Indoor Head Start

[PureHarvest]

What an explosion of growth over the last week!
Temps warm to hot during the day. 60's at night. PERFECT conditions.

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

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[PureHarvest]

Full Size Indeterminates:

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[PureHarvest]

Dwarfs:

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[Nematode]

Looks great. Those trellis wires will be under a lot of tension as the indeterminates fruit up. I'm not sure what the usual method is.
Would hate to see it all come down.

[PureHarvest]

I have cable bracing on each end along with truss supports.
2 different people who have been around this stuff tell me I'm good.
I hope they are right.

Last year I had 4 wires going from the top of an old swing set to the end wall of my pole building into eye screws. It held nicely. Different, but I got to see the fruit load 7' up and I think the tunnel will take that, especially since almost half of the area is dwarfs.

[Nematode]

Good to hear it.
Can you elaborate on your bracing?
My 27x 48 tunnel is finally coming together in the next month, and am looking for ideas.
Thx.

[PureHarvest]

It is braided steel cable.
We drilled a hole on the third hoop in from the end about 5' up. Then ran it down to the ground socket on the end hoop. All four corners got this.

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If you are building a tunnel and installing endwalls that is huge. This tunnel was just to keep the rain off, so I did not build end walls.
Also, trus bracing is key. I wish I got longer truss braces than what you see overhead, but should work.
Their are even better ones that add another piece off that to make a Y.
Like this:
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[Nematode]

Thanks for the detailed info.
Looks great.

[PureHarvest]

Growth is exploding. As many have noted elsewhere, plants that are started earlier get caught up to by plant started later.
I had a second sowing that was 2 weeks younger than my 3rd and main crop. You can not tell them apart now.

Decided to do Florida weave for my dwarfs. Wild spudleaf and Beryl Beauty are taller types and were starting to fall over.

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[PureHarvest]

Growth is not without its problems.

I have determined that I had an issue with the last tank of fert that I mixed up last week.

I did not let the tank mix (using a submersible pump circulating the contents of the tank) long enough to completely blend the 3 fertilizer ingredients. I added my KOH to adjust the pH too early and I think it locked out the micro nutrients.

My leaf symptoms match that of all or some of Boron, Iron, Molybdenum, Manganese, and or Copper.

Hat tip to Mark for the Haifa-group link last year. The description of nutrient deficiencies is probably better than their very good photos of the same. It lead me more down the path of nutrients and not disease symptoms. Then I thought of how I usually let my tank mix for 30-45 minutes before I finally add my pH up.
I did not do that the last time.
The pH and EC were good, but that doesn't mean the micros weren't locked out.
I was due to flush out the lines and bags with plain water (shooting for once a month on that to keep lines clean and flush salts), so I did on Saturday.
Mixed a new tank yesterday the way I had been doing. Picture perfect weather conditions expected for the next 7 days.

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[PureHarvest]

Manganese (I was seeing the grey sheen mentioned plus the interveinal chlorosis. In fact, seeing much gray-green growth is what got my attention):

"The early stages of the chlorosis induced by manganese deficiency are somewhat similar to iron deficiency. They begin with a light chlorosis of the young leaves and netted veins of the mature leaves especially when they are viewed through transmitted light. As the stress increases, the leaves take on a gray metallic sheen and develop dark freckled and necrotic areas along the veins. A purplish luster may also develop on the upper surface of the leaves."

Copper (definitely see the hard bending down of leaf petioles and the bleached look of the leaves):

"These copper-deficient leaves are curled, and their petioles bend downward. Copper deficiency may be expressed as a light overall chlorosis along with the permanent loss of turgor in the young leaves. Recently matured leaves show netted, green veining with areas bleached to a whitish gray. Some leaves develop sunken necrotic spots and have a tendency to bend downward."

http://www.haifa-group.com/knowledge...-E22ED3C064D1}

[PureHarvest]

Here is the first Dark Queen I picked and tasted. Smaller than supposed to be, but I have a 14 ounce one on my counter.
7.5 out of 10.
Excellent tomato flavor. Very meaty, but just a tad on the dry side. Could be a 8 or higher for others' pallets, but I like some sweetness and this lacked the level I seek.
Overall very good, and, as always, better than the store and probably better than the local large scale farms when in-season.
I cut and ate it before I realized I did not take pics of the inside!
Oh well, I have the other one on the counter now and will get pics of it when I slice it.

Here is the stock photo for DQ from Wild Boar Farms:

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Here is mine:

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EDIT. I think the seed pack was mis labeled. Looks like a Black and Brown Boar, which I did buy, but did not open that pack when I seeded from the pack labeled Dark Queen.

WBF stock photo for BBB:

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[PureHarvest]

Sweet Scarlet. 14 ounces.
Picked it early because I am gonna be away for the weekend.
Looking forward to tasting this thing, as I like sweeter tomatoes.
All of my early fruits on SS so far are much more flattened than I expected.

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[PureHarvest]

Main crop is 100 days old from seed today.

Dwarfs look 100% perfect. Beautiful green, dense, loaded with flowers etc.

Full size plants look..eh. Not too impressed but fruit is setting and they are putting out new growth. I think I had one tank worth of fert that had micros locked out. But the dwarfs get fed from the same tank and are studs. Maybe the genetics are not as demanding with dwarfs. Interesting...

On the full size plants, a lot of the lower leaves are permanently folded at this point. We had a week of strong wind with warm to hot sunny days and I think that did it, as leaf roll is typically an environmental response.

Here are some general shots:

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WILD SPUDLEAF fruit:

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WILD SPUDLEAF fruit:

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[PureHarvest]

Here are the 9 Dwarf types I am growing, listed by name:

BERYL BEAUTY:

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BRANDY FRED:

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GOLDEN GYPSY:

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LOXTON LAD:

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ORANGE CREAM:

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ROSELLA PURPLE:

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SWEET SCARLET:

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WILD FRED:

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WILD SPUDLEAF:

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