Question for the Coir Contingent

I'm growing four different heirloom tomatoes in straight coir in 15 gallon Easi Lift grow bags, and my husband and I are having a bit of a disagreement about watering. All of my regular leaf plants leaves are curled, and I think it's because of too much watering (my Marianna's Peace-- potato leaf-- looks much better). He thinks I'm not watering enough because I'm not watering every day. I've tried to explain to him that coir holds water very well, but he doesn't want to believe me-- he thinks the plants look poorly because they're not getting enough water.

How often and how much do you water your coir-grown plants? If any of you have used a moisture meter, how accurate to you find it to be with the coir? One thing I've noted is that the moisture in the containers is not consistent-- it may measure as "wet" in one spot and barely "moist" or even "dry" in another. I know I should probably be using a watering system, but I spent so much money already this season on these plants that I didn't dare get one of those. I water using a watering can, and usually can go two or three days between watering if I go by my meter. However, I've noted BER on a number of the first fruits that have set and I'm not sure if I'd be better off giving less water at a time but watering every day. The pic is of my Paul Robeson, which has a lot of leaf curl and has not set any fruit at all so far (the other three plants have set at least a few fruit)-- just wanted y'all to see what the plant looks like in general.

What have you coir fans found to work best for you?

good morning! my tomatoes in EBs (EarthBoxes) and TSK (Tomato Success Kits) are pretty happy. although they are self-watering, at the rate they are growing, the drip system is on and delivers water 1 gallon in the AM and 1 gallon in the evening.

i never let my coir dry out completely. hopefully someone with a similar setup like yours will come forward and be more helpful.

=)

Thank you Moonglow-- I think my husband may be right based on what you're saying. From the info I can find on line, it looks like an EB holds almost 13 gallons of potting mix or coir. If those are taking 2 gallons of water a day with no apparent distress to your plants, I should probably be watering mine more since I would expect faster evaporation from the grow bags than from the EBs. I'm also betting that if sufficiently watered, my grow bags should be heavy enough that they should not be able to fall over easily yet that happened just today with one of my plants. I don't think it was even that windy, but it got blown over anyway and in the process, knocked off the oldest and biggest fruit set so far-- still too green, though, I think, to make even fried green tomatoes with it. :o( I'll be giving them a good soaking tonight, then... I guess the leaf curl is due to stress caused by being too dry rather than too wet. I hate for hubby to be right, but better that than lose any of my plants! :-D

I still would like input from anyone else who cares to share how they handle watering their coir containers.

I'm using straight coir (first year) in 5 gallon grow bags, 15 gallon smart parts, and EBs. I've found the bags need to be watered every day. I am not using a scientific method to determine this--I just stick my finger down a couple of inches to see how moist it feels below the surface. I don't think any of my bags could easily blow over--the smart pots are really stable because of their size and how easily they conform to the contour of the ground. So far, everything is doing really well in the coir. Hope you have good success with your grow bags/coir.

Follow up question, please-- how are y'all fertilizing your coir? At this point I'm not sure if I'm under or over fertilizing, and considering the plants aren't super lush and lovely, it's hard for me to judge.

One thing I've already decided is to move my containers to areas of the deck where they are more sheltered-- I think they may be getting TOO much sun, especially in this heat, and I can move them so they won't get much sun until midday. That should also help keep the moisture in the coir from evaporating so quickly.

I water my 5-gallon Bocabags of rooting tomato cuttings till run-off, once in the evenings on weekdays, and TWICE on weekends (cause I'm home), morning and evening. My bags have enough water weight to never have been blown down, even in the windstorm we had yesterday. They are growing in 100% coir.

Because our average daily temps are upwards of 99-102 degrees, my goal is to keep my seedlings (approximately 24" now) shaded, and cool enough to keep growing comfortably through the end of August. I have not given them any fertilizer yet. Waiting until mid-July when I will move them into 5-gallon eBuckets. Then, I will begin fertilizing them and set them on a quicker growing pace to be stocky and sturdy enough to make it through the brutal August heat.

If I succeed in this, come September 1st they should take off running full speed, and grow like crazy into the cool weather for 60 more days, thereby allowing me to truly be thankful at the Thanksgiving table!

That's my schedule, and I'm sticking to it...

