imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Re: Hydroponic Tomato Help

Actually the homemade earthboxes are even better in hotter, drier climates. The commercial earthboxes are expensive but have a small reservoir and people always try to put more plants in them than they should. I like to use the 18 gallon rubbermaid tubs for tomatoes. I have a 5 gallon reservoir. At full maturity in production, the tomato can drink up to 4 gallons of water a day. I have about 10 gallons of soil in the tub that the tomato is planted in. I did not like having so much fertilizer left over in the earthbox at the end of the season, so I changed to 1/2 cup of citrus food, no calcium, BER is not a problem for me, but it may be that I am selecting heat resistant tomatoes. I give additional tablespoon of citrus food at first bloom, midway through the first fruit set and once monthly thereafter. I do have drip irrigation lines running into the watering tubes and so they are filled every three days or so when the tomatoes are first planted, but daily when the tomatoes reach full size and are in production.

The 18 gallon tubs on sale cost $3-$5 each
PVC pipe 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch a couple of dollars for 10 ft
Potting soil $13 here for 2 cu ft ( it is probably a lot cheaper elsewhere. You don't have to pay for shipping)
Patio drip tubing system $10
Faucet timer $35
Other parts you may need $20
There is an investment in time especially when it takes you half a day like me to build something that should only take an hour. You need to drill the holes in the lid or the tub if you are using the two tub system. You need to cut the supports. (4 inch pvc pipes or thicker nursery pots to keep the soil above the reservoir. The overflow drain, cut the pvc watering tubes at 45 degree angle on the lower end. Put together and install the drip system. I have been working with drip systems for a long time so that is the easy part for me. The tubs are not uv resistent but they last about 3 years for me before the tubs have to be replaced, the watering tubes and drip lines can be salvaged.

I have less wilting at midday, so no BER from uneven watering. The drip system makes it pretty much self maintaining and one less place to have to water every day. 5 gallon bucket systems work o.k. for peppers but most of my tomatoes are too big for them. I can also plant herbs in the rubbermaid tubs instead.

We tried to grow lettuce in a gallon bottle using a similar method to kratky. It worked but the lettuce was not as good as it would have been if it had been grown in soil and we had problems with the water evaporating too fast so we ended up changing the solution weekly.

SFloridaGardener
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Yeah did find anything but a few tomato hornworms (thanks again for the help on the other post). I think it was the nutrients because after I did a water change it seemed to resolve. All my new leaves look great and there are only a few old leaves that have the spots, which haven't seem to change at all.

Kangaroo1943
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Location: Brisbane Australia

I see so many posts with those people living in cooler climates and have to depend on artificial lighting and heating growing in basements and other parts of the home.
I see from some of the posts that some like myself live in warmer climates and can grow outdoors all year long.
I have been growing with hydroponics for over 40 years and for the last 30 years growing outdoors , with the assistance of growing under my deck and roof eaves still open to some wind and rain but still protected from major storms, but getting full sun . My results have been very good and would like to know if any others are growing under similar conditions.

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I grow outdoors in full sun in Hawaii, year round. I work with hydroponic and aquaponic systems at work but I grow in soil and pots at home. I have used self-watering containers. For the most part I do not get so much sun that I have to shade.
At the farm, when we grow manoa lettuce and in summer, 90% of the lettuce is tipburned or bolted. If we keep the shade cloth on, the lettuce will not have many leaves or weight but have much less tipburn. The tipburn stays pretty bad until the day length gets around 12 hours. This year we have had record high temperatures and it is still in the high 80's in the day time, so we are still having some problems with bolting and a little bit of tipburn. The best time for lettuce is in the early time of the year. It is cool enough then and the lengthening days allow the lettuce to mature in as little as three weeks. As the days get shorter and cooler, the lettuce and the fish will both be growing slower and can take up to 8 weeks to mature.

Tomatoes and cucumbers are grown inside the covered shade houses. They are grown aquaponically in cinder and 15 gallon buckets with a flow by system that constantly puts water in the buckets and the buckets are in a tray that drains back to the fish tanks. Another greenhouse is partially finished and the cucumbers have moved to that house alone. Now the tomatoes will get the whole greenhouse again. The biggest problems with the cukes and tomatoes in greenhouses is that when pests get in they are very difficult to control. The tomatoes right now look good because we have only planted about 60 of them and so their is a lot of space left in the green house. When the house is full of tomatoes, the air circulation becomes a problem in the middle and the aphids start to become an issue. I have been capturing and releasing lady bugs into the tomato house. They don't live long but it helps. Right now, the tomatoes look good, but the cucumbers are badly damaged by aphids.

