2017 greenhouse tomato plants
 

I started my first batch, and most are up. I use pro mix HP as usual, and HPS lights to start the seeds and grow the seedlings. The germination rates are excellent, 7- out of 306 have not sprouted yet, but they may still poke up. I think the warm lights are key, as well as keeping the media moist.

Next batch will be started in a couple of weeks, more tomatoes and will start peppers. All plants go in the GH on March first. Yippee, I have plants to look at. YAY....

I am doing some new things this year, we will see how it pans out

Mark, whatever you do I'm sure it'll be an inspiration! :D

Looks good Mark. I'm late this year, yesterday I started 126 MORE seeds. I see the tiller in my future and a bigger garden.


I see you have those in a 4 pak, do you sell them in those? If not do you transplant twice or do they go straight into the pots you use?

a sight for sore eyes. looking forward to watching their progress Mark.

KarenO

[QUOTE=Rajun Gardener;613586]Looks good Mark. I'm late this year, yesterday I started 126 MORE seeds. I see the tiller in my future and a bigger garden.


I see you have those in a 4 pak, do you sell them in those? If not do you transplant twice or do they go straight into the pots you use?[/QUOTE]

I put them in 4 packs to save space, then they will be transplanted into skinny tall containers until they go to the GH in their final containers.
I sell plants in 4" pots, gallon containers, and 3 gallon containers. Those won't be started until March 1st or so, and they are planted in several different batches until April 10th, or so. Those will be decent around May 15th, after May 15th, putting out dinky starts usually means minimal harvest for most people in the fall. Anyway, I want people to get tomatoes so April 10th is as late as I start them for plant sales.
Expanding huh? You know Rajun, for several years I had one 12x16 GH, then I got a bigger one, still not enough space, then another, and another, now I have nine. I think tomato growing may lead to mental disorders. :))


Thanks Bower, the main difference will be two plants per most bags, and how I lower the plants. I am finally doing the system I have been told to do for five years, I'm not stubborn or nothing like that.:))

Karen, I have been following your project, it is very interesting, you ladies are having way too much fun. We crossed Green Giant and Juane Flammee, the F2's had crazy segregation too, red, orange, yellow, GWR, different shapes, I didn't even know where to start. I may pass those along to some others to play with, I am up to my ears in projects.
Take care everyone, the season is right around the corner

Such a wonderful sight for my sorry eyes.

Enjoy!

AKmark...

Great photos. Im just curious if you hand seed or via vacuum?

[QUOTE=AKmark;613550]I started my first batch, and most are up. I use pro mix HP as usual, and HPS lights to start the seeds and grow the seedlings. The germination rates are excellent, 7- out of 306 have not sprouted yet, but they may still poke up. I think the warm lights are key, as well as keeping the media moist.

Next batch will be started in a couple of weeks, more tomatoes and will start peppers. All plants go in the GH on March first. Yippee, I have plants to look at. YAY....

I am doing some new things this year, we will see how it pans out[/QUOTE]

That's pathetic Mark. Don't give up yet, maybe the other seven will sprout! :lol::lol::lol:. Jimbo :)

[QUOTE=FourOaks;613728]AKmark...

Great photos. Im just curious if you hand seed or via vacuum?[/QUOTE]

I hand plant them, it does not take that long.

Jimbotomateo, I promise I will pick it up a notch. LOL

Next step
 

Now we will start adding a weak solution a couple times per week until the plants are transplanted. By weak, I mean 600-800 ppm. Flora Nova Grow is a great one part that is complete for tomato seedlings. For hobby gardeners this will get you through the season, and I advise when using containers, a couple 3-5ml doses of Calmag per week too
I left one cell dry so you can see how much I let my seedlings dry out between waterings, I never get pythium.

Good info Mark. I think people water too much. Let them dry, they won't die!!!

how far away do you have your HPS bulb from the seed trays?

Hello Mark, for the hobbyist like me....I am just confirming if you have used Floranova Grow though out the whole season without the bloom nutrients.....cheers....

Yeah I toured a greenhouse several years ago and they let all their tomato seedlings start to wilt before watering. They said it saved them money and improved plant vigor so a win-win. I did the same last year and my customers were all coming back saying the plants they got from me outperformed all the others they had bought from other market vendors, Lowes etc. It seems like tomatoes really respond well to hardships early on which makes them a lot less wimpy later, but overall I think it boils down to proper management at all stages of growth.

Pecker88, they are about 3 feet away, I could put them a little closer, which makes pretty seedlings, but I need a wide footprint to reach all of the trays. I will put up another light in about 10 days when I start another batch. Those are 600 watt.

Righand, the grow formula is a better formula for tomatoes. I use a 4 part fertilizer once plants get to the greenhouses, but for the seedling stage in the house FN works great. I have also used it on mature plants with Calcium- Magnesium supplements. However, it is not as perfect as the 4 part stuff, and is much more expensive. Lets say I can do 500 gallons of water with a gallon of FN, I could do 2500 gallons with the dry at about the same price.

