Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - VIDEO Starting Huge Tomatoes and Growing Indoors

aclum · April 15, 2021

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the reply! I've seen a number of your videos, but not all and I learned a bit more from watching your links

Interesting about the various tote/bucket sizes you've used for tomatoes. Seems like a couple of linked 20 gallon trash cans without a reservoir would be doable for the DP dwarfs.

Last year I used your excellent video on the subject to set up the reservoir and float valve systems for my 3.5 and 2 gallon eggplant and pepper buckets. By mid-summer the novelty of replenishing my 5 and 27 gallon reservoirs with meticulously weighed out Master Blend had worn off

So this year (in addition to using fewer eggplants/peppers per reservoir), I'm planning to link three 20 gallon trash cans for a bush zucchini and use a 27 gallon tote for a couple of beit alpha cukes (no reservoir for either of these). And I'll use 2 or 3 linked trash cans for a dwarf. Thinking about Rosella Crimson which Victory Seed calls determinate (although I believe that's disputed) or Wild Fred. From what I can tell, both seem to be on the smaller side of the Dwarfs I'm growing. I have both varieties planted out in soil so I will be able to do a comparison of growing techniques.

I really like how you kept up a steady supply of tomatoes through the summer using Kratky cloning. For some reason it seems a lot easier than doing the same in soil. Even if the original plant still had nutrient water, I can see how it might be nice to have a new plant ready to take over if the first one just became too unwieldy (which might be a possibility given the Kraty plants apparently get so much taller). About when do you start the clone? When the original plant begins ripening fruit or ??

I hadn't seen (or don't remember) the video where you mentioned how very warm nutrient water (at least up to 111 degrees shown in the video) wouldn't hurt the plants. When you had these conditions, do you recall if the plant continued to produce fruit or did you get blossom drop? I've got my containers covered in plastic silver mulch or reflectix but the water can still get pretty warm in mid-summer. I've added ice in the past, but maybe I don't need to worry about this so much.

Thanks for any tips! Glad to see you posting here!

Anne

April 15, 2021	#4
aclum Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Merced, CA Posts: 832	Hi Matt, Thanks for the reply! I've seen a number of your videos, but not all and I learned a bit more from watching your links Interesting about the various tote/bucket sizes you've used for tomatoes. Seems like a couple of linked 20 gallon trash cans without a reservoir would be doable for the DP dwarfs. Last year I used your excellent video on the subject to set up the reservoir and float valve systems for my 3.5 and 2 gallon eggplant and pepper buckets. By mid-summer the novelty of replenishing my 5 and 27 gallon reservoirs with meticulously weighed out Master Blend had worn off So this year (in addition to using fewer eggplants/peppers per reservoir), I'm planning to link three 20 gallon trash cans for a bush zucchini and use a 27 gallon tote for a couple of beit alpha cukes (no reservoir for either of these). And I'll use 2 or 3 linked trash cans for a dwarf. Thinking about Rosella Crimson which Victory Seed calls determinate (although I believe that's disputed) or Wild Fred. From what I can tell, both seem to be on the smaller side of the Dwarfs I'm growing. I have both varieties planted out in soil so I will be able to do a comparison of growing techniques. I really like how you kept up a steady supply of tomatoes through the summer using Kratky cloning. For some reason it seems a lot easier than doing the same in soil. Even if the original plant still had nutrient water, I can see how it might be nice to have a new plant ready to take over if the first one just became too unwieldy (which might be a possibility given the Kraty plants apparently get so much taller). About when do you start the clone? When the original plant begins ripening fruit or ?? I hadn't seen (or don't remember) the video where you mentioned how very warm nutrient water (at least up to 111 degrees shown in the video) wouldn't hurt the plants. When you had these conditions, do you recall if the plant continued to produce fruit or did you get blossom drop? I've got my containers covered in plastic silver mulch or reflectix but the water can still get pretty warm in mid-summer. I've added ice in the past, but maybe I don't need to worry about this so much. Thanks for any tips! Glad to see you posting here! Anne