January 9, 2010 by Beth11
Hi All,
Tiny Tim tomatoes started in an Aerogarden Elite +. Three pods (2 seeds each) started 9 January 2010. The intent is to grow two in the AG and one in soilless potting mix under standard fluorescent lights. Liquid nutes TBD. We shall see which one prevails!
Beth
Day 37 Floramato in the AG, 2.2 EC, pH 6.0.
Sat, 01/09/2010 - 19:42
#2
Hi Gisette,
I plan on using Hoffman seed starting mix with osmocote mixed in. That is what I used for the little 4" pots. I'll of course go bigger for this grow. I think I'll be using the aerofalls hydro nutes for the ag toms. I'm not happy with the acidity of the floramato. We'll see. So, I cleaned and sanitized the elite. Not many bubbles from the airstone. Is that normal? It is the only one I have without the pump.
Thanks,
Beth
Sat, 01/09/2010 - 20:37
#3
Thanks, Beth, re the seed starting mix. Yeah, the Floramato pH issues sort of wipe out its hoped-for ease-of-use advantage, don't they?
My only airstone AG's are archaic AG Mini's, refitted with external air pump. (AG Mini isn't the AG3 - the mini was the discontinued first model of the airstone AG's.) But - they burble quite a lot, loudly.
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 15:50
#4
Thumbs up from me Beth, I'd like to see how these turn out in the AG.
I've been having a minor fungus gnat problem in my soil grown thyme, read that a strong dose of hydrogen peroxide will wipe the critters out in the soil - I've tried it across a week now and there is a big reduction in flying insects... Not sure if they will come back if I stop though, really need to get rid of the flying ones to stop them laying more eggs!
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 16:02
#5
Nice to know, Peat, thanks! I've had good results with clear insect sticky traps to catch the adults, but had trouble killing the ones in the soil without heavy insecticides harming the plants. The sticky traps are available in supermarkets and places like Home Depot here, though maybe harder to find in winter.
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 17:25
#6
Hi Guys,
I'm sure I mentioned this before, but there is a Bt for fungus gnat control. It works wonders. Peat, I'm sure you can find a UK source for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt/H-14). Here is a link for Gardens Alive. Pricey, but it does work!
http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=3440&ss=knock-out%20gnats
Beth
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 19:14
#7
Ooh, I missed that. Urk, I didn't realize the gnats were harming the plants. 
It is pricey, though.
Thanks for the link, Beth!
This evening, I found a ladybug in my kitchen! 
We redirected it to the cucumbers, but apparently it didn't find enough to do there, and had already flown off 10 minutes later. I hope it finds enough to keep it busy - target plants are scattered over 3 storeys here. It must have been sleeping off the winter in one of the pots I brought in. Welcome midwinter guest!
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 20:12
#8
Hi All,
Tomatoes have sprouted! Yay!
Beth
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 21:31
#9
And the race is on! Congrats!
My ladybug is still with us, too. Not sure whether to hope he's getting enough to eat or not...
Sun, 01/17/2010 - 21:46
#10
Hi, Beth,
I'm setting up a new experiment, which justifies the BT for gnat control. (Of course I'd justify it, sooner or later, right? 
) Gardens Alive! is really expensive. Any chance you've got a catalog from them that gives a coupon code? I'll sign up for my own free catalog from them, too, of course...
Mon, 01/18/2010 - 16:33
#11
Hi Gisette,
They are offering $25 of a $50 order. See here: http://www.gardensalive.com/default.asp?eid=092706GA&sid=146721&gclid=CIeN3YH9rp8CFaM45QodrWi60w&bhcd2=1263853554
Sometimes I get a $25 coupon but not this year. I'll let you know. I agree that it is expensive but I hate fungus gnats. The knock out gnats does work. I had a terrible case from a store bought oregano plant. They are gone and no gnats in this year's swiss chard container!
Beth
Mon, 01/18/2010 - 17:33
#12
Thanks, Beth! Oh, the stuff sounds great. But without benefit of coupon, it's $35 with shipping. 
Congrats on no gnats this year! You really like chard, huh? 
Tue, 01/26/2010 - 20:17
#13
Tint Tim Sproutlets. I went to Floramato. Babies weren't doing well with AG tabs. Greened up and grew overnight with Flora at EC 1.8 and pH at 6.0. Pix taken with my new toy - Motorola Droid, uploaded directly to photobucket. Focus looks a little off, I'll need to play with it some more.
Ahh, the camera has a zoom (duh)!
Tue, 01/26/2010 - 20:48
#14
Cute and sturdy. Camera quality's not bad, either, for a phone.
