Indoor Head Start - Page 8

Nematode · June 18, 2016

Its It's still June, probably too early to judge production. BTW, I will be trying some dwarfs in 2017 after seeing what yours are doing. Thanks for sharing.

clkeiper · June 18, 2016

Thanks. I just strung a house with a row of cukes and a row of toms. I am kind of winging it. I am worried about keeping up with the pruning and dropping the strings already, but I suppose as soon as I get a bit of experience it won't seem so imposing. My hangers are attached to S hooks so I can reach them without a ladder.

PureHarvest · June 18, 2016

Sucker removal takes about 2 times a week for me. Once a week is doable but it takes me over an hour to do all of my plants if I wait. But I am trellis clipping them to the strings while I sucker too.
You will only have to lower every few weeks. Last year I think I did 3-4 lowering all season. It could have been more if the season went longer or I had them under cover.

Nematode · June 18, 2016

The manual is interesting. I would stay with their method. I think the media they recommend holds more water than coir, and if irrigated to runoff every day could be too wet for the tomato roots, causing problems. My clue for this is the recommended 30-50% of field capacity recommendation for moisture in the bag. If irrigated to runoff every day that would be 100%.

Ricky Shaw · June 18, 2016

You hear of people flushing, or attempting flushing. I'm not sure how advantageous it is, except in a rescue situation. Would enough of the salts and heavy matter run off to really matter is the question.

Anyway, with all this plus 90 heat and the plants taking more fluid. I've cut the ChemGrow back to 1600ppm EC uS/cm or 1100ppm Truncheon and will monitor closely.

PureHarvest · June 19, 2016

I just realized my problem. I'm such a buffoon.
Ricky, it's something you pointed out and we talked about last winter.
The conversion chart from Hanna to Truncheon.
I follow the Chemgro directions for the second stage and can't get my EC what the instructions say it should be (1,500 ppm). So I bump up all the ingredients by 25%
I then get in the upper 1,300s and call it close enough, fearing I will overdo it.
Well, I was overdoing it!
My Hanna at 1350 is 1890 on truncheon. Duh.
My plants never tip burned but definitely hooked the new growth and had other issues like leaf roll and some different patches of color green or bleachy white or pale yellow near the midrib.
Watered with plain water yesterday.
Mixed up a new tank today following the instructions.
Ppm is 1150 which is 1610 on truncheon.
This would be right considering the EC of my water plus ph up.
No wonder my plants last year looked so great compared to this year.
I didn't have a meter and just followed the directions.
Onward we roll. Looking forward to the next month to getting back on track.
If the plants were older they could have probably handled the higher EC but they are not mature yet.
Thankful they were not killed.

Nematode · June 19, 2016

Glad you are back on track.
I hated trying to figure ppm on my meter, found it had an EC setting and have used that ever since.

PureHarvest · June 20, 2016

I have the option of EC on my meter.
The chemgro instructions say that mhos should be 2.0 for the rate I am using.
But if I recall, my EC was showing around 1.5 at 1150 ppm on my Hanna.
Isn't mhos the same as EC? Or no?
That is why I shied away from using the EC readout, because it was lower than what I expected.

Nematode · June 20, 2016

Something fishy with the meter?
I am reading 2.9 ec with .3 source water (2.6 ec nutrients) at something pretty close to akmarks formula.

Nematode · June 20, 2016

EC is a useful tool, but your plants will tell you what they need if you listen.

PureHarvest · June 20, 2016

My meter was new this spring and I calibrated it last time and barley had to adjust it.
I will check the readouts when I mix my next tank this week. I am going from memory and could be off a bit.

Ricky Shaw · June 20, 2016

Distilled water is very handy as a quick meter check, it has zero dissolved solids. Also the optics get coated and cloudy, and readings bounce. A toothbrush and soapy water will do wonders if they do.

Nematode · June 20, 2016

What exactly is your mix?
Grams/liter or oz/gallon however you are mixing it.

PureHarvest · June 20, 2016

I have cleaning solution and have used it recently before the last calibration I did.

I just mixed 20 ounces of chemgro, 20 ounces calnitrate, and 10 ounces of mgso4 into 250 gallons of water.

Lastly, I added 40 grams of potassium hydroxide to get the pH to 6.2 (from 5)

I run a 500 gph pump to circulate the contents of the tank to dissolve/mix each ingredient before adding the next. I then let all 3 mix for another 30 minutes before adding the potassium hydroxide. I then let all that mix for another 15-20 minutes before final reading.

