Submitted by gisette on Sat, 11/29/2008 - 20:29
2008-11-29: started another vegetable garden, tomatoes and eggplant. Starting in the pro100, with the intent to move them to the Deluxe when my pepper plants are done. Though these particular varieties are short enough to grow to harvest in the pro100 (probably), they'd do better with more light.
Planted:
One pod windowbox roma tomatoes, obtained in trade. Probably determinate.
One pod kibits tomato, obtained in trade. Indeterminate.
One pod Burpee bambino eggplant.
Also have 4 pods of oriental greens trying to get a better start in life, while these are germinating. But - they'll leave as soon as these guys' nutrient needs are too strong for greens.
20090109: I want a week-to-week timeline of these here and details down in the comments... I may change my mind. 
20090226: Both tomato plants removed, no harvest at all to date. Eggplant continuing for now.
Harvest total: 31 eggplants
3 little eggplants, week 18
3 eggplants, week 19
1 eggplant, week 20 (and quit counting by week)
1st fruit harvest on younger eggplant - 70 days!
2009-04-03 or so: chopped elder eggplant way back and transferred bowl to Pro100, with younger eggplant installed.
2009-04-10: Got new nutes - using non-hardwater micro now.
2009-04-13: Finally got a General Hydroponics pH control kit and tested all my GH-nute Aerogardens. Oy... Adjusted pH on eggplant from ~4 to ~6... Apparently the last collection of rainwater had ~6 pH. Usually rain is much closer to 7...
2009-04-16: The big guy's leaves suddenly got that surface-removal malady that struck the younger plant once. Weirdest thing... But the only change lately was to adjust its pH. Checked the pH again, and it had drifted down toward 4.0 again. So upped it again... The pH downward drift had happened to my peppers, too. 
In both AG's, the plants are drinking a lot more, which is a good sign. And the eggplant is developing fruit faster. Mixed messages.
2009-05-10: Younger eggplant has first harvest-size fruit! So, really have worked this out - 70 days for first harvest isn't bad for this variety (standard instructions 8 weeks grow transplant, + 45 days to harvest, = 101 days.)
2009-05-24: new batch of eggplant / pepper nutes is 2 / 1.5 / 2.5 tsp micro - gro - bloom, 1.8 EC, in rain water (non hardwater micro). Judith posted bunch of recipes, but... they don't distinguish vegetative and fruiting phase. So, just trying a compromise, a bit less bloom. The EC rises from 1.8 by itself - drinking over a cup a day.
2009-05-30: Not pleased with result of that experiment. Eggplants stopped blooming, newly developing ones are pale. Go back to normal nute recipe. And maybe flush out a couple quarts - the eggplants seem to appreciate that.
2009-07-12: Heavy anti-aphid treatment (bath & triazicide).
2009-07-18: At long, long last, terminated this garden. Next day replanted with basil, dill, and pineapple sage cuttings I started a few days earlier in Park Starts block.
(1 vote)
Sat, 12/13/2008 - 17:25
#2
2 weeks: Thinned to one plant per pod. Today they got their first AG Large tablets, so today all the greens had to move out. Now draped on 3 sides (with lots of air outlets), and has Korean red curl lettuce outriders on both sides.
Sat, 12/20/2008 - 13:02
#3
3 weeks: Looking happy! 
These guys are still in the pro100, reflective drapes on 3 sides for warmth and light capture. But they're sharing the light with 2 oriental greens outriders.
The tomato plants have 5 branches (though very small). The smaller of these two tomato plants (roma) is supposed to reach 24" height, and the larger kibits is supposed to top out at about 12", as is the bambino eggplant. So by next week I kinda need to decide what to do about that, pruning-wise... Eventually I will want to let the roma tomato get a bit bigger than the other two, but their light heights won't be compatible once that happens. So I'm thinking the roma should get pruned at 4 weeks, and the other two left to their own little devices. Unless they might yield more from pruning... And of course they need pruning to stay inside the confines of light availability, though I can make that volume bigger with reflective drapes.
When the peppers are done ripening, this bowl and its plants migrate to the Deluxe, for more light. Actually, this bowl came with the Deluxe.
