Dwarf varieties in 5 gal SWCs, South Florida

[kunosoura]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Great pics. I haven't tasted a lot of those varieties, but Tasmanian Chocolate is excellent, one of my favorites.

All that mass of the pool water and the concrete they are sitting on are helping you to regulate temps at the root zone, which I think is important for container plants.

That's a good point you make - I have an outdoor wireless thermometer out there that seems to routinely read a little lower than what is reported on wunderground.

Could mean my thermometer is off though...

Extreme Bush continues to set fruit. Still unclear whether other varieties are, but I should know something any day now.

[kunosoura]

Originally Posted by fonseca

You can buy Reflectix foil-backed insulation at hardware stores. I wrap most of my self-watering 5 G buckets in it. Extra insulation to keep the root zone cooler, keeps the sun off the buckets for longer life, and no algae.

I also add a layer of jute fabric so my neighbors don't complain about the appearance. Neighbors...

Aluminum foil on top of the bucket can focus sunlight on foliage and really burn leaves, be on the lookout. I mulch my buckets with pine bark and then sow miniclover for a living mulch and free nitrogen. Miniclover only grows a few inches tall.

Really great information, thank you. I have been watching the leaves closely with the foil and haven't seen any damage... but it sure can illuminate them when the sun is just right. They are starting to shade the foil more and more with growth though, so I may be in the clear at this point. The goal was to reflect IR light to keep things cool, as well as help conduct built up heat out of the bucket. I believe I saw somewhere that reflecting light (at least some light?) upward can disorient some insects as well, but not sure if that is true.

Thanks for the info on the Reflectix. I figured there were purpose-made products out there for this sort of thing but wasn't really sure what to search for. Protecting the buckets from the UV is a great point... they were a bit more work to make than I expected them to be and I'd hate to have one suddenly crack into pieces one day when I go to move it.

[pecker88]

@kunosoura

1. I have a very similar setup and all my toms are limp like your Iditarod Red, any update on that plant?

2. Have you added only plain water to the reservoir, or have you been supplementing with water soluble (hydroponic) nutrients?

[kunosoura]

Originally Posted by pecker88

@kunosoura

1. I have a very similar setup and all my toms are limp like your Iditarod Red, any update on that plant?

2. Have you added only plain water to the reservoir, or have you been supplementing with water soluble (hydroponic) nutrients?

No real change in foliage appearance for anything. It could be argued that the IR may be improving a little, but I'm not sure. It sure doesn't seem 100% right to me, but I just don't know.

Anyway, like I said I added a slug of tomato tone to the growing medium when I was assembling everything, and last weekend I gave everything 1/4 tsp calcium ammonium nitrate and 1/4 tsp epsom salt. This weekend I'll probably do some pH testing of the water in the reservoirs, maybe see about setting up a conductivity cell to use with a multimeter.... not sure you can do that but I don't see why not.

[Worth1]

Not to take away from the fact that your plant look astounding as they surely do.

How on earth do you keep the white so white?

The mud dobber wasps would have that so messed up at my house in no time.
As a matter of fact I am going to paint my house the next time the exact color of the clay they use to help cover up the stains.
And I know you have them too.

Worth

[kunosoura]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Not to take away from the fact that your plant look astounding as they surely do.

How on earth do you keep the white so white?

The mud dobber wasps would have that so messed up at my house in no time.
As a matter of fact I am going to paint my house the next time the exact color of the clay they use to help cover up the stains.
And I know you have them too.

Worth

Two words - Pressure. Washer.

But actually it isn't so bad - the pool area there is screened in (catio, as the wife calls it), so that keeps a LOT of the bugs, plant debris, vermin, etc. from coming in. Also there isn't much of any foot traffic coming from the outside grassy areas to inside the pool area due to the layout of the place and our routines.

The biggest sources of dirt are all of my plants!!! Stuff is always running out of the pots and leaving stains and whatnot. I end up pressure washing the area every 2-3 months... doesn't take long and I actually enjoy doing it. The instant gratification of dirt on - dirt off is always neat. It helps that I have all of my plants (strawberry guava tree, lemon tree, madagascar palm, a really neat jatropha podagrica, plus others) on casters... moving them is a piece of cake. It's actually fun to rearrange them as well. It can give the area a whole new look.

[Cole_Robbie]

Be careful with that thing. I use one, too, but I have seen them give people some pretty gruesome cuts. A pressure washer will cut you like a Jedi light saber.

Funny thing, though, they don't damage 6-mil greenhouse plastic. I thought for sure it would slice right through it, but I couldn't cut it even if I tried. It's something about the way it's a loose surface that can move with the water.

