Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Europe/Serbia-Belgrade
Posts: 151
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Here I will share with you the little knowledge and ideas I acumulated over the past few years of growing tomatoes,and I hope others will share theirs too.
I'll start with a pollinator I made,I've been using it for years and it's extremely useful and efficient. ![]() It is about a meter long,so I don't ever need to bend my spine or stand on toes to reach the flowers.There are a couple of feathers at the end that are vibrating fast,these reach multiple flowers at once and polinate them without damaging them at all.The vibrations come from a motor that spins the counterweight.With this thing it takes only a few seconds/plant,for my 65 plants in the greenhouse I'm ussualy done in about 2-5 minutes depending on the plant's sizes. Anyone interested I can post more things and instructions but it's really simple and anyone can make it. |
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 1,398
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I have had good luck using a cheap electric toothbrush. Quick and easy!
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#3 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Europe/Serbia-Belgrade
Posts: 151
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![]() A tip with support.I do it by twisting them around strings,by far the easiest and quickest method I found.Here's the tip: both up and down the string is tied to a strong wire.This allows me to move plants to an extent at any time of the growing period! For example if I have 2 varieties growing next to each other and one is growing slower and is smaller than the other,I can move the upper part of the string a little away from the little plant to give it more light.Also if an entire plant needs to be pulled I can move appart the adjescent plants giving them more light and space. ![]() ![]() |
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#4 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 1,398
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![]() Quote:
You could call it the Tomato Fluffer 2000. Last edited by SteveP; May 14, 2017 at 11:45 AM. |
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Europe/Serbia-Belgrade
Posts: 151
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: NewYork 5a
Posts: 2,303
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I would be interested in seeing this in action, a video. I like the tinkering and inventing.
Good job. |
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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I thought about using a sawzall one time and decided against it.
![]() Back to thumping stems daily. Worth |
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7
Posts: 4,916
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e-brush works pretty good BUT you cannot reach with it everywhere. So I like your invention better.
The counter weight idea to make it vibrate is novel . It is patentible. Now you got me thinking to make something mechanical, no motor , no battery.
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Gardeneer Happy Gardening ! |
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#9 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Worth |
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#10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Central Coast, California, USA
Posts: 81
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Patent and market. Patent and market. You better be on Shark Tank by next year. The market for this is HUGE!
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#11 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7
Posts: 4,916
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![]() ![]() ![]() Joseph uses those to vibrate his tomato flowers.
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Gardeneer Happy Gardening ! |
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#12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Europe/Serbia-Belgrade
Posts: 151
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Well it works doesn't it? LOL
Here's how I do crossing-quick,easy & cheap: It all starts with a tiny buzzer I made myself.Practically the same thing as the pollinator rod,but smaller.The motor is from a broken cellphone(they all have these tiny motors with counter weights,that's how they vibrate). The flower from a pollen donor is touched with the needle on this device while it's turned on,and it is very effective at draining the last drop of pollen from the flower,while silmutaneously pollinating that flower as well. ![]() The pollen is collected in tiny receptacles made from paper that has one black side(obviously you want to use black so you can see the pollen) ![]() The flowers are then emasculated and pistil pressed gently into the pollen pile at the center of the pollen receptacle. Every flower needs to be tagged.I make tags from plastic bottles. ![]() I scratch all the information on it with this here tool,it's just a stick with a piece of glass at the end to scratch the plastic with.Glass works best because it's very hard: ![]() Tagged flowers: ![]() The thin wire can be found in every electric motor,i wound it gently aroud the flower.As the pedicel expands the wire bends outwards and does not choke it: ![]() The tags made this way are resistant to the elements and can even be re-used.With this practice I've pretty much had 99.99% pollination success and zero off-types in offspring so far. |
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#13 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Hudson Valley, NY, Zone 6a
Posts: 626
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Wow. I thought I was clever for using plastic knives as plant tags and colorful twister ties for bagged-blossom fruits last year, but you folks take it to the MacGyver level!!!!
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#14 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Czech republic
Posts: 2,534
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Can you describe in more detail how to make the pollinator from a cellphone?
Vladimír |
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#15 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Europe/Serbia-Belgrade
Posts: 151
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Now the entire tube acts as a cathode or anode,depending how you put the batteries in,which doesn't really matter because we don't care if the motor spins clockwise or counter-clockwise,we only need the vibration. For the other end of the tube you need to use some electric insulating material,I used thick rubber,but you can use plastic or wood as well.Then screw in a small screw so the pointy end sticks out of the tube and the screw head is touching the other end of the battery inside. Attach a large needle or a safety pin to the tube so they're touching(you can just tape it).Now attach the small motor to the needle and solder one output of the motor to the needle.The other output goes into one of the outputs of the tiny switch.The other output of the switch is connected and soldered to the screw that's sticking out.Now when you press the switch the motor should vibrate.I used superglue to attach the motor and the switch. The small motors can be found in various cell phones and they all have 2 output pins or wires: ![]() The tiny switches can be found in various electronic devices such as laser pointers. Making of this requires the most basic knowledge about electronic circuits,if you don't know about it you can read a bit online,it's really simple. |
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