A garden is only as good as the ground that it's planted in. Discussion forum for the many ways to improve the soil where we plant our gardens.
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#46 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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You may be too low in P and K but I have never have low yields due to too much nitrogen.
And I mean up to the point of burning the tips of the leaves. But that is in Texas and not where you live. ![]() worth |
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#47 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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I'm injecting 4-18-38 into the drip. I am noticing good flowering right now on my indeterminate outdoor plants, so maybe the lack of early fruitset was due to our rainy, cloudy weather.
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#48 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Worth |
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#49 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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My plants are like trees. I keep seeing birds in them. They are probably building nests.
By the end of the year, my 50'x50' garden is going to look like a house-sized chunk of tomato vines dropped out of the sky. |
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#50 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: glendora ca
Posts: 2,560
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“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." |
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#51 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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Thanks for the tip. Do you have to follow it up with water? I never know when I am supposed to leave spray dry on the plant indefinitely, versus wash it off at some point, especially in the high tunnel, which doesn't get rain to wash the plants off.
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#52 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: CT
Posts: 290
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Hope it works out for you Cole.. I finally ditched my ez-flo.. Got sick of toying with it.. I initially thought I was flowing just fine but it seems to stop half way through. I began around 600ppm and an hour into it I got down to 300 (in the reservoir) - another hour and I was still at 300ppm.. Two hours worth of watering and still not done?! It's just a cheaply made homeowner deal so I wasn't expecting perfection, but..... Between setup time and the lacking efficacy it'll just be easier to go back to the ol' hand feeding..
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#53 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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Yeah, I am ticked at EZ Flo, too. Their main fitting leaked, so I gave dripworks $20 for a new one. The old one broke taking it apart, and the new one started leaking exactly the same way after the 2nd use. It really is a piece of junk.
Morgan County Seed sells an injector they assemble themselves for each order. It's like $140, a little pricier than the EZ Flo, but less than half what a Dosmatic/Dosatron would cost. That's my next injector. |
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#54 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: glendora ca
Posts: 2,560
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__________________
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." |
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#55 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 132
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I'm assuming you've grown them in these same high tunnels with a very different growth pattern.
So the plants look healthy but are growing without much fruit but a lot of vine. I'm also assuming they're not leggy but rather just have a lot of foleage. I think you're right in diagnosing it as too much nitrogen. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/signs-m...oes-72800.html They're saying you can add bonemeal or colloidal phosphate to fix the problem. If they're too tall you can also top them. One time I was fruiting a tomato plant indoors and I think I accidentally cut off the lead growth. Instead of kicking off more suckers it just kept kicking off fruit sites. I had 2 fruit sites at every node. 10" tall plant with > 50 flowers. What I'm saying is that I think you can still get good yield if you can get the soil balanced even if you cut off the terminal growth. I've grown most of my plants indoors so I don't know much about pests. |
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#56 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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I'm glad I didn't buy one. Thanks for the update. Worth |
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#57 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: CT
Posts: 290
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Last edited by Mike723; June 18, 2015 at 10:31 AM. Reason: typo |
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#58 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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I found this from 1934: New Jersey State Horticultural Society News In the bottom of the first page and the beginning of the second they discuss that the (at the time) new variety Rutgers shouldn't be fertilised with as much nitrogen as the Pritchard cultivars, or else "the vines may be too rank and the fruit will be late in setting and developing" Almost all commercial varieties now a days, and a lot of OP varieties too, although they are not Rutgers, they do have Rutgers in their parentage somewhere. So I would suspect that is very likely what's going on. ![]() Other things to consider are pollinators, maybe companion plants like basil and borage? A high tunnel does block a lot of wind too. I personally would take the cover right off the whole high tunnel for now and try and get some natural predators attracted (or bought) to deal with the whiteflies.
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Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture Last edited by Redbaron; June 17, 2015 at 05:12 PM. |
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#59 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Chicago IL
Posts: 857
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Cole, here is recipe from Dan Skow- 2 tbsp of ammonia and 4 tbsp of apple cider vinegar for 2 quarts of water for 1000 sq feet foliar app.
It will switch your growing pattern to fruiting pattern. You need sufficient calcium in the soil for it to work and ammonia can be hard to find. |
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#60 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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Thanks for the help.
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