You say Tomayto / I say Tomahto

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2009-10-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

I have started 2 new crops of tomatoes in the Upgraded Classic Machine and also in the AG3 Mini using custom seeds called ' Tiny Tims'.
These crops were planted on Sept 14, 2009 .

All plants in the Classic are getting flowers as you can see :

However, the AG3 is much slower to mature and is just beginning to show a sign of
budding.

I am using the UltraGrow Liquid Nutrients for this crop of tomatoes as well as the
Zinnias which you can follow over on the flower blog.

2009-07-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Come check out my new blog Cascading Petunias started July 18th!
Follow my journal as I grow the Cascading Petunias Kit in the 7 pod Classic
AeroGarden Machine.

Update March 22, 2009

2009-03-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I updated the progress of these plants.
Since I last posted, I have trimmed down my last surviving plant to almost nothing as an experiment to see if it would regrow and produce another crop.

Thanks for visiting.

Time For Drain/Refill

2009-01-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

Every 2 weeks or so ..more like once a month...I try to do a complete draining of the reservoir and refill with New Distilled water and fresh nutrient tabs.

It is surprising how much junk/sediment accumulates at the bottom of the tank.

Tonight we will have more of the red toms and I think that will use up all that are ready for eating. Not too sweet, though. I think I will let the next batch...especially the yellows ..to remain on the plants much longer to see if they will sweeten up.

First Harvest

2008-12-28T14:12:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow , I think, will be the first harvest at week 18.

The 3rd plant which is so slow to grow only has a few that are 'ready for the pickin'.

Week 17

2008-12-23T16:34:00.000-08:00

Here are my toms at week 17. Nice and Red, Nice and Yellow!
As it turns out, the yellow plant is the most fruitful. Below are 2 views of that plant.

One red plant has lots of ripening tomatoes and I am waiting and deciding when to pick them....
....But my poor little red tom in the right pod has less than 10 tomatoes and out of those only 2 or 3 are turning red.The others are large, but green. It was the slowest to grow and I am seriously thinking of cutting it way, way down after those 2 ripen , not waiting for the others to turn red..just to see what will happen..if the extreme pruning in this stage will help.

Three Days Later

2008-12-18T13:59:00.000-08:00

In just 3 days my toms have ripened so much more..both the yellow and red varieties are doing well:

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WEEK 16 Starting to Ripen a Bit

2008-12-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

Week 16 and over the weekend signs of ripening appeared...at last!

Hide n' Seek

2008-12-07T07:28:00.000-08:00

I just bent down and looked underneath all the leaves of the middle plant and found this hidden cluster!!!! !

Flush n' Refill

2008-12-07T07:05:00.000-08:00

Last night I did a flush and refill of the reservoir and added fresh nutrients. This morning the plants looked perky and bright once again.

Lesson learned?.....when the plants look drab..dump the old water and add fresh distilled and fresh nutes rather than refilling and re-feeding with old cloudy water..(the water actually looked clear inside the tank, but when I started to dump it, It was cloudy and tainted-looking.

Also, all the trimming and pruning yesterday did not harm the little darlings one bit! I think they rather enjoyed it..from what I see on the plants today!

week 15

2008-12-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

I am concerned about the browning of leaves.
There are tons of tomatoes on the plants, but one plant in particular, which has the most tomatoes on it had browning leaves underneath. I know this is normal, but it was so pronounced that I had to do an EXTREME denuding!! LOL.

The tomatoes on this plant are so many !

Each plant has at least 3 of these tomato clusters. But the one pictured above has many more hidden in the back and tucked under the leaves.
I just hope they don't die before they turn red..which, I understand from the forum discussions, takes many months to accomplish.

If you are interested, pop over to the forum..see link on the right sidebar. We'd love to have you join the discussions. Here you can see the leaves browning a bit.
However, there are new baby tomatoes forming at the same time. Time will tell.

WEEK 14

2008-11-30T14:35:00.000-08:00

Going into week 14.

Nothing new is happening as to ripening.
New Toms are forming,Small tomatoes aregrowing, and Big ones are getting bigger.

that's all she wrote

WEEK 12

2008-11-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

The plants are doing just fine:
Photo 1 is the overall look of the AG with the hood still at notch #3.
Most of the tomatoes are hiding in the thickness underneath.
Last week I had added a weak solution of liquid nutrients for blooming since the tomato plants seemed not to be producing flowers.
The mix made the plants curl up and appear dry and sickly. I drew out all the water and added pure distilled for a detox. Topping off the reservoir with straight distilled water seemed to bring the plants back to serenity and contentment! There is one sizable cluster on the far left plant(not seen in the photo) but the other buds that were forming seemed to have dried up or are there still in the bud stage. I tucked the bottle of liquid nutes far back under the sink and have ordered the extended solid nutes from AG.

This photo is of the very first tomato to form on the plant..I wish it would ripen soon!

And the next 2 are photos of the several clusters of maturing tomatoes.

Week 11

2008-11-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

The hood remains at the 3rd notch.
The plants are yielding many tomatoes..all 3 plants, and the leaves look healthy and hearty!
This evening I added a solution of liquid nutrients for the blooming stage since the plants have stopped producing flowers. Whenever the reservoir needs topping off, however, I will add plain distilled for fear of over fertilizing . I am still awaiting the arrival of my nutrients/ph test meter.
Here are some photos of the tomatoes which LOVE to hide way under the leaves. I had to use a knitting needle to part the leaves to take photos! Each morning I find teeny weeny new tomatoes hiding under leaves where the flowers had fallen off.(see 3rd photo down)

Week 10

2008-11-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of the plants in week 10.
First, I moved the AG into the kitchen and now they should be getting more light.
I also had to raise the hood a notch today.(3rd)

Here are some photos of the tomatoes on the vines. Two of the plants, especially the Yellow Tom have about 4-5 tomatoes growing and the largest is a little less than dime sized(keep in mind they are cherry toms).

