Pruning and Repotting...

[MissS]

Ron all of us get an off type plant or two every year. Yes it has happened to me. I had 3 of them this past season. People do make mistakes and you can get a seed or two into the wrong package. It might stick on your clothes and then fall into the mix. You can have a cross pollinated plant. After all the bees do not separate the pollen that they leave. Most of the cross pollinated seeds that I have had have given me some very bad tasting tomatoes, so I suggest that you just throw away you off-type plant and don't waste your time on it.

You should go with the two wick option. The plants roots will then want to grow down deep to get the moisture. Three wicks will make the soil too wet. Tomatoes do not like to have wet feet. I would be concerned about adding nutrients to your water reservoir for fear that algae, molds and other things might start growing as well. I also would not want water sitting in your trays because they would be adding more humidity to the greenhouse and be a place for mosquitoes to breed. This is why so many greenhouse growers use a watering system.

The links that I gave you were not for custom soil, but for custom fertilisers. I think that the soil that you have been using has given you a very nice result and if I were you would continue using it. Your plants are doing far better than they did when you were using the Tui mix.

Reistintraube is a small great tasting oval tomato and the plant will grow rampant. Has this not been being fed on the same schedule as the rest of your plants? Why would this one need special treatment? The plant looks healthy, so I would just wait and feed it the same thing as we decide in the next week. I am not sure at all that the next feeding will be with Calmag. We will 'read' your plants and see what they are telling us.

~ Patti

[murihikukid]

Patti..I know what they are telling me??? "Where are you going to put me??"....mosquitoes we do not have them in NZ ..certainly not down here ..White butterflies we do have......As for the trays ...I want them completely refreshened once a week or shorter if advised to do this...On days like today I think the water will disappear very quickly ...It may well be the tray has to be refilled every 3 days ..it depends on where I put the overflow hole in the side of the tray...

Yes the soil I am using does not cling like Tui's does...Its completely different and there are no flies hanging around...My old Black Cherry and Campari plants have leapt forward ...They are starting to look great ....I might be able to say soon I am a Tomato Grower>>
Yes its quite possible I am the problem...I am not fool proof..I do my best but I forget to do things sometimes like put a name on a pot during repotting...
Nobody has offered to help with the glass door so I hope they do not expect Tomatoes cause they will not get any ....Its probably only 10 seconds work?

I can email the people maybe they can make up a fertiliser mix...

Regards Ron

[murihikukid]

Patti..What a morning ..Gee these tomatoes owe me planty .>i got up early to take the bike and trailor out and get some more soil ...So there were 7 bags and I decided not to take a risk and to take 4 and make a second trip later or tomorrow??? or later in the week..
Well that was OK I was taking it quietly on the footpath looking at all the glass on it thrown probably from cars by the local hoons...when I heard something like a gunshot...Then the bike became unresponsive and sure enough when i looked the trailor had a puncture....So I thought its no use returning to the garden centre so i started pushing the bike and trailor...Thank goodness I then made a wise decision .....I headed straight down for the main street instead of vearing off Like I was going to do ...Once I hit the city I realised that I had cover from the sun under the verandas (it was 21 degrees and climbing) and possibly one of the cycle shops was open ...and they were so I got a new tyre and tube put on for $40 which I though was a really reasonable cost plus a free cup of coffee which was absolutely terrible??No sugar and I do not think it had milk but it shook my system up....So I finally got home....I was worried that my energy loss would bring on a hypo but everything turned out oK....

So

its really hot again so I have 4 fans going and another I can put in ....Now these are side fans and the Hospice shop have an overhead fan ...I think that would make more sense...What do you think ... Overhead fans would probably be more powerful and spread the air better...and I would not fall over them....There is no way I am going in the greenhouse with 4 fans in there and cables everywhere ...I should have realised overhead fans would be the best ...anyway I will get some as soon as I can...