SFloridaGardener
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Any ideas about this leaf discoloration on the same hydroponic tomato from earlier in this post...it seems to be only on the lower leaves. The plant is still putting out new growth and flowers. I had one early tomato lost to blossom end rot but the cluster on the other mainstem seems to be doing fine. I started adding calmag so I don't think it's that...

Image

Image

stef_pen
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hi; sfloridagardener; what type of nutrients are you using? at what ppm? what ph? I'm have tried dutch bucket tomatoes with 800 ppm pump running 24 hours a day;they were doing ok; but needsa lot of attention. I wanna try the kratky method; thanks

SFloridaGardener
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Hey there, I use a mix of GH grow and bloom. Adding cal mag now. Trying to maintain about 2200-2400 ec for peppers and 1600-1800 ec for tomatoes. They are just in 5 gal buckets with net pot lids that fit perfectly. Seem to be doing fine without airstone but might add one for my large tomato which seems to have slowed on growth and production.

Kangaroo1943
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Location: Brisbane Australia

Hey SFloridaGardener I grow outside all year long in Brisbane Australia which has a sub tropical climate which is now our summer and about 30/32C . My question as you are an outdoor gardener my problem is getting my timers set for this time of year.
In my ebb and flow where I grow 5 containers of tomatoes in hydroton, I have reset my time on an off to 3/4 hour off and 15 minutes on to flood, as I found that 1 1/2 hours between watering was too long and some of my tomatoes were getting Bottom end rot even though I added calcium nitrate to stop this.
I have also changed my drip system for chillie peppers with 1 hour on and 15 minutes off, these are all in hydroton and growing under eaves also but open to the elements as the ebb and flow. Have you any guidelines growing outdoors with a similar climate and hydroton as a medium.

SFloridaGardener
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Any ideas about these spots on my tomatoes? I had BER on other varieties but started added calmag and noticed good improvement. It has dropped down into the 60s at time and been cloudy/rainy. I tried looking through previous forums but it was inconclusive if it was catfacing, fungus or BER

https://I.imgur.com/VrwHqlW.jpg

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rainbowgardener
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@SFloridaGardener, re:

Image

none of the above, but you have a variety of things going on. The leaf in the bottom right corner shows clear leaf miner damage (the squiggles) and I think some of the other leaves as well. The leaves on the left edge and I think some others are showing spotting that is probably septoria, a fungal disease that is very common on tomatoes. Those leaves at the bottom with holes, curling, yellowing, etc are end results of the septoria, which usually does start at the bottom and work its way up. To start with remove (and destroy, don't compost) all the spotted and squiggled leaves.

Look up "leaf miners" and "septoria" in the search function, upper left corner of the page, you will find lots here about them.

Neither of those account for the holes in the tomato fruit. Those would be some kind of pest, most likely a tomato fruitworm, possibly tomato hornworm. Check your plant over very carefully. Both of them are pretty well camouflaged and can be hard to spot.

SFloridaGardener
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Wow thanks for all the help! After looking it up I agree the holes are probably tomato worm. Unfortunately we have had heavy rains and winds so I haven't been able to hunt or treat yet. Do you think the plants with septoria are savable? Its pretty close to a healthy tomato plant, I'd rather sacrifice one so I can keep one good plant instead of losing both.

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rainbowgardener
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In my experience, growing tomatoes in humid climates, septoria is very common, but plants can live with it pretty well. Keep removing spotted leaves. Practice good plant hygiene: mulch well to keep a barrier between soil and plants, remove all the lower branches so that nothing is touching the soil, water the soil not the leaves, keep enough space between plants and prune for good air circulation. All that minimizes chances of spreading the fungus.

SFloridaGardener
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Thanks. They are in a hydroponic set up with 5 gal buckets so no soil splash but they probably too tightly grouped right now. Lost some plants due to a little neglect over the holidays so I'll spread them out a little more now.

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rainbowgardener
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Oh right, sorry.... my only experience growing things is in the ground/ large pots. I keep forgetting hydroponic.

The hygiene you would need then is mainly about air circulation, not having leaves touching each other too much, and being careful with pruners. Some people dip pruners in bleach solution between each cut, to avoid spreading any fungus/ spores via the tools.

You can use organic fungicides preventatively (they work better that way). After you have taken off the spotted leaves, spray everything that is left, including your healthy plant, including undersides of leaves with: diluted milk (50:50 or less with water), OR aerated compost tea, OR chamomile tea, OR baking soda solution, OR hydrogen peroxide.



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