Urban Farms Texas Tomato Food

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Worth,

The EZ Flo system appears to be less complex than you describe. As I observe my EZ Flo in operation (just installed it this morning) the inlet side is there to build a "head of pressure" in the tank and does not measurably dilute the contents as long as the EZ Flo lid maintains a good seal. Only when the contents level empties below the inlet pressure tube would new water flow into the tank.

Yes, there will be some dilution as the original contents put in the tank empties, but the dilution delta should be a relatively small factor as compared with the water flow which bypasses the tank and goes into the irrigation system normally.

So if you start off with 6 oz of fertilizer and 122 oz water in the tank (Urban Farms recommended dilution rate), as the tank empties over time the TTF ratio will decline slightly. The key is to never let the tank get below 1/8 full before you fill it up again.

EDIT: The AWS system has just completed its hour run cycle, and the level in the EZ Flo tank has declined about 1/8 from the initial fill level. This demonstrates to me that new water is not replacing the original TTF / water mix, thus the tank ratio is remaining relatively constant. If this depletion rate holds constant, then I should get a week out of the initial fill before having to "top up" again.

Raybo

Raybo that is great news I have heard bad things about the system and just couldn't believe them.

Coming from an expert such as your self I will probably go ahead and get a system for my entire place.
I will have to ad a controller valve and do some programing but it should work.
Again thank you so much for the information.

I'm looking at getting this one.
Worth

http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/EZ...p/ez003-cx.htm

[Salsacharley]

I am confused about the dilution rate of Texas Tomato Food in the EZ Flo. The TTF dilution rate is 6 oz TTF to 122 oz water, but that rate is for direct application. It seems to me that after the diluted TTF is drawn out of the EZ Flo it would be diluted further by the water bypassing the EZ Flo bottle...and tremendously so at that. Otherwise the EZ Flo would empty as fast as a hose end sprayer. It looks to me that if your water system could provide...say...100 gallons per hour, and you ran your EZ Flo at full water volume, your dilution rate would be 100 times more than 6/122.

I ain't no fizzisist nor am I a mathematician, but you can count on me.

Charley

[rnewste]

Charley,

You are correct - but yours is a different question. I was mainly concerned about the precipitation effect in the tank.

Here is an excerpt from an email I received from the Urban Farms Folks regarding use of TTF in the EZ Flo system:

""The Easy Flo changes things. You'll have to work with it. The max concentration we can go with without excessive precipitation is 6 oz/gal (measuring cup). That would be your concentrate tank. Then you have to figure how your proportioner is going to dilute that back down. A TDS conductivity meter is real handy for knowing exactly what's being delivered. 2000-2400 uS/cm is a good range. Maybe less because of the fert strips already there.""

Maybe someone can do a better job at the math than I, to figure out specific amounts to go into the 3/4 gallon unit

My simple math says: 4.5 oz of TTF; and 96 oz of water into the dry tank.

Raybo

[Salsacharley]

Thanks Raybo.

I can't even begin to do the "naughts and guzindas" (Jethro Bodine term for calculations) to calculate the right concentration, but if you have a 3/4 gal tank, that would total 96 total ounces, and your simple math totals 100.5 oz. (4.5 TTF + 96 water). I think you need 91.5 oz water instead of 96 oz.


Charley

[jmhammRN]

Thanks Ray. I think I'll pickup one of those systems to try out.


Justin

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[rnewste]

Justin,

The EZ Flo has the potential to be a real timesaver in eliminating mundane, repetitive tasks (manual fertilizing each plant during the Season) so now you can spend more quality time with your wife/dog/fishing (not necessarily in that order).

Raybo

[jmhammRN]

Great point Ray, I'm the type of person that needs 30 hours in a day, 10 days in a week because I want to do too much - family, work, tomatoes, exercise, watch TV, RELAX and be lazy!!!, learn to be a day trader, etc, etc, etc


Justin

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[VC Scott]

You have to watch how much TTF you use.
Over 20 blossoms plus one huge fused blossom on a single truss of Brandywine Sudduth.

IMG-20140616-00111.jpg

[epsilon]

a quick question, how long is the order processing time running now a days? I'm getting that nervous anticipation. And I would love to at least make two or three feedings before I leave for a week, so when I come back I get a huge surprise.

[Lindalana]

from TX to Il 4 -5 days so it is pretty good. Yeah, there have been more than plenty of blooms and tons of green tomatoes. Nice problem to have.

[b54red]

Since I started using it I have had a new problem to deal with that never was something that I faced during nearly 40 years of growing tomatoes and that is having to cull fruit because of too much fruit set. I love this problem but haven't quite figured out which varieties can support adequately what number of fruits at one time. Down here in our hot humid climate I was used to relatively light fruit set on most varieties and especially the large fruited ones and now I sometimes have sets that have numbers rivaling cherry tomatoes. Even right now when the temps are staying in the mid 90s my plants are setting very well and these are the conditions where I usually expect very light fruit set.

I apply it once a week once the plants start showing the first blooms. When the plants are very small I dilute it to about half the recommended dose until the plants get about 2 !/2 ft tall and then up the dose a bit until I am using full strength by the time they are 3 to 4 ft tall. I gradually increase the amount I give to the plants as they get larger and are in the heavy fruiting phase and if they get to looking too dark I lighten up the amount. If they show signs of stress, any paleness of color, or heavy bloom dropping then I up the amount a bit. I like to apply mine with an Ortho Dial-n-spray so I can just set the dilution rate and give each plant what I think it needs according to how each individual plant looks at the time.

Bill

[Dork Fish]

I have a almost full gallon of this that I will not be using this year. If someone is interested in it, please let me know. NW Suburbs of Chicago

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[biodarwin]

Given some recent discussing regarding the TTF and the solution not separating once diluted I decided to start using this directly in the reservoir. Using a 1.5 Tbsp per gallon solution, I have been adding 3 cups per plant every 3 days now that my plants have tons of flowers and fruit. These are 4ft tall,extremely bush romas growing in global buckets. I am only using 2 cups on my cherry's which are viney and no where as large. I just completed my second dose with this in mind. I will report back. If anyone things this is too little or too much let me know.

[Riceloft]

After following this thread last season, I picked up a small container of TTF. Yesterday I did my first application as a soil drench.

I generally do not expect immediate results with anything I do in the garden, however, today what I see is quite surprising. There are between 2-5 clusters of new flower buds on nearly every tomato plant in the garden. This includes indeterminate and a variety of Dwarf Project plants.

I applied it to my cucumbers, melons and peppers as well, but I don't see anything similar going on there, yet.

Is this similar to others' results? Next day explosion of flower buds?

[RootLoops]

get the vegetable formula for your cucumbers and stuff and you'll see the same results with them, all my stuff is doing great with it so far. i used the TTF on some squash and peppers and it did alright but they really took off when i got the vegetable formula on em