Sat, 12/20/2008 - 13:42
#4
I was looking back at my old tomato grow, I cut mine down at week 4 so next week looks to be the week for your pruning. I think it's wise to prune, strengthen the main stem (for the forthcoming fruits) and to bush the plant out.
I bought a small hand pump in the end to help with removing the bowl water, when they get big it's a real problem changing the water - as you know. It was quite cheap from an aquatics shop and does a great job in draining the AG down, no more collapsing plants!
Sat, 12/20/2008 - 13:46
#5
Would you prune the shorter plants, too, though? Even though they're supposed to max out at 12"? Though the way that kibits is growing, it might be wise to prune it just to keep it height-wise compatible with the other two, which seem to be growing slower... So like maybe prune both toms but not the eggplant?
Sat, 12/20/2008 - 14:00
#6
They are all indeterminate plants?
If they are, then I would prune both tomato plants when they reach that prune height, shortly; give them a good start in life. The eggplant looks a little small for the prune at this time, a few more weeks yet.
I know you will run into problems with the heights, I'm afraid you are going to have to do your best with this. You could prune them both so they are the same height, and then keep the roma in check so it follows the growing kibits?
Sat, 12/20/2008 - 14:08
#7
I double-checked... I do not know whether the kibits is determinate, although it said "at most 18" high, with most plants 12"". The windowbox roma is determinate, 2 oz. fruits. My guess would be, both are determinate.
So... only prune to try to keep height differential manageable? I arranged them in this order specifically - once in the Deluxe, the eggplant will be closest to a window, roma farthest away. That may help... But yeah, growing three different varieties, I'm going to have height issues. The price of being indecisive, I guess.
Sat, 12/20/2008 - 14:21
#8
Yes, prune to manage height only, otherwise, leave well alone.
I assumed they were both indeterminate... I have never grown determinate, left well alone due to them setting all their fruit in a short period of time. Is this what you wanted?
Sat, 12/20/2008 - 14:44
#9
Well, with two different determinates, plus another type of plant, the fruit should spread out over a while. I grew "determinates" this summer (Burpee SuperTasty hybrid), and yes, the deluge of tomatoes at their peak was intense. But overall they produced a whole lot more than the indeterminate. I think that plant was "semi-determinate", anyway - grew to determinate size, and ramped up to a tomato avalanche thing, yes. But they never really stopped producing flowers, and there were pre- and post-avalanche fruit at a more moderate rate. I don't know if that's particular to a semi-determinate, or normal in determinates?
I was interested in these particular varieties because they're naturally short enough for an Aerogarden. I got the tomato seeds for free in trades.
In any case, in an Aerogarden, I don't really want to grow Methuselah tomatoes. I'd like them to be productive over a month or so, then move on. Hopefully be productive fairly soon... I'm not happy about the pepper project having dragged on so long - over 4 months now.
Wed, 12/24/2008 - 21:26
#10
Hmmm. I rummaged the Aerogrow guides again for tomato pruning advice. Nothing I saw mentioned determinate vs. indeterminate tomatoes. But the biggest (kibits) tomato plant already has suckers forming at the base of its lower branches. What I understand from lorraine's wonderful guides (at least I think she wrote "pruning for the scientifically inclined", right?) the goal of this top-pruning is that it removes meristem which is actually suppressing the growth of branches lower on the plant. Remove top meristem, lower meristems take off.
I'm guessing this holds true for determinate as well as indeterminate tomatoes. And the goal is to make the plant stocky-shaped.
Anyway, the kibits already needs the lights raised above minimum, and the other two plants, don't. It's not yet 4 weeks old, but has lots of branches... I'm gonna do it to it. Wish me luck. 
Wed, 12/24/2008 - 23:04
#11
Luck!! Yeah, everything I've read about pruning tomatoes says to remove the meristems and don't make mention of determinate or indeterminate. I did a lot of top trimming on my mystery tomatoes as well and it helped the bottoms grow back a little.