[kunosoura]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Be careful with that thing. I use one, too, but I have seen them give people some pretty gruesome cuts. A pressure washer will cut you like a Jedi light saber.

Funny thing, though, they don't damage 6-mil greenhouse plastic. I thought for sure it would slice right through it, but I couldn't cut it even if I tried. It's something about the way it's a loose surface that can move with the water.

I hear you about the dangers of pressure washing... I had the realization recently that doing it in my bare feet probably isn't the smartest thing. Now I wear shoes.

That's really interesting about the 6 mil plastic. I would have assumed without a doubt a pressure washer would make short work of it.

[Heritage]

kimosoura,

Plants are looking great, thanks for documenting your progress.

I have a couple of recommendations:

1. Maybe re-evaluate your staking method. The first year I grew Dwarfs I used a similar staking method and discovered I had underestimated the weight of a Dwarf plant when fully grown and loaded with fruit. The wind had blown over several plants before I used a make-shift (less than ideal) wire cage to support them for the remainder of the season. I've included a photo to show you the results and give you an idea of how the varieties you are growing will look at maturity. Possibly a triad of stakes around the buckets would be something to consider. Or, possibly, the containers you are using will make a much heavier base than the 5-gal nursery containers i used and you won't have a problem.

2. If your plants are in a protected area you might want to encourage self-fertilization by giving the trusses (with open flowers) a gentle tap around noon each day. The dwarf plants are stocky and without some wind movement they can sometimes be stubborn to set fruit. Also, like many beefsteak varieties, the dwarf beefsteak varieties will often have a megabloom as the first flower in a cluster. There is nothing wrong with the tomatoes these flowers produce but they are ugly and poorly formed. I pick off the megablooms so the plant can concentrate her energy on developing the other fruit.

Good luck, keep up the good work!
Steve

[kunosoura]

Originally Posted by Heritage

kimosoura,

Plants are looking great, thanks for documenting your progress.

I have a couple of recommendations:

1. Maybe re-evaluate your staking method. The first year I grew Dwarfs I used a similar staking method and discovered I had underestimated the weight of a Dwarf plant when fully grown and loaded with fruit. The wind had blown over several plants before I used a make-shift (less than ideal) wire cage to support them for the remainder of the season. I've included a photo to show you the results and give you an idea of how the varieties you are growing will look at maturity. Possibly a triad of stakes around the buckets would be something to consider. Or, possibly, the containers you are using will make a much heavier base than the 5-gal nursery containers i used and you won't have a problem.

2. If your plants are in a protected area you might want to encourage self-fertilization by giving the trusses (with open flowers) a gentle tap around noon each day. The dwarf plants are stocky and without some wind movement they can sometimes be stubborn to set fruit. Also, like many beefsteak varieties, the dwarf beefsteak varieties will often have a megabloom as the first flower in a cluster. There is nothing wrong with the tomatoes these flowers produce but they are ugly and poorly formed. I pick off the megablooms so the plant can concentrate her energy on developing the other fruit.

Good luck, keep up the good work!
Steve

Greetings Steve, thank you for such a helpful post. I've been busy watching Joaquin and am just now making it over to T-ville to reply.

I appreciate the photo of your plants; they certainly help me appreciate the size that I should be expecting from mine! I gave a lot of thought to keeping these containers from tipping over, and like you I also have my doubts about how well the current system will work. Problem is that even after all that thought, I haven't come up with a definite solution yet. They actually have significant wind blocks on all four sides, but when things get to blowing in a big way sometimes the blocking doesn't make a lot of difference. I think for now my best bet is to try to cobble together some sort of outrigger akin to what you are using... but possibly in the form of racks perhaps... maybe two sets of four? Not sure. One thing I do know is that being me, I'm likely going to wait until it becomes an actual problem before I do anything to fix it!

Due to these wind blocks, I have been giving the blossoms daily stimulation with a cheap-o toothbrush. Usually after work, sometimes morning too. Lunchtime isn't possible. Getting some decent fruit set considering the heat we have been experiencing the last week. I feel like it actually warmed up some compared to what we were having the last month or so.

Anyway, will probably put some more photos up this weekend. The plants are cooking right along, bigger by the day, and I'm already planning how I'm going to do it bigger and better next season!

Thanks again. -J

PS - will probably leave the megablooms for now, as I get a kick out of seeing what happens, but your point is well taken.

[kunosoura]

Greetings, wanted to post an update. I think the biggest news from the past two weeks was my Daconil experience - I purchased the ready to use formula in the spray bottle from Home Despot, intending to apply it as a preventative. The label said not to apply in direct sunlight, so I waited until the plants were shadowed for the day. I noticed that the spray pattern was very jet-like as opposed to a spray, but I assumed that was how it was supposed to be. As a result I used what was probably an excessive amount of product trying to cover all of the leaves.