The third plant is weak in the budding/flowering stage. It is still developing new leaves each p.m. The clusters of buds that are there are not full and bushy like the others.
However, it does have a few tomatoes on it.

I have ordered a nutrient.ph meter- wand and am going to add liquid nutes for the blooming stage as soon as I can test the water for the balance that is already in the reservoir. Perhaps I will have to drain to get the proper balance. The wand will tell when it arrives.
OK..here are the photos.

Stinky

2008-11-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

Tomato leaves stink!
I was just rustling through the leaves to pollinate and almost choked and gagged from the strong , pungent smell from the disturbed foliage.

Turns out that the plants have something called GLANDULAR trichomes.
Somehow that sounds ...well...just plain wrong ..'glandular'. But..I am no botanist and it is a common part of plant life.

There are hair trichomes and then there are the glandular trichomes which give off scents when disturbed.

Pardon me , but I prefer the perfume-y kind anyday.

This new fact of life about glandular 'stuff' on my tomato plants just rained on my parade! Right now I am not in the mood for tomatoes on a salad.

Here is a picture of GLANDULAR trichomes on tomato plants:

Week 9 ending

2008-11-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

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The plants are producing lots of flowers & buds and tomatoes are hidden and tiny, but THERE!
All 3 plants now have tomatoes, and they are drinking more water than ever. Here is a photo of the reservoir before I top off the tank....looks like angel hair pasta.

I ordered some liquid nutrients which are reported to be great for the flowering stage of growth, and also ordered a nutrients e.c. wand/tester for the water.
I will add those nutrients when the tester arrives.

The hood is only raised to the second notch after 9 weeks' growth..pruning does make the plant fuller rather than tall. However, the density is enormous and it is difficult for light in the Classic AG machine to get throught to the undergrowth. There ARE tiny tomatoes hiding under there though, and more flowers/buds.

2 Tiny Tomatoes !!

2008-10-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

They weren't there 3 hours ago, but I just checked the plants before the light was timed to go out for the night, and there they were!

WOO-HOO!!!!!!
Take a look..the 2 tomatoes are on my yellow tom plant .
The first one is at the tip of the pointer, the second one is right above the pointer, hiding in the leaves.

Note added next day, Sunday...I cam in the house at 11 and checked for more tomatoes. Really searched the plants, all 3, and lifted the leaves for hidden ones.
NOTHING!
I just went in and checked 3 hours later, and ..lo and behold..there is one on the top of another plant that had none yesterday. Talk about rapid growth!

I am almost out of nutrients, and took the suggestion of the AG discussion forum(see link on sidebar) and order liquid hydroponic nutrients for the blooming, fruiting stage.

Week 8

2008-10-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

All 3 plants now have flowers and I have been nudging the newly opened flowers for pollination.
Here are pictures of 1 red and one yellow tomato plant.
Newly formed flower buds are hiding under the leaves.

Because of the pruning of the center stalk, my plants are growing wide and full rather than tall and spindly-thin. Now into week 8 I have only had to raise the hood to the second notch.

Now I am off to buy my 3rd and 4th bottle of distilled water. The plants are thirsty, but use far less water than I anticipated!

Could These Be BUDS???!!

2008-10-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Going Into Week 7

2008-10-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

...and still no buds. Must be from the pruning a few weeks ago.
However, there is a lot of green new growth and the plants are thriving.
I won;t prune the lower or upper leaves any more, but allow the plants to focus all their energy in producing flowers.
Here are the 3 plants, and also the overall view of the AG.

Going into Wk 5/Pruned for wider growth

2008-10-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

In order to cause the growth to be wide and full rather than tall and thin, the AG recommends pruning...OUCH!
That means snipping the center stalk .
They recommend doing this before 5 weeks are completed.
So here you can see 2 of my plants which just came from the salon with their new 'cut'.
It hurt me more than it hurt them!!!

Corinne

Day 29 Grew Tall Overnight!

2008-09-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

It is scary, really, how they can grow overnight!

They're Growing Steadily

2008-09-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

Considering all the dust and furniture being moved around because of painting walls, my plants are still content in their AG MACHINE and are flourishing on day 24!!!
Here we see 2 of the 3.

There is a considerable difference made by changing to distilled water!

week 3 color not good/change

2008-09-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

The plants are growing, but the leaves seem to be faded and yellow-ish.

I changed the water from chlorinated tap water to distilled and added nutrients today.

Will check back in a few days with a comparison.

Trimmed

2008-09-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Today I trimmed the shoots down to 1 plant per pod. In some there were 3 or 4 shoots growing which would later crowd out the growth.(see yesterday's photos)

One Week Later

2008-09-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of progress one week later

GROWTH

2008-09-05T13:48:00.001-07:00

Sure enough! On Day 3 the plants began to germinate and by day 4 I could see GREEN.

These photos were taken this morning on Day 5.

Everything looks good to go!

CORINNE

My Labor Day Experiment! Days 1-2

2008-09-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Labor Day 2008 I planted the pods into the AeroGarden Classic.

Using regular tap water I positioned 3 pods of cherry tomatoes(2 red, 1 golden) into the AeroGarden along with the Nutrients Pack.

Will I be successful at this new venture??

Follow the progress of my plants as I post progress in captioned photos weekly..perhaps daily.