Thu, 12/25/2008 - 21:22
#12
3.5 weeks: Kibits tomato pre and post pruning. This is supposed to be the shorter of the two tomato varieties (12-18" tall), but it's Russian and perhaps earlier-bearing.
Still don't see anything remotely like "branches" on the eggplant...
Sat, 12/27/2008 - 12:43
#13
4 weeks : Very healthy plants. The middle kibits tomato - top-pruned 2 days ago - is growing its suckers nicely enough, and matches height with the roma tomato. Since the kibits is too big for the lights to go any lower, anyway, there's no rush to prune the roma. Will watch to see how the kibits recuperates a bit first.
The eggplant is way lagging in development, but probably just a slower plant, and supposed to end up the shortest of the three anyway.
I'd really like to get these guys moved to the brighter Deluxe ASAP, but about a third of the pepper harvest is still on the vine. Maybe next week...
Sat, 12/27/2008 - 18:39
#14
You've still got peppers ripening? I thought you were going to get rid of them a while back. Anyway, the tomatoes are looking great, the eggplant OK I guess, can only eat it battered and deep fried with lots of seasoning. Nice pics, too!
Sat, 12/27/2008 - 20:16
#15
I'd hope to ex the peppers by now, but they're still going... Which is a kitchen counter management problem. 
Even fresh-pruned, today the kibits tomato already needs the hood up farther than can fit under a kitchen cabinet.
Eggplant are pretty. It's very good in tomato sauces...
Sun, 12/28/2008 - 18:46
#16
Three days since I top-pruned the kibits tomato, and its biggest new side-branch is already an inch long and quite detailed - looks like the top I cropped off, actually. So went ahead and did it to the roma tomato, too, which has caught up in height. Though I cropped the roma just above the 6th branch, instead of the 5th. The lowest branches don't look much like branches... More like practice attempts, destined to be pruned off before too long, anyway.
Sat, 01/03/2009 - 13:19
#17
5 weeks : Tomatoes & eggplant finally transferred to the Deluxe yesterday - yay! I'm hoping the extra light will do them much good! Their order was based on this location - the eggplant will get some indirect sun from the window on the left.
Lessons learned : I should have started the eggplant 2 weeks before the tomatoes, and grown harvest-size greens in the other slots for 4 weeks. Eggplants just grow slower than tomatoes. Also should have used a taller eggplant variety to match the tomatoes... This one is slower and shorter.
Or only two plants. I'm still not sure there's room in the Deluxe horizontally for all of these. It'll be sad to remove one, tho.
Nutes : In honor of the occasion (and because one of the tomato branches looks a tad yellow, and because I'm impatient for flowers 
) I enriched their soup with 1 ml each GH Flora Micro / Grow / Bloom as a little celebration feast. Aerogrow does recco booster nutes for Deluxe growing of these plants, anyway. The base of their nutes is AG Master Gardener Large tabs, because it's way easier.
Pruning : The mid kibits tomato responded really well to top pruning! Every single one of the original 5-branches-left now has a full-blown growth tip on it, up to 4" long with multiple branches per tip. After a week, the roma hasn't responded nearly as well, the suckers still only about an inch long. But they are growing. The eggplant has little stubs above each leaf that look like the same kind of suppressed meristem. They would probably take off if I top-pruned it, but... The last thing that plant needs is to be even shorter and fatter. I've started tip-pruning the tomato branches to manage their width and their tendency to wave their branches up and down over the course of the day. The kibits especially stretches across the entire width of the bowl. It would like the whole AG to itself.
I want flowers....
Tue, 01/06/2009 - 16:55
#18
LOL! I think I do have my first flower bud! On the shrimpy eggplant.
Wed, 01/07/2009 - 18:38
#19
Figures. At least you've got action. Remember the junk tomato plants I had in the grow tent with whiskey bottles watering them? We hung them in the laundry room near a south window and they're getting full of flowers again. They sure got leggy getting to the window, though.
Wed, 01/07/2009 - 19:48
#20
Oh, cool! Well, days are getting longer... slowly. Maybe you'll get something out of them.
