Micro tom pollination

[peznin]

Eye candy!  Apologies for the fuzziness...






Now my little microtom on the left looks like it's starting to get little flower buds as well!

[Corinne]

Thanks, pez!  Excellent...I am encouraged.

[peznin]

My tomatoes are growing pretty quickly! 





And I'm glad I went through AG's troubleshooting instructions regarding my pump.  Turns out all I had to do was clean the contacts with some vinegar and now the water is flowing again!

[Corinne]

I wish mine would start to get bigger. Those really have a lot of buds flowers, etc.

[shane arthur]

If you want your plant to be larger, prune it and delay flowering by removing the buds. Sounds hardcore, but it will work. I have done it in the past and by pinching off the buds it puts the plant back in to veg mode.

[peznin]

Thought I would give an update on my micro toms.  The shorter guy has now gotten as tall as his neighbor. He's starting to get some tomatoes and has a bunch more flowers that look like they are closing so I think more tomatoes are coming. The one that has had toms for awhile was starting to get top heavy and was leaning a bit, so I used my binder clips and some flexible plant string to hold both plants up.  Still no toms ripening on the plant that has had tomatoes for awhile. I'm using lots of Bloom when I refill the nutrient solution and it definitely seems to be helping the formerly short tom get more flowers (it's also making my catnip flower like crazy though, so I keep having to pick off THOSE flowers!).  I just wish I would get some ripening on the tomatoes that have been growing for awhile...

[ocarolina]

I see you have herbs in with the tomatoes - they are not bothered by the tomato nutrients??  I have never been so lucky to mix plants with different nutrient needs.  I do OK with big toms, and tom seedlings, but have not been successful at mixing herbs and peppers/toms.  What do you feed?

[peznin]

I see you have herbs in with the tomatoes - they are not bothered by the tomato nutrients??  I have never been so lucky to mix plants with different nutrient needs.  I do OK with big toms, and tom seedlings, but have not been successful at mixing herbs and peppers/toms.  What do you feed?

Yeah I have catnip, basil, and dill in there too.

I use the future garden nutrients, and base the amounts I put in on what seems best for the tomato plants. Everything else is growing fine with that.

[ocarolina]

You are lucky - I have never been able to grow herbs with my veggies - they seem to turn brown.  I use the future garden plugs, but the gh nutrients (which I just ordered more of on ebay).  I will have to check them out for the "future" - no pun intended. 

[peznin]

You are lucky - I have never been able to grow herbs with my veggies - they seem to turn brown.  I use the future garden plugs, but the gh nutrients (which I just ordered more of on ebay).  I will have to check them out for the "future" - no pun intended. 

Well my original intention was to move either the herbs or the tomato plants before they got too big but then I procrastinated.  I really think this experiment was a success because it was with micro toms versus another kind of tomato plant.  The micro toms are just so petite...I don't think they have the same crazy nutrient requirements that the bigger plants need.  And I'm having to keep my hood down so they get enough light, and ironically my herb plants keep growing into the lights instead so I keep trimming them.   This is my first garden where I've used liquid nutrients rather than the AG tabs and it's going well so far!  I just wish the tomatoes would ripen...

[Corinne]

Thanks for the update pez.  The toms are out nicely now. So tall your plants are!
Good growing all over that machine!

[Jen in Ft Worth]

Julie, I love your binder clip support - great idea!  The variety sure makes the garden pretty!  When you say base nutrients, what measurement are you using?  Thanks.

[peznin]

Julie, I love your binder clip support - great idea!  The variety sure makes the garden pretty!  When you say base nutrients, what measurement are you using?  Thanks.

I just look at the back of the bottles of future garden nutrients. It says how many teaspoons of each kind of solution to add based on what stage of growth and type of plants you have. I've just been using the amounts for flowering vegetables (I think the bottles say something like that).  I've basically been winging it because I don't own any kind of meter.  But the tomato plants have been nothing but happy - deep dark green leaves and lots of flowering, so I figure it's going OK so far.

[ocarolina]

However you are doing it - keep it up because it is working.  And I say if it aint broke, dont fix it.  Keep us posted.

[AeroKnipp]

how many times do you do this before you know it's pollinated

All I have ever done to pollinate tomatoes is to gently tap the branches once in awhile. Some people keep an oscillating fan blowing on them (lowest setting) and don't bother with the tapping. I see that callisto9 doesn't do anything at all.

If you gently place your hand on the grow deck of your AeroGarden, it is obvious that there is a certain amount of vibration in the units - which may accomplish the pollination process and account for callisto9's experience.

In any case, if you don't have unpollinated blossoms dropping onto the grow deck, you are still in the game.

[peznin]

Finally some ripening!