Indoor Head Start - Page 5

PureHarvest · April 18, 2016

The tunnel is covered and ready to line bags out:

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heirloomtomaguy · April 18, 2016

Awesome someday i will have land like that.

PureHarvest · April 19, 2016

My main crop is outside for the 3rd day getting used to sun light.
They are under some trees that have not leafed out yet, so the sun is not beating down on them. A little direct first thing in the morning and near evening. No scorch so far.
I bring them into the garage if the night goes below 50.

I am very pleased with their height and color so far. They will be going into 5 gallon bags next week if the night temps can stay above 50. Looks like early next week there are some nights in the mid to upper 40's, so we will see...

Dwarf trays in the center and top left of the first picture. Love them.

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Note the Chartreuse leaf plant in the top left tray. This thing is twice the height of any plant I have.

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Gerardo · April 19, 2016

Those are ready to rock. Hope the weather cooperates.

PureHarvest · April 27, 2016

So, sitting here on a rainy day and recovering from hernia surgery. I was able to plant about 25% of my bags on Monday. They were already lined out so I did not have to do any lifting.
It was 78 that day, 85 yesterday, so of course today is 52. And the highest the next 5 days is 65 with some 40s at night.
Oh well, no frost at least and the bags are warmer than the soil at this point.
Probably will plant the rest over the course of the week. No point in letting them sit in 3.5" pots even though they are not root bound.

A VIEW OF SOME DWARFS
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FULL SIZE INDETERMINATES. The taller plant at the bottom of this pic is my Big Zac that I am growing for biggest tomato. It has one fused flower at the top of the plant. It is my only BZ. I had 6 in my tray and marked in my notes. Not sure what happened during transplant a few weeks ago, because I don't have any in my tray now. Not sure what I did. This plant was from an earlier sowing than my main crop. It doesn't have a lot of growth for having a bloom on top, so I wil let some laterals grow out and probably root some to get more to play with.
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DARK QUEEN (2 plants in one bag, lateral branches removed). Started these really early and grew a month under my HPS light to be able to have something to taste in May. Loading up with fruit and more flowers now. Got a handful of marble and pea-sized fruit now.
I notice that this variety stays a shade lighter green than all my other varieties. Even in my seedling trays. Same fert and soil as everyone else.
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SWEET SCARLET DWARF (2 plants in one bag). Little bit of sunburn on lower leaves. Did not ease them from indoors to outdoors. Bottom leaves scorched a bit, but new growth is top notch. Lots of fruit setting. Handfull of marble to Ping-Pong ball sized on both plants.
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WILD FRED DWARF. Just planted. About 6.5 weeks old, as are all of the plants going into my bags this week.
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BLACK BEAUTY FRUIT shady side. Starting to darken up. My 10 year old son took this. He was excited to see fruit finally. Been trying to involve him and recruit him to help with production this summer. This helped get his imagination going again on dad's big experiment.
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BLACK BEAUTY FRUIT from the other side that gets direct sun. Much darker. Another one of my early indoor starts. Shares a bag with Sweet scarlet Dwarf. Taking off laterals on the BB.
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Gerardo · April 27, 2016

Looking awesome. Your Sweet Scarlet is enjoying its BALCO supplements, big and healthy. It took its sweet time to set fruit for me.

Nice open space, I like it a lot. Very cool you have an assistant.

PureHarvest · April 27, 2016

Thanks G, mine took awhile too. I sowed this back in Feb, so it's been a long time coming it seems.

Open is good, but hopefully the wind doesn't drive the rain in the open ends and defeat my disease prevention strategy. At least the top is covered. And the film is weathered enough that I don't think I will have scald issues and forgo a shade cloth. We'll see.

Next year I'm hoping to put up another and larger tunnel. This time I will most likely put on the end walls and install some large vents towards the eaves. Also will probably do the automated roll up sides. If nothing else, I'd get a touch of an earlier start, plus block some of the early wind like we got yesterday. 85 degrees with a 25 mph steady wind with gusts higher.
Some of my new planted maters had a few wind burned leaves here and there, but nothing that will hurt. But I took note.
I cut off the sides on this one, because they were sliced up (overwintered chickens in it one year and did not put wire to keep them off plastic.), and I don't have the time to mess with the up and down routine manually while I am working full-time

PureHarvest · May 2, 2016

Planting is DONE!

4 rows of bags, 23 bags per row. Just need to hang the rest of my spools and run my poly tubes and hook up the spray stakes for each bag for the automated nutrient delivery system from my 250 gallon tank.

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Ricky Shaw · May 2, 2016

A tight operation, like we all knew it would be.

PureHarvest · May 2, 2016

You're too kind Ricky.

I've done everything I can, but as ContainerTed says, "Mother Nature Bats Last".

We've only had 6 hours of direct sun in the last 5 days, and today it might be out for a bit.
Then back to cloudy and rainy for the next 6 days with highs at 65 and lows at 50.

When the sun does come and temps go up, I'm expecting some exploding growth.

PureHarvest · May 2, 2016

Interesting note. The white "7 gallon" bags I got from Home Depot are the same VOLUME as the black "5 gallon" bags I got from Farmtek.
The white are nicer/heavier quality, just a tad shorter and wider than the black.
The drain holes are in the same places and are the same diameter too.

I will go with the white in the future because the root zone wont get cooked in the summer, and they sit nicer and are heavier material. Cost is only about 20 cent more each.

I put the white bags on the side of the tunnel that will get afternoon sun. I will buy some white plastic film on a roll to wrap the black bags in the east rows when it starts to get hot.

My Foot Smells · May 2, 2016

wow. nice job. lots of things to like here.

PureHarvest · May 6, 2016

When will the sun return? And the rain end?
We've only had one full sun day in the last 10 days. Then 9 straight days of zero sun and it's rained to some degree all 9 days.
Saving grace is my plants and grow bags are not getting wet, because they are under a high tunnel. But man is it depressing around here. Raining steady this morning and 48. Rain all day today and chances of rain and cloudy tomorrow into Sunday early. Sun is supposed to show on Sunday and Monday. Then back to chances of rain (but partly sunny) from Tuesday through Thursday.

Anyway, here are some updates:

Black Beauty fruit

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Worms have found the bottom of my bags. This is what it looked like when I moved a bag. Curious to see if they can fit through the drain holes in the bottom of the bags

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Gerardo · May 6, 2016

They'l find a way to wiggle through. Raining here too. Hope they go through the explosive growth soon.

PureHarvest · May 26, 2016

Finally on track with sun and weather. Been 80+ and sunny for days now.
Plants have responded.
Here are some update photos:

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April 18, 2016	#62
heirloomtomaguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: glendora ca Posts: 2,560	Awesome someday i will have land like that. __________________ “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."

April 19, 2016	#63
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	My main crop is outside for the 3rd day getting used to sun light. They are under some trees that have not leafed out yet, so the sun is not beating down on them. A little direct first thing in the morning and near evening. No scorch so far. I bring them into the garage if the night goes below 50. I am very pleased with their height and color so far. They will be going into 5 gallon bags next week if the night temps can stay above 50. Looks like early next week there are some nights in the mid to upper 40's, so we will see... Dwarf trays in the center and top left of the first picture. Love them. IMG_1194.JPG Note the Chartreuse leaf plant in the top left tray. This thing is twice the height of any plant I have. IMG_1193.JPG IMG_1192.JPG Last edited by PureHarvest; April 19, 2016 at 03:33 PM.

April 27, 2016	#65
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	So, sitting here on a rainy day and recovering from hernia surgery. I was able to plant about 25% of my bags on Monday. They were already lined out so I did not have to do any lifting. It was 78 that day, 85 yesterday, so of course today is 52. And the highest the next 5 days is 65 with some 40s at night. Oh well, no frost at least and the bags are warmer than the soil at this point. Probably will plant the rest over the course of the week. No point in letting them sit in 3.5" pots even though they are not root bound. A VIEW OF SOME DWARFS IMG_1196.JPG FULL SIZE INDETERMINATES. The taller plant at the bottom of this pic is my Big Zac that I am growing for biggest tomato. It has one fused flower at the top of the plant. It is my only BZ. I had 6 in my tray and marked in my notes. Not sure what happened during transplant a few weeks ago, because I don't have any in my tray now. Not sure what I did. This plant was from an earlier sowing than my main crop. It doesn't have a lot of growth for having a bloom on top, so I wil let some laterals grow out and probably root some to get more to play with. IMG_1200.JPG DARK QUEEN (2 plants in one bag, lateral branches removed). Started these really early and grew a month under my HPS light to be able to have something to taste in May. Loading up with fruit and more flowers now. Got a handful of marble and pea-sized fruit now. I notice that this variety stays a shade lighter green than all my other varieties. Even in my seedling trays. Same fert and soil as everyone else. IMG_1197.JPG SWEET SCARLET DWARF (2 plants in one bag). Little bit of sunburn on lower leaves. Did not ease them from indoors to outdoors. Bottom leaves scorched a bit, but new growth is top notch. Lots of fruit setting. Handfull of marble to Ping-Pong ball sized on both plants. IMG_1198.JPG WILD FRED DWARF. Just planted. About 6.5 weeks old, as are all of the plants going into my bags this week. IMG_1199.JPG BLACK BEAUTY FRUIT shady side. Starting to darken up. My 10 year old son took this. He was excited to see fruit finally. Been trying to involve him and recruit him to help with production this summer. This helped get his imagination going again on dad's big experiment. IMG_1204.JPG BLACK BEAUTY FRUIT from the other side that gets direct sun. Much darker. Another one of my early indoor starts. Shares a bag with Sweet scarlet Dwarf. Taking off laterals on the BB. IMG_1205.JPG Last edited by PureHarvest; April 27, 2016 at 05:36 PM.

April 19, 2016	#64
Gerardo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: San Diego-Tijuana Posts: 2,598	Those are ready to rock. Hope the weather cooperates.

May 2, 2016	#68
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	Planting is DONE! 4 rows of bags, 23 bags per row. Just need to hang the rest of my spools and run my poly tubes and hook up the spray stakes for each bag for the automated nutrient delivery system from my 250 gallon tank. IMG_1215.JPG IMG_1216.JPG IMG_1218.JPG IMG_1222.JPG IMG_1223.JPG IMG_1225.JPG IMG_1226.JPG

May 2, 2016	#69
Ricky Shaw Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Zone 6a Denver North Metro Posts: 1,910	A tight operation, like we all knew it would be.

May 2, 2016	#72
My Foot Smells Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Pulaski County, Arkansas Posts: 1,239	wow. nice job. lots of things to like here.

May 6, 2016	#73
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	When will the sun return? And the rain end? We've only had one full sun day in the last 10 days. Then 9 straight days of zero sun and it's rained to some degree all 9 days. Saving grace is my plants and grow bags are not getting wet, because they are under a high tunnel. But man is it depressing around here. Raining steady this morning and 48. Rain all day today and chances of rain and cloudy tomorrow into Sunday early. Sun is supposed to show on Sunday and Monday. Then back to chances of rain (but partly sunny) from Tuesday through Thursday. Anyway, here are some updates: Black Beauty fruit IMG_1232.JPG Worms have found the bottom of my bags. This is what it looked like when I moved a bag. Curious to see if they can fit through the drain holes in the bottom of the bags IMG_1233.JPG

May 26, 2016	#75
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	Finally on track with sun and weather. Been 80+ and sunny for days now. Plants have responded. Here are some update photos: IMG_1263.JPG IMG_1265.JPG IMG_1264.JPG IMG_1268.JPG IMG_1269.JPG IMG_1273.JPG IMG_1275.JPG IMG_1276.JPG IMG_1277.JPG