Growing Tomatoes

RS_

I always put a small hand full of crunched up egg shells and some organic fertlizer in each hole before transplanting tomato seedlings, and a small hand full of epsom salt and fertlizer in the Pepper holes........

If i dont have enough egg shells, i use crushed oysture shell powder......

Decal

Will have to give that a try!

Sminfiddle

keith wrote:

the "tomatoe expert" recommended putting shells from a dozen eggs in the bottom of the hole you put the plant in (for dirt gardening) so that the plant can get calcium..
just thought it was an interesting point, but i haven't looked any further into it.. has anyone else heard this?

A local farmer says her mom or grandmum taught her this "egg trick" to prevent blossom end rot, and she swears it works:
When planting, just place a whole unbroken egg beneath the tomato plant. The older and rottenner the egg, the better.
I haven't done tomatoes in soil since starting AP, and I am not going to try egging the EarthTainers!

Rick

Dev

Hi All.
We have 2 backyard systems in Pinjarra WA and have no problem with growing fish- 30 silvers, trout and 30 barra. Hot smoked trout were fantastic and we are now playing around with cold smoking - have done cold smoked salmon better than the shops
However our tomatoes - cherry( no taste and sour when ripe ), grape (no taste and sour when ripe ) and roma ( no taste and very floury ) compared to the same plants in the ground. Also chillis and capsicums struggle whilst the beets, cellery etc excell.

We do use seasol every week but no change in flavours with the tomatoes - my wife is disappointed and would not buy tomatoes like this in the shops. Any suggestions would be appreciated
:thumbright:

RupertofOZ

William.. we don't have soil in our aquaponic systems... (and I've never heard of pre-heating soil for tomatoes anyway)...

Don't know what you mean by "bury them"....

What's your background William... you seem to offer a lot of advice about plant growth.... how about telling us what you do... and perhaps posting some photos...

Charlie

William you have already been warned previously, one more post that has nothing to do with any thing and a bunch of mumbo jumbo and Im afraid Ill have to get all moderator on you.

Last warning bud.

Ronmaggi

Charlie wrote:

William you have already been warned previously, one more post that has nothing to do with any thing and a bunch of mumbo jumbo and Im afraid Ill have to get all moderator on you.

Last warning bud.

That sounds like fun!
My tomato luck has been limited, I think because the varieties I have had are not the biggest producers. Then again, I am moving into my second year soon, perhaps my luck will change. The next seed I am going to buy is reisentraub ala Jwhittak98...

Pipkin

I'm going to have a go with Riesentraub having seen the photos on Jwhittack98's blog. Meanwhile I have made a beginner's error I think with tomatoes and my new AP system which has only been going for 4 weeks.

My tomatoes in the greenhouse had a couple of tomato armpits (side shoots) on so took them off and stuck them in my GB. Was trying to work out what was taking out all my newly produced nitrates and blaming an innocent pelargonium until I realised the side shoots were developing a good root system and read on here they are very hungry feeders. Guess I should take them and pot up in soil for now until system more established.

Think the bit about burying in that post up the thread is about tomatoes being able make new roots further up the stem if covered by growing media. So if a seedling has become very leggy you bury it right up to the leaves to make a stockier plant. Guess that does have applications for AP if you aren't sowing direct into the GB and you've ended up with leggy seedlings as you often do here in the UK if you sow seeds too early.

mattyoga

My toms have got blossom end rot - not all but some - I buried egg shells around the roots once I noticed the first fruits had end rot, though not sure if it was too late by then. These are roma type. They are sometimes a bit 'woody' inside as well.

I think I may have too many plants (5 ) in a relatively new system (3 months) with low fish stocking (15 mature SP and 6 barra at present).

What types of toms have people found the best here in Perth?

frostyboy

Hi These tomatos are nice and sweet, salted to 2PPT in the tank and this is my first ever plants in a newish system. The lady finger looks pretty awesome too. Its weird yours are sour. My grape type are not quite ripe yet but will be interesting to see if they are sour like yours. But the little cherries are nice. No blossum end rot but have had heaps of rot in my soil based plants on some types of tomatos. And also lots of splitting on my cherry grapes grown in ground. No splitting yet in AP.

frostyboy

You cant have enough photos... grape tomatos not ripe yet

frostyboy

Matty you got Barra and SP together? That must be interesting... mine are in two seperate systems.

mattyoga

They share the same water, but are in different tanks.

1000L FT -> GB x 3 --> 500L FT >> back to 1000L FT

mantis

mattyoga wrote:

My toms have got blossom end rot - not all but some - I buried egg shells around the roots once I noticed the first fruits had end rot, though not sure if it was too late by then. These are roma type. They are sometimes a bit 'woody' inside as well.

I think I may have too many plants (5 ) in a relatively new system (3 months) with low fish stocking (15 mature SP and 6 barra at present).

What types of toms have people found the best here in Perth?

Roma and oxheart type tomatoes are much more prone to getting blossom end rot. The trick is to keep the soil constantly moist so there is a constant supply of calcium to the fruit. It usually happens with the first fruit then gets better as the root system gets stronger, but not always.
I don't like the taste of romas or any oxhearts I have tried (have been a few) so no loss for me here.

This year is the first I have had success growing them in the AP, and the plant that is going well has produced more than my plants in the wicking beds in the greenhouse where I grow them every year.
We have a pic of course

The bigger ribbed fruit are from the AP plant the rest from the wicking beds

Attachment:

P1010159 (Small).JPG [ 61.32 KiB | Viewed 11677 times ]

Charlie

You are the tomato master Mantis!! :notworthy:

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics