Indoor Garden 2018-2019 Revisited

[SQWIBB]

February 20th, 2019


Yay, my first Indoor Red Tomato!!! or is it?









Its one of the earlier BER maters, I was taking a picture and it fell off the plant.









Well anyhow, the parsley is regrowing after the hack job.

[SQWIBB]

I got tired of knocking over and spilling the humidifier so I removed it from the tent and will check the humidity in a few days.


February 22nd - 23rd, 2019

Finished up the salad greens to make room for my outdoor plants.










Some tomatoes that I am hoping don't get BER.








Checked the tent humidity without the humidifier and the readings seem about the same as when the humidifier was in the tent, I was a bit surprised but pleased.

[amideutch]

SQWIBB,

Here is what the folks at Michigan State University had to say about BER when growing tomatoes in a Greenhouse culture which you are basically doing.

This disorder results from withdrawal of water from the fruit by the leaves. It may occur under
any condition resulting in moisture stress; low calcium levels in the root medium are a contributing cause. Maintain adequate calcium in the root medium and avoid excess nitrogen, potassium
and other soluble salts. A foliage spray application of one percent calcium chloride will often give immediately beneficial results. The key word here is STRESS which is a bad thing for tomato growth.


Ami

[SQWIBB]

Ami, thanks for the info.
Isn't Calcium Chloride a salt?


I have been getting a lot of upward leaf curl.

[SQWIBB]

March 2nd - 3rd, 2019

March 5th, 2019

The plants are growing like crazy, with the exception of my Jimmy Nardello peppers, the JD's are very sickly looking and they will be trashed when this trial is over. The tomato plants have exploded and I have close to a hundred tomatoes and not one is without BER, not one!

I'm just about ready to call this a $1,200.00 fail as far as growing tomatoes and peppers indoors (definitely a fail for peppers). there's about 6 weeks left for the tent grow, so we will see if a miracle happens.
I will be trying this again next year, with a few changes, worst case scenario I can use the setup to get a jump start on the season.
One good thing is I have a few matured plants to go in the ground come planting time, well, I don't want to count my chickens yet but we'll see how they do outside.



Another bonus is that I can start a few plants and clone them for spring planting.

At the end of this trial I'll post my changes for next years indoor grow.

The parsley finally came back.

[SQWIBB]

by Dr. Curtis E. Swift, Colorado State Area Extension Agent

The use of a foliar spray is a common recommendation for the prevention of blossom end rot. A one percent (1%) calcium chloride (8 lbs. of calcium chloride per 100 gallons of water) has been thought to be beneficial. However, Drs. Hodges and Steinegger, Extension Specialists with the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, report calcium does not move from leaves to the fruits.


Thus, foliar sprays of calcium won't correct blossom end rot. Tomato fruits do not have openings in the epidermis (skin) through which calcium can be absorbed. Contrary to past belief the direct application of calcium as a spray, based on information from Hodges and Steinegger, is ineffective.

The addition of limestone, gypsum or crushed eggshells to the soil well before transplanting is recommended in some states to overcome the soil calcium deficiency. The use of calcium sulfate (gypsum) at the rate of two pounds per 100 square feet of soil area is recommended in some areas.


Research by Taylor, Locascio and Alligood found the form of calcium applied to the soil does make a difference on Ca uptake. The addition of calcium sulfate (CaSO4) resulted in higher soil Ca concentrations than when calcium nitrate [Ca(NO3)2], calcium chloride (CaCl2), or calcium thiosulfate were applied to the soil (listed in descending order of benefit). They also found the addition of potassium (K) reduced the uptake of calcium resulting in more problems with blossom-end rot.


In high K soils as are found in much of Colorado, using a complete fertilizer containing K will contribute to problems with BER.
Liming is recommended in areas with low pH (acid) soils. The application of up to two cups of lime per plant is recommended in North Carolina. When used lime needs to be worked into the soil 12-inches deep. The addition of lime or gypsum is not, however, recommended in Western Colorado. For a more in-depth discussion on Western Colorado soils, refer to the Web Pages on this topic.

Maintaining the proper balance of potassium, phosphorus and other soil nutrients and avoiding excessive growth due to over-fertilization with nitrogen is recommended.


Excess levels of ammonium (NH4--N), magnesium, potassium and sodium have been reported to reduce the availability of calcium. English et al., report the use of nitrate nitrogen (NO3- - N) stimulates Ca uptake while ammonium nitrate (NH4- - N) reduces the uptake of CA. A soil test should be conducted to help determine what needs to be added and what should not be added to your garden soil.

[taboule]

That cilantro plant looks amazing, a small bush really.

SQWIBB, we admire your efforts and tenacity in this experiment. It looks like you had lots of fun doing it and learned a bunch of new tricks in the process. Thank you for taking us along.

[SQWIBB]

Thank you.


All the research I have done says that a Foliar spray does nothing for calcium uptake. (However I don't believe everything I read on the internet, even if it comes from a credible source)


Some nutrients do not move easily once inside the leaves so they don’t get to where they are needed eg iron, manganese and calcium. When calcium entering a leaf it will not be transported to developing fruits so it won’t prevent blossom end rot (BER) in tomatoes. Calcium entering roots can prevent BER.


My last ditch effort is Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate. I was going to try Calcium Chloride but was worried about salt.

I may pull all the plants, strip the (noticeable BER) fruits, flush the pots and start watering with the Calcium Sulfate.

[SQWIBB]

March 6th, 2019




The Jimmy Nardello peppers were evicted yesterday, I just got sick to my stomach looking at these things... absolutely disgusting. I was afraid if these were left in the tent any longer that they would infest the other plants.








This is a comparison of one that was in the tent (left) and one that was under my Fluorescent shop lights (Right) and the one on the right was the runt. Just gets me sick.
I was going to wash the plant, remove from the pot and wash off the soil and repot with potting mix but these guys were too far gone.








The one on the right has even put on fruit.








They were put out in the 16°F cold to seal their fate.
The plant and potting mix will be dumped in the fire-pit when making bio-char.








Trying to clone some Cilantro, Some say it can't be cloned and others say it can, we will see.








The fruit production on the Gardeners delight is quite impressive, just a shame it has for nothing thus far!

[amideutch]

SQWIBB,

Here is another link on BER. http://extensionpublications.unl.edu.../pdf/g1752.pdf
Calcium Nitrate is a good fert to use for adding supplemental calcium and nitrogen and is very soluable in water.
and another.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...alcium+Nitrate
Ami

[SQWIBB]

Originally Posted by amideutch

SQWIBB,

Here is another link on BER. http://extensionpublications.unl.edu.../pdf/g1752.pdf
Calcium Nitrate is a good fert to use for adding supplemental calcium and nitrogen and is very soluable in water.
and another.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...alcium+Nitrate
Ami

Thanks, I went with Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate.

[SQWIBB]

March 7th, 2019




March 8th, 2019

Diluted a 1/4 cup of calcium sulfate dihydrate in a few gallons of water. I'll probably repeat the calcium feeding next week in the same amount.






March 9th, 2019

Sad day in the grow tent, I removed all of the plants, removed all of the tomatoes with BER, staked and tied up the plants, trimmed a bit and placed back in the tent.

















To make some room in the grow tent, I gave my brother the chives, one of the Totem F1 plants and put the other Totem F1 and parsley in the basement bathroom.

[Ironwood]

Hi,

First of all I very much enjoyed reading your story here. Thank you for sharing and the wonderful pictures!

I have about 25 years of growing experience indoors. It helps with my withdrawals from gardening during the winter. Your growing area is very nicely done, attention to detail of environment is the key to indoor gardening success.

Your BER problem comes from a combination of irregular watering, which looks like you got on top of kudos there, and your nutrients. The single biggest leap for me from just keeping plants alive and fairly healthy to unreal yield of fruit and super healthy plants was my nutrients.

I started using Earth Juice liquid nutrients, it is a three part organic nutrient. I also got some liquid Cal/mag as well. The result was so profound I started to play with different nutrients. What I found was it didn't matter so much the brand, any of them worked 10 times better than my triple ten or 5-10-10. Or whatever I was using outdoors at the time.

Sorry for the ramble. I see you spared no expense and I did exactly the same and became frustrated. I just wanted to share my discovery in hopes you will give some good quality nutrients a try before you call the project.

In the end I found Botanicare and Earth Juice we're the best two economically and results in the finished product. The Botanicare Cal/Mag is something I use 5ml / gallon every watering.

Now if you really want to go hog wild check out using coco as a media with drip stakes, feeding 5-6 times a day for super consistent watering. It cost me like 30$ to setup my whole area with drip system using a tote for a reservoir and a cycle timer.

Thanks again for sharing I enjoyed the read and have a great outdoor season!

[SQWIBB]

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Hi,

First of all I very much enjoyed reading your story here. Thank you for sharing and the wonderful pictures!

I have about 25 years of growing experience indoors. It helps with my withdrawals from gardening during the winter. Your growing area is very nicely done, attention to detail of environment is the key to indoor gardening success.

Your BER problem comes from a combination of irregular watering, which looks like you got on top of kudos there, and your nutrients. The single biggest leap for me from just keeping plants alive and fairly healthy to unreal yield of fruit and super healthy plants was my nutrients.

I started using Earth Juice liquid nutrients, it is a three part organic nutrient. I also got some liquid Cal/mag as well. The result was so profound I started to play with different nutrients. What I found was it didn't matter so much the brand, any of them worked 10 times better than my triple ten or 5-10-10. Or whatever I was using outdoors at the time.

Sorry for the ramble. I see you spared no expense and I did exactly the same and became frustrated. I just wanted to share my discovery in hopes you will give some good quality nutrients a try before you call the project.

In the end I found Botanicare and Earth Juice we're the best two economically and results in the finished product. The Botanicare Cal/Mag is something I use 5ml / gallon every watering.

Now if you really want to go hog wild check out using coco as a media with drip stakes, feeding 5-6 times a day for super consistent watering. It cost me like 30$ to setup my whole area with drip system using a tote for a reservoir and a cycle timer.

Thanks again for sharing I enjoyed the read and have a great outdoor season!

I will definitely be trying this next year and would love to pick your brain more on this when the time comes.
Yes the watering in the beginning may have been an issue and the bottom watering in the tray seems to have helped. The BER has slowly becoming less
severe.
I think fertilizing early and not using the best fertilizer also contributed to the problem. The plants are growing crazy.
I am working on my gameplan for next year and to start I will be using a potting mix with no ferts then look into a liquid fertilizer.


Do you think I overloaded the plants with nitrogen?
I threw so many things at this grow that if I do get rid of the BER, I wont know what was the fix!


I have the plants under lights 16 hours, could transpiration be a problem?
The leaf curl was excessive but the plants leaves did not get leathery except for one plant, however, the leaf curl isn't as bad as it was earlier, only on a few plants but only the very top smaller leaves.

[SQWIBB]

March 14th, 2019


The tomato plants are growing nicely, tons of flowers and no noticeable leaf curl. I will have to cut them back soon because I'm almost out of adjusting room for the lights. I neglected and almost lost my Cilantro plant.