HelpfulGardener.com

First Hydroponic Grow

Unknown hardware store tomato
Black Zebra Tomato heirloom
Black Cherry tomato heirloom
Sungold cherry tomato
Green Bell Pepper

Net Pots
Rapid Rooter
Hydroton
Botanicare Power Plant 
Botanicare Pure Blend Pro bloom 2-3-5
4 26W 6500k cfl's
4 26W 5000k cfl's
Reflectix
Air pump
5 air stones
5 buckets
Foil Tape

8-25-2011
... ...  ...  Planted seeds in ... Rapid Rooter mat.... 
8-28-2011
... ...  ...  Seeds sprouted
8-31-2011
... ...  ...  Planted seeds in DWC system in hydroton in net pot. 5.25mL power plant per 1.5G water.... 

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/42d13647.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/dbc4a041.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/c576bbe4.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/612921a2.jpg[/img]

9-12-2011
... ...  ...  Cleaned buckets and bumped nutes up. 10ml/G @2.5G

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/1939c767.jpg[/img]



9-17-2011
... ...  ...  Cleaned buckets and light proofed ... them. Had a little bit of an algae problem. 10ml/G @ 2G

9-21-2011
... ...  ...  Added Reflectix to the area for maximum efficiency using the CFL's

9-23-2011
... ...  ...  Replaced water and bumped nutes up. 15mL/G @1.5G. Algae problem a lot better since the light proofing.... 

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/049d7465.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/ec4bf0b6.jpg[/img]


9-27-2011
... ...  ...  Cleaned buckets and bumped nutes up. 20ml/G

9-29-2011
... ...  ...  20mL/G was too much. Cleaned buckets and flushed with tap water for 3 days.... 

10-2-2011
... ...  ...  Cleaned buckets and reintroduced nutes. 15mL/G

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/3f73085b.jpg[/img]

10-3-2011
... ...  ...  Remodeled the grow closet. Put the Black Zebra Tomatoes (big plants) in their own buckets and moved everything to the floor. Eliminated the RDWC system and placed plants in DWC buckets. ... All 5 buckets 15mL/G power plant nutes. (825-850 ppm). I realized today that this is probably too much after talking to the people at the local grow shop. I plan on transitioning them this weekend.... 

Closet before remodel
[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/2fcf6a4c.jpg[/img]

After remodel
[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/098fac52.jpg[/img]

Are the things right in the middle, flowers or Just leaves curled up?

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/aa7258ba.jpg[/img]


What are these little white bumps on the stem?

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/800f1056.jpg[/img]

Thanks a lot. I am going to try and keep this systen ... updated and keep you guys posted. Hopefully the photos work.... 

Tommy


... 

Looking good Tommy, having your helper there with you makes the process just that much better. My little guy was in our room checking Ph and PPM last night. Good times for sure!

Yep you've got flowers on those maters!

hydroguy

Yes, those are flowers. And the little white bumps are normal... tomato plants tend to try to put out roots all along the stem. We (ground growers) usually say every time you up pot to a bigger pot, you should bury the plant a little deeper, because of that. The plant will put out roots all along the buried part increasing the root system. Even without being buried, it still attempts roots, but they usually won't grow more when they hit air.

Looking good! Thanks for the progression of pictures, keep us updated! I appreciate the pictures, because what all you hydro folks write never looks like English to me!

I hear ya on trying to understand what's written without pictures. Haha. Doing hydro research, I stumbled upon about 12,381 websites dedicated to growing pot. I read and read and read but I finally had to join one just so I could see the pictures so I could understand what I was reading. Lol. Once you make the connection though, it is so insanely simple that you'd be amazed. I actually took the green pepper plant and the unknown hardware store tomato plant out and set them in their own DWC bucket for my oldest son to maintain. He will be 8 in 2 weeks. He is absolutely loving this. I was assuming the bumbs were roots but just wanted to make sure a plant wasn't coming down with disease in the grow room.

If anybody knows of a link or schedule so to speak of tomatoes in hydro and what their ppm should be throughout the grow cycle, that would be great.

Once again, thanks for the replies and help.

Also, should I pinch off these early flowers or just let them go?

