Raybo's InnTainer 2011/12 Winter Indoor Tomato Project - Year #2 (pics)

[rnewste]

After making a few mistakes last year, but learning a lot in the process, I have now set up my Winter tomato "Farm" for Year #2. One of the key things I learned was that you should not grow "normal" varieties like Goose Creek, Indian Stripe, Brandywine, etc. indoors. They can go crazy!



So this year, I have selected smaller bush varieties as well as 2 from the Dwarf Project.

The basic setup consists of six 18 gallon InnTainers mounted on two movable racks:



The downloadable (free) InnTainer Construction Guide can be found at this link:

http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/pd...tion-Guide.pdf

For the indoor Grow Media, I am using Sunshine #4 Mix, Turf-Topper, and Perlite in a 6:2:1 ratio. Turf-Topper is in essence Bark Fines:



The Grow Media is supplemented with the following:

1-1/2 Cups Dolomite Lime
1/2 Cup Calcium Nitrate (the Snack)
1/4 Cup Epsom Salts
1/4 Cup Actino-Iron

Fertilization is 1-1/2 Cups Tomato-tone placed in a trench centered in the InnTainer.

I have selected the Farm's location to get a good amount of natural sunlight from a South facing window.

But this lighting is insufficient during the Winter, so I am supplementing this with a High Pressure Sodium lighting system consisting of a HydroFarms reflector, and a 400W lamp which I run from 5:00pm until 8:00pm:



I'm using an energy efficient Lumatek Digital Ballast unit:



And have the power setting at 250 Watts, which seems to produce ample illumination. The Digital Ballast runs so cool that you can touch it and it is barely warm:



The bulb is also a high efficiency type with a wide frequency spectrum, targeted to those growing "cash crops". Tomatoes and Peppers it seems, also fit into this sweet spot:



I am growing 9 Parks Rainbow bell peppers in one InnTainer, not expecting any Winter production, but as I didn't get ripe Peppers this past Season until late August, I wanted the plants to get a jump-start, hopefully getting them in the ground outside in April, with ripe fruit in June.



My InnTainer Winter tomato grow list contains the following varieties:

Demidov - Compact determinate, medium size pink fruits, sometimes with yellow shoulders, round oblate shape, very early, excellent flavor. Excellent yield of great tasting 3-3.5" beautiful pink fruit. 74 DTM, regular leaf rugose dwarf plant to 3', Very good production of relatively large, pink fruit for a dwarf plant.

Extreme Bush - 50 days, determinate. Plants are twelve to twenty eight inches tall, tremendously productive, and produce fruit over a long period of time. The leaves interestingly curl up and inward. The fruits are very flavorful, weigh about three ounces, are globe-shaped and red in color.

Iditarod Red – (Dwarf Project) Early to mid season. Regular leaf, dark green rugose foliage, stout central stem, grows to 3 feet tall. Fruit are smooth and round, with some showing a nippled blossom end, ranging from 3-4 ounces, and ripen to red (the color of Nepal or Aker's West Virginia). Flavor is well balanced and pleasant.

Mano - Determinate, compact plant with rugose regular foliage, very productive. Small round red fruits, excellent strong acidic taste with a hint of sweetness. 77 days, compact dwarf 18-24" tall plants, good production of 2-3 oz red fruit.

Mountain Princess - 69 days, det., compact regular leaf plant with high yield of medium red fruit, 3-6 oz, very good flavor.

Rosella Purple – (Dwarf Project) Similar to Cherokee Purple in color, size, shape and flavor but on a dwarf growing plant. Regular leaf, dark green rugose foliage, stout central stem, grows to three to four feet in height. The fruits are oblate, ranging from six to twelve ounces, and ripen to a deep purple-pink color. Flavor is full, intense, balanced and delicious. 'Rosella Purple' originated from a cross between 'Budai' (a small red fruited dwarf) and 'Stump of the World',

Rozovyi Flamingo - Rozovyi means pink in Russian. The plants were grown in gallon pots and were dwarf growing only a couple feet high. They probably will be a bit larger grown in the ground. The fruit are an elongated globe shape and a light pink, very pink as tomatoes go so the name is fitting.

Sophies Choice - Very early, rivals Stupice for how early it produces in my garden. Regular leafed determinate plant, very small (maximum of 2' in height) doesn't require staking. Red globular fruit, about 3" in diameter with good (although a little bit mild) flavor, excellent for containers.

