Hydroponic Tomato Growing

[parcgreene]

I have found very little information on this forum about hydroponic tomatoes.

My Story:
I've only been growing tomatoes for about 8 years, I'm 29 years old.

I researched different hydro methods: deep water culture, nutrient film technique, drip, and flood and drain a.k.a. ebb and flow.

It seems due to the large size of tomatoes, ebb and flow or drip systems seem to be the best producers.

Drip is what most greenhouse hydro tomato farms use. But, I decided on an ebb and flow bucket system due to the versatility and expandability of the materials used.

[webmaster]

In order to receive good responses it's important to have a discussion title that accurately describes what you want to discuss.

Re this post, is there a question? Are you looking for feedback about your system? It seems as if something is missing.

[parcgreene]

[img]https://i43.tinypic.com/2zqss92.jpg[/img]

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[img]https://i39.tinypic.com/22jklc.jpg[/img]

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[img]https://i40.tinypic.com/inr2xk.jpg[/img]

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[img]https://i41.tinypic.com/2n15awg.jpg[/img]

[parcgreene]

In order to receive good responses it's important to have a discussion title that accurately describes what you want to discuss.

Re this post, is there a question? Are you looking for feedback about your system? It seems as if something is missing.

As you can see from my time responded after your last post
I was working on that and...I'm getting there.
I'll edit tomorrow when I have time to detail what's going on during the timef rame of each pic

[parcgreene]

In order to receive good responses it's important to have a discussion title that accurately describes what you want to discuss.

Re this post, is there a question? Are you looking for feedback about your system? It seems as if something is missing.

No, it's a post documenting my grow.

My intent is to spark discussion of the topic of hydroponic tomatoes. I want to learn from others and teach what I've learned so far.

WebNazi

[SP8]

I'd suggest that the best place to start would be to look in the Hydroponics Forum

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=42

[parcgreene]

Someone sent me a private message asking what was the purpose of the controller bucket and the chiller.

The controller bucket has a a timer to initiate the flood cycle and float valves to turn off the flood cycle when the water has reached the proper height.

After 15 minutes of being flooded, the pump kicks back on and drains the water back into the nutrient reservoir.

The link below is a great 3d animation of a similar system:
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig5XPtZOhTc[/url]

The air stone deep water culture system you are talking about using is great for different crops b/c you can change the nutrient make up depending on the crop you plan on growing, but if you are growing multiple plants of the same variety, the multi-flow allows you to scale your operation up more efficiently. I have 18 tomato plants growing now, but the system is expandable to 48, all I have to do is add more pots! I don't need air stones b/c air is sucked through the root zone during the draining process.

I found a used aquarium chiller on craigslist cheap so I bought it. Its necessity is questionable and perhaps considered overkill by some, but I was worried about my reservoir temperature getting too warm, which will cause certain pathogens/diseases to more easily propagate. Another method of keeping the reservoir cool is by burying the reservoir in the ground, or during the hottest time of the growing season, adding frozen plastic water bottles to the reservoir.

[love11]

thats a really good setup

[parcgreene]

Picture update!!

[img]https://i46.tinypic.com/2e1vrib.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i46.tinypic.com/2vs3rf6.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i48.tinypic.com/2620boo.jpg[/img]

[parcgreene]

[img]https://i48.tinypic.com/1z38aw6.jpg[/img]

[kimbledawn]

Great pics. How are you going to get them out? the tomatoes look bigger than the openings

Dawn

[pizzarrhea]

That's awesome!

[parcgreene]

Great pics. How are you going to get them out? the tomatoes look bigger than the openings

Dawn

I've got "windows" cut out in various spots to allow my big hands in for sucker' pinching and fruit picking!