Anyway, the next morning leaf edges were looking a bit crispy, with dead, brown, dry ends. Over the following few days some of the trusses that were still forming browned and fell off. New growth looked to be hurting a bit... But by the end of 7 days things were looking better. Now at two weeks after application I am seeing new growth and new trusses and setting fruit once again.... things appear to be getting back to normal.

So, does anyone have any thoughts on the Daconil debacle? Trying to figure out what happened there. So far I have not been using it any more. Is the leaf/new growth appearance coincidental? Are there other issues? I'd REALLY appreciate any thoughts on the matter.

Otherwise all I have been doing is applying 1/4 tsp calcium ammonium nitrate and 1/4 tsp epsom salt weekly. This week I added 1/4 tsp potassium sulfate to the mix, after seeing the Haifa document that AKMark linked in the epsom salt thread.

Again, any thoughts anyone may have are welcome. I'm totally new to a few things at this point.... new to growing in south florida, new to SWCs, new to dwarfs. I've got ideas for experiments to conduct next season regarding nutrients for my specific grow system/conditions, but any thoughts you may have now would be appreciated.

Having said all of that, on to the pictures!

Here are a couple of overall shots, good for size comparisons

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02 IMG_1694.jpeg

Iditarod Red is looking about the same as before, only further along. Foliage still a little droopy in appearance but otherwise seems to be a happy plant. It is kicking out serious blossoms and has set a few small fruits now. One looked like it had some BER, so I pulled it off and discarded. The others look fantastic.

You can see a bit of the crispiness that I described above and (perhaps incorrectly) attributed to the Daconil.

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Wherokowhai and Dwarf Emerald Giant looking fine. Growing well, maybe a bit too much N? They don't seem to be putting up many blossoms, but there are clearly some trusses in the works.

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Tasmanian Chocolate is looking good now, having recovered from the Daconil application. Still some signs of crispiness but they are getting better.

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Dwarf Kelly Green makes for a very vigorous plant. It has a blooming truss stashed underneath the foliage that I am excited about.

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Extreme Bush continues to perform well. This thing has recently sent up quite a few trusses of blossoms. I expect it'll be exploding soon. Those two fruits near the bottom of the plant were in the works a couple of weeks ago - nothing between then and now due to the Daconil toasting what was in the works. I figure that set me back about a week or two.

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More to follow in the next post.

[kunosoura]

Continuing from above, Perth Pride makes for a vigorous plant. Still showing a little remaining crispiness but looks to be on the mend.

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Rosella Purple is really good sized plant. That first truss I described a couple of weeks ago got toasted and fell off, but there are a few more in the works now. Going in to the season I was most excited about this plant. But now I'm thrilled about all of them.

IMG_1693.jpeg

Finally my deformed Wherokowhai. I continue to watch this thing go just out of curiosity. I hadn't been doing anything but watering it the last few weeks and it started to look a little sickly, so I hit it with some 15-15-15 and it perked back up. Looks to be trying to send new growth off that odd part on the stem. Curious plant.

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[Gerardo]

Those are looking quite pretty. Iditarod Red looks intriguing. I've got a couple of Tasmanian Chocolates growing, I dig the rugose leaves. keep the updates coming.

[Barb_FL]

They look really good; the break in the heat will really get those tomatoes set. I think you are doing great your first year growing in Florida.

I have a question for you - what direction does your pool area face?

The reason why I ask is I live over an hour north of you and also grow a lot of tomatoes on my pool deck. My deck is white and faces south. The plants get really hot with the reflection from the deck and pool; I was using shade cloth around 11-1 during August; but with the sun moving south, I needed to use it earlier in mid-late Sept (9:30 - 10). Today the temperature was much better.

[kunosoura]

Originally Posted by Gerardo

Those are looking quite pretty. Iditarod Red looks intriguing. I've got a couple of Tasmanian Chocolates growing, I dig the rugose leaves. keep the updates coming.

Thanks so much! Will do.

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

They look really good; the break in the heat will really get those tomatoes set. I think you are doing great your first year growing in Florida.

I have a question for you - what direction does your pool area face?

The reason why I ask is I live over an hour north of you and also grow a lot of tomatoes on my pool deck. My deck is white and faces south. The plants get really hot with the reflection from the deck and pool; I was using shade cloth around 11-1 during August; but with the sun moving south, I needed to use it earlier in mid-late Sept (9:30 - 10). Today the temperature was much better.

Pool area faces south... sounds like a situation similar to what you have. Good suggestion about the shade cloth. Are you manually putting it up and taking it down each day, or do you have it positioned so that the sun only filters through it when overhead?