What kind of tomato's are best for a hydroponic system.
Tomato seed
couldnt say, they all like hydro i think . i know the rutgers i did loved it.
TA,
Is your system open to insect pollination? If not, you may need to stick with greenhouse varieties that are either self-pollinating or parthenocarpic (set fruit without pollination).
MM
naw , just walk in the room and shake the plants
works for me. or get a makup blush brush and dab the flowers.
Unless you into setting bumblebees loose in the house .. hehehe
I was trying to get the information for a friend that is going to go into business whith them this winter. Big Jump. LOL
it's my understanding that the indeterminate ones would be best, they are trained up strings, and can get to be quite large.
What is his intended market? That would probably determine the best variety(ies)
You might want to remind him to have a contingency plan for freakish weather. Some folks tried it here and got wiped out when an unusual ice storm knocked out power.
If he is going commercial , I would highly recomend the book
Hydroponic Food Production: A Definitive Guidebook of Soilless Food-Growing Methods (Hardcover) by Howard M., Ph.D. Resh
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0880072229/103-6775666-6070218?v=glance&n=283155
Even if he is just thinking about it, its a good read.
indeterminate plants are the way to go , and they can get upto 14 foot tall. Also they would
use lots and lots of water/nutreients. I did a few in the house over the winter with just a 400 watt
HPS light and the plant was going through 2 to 3 gals of water every 2 days.
You deffenetly would need a back up power to run the water pumps or lights/Fans ect ..
rootzone (water/nutreients) need to stay under 80F , 65 to 70 is recomended.
it dont take long for the root zone to dry up if you have a water/nutrient failure.
To give you a idea what cant happen ... here is a pic of some hab peppers i did out
side hydroponicly. 45 gal water tank buried in the ground to keep it cool.
late response, but that is cool that you buried your tank. Do you pump out your water when you change it or just top it off? RIght now I have Romas growing on hydro. they are doing pretty well.
I started off with a full tank of water and nutes, let it go down to about 1/2 tank then top off with
just plain water, then let it go right down to the bottom to where it was above my pump , maybe
2 or 3 gallons left out of 35 . then fill it back up with a new mix of nutes/water. then just repeted
the process .. I just went with the feel of it and how the plants looked . sometimes i would just
let it go 1/2 tank then top off 2 time in a row. then let it go to empty tank ..
you just dont want it to get to low where you loose your water pick up from the pump.
I came home a few times from work and the plant were weeping .. oh great .. water pump
was just sloshin water in like 2 inches of water . nothing to spray on the root .. filled the tank
up and the pump working .. with in hours the plants perked right back up ...
this is good for peppers ( lack of water = HOT HOT!!! peppers ) .. you just dont want to let it
go to long or dead plants ..
Just found this thread. Comments:
All tomatoes need to be pollinated, greenhouse or not. Like someone said, just shake the vines, daily.
I have my greenhouse set up so the exhaust fans pull air in from outside through a little restriction. This creates a breeze in the whole house, they always pollinate fine. I do get some blossom drop in very hot weather. They won't pollinate if it is real hot. I haven't figured out the exact temp.
I use a variety called Buffalo. You can get them from www.johnnyseeds.com
They are a short internode tomato, meaning the clusters of tomatoes are very close together. Buffalo is a good tasting tomato, is about 12 ounces, kind of a red-orange color. Very nice looking fruit.
I don't do hydro, but rather plant them in the ground & water with t-tape. I add a liquid fertilizer through the tape when I think they need it. Not very scientific, but it works!
I planted these April 15 & just now cut the top off so as to stop growth. I will turn off the heat soon. I sell all these tomatoes at our Farmers Market, which ends October 31.
First pic is shortly after planting.
Bernie
These next ones were taken July 18.
In last pic, the tomatoes on the right are Cluster Grande. Nice tomato, but grow to tall for my system. Notice how far apart tomatoes are.
This message was edited Oct 15, 2006 4:43 AM
Another pic of Cluster Grande. On right are burpless cucumbers growing in 5 gallon pots. Now these donot need pollination.
This message was edited Oct 15, 2006 4:46 AM
A cucumber, yummy!
Has anybody tried "Big Beef" I see on Johnny Seeds it's listed as GH compatible just curious if they like been feed hydroponically?
-Jim
Tar, No matter what variety you grow in a green house, they will probably need a bit of artificial pollination. One good way to ensure that is to use a battery operated toothbrush. Hold the shank of the toothbrush itself against the tomato stem with flowers on it. The vibration of the toothbrush will will shake/vibrate the stem adequately to shake the flowers enough to move the pollen around and achieve the pollination you need.
Beyond that, greenhouse grown tomatoes tend to get dry far more quickly than those grown in the dirt outside the greenhouse. They might very well need 3 waterings per day inside a greenhouse, depending upon the growing medium you are using. Better to be safe on the excessive side rather than let the roots get a little dry.