Ricky Shaw · June 20, 2016

Same products PH uses and mature dose for 55gals of mix:

5.5 oz ChemGro
5.5 oz Cal
2.75 oz Mag

Source water EC uS/cm 100 + ChemGro/Cal/Mag EC uS/cm 1900

Total EC uS/cm = 2000

June 18, 2016	#107
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	Thanks. I just strung a house with a row of cukes and a row of toms. I am kind of winging it. I am worried about keeping up with the pruning and dropping the strings already, but I suppose as soon as I get a bit of experience it won't seem so imposing. My hangers are attached to S hooks so I can reach them without a ladder. __________________ carolyn k

June 18, 2016	#106
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	Its It's still June, probably too early to judge production. BTW, I will be trying some dwarfs in 2017 after seeing what yours are doing. Thanks for sharing.

June 18, 2016	#108
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	Sucker removal takes about 2 times a week for me. Once a week is doable but it takes me over an hour to do all of my plants if I wait. But I am trellis clipping them to the strings while I sucker too. You will only have to lower every few weeks. Last year I think I did 3-4 lowering all season. It could have been more if the season went longer or I had them under cover.

June 18, 2016	#109
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	The manual is interesting. I would stay with their method. I think the media they recommend holds more water than coir, and if irrigated to runoff every day could be too wet for the tomato roots, causing problems. My clue for this is the recommended 30-50% of field capacity recommendation for moisture in the bag. If irrigated to runoff every day that would be 100%.

June 18, 2016	#110
Ricky Shaw Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Zone 6a Denver North Metro Posts: 1,910	You hear of people flushing, or attempting flushing. I'm not sure how advantageous it is, except in a rescue situation. Would enough of the salts and heavy matter run off to really matter is the question. Anyway, with all this plus 90 heat and the plants taking more fluid. I've cut the ChemGrow back to 1600ppm EC uS/cm or 1100ppm Truncheon and will monitor closely.

June 19, 2016	#111
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	I just realized my problem. I'm such a buffoon. Ricky, it's something you pointed out and we talked about last winter. The conversion chart from Hanna to Truncheon. I follow the Chemgro directions for the second stage and can't get my EC what the instructions say it should be (1,500 ppm). So I bump up all the ingredients by 25% I then get in the upper 1,300s and call it close enough, fearing I will overdo it. Well, I was overdoing it! My Hanna at 1350 is 1890 on truncheon. Duh. My plants never tip burned but definitely hooked the new growth and had other issues like leaf roll and some different patches of color green or bleachy white or pale yellow near the midrib. Watered with plain water yesterday. Mixed up a new tank today following the instructions. Ppm is 1150 which is 1610 on truncheon. This would be right considering the EC of my water plus ph up. No wonder my plants last year looked so great compared to this year. I didn't have a meter and just followed the directions. Onward we roll. Looking forward to the next month to getting back on track. If the plants were older they could have probably handled the higher EC but they are not mature yet. Thankful they were not killed.

June 19, 2016	#112
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	Glad you are back on track. I hated trying to figure ppm on my meter, found it had an EC setting and have used that ever since.

June 20, 2016	#113
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	I have the option of EC on my meter. The chemgro instructions say that mhos should be 2.0 for the rate I am using. But if I recall, my EC was showing around 1.5 at 1150 ppm on my Hanna. Isn't mhos the same as EC? Or no? That is why I shied away from using the EC readout, because it was lower than what I expected.

June 20, 2016	#114
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	Something fishy with the meter? I am reading 2.9 ec with .3 source water (2.6 ec nutrients) at something pretty close to akmarks formula.

June 20, 2016	#115
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	EC is a useful tool, but your plants will tell you what they need if you listen.

June 20, 2016	#116
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	My meter was new this spring and I calibrated it last time and barley had to adjust it. I will check the readouts when I mix my next tank this week. I am going from memory and could be off a bit.

June 20, 2016	#117
Ricky Shaw Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Zone 6a Denver North Metro Posts: 1,910	Distilled water is very handy as a quick meter check, it has zero dissolved solids. Also the optics get coated and cloudy, and readings bounce. A toothbrush and soapy water will do wonders if they do.

June 20, 2016	#118
Nematode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: massachusetts Posts: 1,710	What exactly is your mix? Grams/liter or oz/gallon however you are mixing it.

June 20, 2016	#119
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	I have cleaning solution and have used it recently before the last calibration I did. I just mixed 20 ounces of chemgro, 20 ounces calnitrate, and 10 ounces of mgso4 into 250 gallons of water. Lastly, I added 40 grams of potassium hydroxide to get the pH to 6.2 (from 5) I run a 500 gph pump to circulate the contents of the tank to dissolve/mix each ingredient before adding the next. I then let all 3 mix for another 30 minutes before adding the potassium hydroxide. I then let all that mix for another 15-20 minutes before final reading.

June 20, 2016	#120
Ricky Shaw Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Zone 6a Denver North Metro Posts: 1,910	Same products PH uses and mature dose for 55gals of mix: 5.5 oz ChemGro 5.5 oz Cal 2.75 oz Mag Source water EC uS/cm 100 + ChemGro/Cal/Mag EC uS/cm 1900 Total EC uS/cm = 2000