Stakeless - Foliage is green and fruit is red, round and weighs 8 ounces. 2 to 4 ft. Determinate, 78 days Compact dwarf plant. Medium large fruit about 8 oz. Plants get 18 - 24 in. Very much like 'Patio', but the tomato may be a bit larger.

Victorian Dwarf - 65 days, bush habit, excellent production of good tasting 3" slightly flat red fruit.


So, the growth habits of the plants I've selected this year should be more compatible to the indoor growing environment. I'll update progress over the Winter and I'm sure to discover some new improvements to make next year as well.

Raybo

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Very nice set up cannot wait to see how these do for you this year.

Craig

[rnewste]

Craig,

One of the things I have learned already is that I should have started the seedlings 30 days earlier. It looks like I will have a "tomato gap" when my outdoor plants stop producing late December, and when the plants in the InnTainers kick in - - probably in February.

Some of this delay was due to getting my hands on Iditarod Red and Rosella Purple Dwarf Project seeds only within the past 2 weeks.

In any event, the InnTainer "Farm" will hopefully be producing ripe tomatoes through the June timeframe, when the outdoor ones should be available. My personal "goal" is to grow Heirloom tomatoes 365 days a year - - once I get all the timing, etc. better understood.

Raybo

[OtterJon]

Looking great Ray! Good luck this year, may you get lots of beauties

Jon

[Mudman]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Craig,

One of the things I have learned already is that I should have started the seedlings 30 days earlier. It looks like I will have a "tomato gap" when my outdoor plants stop producing late December, and when the plants in the InnTainers kick in - - probably in February.

Raybo

Ray-
Awesome looking set up. You know things are going in well in Tomatoville when the "Tomato Gap" runs from December to February.

[rnewste]

Thanks guys!!

While I have given up on chasing "Wild Women" (...during the Winter), this is my only hobby to keep me occupied - until Spring.

It is lots of fun to watch the plants develop indoors, sitting here sipping a bit of "Jack D." with my feet propped up on the InnTainers when the HPS lighting system is on at night.

Kind of like the glow from a Winter's fireplace hearth.....

Raybo

[tgplp]

Hey Raybo, looks great!

I was wondering, isn't 18 gallons a little much? I thought tomatoes do fine in five gallon pots, and these are dwarfs, so maybe they can do well in even smaller pots! I really don't know, though...

Thanks,
Taryn

[rnewste]

Originally Posted by tgplp

Hey Raybo, looks great!

I was wondering, isn't 18 gallons a little much? I thought tomatoes do fine in five gallon pots, and these are dwarfs, so maybe they can do well in even smaller pots! I really don't know, though...

Thanks,
Taryn

Taryn, Interesting you mention the size of the InnTainer. While last Winter, the "non-indoor" Varieties I planted all had roots down into the water reservoir, with my 2011/12 Varieties like Extreme Bush, Victorian Dwarf, etc. I am expecting much smaller root balls this Winter. So, I am now designing a Dwarf-oriented "MinTainer" based on the smaller 14 gallon Tote.



The form factor of the 14 gallon tote's length and width is identical however, the depth is 4 inches less than the 18 gallon Tote.



While the InnTainer holds 1.95 cubic feet of Grow Media, the 14 gallon MinTainer will hold 1.3 cu. ft. This still should be plenty of Media for 2 tomato plants to fully develop indoors. I am keeping the wicking basket and water reservoir dimensions the same at 4 inches, as the key feature of the InnTainer & MinTainer is the ability to go for 2 week intervals before needing to replenish the water reservoir. It will also make lugging the fully loaded MinTainers up to my second story room much less of a strain.

Cost savings is not all that much however. There is a $0.20 difference in the price at Home Depot. Times the two required Totes saves one a grand total of $0.40. Reducing the Grow Media by 33% would effectively save an additional $4.00.