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 21:52
#21
We have tomatoes from the blooms already and they're growing faster than the ones I had in an AG. Amazing and hard to believe. We put a couple of wine bottles in a ficus and a dracena and they're doing very well too. We figured out quickly that it takes a long neck bottle to work right but it works better than anything I've seen.
Fri, 01/09/2009 - 00:14
#22
Excellent! You've gotten ripe tomatoes, or just green so far? It'll be cool / musta been cool to find out what these mystery tomatoes were like. I'm getting very curious about the tomatoes I have in the Deluxe. Though... they're looking awfully crowded with three plants in there these days.
I think I see tomato buds now, too, on the big kibits.
Fri, 01/09/2009 - 19:56
#23
Oh no it's only been a week or so since they flowered, they're just little green ones, one about quarter size and another about 3/8". There are more flowers opening today, probably 8 or 9. It's surreal, after I took them out of the grow tent they got real leggy reaching for sunlight, the leaves about 8" apart until they hit sunlight then they grow and flower like the dickens. It's so funny, these plants were on the edge of death, all brown and scraggly in hanging baskets and we'd ignored them for a couple of months. Then I put them in the grow tent and tried the whiskey bottle watering treatment for a couple of weeks and now they're like new plants. One of the four has been left to fend for itself, Maere watering it when she thinks about it and it's still all stunted and brown, not growing at all while the other three have stems over 3 feet long with leaves and flowers growing like there's no tomorrow. The laundry room is getting crowded. 
Fri, 01/09/2009 - 20:03
#24
That's great. You should get another bottle!
Fri, 01/09/2009 - 20:34
#25
That's great.
Maere won't let me. 
Fri, 01/09/2009 - 21:16
#26
LOL!
6 weeks: Plants are happy. Eggplant and kibits have buds. The roma tomato, which is supposed to be the biggest, is lagging. It may have been a bad idea to top-prune that guy... The lower sappers that, after top-pruning, became the tallest parts of the kibits tomato, are still only half as tall on the roma. But, hopefully it'll produce some tomatoes, anyway, someday.
I've been pretty heavy-handed pruning the oldest tomato branches, so the lights can stay down and the understory grow up.
This Aerogarden really isn't big enough for all three of these plants. Their roots climb the walls seeking more space, and they're still only 6 weeks old. But - I don't want to get rid of any of them, so I'll let it ride a while longer.
Sat, 01/10/2009 - 01:07
#27
Wow, you're getting some monstors. Looking good and great pics! Looks like the eggplant is holding it's own pretty well.
Sat, 01/10/2009 - 01:45
#28
Thanks! Yeah, the eggplant's really taken off this week. Cute little plant - keeps getting wider instead of taller. But it's growing little lower branchlets now as well as buds. The tomato plants are substantial for shorties.
Mon, 01/12/2009 - 16:52
#29
Hm. My kibits tomato seems to keep having leaves on lower branches turn brown and dry up - all the way dry and crispy. The top of the plant continues to grow with gusto, so, so far I'm assuming it's essentially healthy, just sloughing off lower leaves that don't get enough light. Does that make sense?
I've seen this on other people's AG tomatoes, and no biggie. This garden seems a tad young for it, though?
Wed, 01/14/2009 - 10:53
#30
Yay! I finally see tiny buds forming on the roma tomato. Phew. I was afraid that by pruning it, I wouldn't get any. I may still get less than I would have by not pruning it, but at least I should get some...
PolarVrtx - do you happen to know if the kibits tomato is determinate or indeterminate? I didn't know, so figured both of these were determinate, so pruned the kibits first, and when that responded well, pruned the roma... The roma is definitely determinate.
1 week: Everybody sprouted, the bambino eggplant just barely. These are quite impressive little plants for 7 days. The tomatoes already have their first true leaves. Every tomato seed sprouted! Not so for the eggplant - only 1 of 3 seeds sprouted, and this was a fresh unopened pack of seeds, unlike the traded secondhand tomato seeds. In the Aerogarden (if not in the outriders), I think the new peat sponges really do germinate better than the sponges (the eggplant is in a sponge.)
Their positions in the AG bowl are just for germination purposes. The 3 ongoing pods will move to their proper corners before their roots grow big.