IMO you do need to prune indeterminate plants. Here is a link to a video I did on just that process - http://www.youtube.com/user/aquaponicgardening#p/u/13/amIhZnKEPp0. Let me know what you think!

Permalink Reply by Sylvia Bernstein on January 25, 2011 at 2:00pm

Hey Kobus. Not sure what to tell you buddy on the nutrient front. They kinda grow like weeds for me, although they've been being attacked by aphids quite a bit lately. Are you rolling with 12" deep beds? I've also noticed that when things have gotten clogged up and haven't drained well that the tomatoes have taken it harder than most of the other plants. They Really seem to hate wet feet. Can't remember the specifics of your system. You are siphoning pretty frequently, right?

Permalink Reply by Kobus Jooste on January 25, 2011 at 2:41pm

If they do not like wet feet then I may have a problem, as the roots will be wet around 50% upwards of a day. For fun I stuck one in the raft bed and it is actually bigger than the ones in the media! The new growth of the tomatoes seem to be doing better thus perhaps the chelated iron is getting to them.

Sylvia Bernstein said:

Hey Kobus. Not sure what to tell you buddy on the nutrient front. They kinda grow like weeds for me, although they've been being attacked by aphids quite a bit lately. Are you rolling with 12" deep beds? I've also noticed that when things have gotten clogged up and haven't drained well that the tomatoes have taken it harder than most of the other plants. They Really seem to hate wet feet. Can't remember the specifics of your system. You are siphoning pretty frequently, right?

Permalink Reply by AlbertF on January 28, 2011 at 10:36am

Thank you Sylvia, that is super useful to me! I reposted it, if thats okay.

Permalink Reply by Sylvia Bernstein on January 28, 2011 at 11:51am

No problem, Albert. It is public domain

AlbertF said:

Thank you Sylvia, that is super useful to me! I reposted it, if thats okay.

Permalink Reply by Harold Sukhbir on February 13, 2011 at 9:32am

While cycling i started with 2 tomato plants,they barely grew over 5 months and looked stunted(during that time I'd go to bed with Sylvia's laughing face running round my brain). After 2 months into cycling i went with a 40% protein Zigler feed and added some boron/molybednum nutrient and added 2 new plants.Today all 4 plants are fruiting with the later plants plants doing better than the earlier ones. I did add iron chelate and potassium as a boost after 3 months and i will repeat about every 3 months. Tomato plants demand more from an AP system and from my very limited experience I'm looking at about 3- 1lb fish/plant. BTW both beds are doing the same as far as growth in constant drip and FD, at least so far.

Permalink Reply by Kobus Jooste on February 21, 2011 at 12:01am

I'm developing issues with my raised beds and vine tomatoes. They seem to hit the top of my crop supports before the bottom tomatoes have ripened. Any suggestions as to a modified support method?

Permalink Reply by Harold Sukhbir on February 21, 2011 at 9:00am

I've followed Sylvia's method of wrapping with string and hanging from the ceiling of the GH. I used simple cotton string wrapped around the main stem(not tied), and adjust it by slackening the wrap from the bottom,pulling the slack every inch until it reaches the top. The cotton string adheres to the tiny "hairs" on the stem and naturally grips firmly. This is very light knitting string. When the top is at it's ceiling and fruit is touching thew bottom i string the bottom near the fruit and tie off at a 45 deg angle to the top of one side of the GH, this raises the fruit off the media and starts a bend to give the stem a "memory" to start the coiling process of the unproductive part of the stem base.

Permalink Reply by Kobus Jooste on February 21, 2011 at 9:18am

What is the height from the base of your bed to the top of the structure? My tomatoes are touching the top of the greenhouse and the fruit are not ready at the base yet. I only have about 1.8 meters of clearence to work with. I also use the same method, but think I left myself too little space.

Permalink Reply by Harold Sukhbir on February 21, 2011 at 10:54am

I have a 4 ft. ceiling height to work with. It can be done in less space as long as you start the base coil, by supporting the area where the fruit is(at an angle from the main stem), you are in effect starting a coiling point, so it can be done, theoretically at any feasible ceiling height. I have allowed the plants to become unruly as i saw Sylvia's video after planting, so i support branches at angles natural to the stem growth, this way it's more work but you still get all the fruit.