I had my hopes on producing a huge tomato outdoors this year but the weather has not been the best for tomatoes where I live. High temps, high humidity, and too much rain. I decided to go for the gold indoors with ideal conditions. This is the first video in a series which I will record my progress and give tips along the way.
Stuff I used:
Takeroot: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NEBR1U/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=tomosgard-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B004NEBR1U&adid=0Z4C36QGYDR7MZA14APV
Rockwool Cubes: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FH49P0/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=tomosgard-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B005FH49P0&adid=1TC3BER8TXBMDHW03FPF
Hydroton pebbles: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0043DJZMY/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=tomosgard-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B0043DJZMY&adid=04P7VN2VEHMWQ5SDKWZQ
Net Pots: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001RUJCM4/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=tomosgard-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B001RUJCM4&adid=1HMN4HS1BETZXG1AWDXQ
Big Zac & Red Robin Tomato seeds: http://www.totallytomato.com/
no rooting hormone needed for tomatoes. soak rockwool cube in high phosphorus nutrient mixture such as 10 50 10 and in two days max plenty roots. if you dont have any nutrients plain water will be fine.
I clone tomato plants by putting the sucker in a small pot with potting soil from city water, I leave the plant outside in the pot no root hormone after about a week they have roots none of that extra stuff just keep the soil moist.
A very interesting project, certainly a way to goo when you have grown and tasted a good tomato and want more of the same. Two questions, nutrients used? pH & conductivity tested? tomatoes determinate or indeterminate varieties?
Thanks for sharing.
I'm curious of the reason why you scrape 2 sides of the sucker? Is it to get more of the rooting hormone into the sucker when you put it into your planting media? Or will roots grow from the scraped parts faster? Thanks
cool vid cheers
Thanks for taking the time to make the video on building grow lights.
It was excellent.
rock wool has nothing to do with sheep. It is any artificial mineral fiber…which includes fiberglass.
do you have horticulture education?
only when you grow them
Hi, I am just learning about hydroponic growing. Your videos are excellent and very helpful! Thanks for posting them.
I have one question, how do these plants get pollinated if they are indoors? Or when grown in the winter and there aren't any pollinating insects around?
Thanks again.
fair chance your power bill would cost you more than what the tomato's would cost you at the store.
Hydroponic…. It'll still taste like cardboard. not like a real tomato.
That's all. When the roots pop out of the bottom of the rockwool, your good to go in hydroponics or dirt. It's pretty forgiving and failure is not an option, lol.
do you keep them in the Rockwool and just put Hydroton around them?
I notice that same residue ring from evaporating nutrients from the Flora series (liquid nutrients) that I currently use. I wonder if you get that no matter what nutrients you use because there is a higher evaporation rate at the surface where the bubbles are popping. Thanks for your help!
@grandwheatgrass I bubble the nutrients in the water for a few hours before adding it in. They mix well but I notice a residue on the sides of the bucket around the water level from bubbles bursting. I may switch to liquid after these run out.
I recently had someone at a hydro store try to steer me away from dry nutrients because, as she said, "You never know if everything will mix well, but with liquid you know what you're getting." I have been using liquid nutes but want to switch to something like maxigrow and maxibloom because of cost (I buy them online because it's cheaper than locally). When you bubble your tap water do you do it with or without nutes? Do you ever have problems with burns from nutes not mixing well? Thanks!
@grandwheatgrass Just using tap water but I bubble it out for 24 hours. I've been adding Cal Mag Plus to the nutrients. Nutrients I use are Maxigrow till the first flowers and then Maxibloom. I was using Floramato but they discontinued it. Don't spend the money on R/O unless it's an emergency and you have no water ready.
I have started tomatoes and the buds are just forming. I am using a dwc 20 Gallon tote with the GH Flora series for nutes. I have read that you should use R/O water if you have hard water. I have been filling up 5 g jugs at the store. Someone told me that for tomatoes they need a good amount of calcium and the hard water won't be bad for them as long as you keep the pH between 5.7 – 6ish.
Do you use tap water or R/O water/What nutes? If possible I don't want to spend the money on the R/O water.