I thought my Super TT with all the tomatoes were turning red last night but it was an optical illusion ...
Now when I was out at the Gardening centre I met the lady again who told me about a pinch of Sulpher potash Plus I had a look on their shelves and guess what...I found the Miracle Gro for Flowers etc .....it has the low N ..So Tui's do have it (they are the agent) its just that the closest centre does not stock it....So its worth knowing that it is available...In actual fact if you would prefer me to have that on hand I could return the other one to the other centre.... I will have a look back and find out the NPK and put it on a follow up post...Regards Ron

[murihikukid]

Patti ..Found it ..My eyes are getting bad as I thought the N was 11 ...but the true NPK from the website is
N-P-K 20 – 11 - 9 + iron, magnesium and a range of trace elements.

I checked the drum again with the 4 wicks and it sure is drawing up the water ....I will do several drums now with 2 wicks and clean the 4 wick one and change it for two....Seeing the way the ropes work I have to work something out of my plastic containers ...i am not happy with the system I have .....its too much of a risk for disease .....Allright for the seedlings but not for when they get put into larger pots....As far as I can see I need something that the container will sit on in a tray above the water line with a couple of wicks (not as thick as the ones on the drums...) Maybe some wide PVC tube about 3 -4 inches long carefully cut or I could attach to the pot with a silicon??

Regards Ron

[MissS]

Ron, your fans are best placed so that they exhaust the hot air of your greenhouse to the outdoors. Most greenhouses have them built into the walls so that they turn on the fans and they exhaust the air out. Blowing the how air around will not be helping much to cool the plants and remove excess humidity. You need to be moving the hot air outdoors. Greenhouses can be 20 degrees hotter than it is outside. Ideally, you should have fans and doors on both ends of the house. One to blow cool air in and one forcing the hot air out.

One wick in the center of the pot should be fine. It works for everyone else. I think that if you are making more pots that you should use just one so that the plants are not too wet. I just can not stress it enough that these plants like to be on the dry side and that wet feet will do them in. Many people use a rain gutter to hold the water for their self watering containers. Take a look here in the container forum. There are many people here using self watering systems. That is what the container forum is all about.

Regards ~ Patti

[murihikukid]

Patti..I have woken up after the my long walk this morning.... So back to work.... I wonder if you know what causes this...the turning of the lower leaf edges ...I think I read its a soil imbalance..Both doors are open .....but i do not know/where how I will site fans Cheers Ron

[MissS]

The leaf in question should be removed because it is touching the rim of the pot and it is old.

There is more than one reason that a leaf may curl. It could be from over fertilization. It also could be from copper deficiency. In this case it seems that the leaf in old and that the plant does not need it.

[murihikukid]

Patti...The mico has arrived?? Ron

[MissS]

So... what are the directions for the product???

I still say that they want you to use more than you will need. Put 1 tablespoon in 1 gallon of water and water your plants, not using the whole gallon per plant.

But since you used 1 tablespoon per plant of the other product, I would give this company the same treatment.

Regards, Patti

[murihikukid]

Patti..I have not opened the package yet...I hope there is directions....I have been making some extra space in the greenhouse....from late afternoon til 9.20pm....I went to a doctor at dinner time today for a checkup...as Chet atkins said when he saw Waylon Jennings "I have found me a Star" ...Today I said "I have found me a doctor ".....by mistake ?? she was supposed to see someone else and they mixed patients up so what a stroke of luck .....amazing....She was quite surprised that I had never had a general blood test for all my vital parts for years and years ...I told her right from the start that i had lost confidence in the doctors that I had ..and I think she agreed when I told her of my problems yet they had been brushed aside....So I have had blood taken for testing for all sorts of things She was so easy to talk to plus she knew what was going on around the world so she is a real smart cookie?? So I will ensure she gets tomatoes and remains my doctor...??

Tomorrow I might give everything a fertilizer treatment ....on the 16th I watered everything(apart from the drums) with Phostrogen so that will be only 5 days ago.....The weather has changed so much and I presume that I have to be careful with what I give them ....The plants I gave the soil Myco mix to are all in real good shape ...I still cannot get over the Black Cherry and Campari and how they keep on growing...I presume I should be picking the red fruit and letting them fully ripen in a bowl inside....