Here is a general photo update, one week after planting the Peppers and 8 tomato plants:



Mountain Princess and Victorian Dwarf are doing exceptionally well:



Victorian Dwarf is even getting ready to flower:



And the Dwarf Project's Iditarod Red and Rosella Purple started on Nov 19, have sprouted:



Raybo

[rnewste]

Weekly update - December 10. The plants are settling in to their new "condos" pretty well. The photo on the left was taken Nov 28, with the one on the right, 12 days later on Dec. 10:



Mt. Princess on the left; Victorian Dwarf on the right have grown by at least 50% over the past 12 days:



I've put them in the first pair of cages:



Victorian Dwarf is now flowering:




Mt. Princess:



Mano:



Even small Demidov is really thickening up:



The Stakeless which I accidently severed on Nov 28, then rooted in the potting mix, is recovering nicely:



The Dwarf Project's Iditarod Red and Rosella Purple really like the HPS lighting:



Photo on the left taken Dec 3; on the right 7 days later Dec 10.

Even a Pepper has flowered today:



Well, so far - - so good!

Raybo

[tgplp]

Lookin' good Raybo! I haven't heard of Mano or Victorian Dwarf- any history on those varieties? I love how dark green and compact they look.

I think I better get some bigger pots for my indoor toms... so for two plants you use 14 gallon tubs, so each plant gets 7 gallons... I was planning on using pots that are 1-5 gallon pots, and even less than 1 gallon pots for Micro Tom and other super dwarfs. Last year I grew two Micro Toms in tiny nursery pots, and they did amazing with over a dozen fruit per plant, and they actually tasted alright. I wonder if they would have done even better with a larger pot... I don't really have a lot of room; I better give away tomato plants for christmas!!!

Your tinfoil trick is really helping my plants grow- I have five small tomato plants with tinfoil, and a bunch of seedlings with out tinfoil. It seems to me that the ones with tinfoil are growing almost twice as fast as the ones with out!!! They must like the extra light- it's sort of like using red mulch outside, I would assume.

By the way, what variety pepper is the flowering one? I'm thinking of trying to grow peppers this spring and summer.

Keep us updated,
Taryn

[rnewste]

Taryn,

I might have confused you with the reference to the 14 gallon Totes. Each plant does not end up with 7 gallons due to the 3 gallon water reservoir underneath. For the 14 gallon tote version, each plant would get approx .65 cubic feet of Grow Media to play in. This should be plenty of Media for most of the smaller tomato plants you would want for the Winter anyway.

However, for some of the larger Dwarf Project plants, I think the 18 gallon Tote version which gives each of the 2 plants about 1 cubic foot of Media would be desirable. I'll get a better understanding when I clean out the root-balls in the Spring to see just how far down the roots extended.

Here is the link to the updated 14 / 18 gallon InnTainer Construction Guide:

http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/pd...tion-Guide.pdf

Regarding the Emerald Green color of the leaves, I too am very surprised how dark and robust they are. I believe it may be due to a combination of the Roots Excelurator supplement, adding Calcium Nitrate ("the Snack") into the Grow Media, as well as the Hortilux lighting system. In any event, I see changes in growth, now on a daily basis.

The only descriptions I have for Mano and Victorian Dwarf were listed in my initial Post. You can do a search for these seeds, as I recall buying the Victorian Dwarf from a fellow TomatoVille member (The Sample Seed Shop) and the Mano came from Casey's Heirloom Tomatoes.

I used the aluminum foil trick last Winter, as my thought was to reflect some of the daily sunlight, as well as the evening HPS Lumens back up to the undersides of the leaves. I believe this is both strengthening the plant, as well as confusing any insects which cling to the bottom of the leaves.

The Peppers I am growing are called Parks Rainbow, which is a mix of 6 different color sweet Bell Peppers. Kind of a "Forrest Gump" thing - as I won't know what color each one is until they mature. "Life is like a box of chocolates..."

Raybo

[OtterJon]

Those are looking awesome Ray! Boy those Dwarfs sure are taking off aren't they? Great pics

[lakelady]

Looks MAHVELOUS Ray! Better than my plants these days! Ah, I got too busy with my life and gave them a bit too much abuse I guess and they were so wilted the other day. Hope they recover without too much damage.

Of course, the one plant in the Inntainer, is doing wonderfully! I have NO IDEA what it is, lol... but it's doing great!

[rnewste]

I really think the artificial light has a great deal to do with it. I have a "spare" Mano and a Victorian Dwarf growing in the garden window, and they are quite spindly as compared with the ones under the HPS light, even though I run the light only 3 hours per day.

I wish Taryn was closer as I will be dumping both of these backups in the trash now that the ones in the InnTainer are doing well.

Raybo

[lakelady]

so you have them in a southern exposure window, and only run the lights 3 hours a day? that sure helps with the electric bill I'm sure!