Early tomato Experiment 2018

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arh

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #45 on: February 15, 2018, 14:37 »
Here are 2 photo's of how my 10 Shirley F1 plants are coming along. The first photo is of how they stand in the patio doorway, and the 2nd is of them slightly closer up, (I hope). :)
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arh

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #46 on: February 15, 2018, 14:39 »
There now, success, :lol: :lol: adding photo's is now much easier, thank you John.

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DD.

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #47 on: February 18, 2018, 07:17 »
Itchy fingers. Sowed a few "Jersey Sunrise" heritage tomatoes.

Emerged overnight.
Did it really tell you to do THAT on the packet?

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m1ckz

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #48 on: February 18, 2018, 21:47 »
i have some moneymaker up 2 inches    but what do i do with them  lol  ill sow some more later ha ha haaaaa

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victoria park

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #49 on: February 20, 2018, 19:23 »
Forecast looking like some unusual cold nights coming next week. Haven't had consistent cold at this stage for many years down here.  Might well have to transport my little darlings back from the cold greenhouse on the plot to the warm of the house for a couple of days next week. I like to extend the season wherever possible with a bit of extra effort, but I'm not daft as a brush.

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Nobbie

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #50 on: February 22, 2018, 11:01 »
Amazing what a difference 10 days under a LED grow lamp makes, seems to be working well with temp varying between 21-28 degrees. Sungold at the front, Tumbling Tom at the back in need of transplanting. At this point I'm thinking I have probably sowed too early for the Toms, but should just about be able to keep them going indoors until the greenhouse is warm enough. Will grow on the Sungold and let the sideshoots grow for use as cuttings to enable me to fill the greenhouse.

Chilli's seem OK, glad four Apaches came through as these are my favourite, will leave them a bit longer before transplanting as they seem to like close company early on.



edit to show image

« Last Edit: February 22, 2018, 11:10 by mumofstig »

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ARPoet

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #51 on: March 02, 2018, 16:51 »
Here is a short video of my tomato and chilli experiment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fhAx0iydBc&feature=youtu.be
Roger.

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m1ckz

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #52 on: March 03, 2018, 08:11 »
TOMATO NOW 3 INCHES ON WINDOW CILL LOL  wont dump them just yet though  lol

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Potty Plotty Lotty

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #53 on: March 04, 2018, 12:46 »


Sowed seeds on 3rd Feb. One month on this us how they look.  :)

Growlights have been effective and left on for 12 hours per day. I don’t have any particularly bright window sills and out of the house during the day so minimal heating. Added bonus of using the roof as a heated propogator to germinate the aubergines.

I have a gizmo for measuring light intensity and for the moment they are going to stay under the lights.
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Nobbie

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #54 on: March 09, 2018, 09:55 »


After my last post, I realised that I had not set the timer correctly, so they actually had 24 hour light for 10 days! No wonder they grew so well. It will be interesting to see how I manage to keep these alive until they go into an unheated greenhouse, but that's all part of the challenge :lol:

As they are rapidly running out of space in the growbox, I've bought a bigger LED growlight for £30 of eBay and will setup an area on the floor to stand the plants so they can keep growing unchecked. At this rate I may be harvesting tomatoes from my attic in May. All good fun :)
« Last Edit: March 09, 2018, 10:31 by mumofstig »

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arh

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #55 on: March 12, 2018, 07:39 »
Well, like it or not, I think that my tomato plants will have to go outside very shortly, they are now 12" tall.
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Mr Dog

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #56 on: March 18, 2018, 17:55 »
First flower buds forming on the largest of my Tumbling Toms.

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victoria park

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #57 on: March 18, 2018, 19:52 »
While I love the idea od extending the season, I stop at using lights, given that they must use a fair bit of electricity. Can anyone say roughly what wattage their grow lights array consume per hour in reality ? I'd  be interested to know.
Meanwhile my sungolds. Ildi and Crimson Crush are at the second real leaf stage, 3 inches, reasonably compact, and have been brought back to the house for a couple of days.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2018, 19:57 by victoria park »

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DD.

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #58 on: March 18, 2018, 20:56 »
While I love the idea od extending the season, I stop at using lights, given that they must use a fair bit of electricity. Can anyone say roughly what wattage their grow lights array consume per hour in reality ? I'd  be interested to know.

300w grow lights were mentioned earlier. These will use 7.2kwh (units) of electricity in a day. (24 x .3). Let's assume they are on for half this time, that's 3.6 units. Assuming a cost per unit of around 15p that's 54p a day or over £15 a month. If you leave them on all the time, that's well over £30 a month.

It's all well and good raising plants early, but as others have found out, you need somewhere to put them when they get to a good size.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2018, 20:58 by DD. »

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Nobbie

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Re: Early tomato Experiment 2018
« Reply #59 on: March 18, 2018, 22:46 »
While I love the idea od extending the season, I stop at using lights, given that they must use a fair bit of electricity. Can anyone say roughly what wattage their grow lights array consume per hour in reality ? I'd  be interested to know.
Meanwhile my sungolds. Ildi and Crimson Crush are at the second real leaf stage, 3 inches, reasonably compact, and have been brought back to the house for a couple of days.

You need to be quite careful about the figures quoted for led growlights as many quote equivalent wattage rather than actual consumption. My first growlight that I mounted in the box actually consumed 27w *12hour a day = .324kwh @15p = 5p a day, £1.50 a month. That seems to be enough light for 2-4 square feet of growing area. Certainly worth it for raising things like chilli's which can take a while to get to a decent size. It is interesting raising the tomatoes this early, but I'd probably wait a month next year as they grow really fast given the right conditions, but I'd still use the growlights as they seem to produce nice healthy plants rather than the leggy ones you can get growing on windowsills.



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