Linda

liannec: I added dolomite lime and epsom salt to my coir in my 5 gallon grow bags, I used the bury the stem method with them and used Boca Bob's fertilizer with the bags, I used a watering can to apply the fertilizer, did this about once a week when they were little, when they started to get big I increased the amount I would fertilize to every other day. Now, I have switched to miracle grow fertilizer as they are bigger now. I have not had any BER on any of them and they weren't over fertilized either, delicious tasting tomatoes. When I first started this in the Spring, the coir would stay wet due to the monsoon rains we got up here in this end of Florida; but, I solved that problem by punching more holes in the bottom of the bags so that it could drain better. Now that it's hot and humid, I water them twice a day, and always make sure that every other day they get MG.
joy

Joy, at what strength do you use the MG?

I'm totally at a loss right now about what to do for these plants-- except for Goose Creek, they are pretty sad looking with all the leaf curl. I noticed last night that now Goose Creek is having some leaf curl, so I'm at my wits end-- it wasn't curling before and now it is since we've stepped up the watering a bit... which would make me think "too much water now". I swear I should have just done the EB this year-- at least when we did that I don't remember having these issues!

I'm thinking of taking cuttings from the plants now and rooting them, then doing the EB (and making one or two homemade ones, too) in hopes that I might get some decent tomatoes some time this year. It stays pretty warm here far into October so I think it's worth a shot-- what do y'all think?? If I take good-size cuttings from the best looking parts of the plants, do I stand a chance of getting some fruit before frost?

YEP!

You can't overwater your coir bags and it sounds like you are not giving them enough water? Water until it starts to pour out the bottom of the bag. Lack of water and heat will cause the leaves to curl. Use a cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer around the edge of the bag and scratch it in or better yet use Miracle Gro for tomatos and follow directions. Problem will be solved!

Ted, thanks so much for your reply! I think of you as one of the authorities here on using coir, and I've wondered if it was possible to over-water coir since it does drain well. I'll have to tell my husband that he's been right, which should make him very happy. :-) I'm just glad to know now that I'm on the right track (I hope!).

I did fertilize the plants again last night with some Tomato Maker (4-2-6). Do you think that will be adequate, or should I supplement that? The upward growth has really slowed from what it was so I'm not sure what I should be giving them for fertilizer. I did water them with some fish emulsion and liquid seaweed last weekend but if anyone can think of anything else I should be doing, please speak up! I also have some molasses that I haven't tried yet, and I understand that some people use that with good results.

I think part of the problem, too, is that they were getting TOO much sun-- I didn't think it was possible, but now that I've moved them around to where they don't get sun until midday they seem to be hanging in there. Leaves are still curled, but I did notice this morning that Paul Robeson, which had not set ANY fruit at all, now has a few tiny tomatoes on it! So, now all four plants finally have at least a few fruits on them. I'll baby these more than I have been, but I'm still going to take cuttings. My husband got my old EB out from under the house, and I'm going to clean it up tomorrow and get it ready to root some cuttings.

Just water them heavily every two to three days depending upon weather and water all around the bag so you won't HAVE ANY DRY SPOTS. Forget about the molasses as all you'll get is a lot of ants. Your doing just fine and follow the directions on your fertilizer bag. Be patient and soon you will have beautiful tomatos.

Liannec: Don't be scared to water them, the excess will get absorbed by the coconut coir and if it doesn't, just take a knife and put a few more holes the bottom of the 5 gallon bags. I have been watering twice daily, once in the am and once in the pm, as it's been really hot lately and my tomatoes I thought were drying up also; but now they are bouncing back to life. We are now getting the noise of a thunderstorm and I'm praying there is wetness with that noise. LOL
joy

My grow bags are actually 15 gallons, but still-- I now believe they really were too dry. When my husband and I went out this evening to thoroughly water all of them, the Marianna's Peace bag had tipped and was (thankfully) leaning against the house and had not fallen over. Hubby told me that it had already tipped once earlier today and he had set it upright again. If I had kept them watered adequately, I would think that the bags would be too bottom heavy for them to be able to tip over! We watered all four until water was running out of the bottoms (but I *will* remember adding extra holes if need be). I then sprayed them all with some Yield Booster to help with BER (especially now that Paul Robeson has finally set some fruit!!). Now, just in the last half hour, it started POURING rain outside... and it hasn't rained here for at least two or three weeks! Oh well-- at least I may not have to water tomorrow. :o) I just hope that the plants managed to absorb some of the calcium before the rain arrived.

Joy, I hope you did get some rain from all that thunder! :o)