Danny in Co
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Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 3:24 pm
Location: Colorado

Hydroponic Tomatoes

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I live at 7300' in Colorado. Our frost free growing season is from late May to mid September. I have not had much luck growing my tomatoes in the ground here. I get a lot of green ones and then we get a freeze. I either have to pick them green or cover them and hope they survive. I built a greenhouse and tried to grom them in there. I only got a few small tomatoes. I did not add lights and I think they did not get enough light to produce good. Plus it was expensive heating th egreenhouse all winter! This year I started 5 plants inside the house hydroponically under lights and then moved them outside in early June. They did great! I had 50+ tomatoes on each plant. When the first freeze was predicted (September 12) I moved them back inside where they continue to ripen and produce.

I grew a Roma, a bush Beefsteak, a bush Early Girl, and a Tiny Tim (I think). Only the Tiny Tim (?) tasted like an old fashion tomato. The other 3 were better than what you can buy in the store, but did not taste as good as the home grown ones from years back. We used the same fertilizer on all of them.

For next year I want to find a variety or varieties that tastes good and are red and are a bush type (so I can move them inside when I need to).

What varieties do you all suggest?

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

you should follow Apples indoor tomato thread. She grows a lot of good ones.

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lakngulf
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Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 4:34 pm
Location: Lake Martin, AL

Do you have pictures of your hydroponic setup?

valley
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Location: ranches in sierra nevada mountains California & Navada high desert

Greetings Danny, Sounds like a tomato success story. What kind of fertilizer did you use? We used horse and cow flowers the tomatoes were wonderful. Welcome Danny nice to read of you luck in the garden.

Richard

imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Congratulations on your tomato success. You have such a short growing season. It is a lot like Jal-ut, but he gets a lot of production in a short time. You can get some lessons from him on when to start seeds indoors to maximize your harvest.

Danny in Co
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Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 3:24 pm
Location: Colorado

Here is a picture of my hydroponic setup after I moved the tomatoes inside. It is a simple setup: a 5 gallon bucket, a hydroponic net pot (the black lid on the bucket), an air pump and air stone, tomato cage, water, and plants. I had to fill the buckets about every 3 days. The tomatoes take a lot of water. We used a liquid AeroGarden fertilizer about every 2 weeks.

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lakngulf
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Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 4:34 pm
Location: Lake Martin, AL

Nice setup and those tomatoes look great.



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