Bigvanvader, I don't let them wilt, but I will let the top of the media dry out, this way I do avoid Pythium.
You have to watch letting tomatoes wilt, that will cause a disorder with the uptake of Ca, then you get a bunch of BER on your fruit. I am not sure if there is a link to that disorder with seedling wilt, but it is for sure linked to the wilting of fast growing plants with fruit on them, so I just avoid that at all stages.
I sell lots of tomato plants too, I have heard and seen some interesting things people do. Anytime I even think I am getting blamed for their gardening habits, I just take them to the production GH's, then they listen. LOL
You are spot on, it is all about management, every day.

Thanks, AKmark....I have been using the Flora Series with Calmag for a year now and have good results with the Kratky Hydro buckets method and was top adding the nutrient to my SIP buckets....this year no more top fertilizing and adding nutrient directly to the reservoir. Right now I am playing with the organic Acti-sol Hen manure pellet fertilizer 4-6-8. Seems good so far. But have been interested in the General Hydroponics liquid BioThrive and the granular MaxiSeries and now throw in the FloraNova....my head is spinning....lol....cheers....

Thanks Mark for the tutorial!!!!

I will take the plunge this year with more starts, and earlier starts ( if I can get Stupice seed) as I was pleased with my efforts a year ago. Live and learn. To seed how the experienced gardener does this is priceless to me.

Is this correct? Baby plants can be allowed to have tthe soils dry? BUT once fruit is set watering should be even?

Next step
 

It has been a week or so since we gave the sprouts their first dose of ferts at 600-800 ppm, now we bump them to 1200 ppm. These are now ready to transplant into larger containers, like 4" or dixiecups, which I like because they are space savers and are tall, so I can bury the whole stem.

Black Krim, yes, that is correct, don't let them dry out when they even have buds set

The seedlings look fantastic.....its looks like you are on the FloraNova recirculating feed chart? cheers...

[url]http://gh.growgh.com/docs/Feedcharts/GH_FloraNova-REC_03216am.pdf[/url]

Will definitely be more careful about watering once flower buds appear. That might explain the drying of flowers on the first truss a couple weeks ago on my experimental indoor tomato plants.

Much to learn.

[B]the FloraNova recirculating feed chart....

[/B]I've seen that chart and followed those recommendations using the Floranova products to good success. Of note is the ppm recommendations are in Truncheon/ .7 conversion. The ppm numbers will seem high to Hanna meter users on .5 conversion.

For those using EC

0.8 mhos seedlings
1.5 mhos early growth
2.0 mhos mature

1st transplant
 

When you have leggy seedlings don't fret. Put a tiny bit of dirt in a tall container, turn the plug sideways, and bury the seedling stem. You can shorten them by coiling the stem a little too. I have found that Solo cups work great for space saving, they are skinny and tall just like I need.
I run my light for 12 hours to save electricity, and have juggled 304 seedlings under one light. While most are nice strong seedlings, some on the edges get a bit leggy, and varieties such as Crnkovic Yugoslavian grow tall very fast compared to others.

Now I will hang a second light because the footprint just expanded. These will stay in these containers until they go into their final resting place in the GH on March 1st.

Lol I do this all the time close to Spring. Great tip Mark.

Almost done, I wanted to show how many plants that one bale of pro mix could do, it came out to 280 plants in the solo cups. I have to thaw out another bale to finish the rest, these are sitting in a 4x8 flood table, two 600 watts HPS"s provide the light. This hassle always guarantees I am one of the first to have tomatoes at the markets. Three more weeks until I fire up the first GH, piece of cake.

They look great Mark!
KarenO

Your plants look about 2-3 weeks ahead of mine, and your in Alaska. How big a container do you normally sell them in? I have some early starts for 1/2 gallon pots but I don't go any bigger and most of my plants are sold in 3" pots.

Thanks Karen, we are on track so far.

BVV, these are for production, the next batch will be too, will have 1500-2000 plants for production after all is done.
I will start my plants that I sell around March 7th and will continue to plant until April 15th, people start picking them up in the middle of April, and most get them in May. I sell 4", one gallon, and three gallon.

Mark, now that u are going two plants per bag, will you basically double your plant population? Or do you plan on eliminating some rows or changing in row spacing?
What percent increase in total yield are you shooting for?
I wonder how much more you will have to up your nutrient volume or watering.
Lastly, have you ever trailed grafting?

Mark, I am getting closer to stable with my True North Tomatoes, the potato leaf hearts that I bred. I would love for you to try them in a year or so if you can spare a pot in a corner :) Alaska aught to suit them well I think
KarenO

[QUOTE=AKmark;617592]Thanks Karen, we are on track so far.

BVV, these are for production, the next batch will be too, will have 1500-2000 plants for production after all is done.
I will start my plants that I sell around March 7th and will continue to plant until April 15th, people start picking them up in the middle of April, and most get them in May. I sell 4", one gallon, and three gallon.[/QUOTE]

Ohhhhh :oops: I should have known that. Holy crap that is a lot of plants. How many per GH? I'm doing in ground and this year plan to space at 16 inches for single stem trellising. I assume you stagger plantings? Or all at once? Seedlings look great dude. My Mat-Su just started popping up!