Still have not got my roof fixed ....and checking my milk treated plants this morning after a spray last night ....the whole colour etc made them stand out ....If I recall one can reguarly spray them with the milk mix so I am going to buy a good sprayer just for milk...

When I get fruit and build up a seed bank....will the diseases transfer to next season via the seeds.....I am not going to get plants from a garden centre ever again if i can help it.....the plants I bought were cheap but they were diseased......Next season of course I will be very early with my seeds unlike this season...and with Myco etc hopefully I will have fruit very early...free from disease..

Cheers Ron

[murihikukid]

Patti...There is instructions on one pack but not on the other...So maybe he has told me how to use in a previous email......Hope they meet your criteria??? I will need guidance ...here??Regards Ron..

[MissS]

I suggest that you use 1 tablespoon per plant just as you did with the other product, so that you can give them a fair comparison. I would also use 1 Tablespoon of the EF 10/25 per plant.

You have not shown or told me how your plants are responding to their last feeding. As I said, they have to be watched closely because you are using new products on them. It is very easy to overfeed them when you are using the Calmag. I also told you that you may need to cut back on the use of your fertilizer. So, given that, I can not recommend that you feed them anything right now.

[murihikukid]

Patti...I really see no comparison simply because I have not the experience ...All I can see at this point is a continuing escalation of yellow in the leaves of certain plants ....I have not used Calmag since Feb 1st ...The only product that I can visibly see that makes a difference to my eyes is the milk spray ....I have so many fertilisers ....and sprays I am struggling to understand what to give them except because most of my plants are now bearing fruit......As I understand they require a fertiliser strong in Potassium...That why I used Phostrogen last time...

One Tablespoon ??? per plant.....Well the myco and EF 10/25 is not going to last long at that rate...?? Unless of course they are a once only treatment..

Up to now I have used a freezer (on its side) inside the greenhouse as a work bench for my plants but as from today I will create a workbench outside so each individual plant apart from the WM drums will be individually moved out onto the workbench and inspected...watered and whatever is to be applyed will be applied.....This will give me more room ...inside .....

FRom your post I take it that I just apply the myco and EF 10/25 (without any fertilizer) and how do you want me to apply it? sprinkle on the soil and wash it in ?? and My younger plants ?? Surely I give less to them than the old

Cheers Ron











Four of the WM drums have of course been treated with the "bagged" whatever it is.....Do you want me to apply the myco and EF 10/25 to them also? As I understand these additives are pretty powerful and I really do not want to destroy any plants...

[MissS]

Ron, Welcome to Tomatoville! Most of us have a shelf full of products for our plants. Tomato plants needs change with which growing stage that they are in. Each stage requires a different feed. Tomatoes get disease if they are not protected, so many have to use products to cure them. It is a part of growing tomatoes. We 'read' our plants and then try to give them what they need. It can change with the weather, the temps, the light, the humidity many different things. You have your greenhouse way over the limit on it's capacity to grow healthy plants, so you are going to need more products than most of us. I do hope that they work.

You used 1 tablespoon of "whatever it is", so to do a comparison I would use 1 tablespoon of your EF VAM-NZ and 10/15 in at the least another four plants. Ideally these woudl be of the same varieties but I know that you do not have another Black Cherry. I would not add any product to your 4 drums that you used whatever it is on.

They way that I administer my mycos is to add 1 Tablespoon to 1 gallon of de-chlorinated water and water my plants as usual with it. For seedlings when I am re potting, I remove the plant and either dip it into my gallon of water mixed with mycos or put some mycos in a dish and just dab the rootball into the mix. If you would prefer to do this, then go right ahead.

If you feel that you need to feed your plants I would use the Seasol this time. Since the plants are fruiting and you have given them plenty of potassium this will provide them some additional trace elements.

Regards ~ Patti