Sunday we are going to switch the buckets over to the transition formula and 12/12 light schedule. I was talking to the local hydro shop and they suggested to go 24 hours off and then switch to the 12/12 schedule. My question is, do I do the 24 off with the current nutes and let them really suck up what's left in the buckets or do I switch the nutes before I change the light schedule? Or does it even make a difference either way? My next question is what ppm should I be aiming for in the transitioning stage and then in the flowering stage as well?

Thanks in advance
Tommy.

I did a tomato grow indoors and posted some pics and things I noticed along the way here at HG, scroll down about half way in the hydro section and you'll see the thread. Tomatoes fruit best at 15 hours lights on from the reseearch I did, other plants do well at 12/12 and I'm not talking about edible plants here Think about when outdoor tomatoes start producing and its mid summer when day light is longer.

Plants drink very little during the dark cycle. When I ran ebb/flow, which I did for years, I would only flood a system once during the dark cycle and 5 - 6 times during the light cycle. Your nutrient strength should be around 500ppm at this stage with a ph of 5.8 - 6.1. As fruit sets and begins to mature you will want to take your nutes up to around 1000 or so.

My thoughts on the PPM for any plant. Product guidelines are just that, guidelines. Your plants will tell you what they want. Check your PPM daily and record it. The change is what your looking for. If the PPM drops as water is consumed then you need a higher nutrient strength. If the PPM rises then the original soution is too high.

Best of luck on your grow.

hydroguy

Well I switched into transition today. I also added 5mL/g of aquashield and 5mL/g of cal-mag. It brought my TDS to ~890ppm and my pH to 5.9. I also switched half the cfl's to 2700k. Bring on the maters!!!!

Here are a few updated pictures.


10-9/2011
[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/e7a5784d.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/194357d4.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/b3ac7c30.jpg[/img]

10-10-2011

Had a few flowers start opening overnight. (actually their daytime)

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/17751834.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/7069a34f.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/afaaf526.jpg[/img]

10-3-2011
We had our first flowers as can be seen in earlier pics.

~10-9-2011 (Not real sure on this date, but I think it was close to this)
Our first tomatoes started showing up.
[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/e9d1b09f.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/dd23e7f7.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/0ef7465b.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/d4a76183.jpg[/img]

We decided to yank this plant and toss her in the garbage because she hadn't produced any flowers yet and the others needed room.

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/ab272130.jpg[/img]

10-18-2011
Switched to full flowering nutes
820 ppm Botanicare Pro Bloom
5mL/G Botanicare Aquashield
5mL/G Botanicare Cal/Mag


10-25-2011
We have 2-4 large (quarter sized) tomatoes per Black Zebra plant
[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/2e9368e0.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/300ce547.jpg[/img]

We have 6-8 tomatoes popping up on each of the Sungold Cherry Tomato plants

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/9eeb2f6d.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/312f305e.jpg[/img]

We also have one little guy and quite a few flowers on the Black Cherry Tomato plant.

I did a bunch of pruning of the lower branches to make some room and better air circulation.

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/325b0bc6.jpg[/img]

Is this spot by my thumb the beginning of Blossom End Rot? It has been there since the tomato has been there. It is the only tomato we have with a spot like that.

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/06c4fabe.jpg[/img]

It's a little hard to tell that early, but I'm not thinking it is BER, which would be darker and more brown/black, not green. A BER spot will become soft and rotten, though it wouldn't be just at first.

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/4e273661.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/ad86ed61.jpg[/img]

From my google searches, I am thinking it is either blight or septoria spots. It doesn't really fit the description of either one exactly though. Are there any fixes I can do that don't involve spraying chemicals? The tomatoes are indoors in a closet in DWC buckets.

Thanks
Tommy

It's been a while since I've been on the forum. What a great thread Tommy!!!!

No idea on your spots. I only have hydro experience with lettuce and greens though. If these maters were outdoors I woul hit them with copper.

Thanks. We actually had our first harvest Sunday. The Sungold cherry tomatoes were pretty good. Here's a couple pics of them and the black cherry tomatoes.

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/e71721db.jpg[/img]

Here they are with one of the chickens I fried.

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/2e89cb19.jpg[/img]

Here's the first black cherry tomato starting to redden up a little bit. Can't wait to try it.

[img]https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k67/Hamster_Style/e0d19e9a.jpg[/img]