[NigelB]

Hi again.
Ooookay...........
 Hydroponic tomatoes.   :blink: Thought I'd give it a go.....
 
I have all the necessary equipment, a bucket, an air-pump and air-stone, and a fish-tank heater, two-part grow-nutrients and Ph-down adjusting solution.
I have started a single seed off on the windowsill in a three-inch rockwool cube which was soaked in water with a Ph of 5.5 and nutrient level set at 1:00.
The seed is growing away nicely now and all I'm waiting for is the first sign of roots at the edge of the cube before putting it into a net pot suspended slightly above the nutrient solution, in the greenhouse.

What I don't have though, is previous experience to fall back on. The plant's nutrient needs will change as it grows, obviously, so I was wondering if anyone here has experience I can draw from....
So if this all makes sense to anyone, any help or information you may have will be gladly received, especially as I'm only doing a single plant and failure will mean..... well, failure really. 
Anyone?

[mumofstig]

I can't help sorry

But I wonder why you would want to try this method. This is the way that supermarket toms are raised............and personally I think they are tasteless. Put water in get tomatoes that taste of water out

But hey ho......good luck with the experiment

[NigelB]

I can't help sorry

But I wonder why you would want to try this method. This is the way that supermarket toms are raised............and personally I think they are tasteless. Put water in get tomatoes that taste of water out

But hey ho......good luck with the experiment

Purely out of curiosity MOS. I was gifted the equipment, so it's cost me nowt so far.... Which is always nice. But I just want to try both methods, hydroponic and compost, side-by-side.
IF[/b] it goes well and I actually get it to the stage where it produces tomatoes, I'll tie down a couple of family members and have them do a blind taste-test, then post the results up here..
Speaking of those supermarket tomatoes though, I have to agree with you about the taste. I find them so tasteless I don't even bother with them unless I have grown them myself, or someone else has, in compost, as much as I love them.

[bailey]

Hi Nigel a colleague of mine did this last year though i,m n ot sure of how/ problems ect but will ask and will post back any info..

but on the taste side the toms he grew were very poor,, mainly water infact we squezzed one to see and apart from seeds and a bit of red flesh the result was mainly water..

[NigelB]

Hi Bailey,
Just the person I was looking for!
Any help or advice you can give me will be muchly appreciated.
Thanks for volunteering!

Nigel.

[mr Isaccs]

I agree with Mom, Most of what we get in the supermarkets these days is hydroponically grown ( especially if they are out of season) and have barely no taste at all.
   The only knowlege of hydro growing that I have though is a friend back in Uni that used to grow something of which I shall not mention and he was of the same mind that soil produced fruits are much tastier and earthy than water grown.
   Also Nigel I think Hydro in a greenhouse alone may be a bit of a waste of time as most hydro grows rely on not only natural sunlight but also high intensity lights to produce anything better than you would  get in soil with natural sunlight.
   I'd stick with the pots of soil mate, but then again nothing ventured nothing gained/learned
   

[NigelB]

................   Also Nigel I think Hydro in a greenhouse alone may be a bit of a waste of time as most hydro grows rely on not only natural sunlight but also high intensity lights to produce anything better than you would  get in soil with natural sunlight.
   I'd stick with the pots of soil mate, but then again nothing ventured nothing gained/learned
   

.... And that's exactly the comparison I wanted to make Mr Isaccs.
Hydro v compost in the same situation. No other method of forcing by controlling the light intensity or duration or anything like that.....  Just keeping the roots in a warm nutrient solution that is aerated constantly.... against a bucket of mud.

I'm going to have to record this aren't I? 
I'll get pictures...

[unconcerned]

does seem so much easier to plant a seed and water it

[Salmo]

Well done NigelB.

In the true spirit of gardening - Why are you growing tomatoes the hydro way, we ask? 

Because I jolly well can!

We will expect reports from you as the season progresses.

[mr Isaccs]

 Why are you growing tomatoes the hydro way, we ask? 

Because I jolly well can!

 
Yes you must give us updates Nigel, this will be very interesting indeed.  I hope it works well for you

[NigelB]

All righty now.........

Just a bit of a test really, to see if I can link pictures from photobucket:....


Here's the bucket of nutrients, bubbling away....
I'll find a bigger piece of wood to cover the top completely in the next day or so.

The hole will take the net pot, suspending the plant a couple of inches above the solution so the bursting bubbles will provide all the necessary moisture to draw the roots down into the solution.....

The test pilot:.....



1 seed planted in a 3" rockwell cube....

I saw the first sign of a root at the bottom of the cube when I took this photo today. I will still leave it a few days before introducing it to the bucket though, just to let the root-ball build up a bit first inside the cube.....


Looks like all systems go so far though.....

[NigelB]

Quick update :.....


The plant is filling out nicely now, having been placed in the net pot and suspended over the nutrient mix.

I expect it will start to grow away much more rapidly now it's roots are finding the warm (20degC) nutrients .....


With the nutrient solution being kept warm by the fish-tank heater, cold nights in the unheated greenhouse leave it untouched by any chills. Considering the heater is only 100watts, that's not a bad way to keep a plant warm in there this early in the year...

[Hey Jude]

Nigel I'm going to enjoy following this one, great photos!

[chrisjsmith]

Looks good so far.  I'm avidly watching this thread as I was tempted by a hydroponics set-up at some point.  It would help fill the "hungry season" for me 

[NigelB]

Thanks folks.


Six days later and it's still doing pretty well. It doesn't look particularly hungry or over-fed and the new growth is a vibrant green, which is nice.  
It's growth-rate is starting to accelerate since it discovered it can swim, and I fully expect to be able to climb it by June or July at the latest.
The roots are looking ok too, although I had expected there to be more of them at this stage, but then again I've never grown tomatoes like this before so I really wouldn't know...

Anyway, the pictures.......  






Waddya think?  
  or   or even   ??



Oh, before I go....
That blue object you can see silicone-d to the wooden wall-panel in the background is the replacement air-pump for the one originally running the bubbler. The reason for sticking it to the wall like that is that it is quickly becoming apparent that the temperatures inside the greenhouse (which is where the bubbler is) fluctuate wildly during the day, and therefore so does the temperature of the air that pump is drawing in and pumping through the nutrient solution. If left, nutrient temperatures would soon match the ones in the greenhouse.
My solution was to cut a hole in the wooden panel on the shaded side of the greenhouse, where the air is coolest, and situate the airpump's intake over the hole so the air supply is as cool and even as I can get it.
It may look a bit odd, but it works.