Thu, 01/28/2010 - 12:58
#15
Good to see that they're up and looking well.
Thu, 01/28/2010 - 20:32
#16
OK, here's a question. The Tiny Tims get 18-24 inches tall. The two I mistreated in 4 inch pots set a couple dozen tomatoes without pruning. Should I prune or not? I really haven't seen a benefit to pruning. The mega cherries got out of control even after pruning. These are determinant anyway. Can you see I'm leaning on not pruning? Thoughts please?
Beth
Thu, 01/28/2010 - 20:46
#17
My experience with pruning the Jet Star tomato was dismal. Each time you chop the top, you end up with 2x, 4x, 8x as many vines. None of which set flowers until 3 branches up from the branch origin. So your plant's bushy, sure, but it won't develop 48 vines' worth of tomatoes, will it? 
Seems to me by top pruning, you get some more branches lower down, but should probably then chop-chop-chop on a daily basis to keep total number of vines to about 4. That's what tomatoes outside are normally pruned to, right?
I think you're better off finding ways to train it to lie down, and not top-pruning.
I wished I'd planted the Jet Star in a snap-apart basket, so I could slip the stem down into the tank for rooting, like burying deep on a transplant - shorten the plant from the root end. But I've never tried it, just thought it might work. But by the time I thought of that, the plant was too big to even safely clip the original basket off.
Thu, 01/28/2010 - 20:57
#18
P.S. I missed the "determinate" part. I think there's never any point to pruning a determinate tomato.
Fri, 02/05/2010 - 22:21
#19
Hi All,
Tiny Tims are progressing. One will be transplanted tomorrow into MG potting mix. Two left to grow in the ag. No pruning. Floramato nutes, EC 1.8 and pH 6.0.
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 00:05
#20
They're so tiny and full!
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 13:17
#21
Coming along nicely on the Flora Mato, it's quite a compact tomato.
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 18:53
#22
Two Tiny Tims Transplanted. Waited WAY to long to transplant these guys. Really long roots and I had to tear the two plants apart. I'll keep them nice and wet until they get used to land-
Wed, 02/10/2010 - 18:04
#23
Hi All,
Tiny Tim Tomatoes are doing great! AG toms have started showing blooms! Soil planted Tiny Tims are behind, but didn't seem to mind transplanting.
Wed, 02/10/2010 - 19:43
#24
Yay on the tiny buds, Beth! Yeah, hopefully the transplants are busy revamping their root zones. Though that may pay off down the line with bigger yields... or not.
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 20:19
#25
Hi All,
AG TT's continue to do well. They've outpaced the soil planted tomatoes so far.
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 20:27
#26
Nice, Beth, interesting to watch. I've had such poor results with tomatoes in the AG Deluxe, that I'd about decided they did better in soil. But, could just be that they do better unpruned, and either they're small enough for the AG, or they're not.
Whatcha growing beside the potted toms? Peas? Sweetpeas? I tried to grow sweetpeas last year with no luck whatsoever. Maybe I should try again...
Mon, 02/15/2010 - 21:43
#27
Hi Gisette,
Those are the seedling peas from Pinetree grown to harvest the shoots for salads. That is why most are decapitated . They are very good - taste just like fresh peas! Didn't plant nearly enough. By the way, the alfalfa sprouts were really good. Crunchy and mildy nutty. I ended up with two full quart jars of sprouts. Way too many at one time and the canning jar growing was a pain in the neck. So of course I ordered a sprout sprouter from Johnny's. They have organic, e coli tested sprouting seeds, too. I'll take pix when it comes. It says all you have to do is add water twice a day.
OK, time for bed. Gotta go to work tomorrow - no more spoiled work at home for me - yet!
Beth
Tue, 02/16/2010 - 01:02
#28
Huh. You're tempting me, Beth! I may yet outgrow my childhood trauma. 
The seedling peas sound especially good.
Tue, 02/16/2010 - 12:19
#29
Really good looking tomatoes, every leaf looks perfect.
How's the FloraMato doing on the pH front? I had some degree of problems with mine dropping constantly, it just wasn't stable.
Mon, 03/01/2010 - 19:28
#30
Hi All,
Day 49. Both the ag and soil planted toms have blooms. The ag toms are being grown with 2.2 EC, pH 6.0. Ag toms are clearly outgrowing the soil planted toms. Competition results will be based on taste, yield and plant quality once toms have set. Pix of ag toms, ag tom blooms, soil toms and soil tom blooms-
Yay, fun contest on the tiny tim tomatoes!!!
Where do you get soilless potting mix, or do you make it yourself? Yes, my fungus gnats are baaack... I dunno that soilless potting mix is gnatproof, either, tho.