Thanks, yeah, I’m pretty happy with how they’re looking this year other than being stretched out a little long. They’re currently about 5 feet tall and the third cluster has been pollinated and the fourth cluster has formed. First cluster is about the size of golf balls currently.
I had assumed that the orange color of tank 1 was rust. Now you’ve explained that it is added Fe. Here in the south, untreated well water is highly concentrated with iron. I do add Ca upon transplanting the tomatoes and peppers to combat the blossom end rot. Last year was my first time using it and not one plant had any issues. Thanks for sharing your success. And I agree, every year is a little bit of trial and error to succeed over previous years.
Yeah, we have super high iron in our water as well however, it still calls for a little bit of added iron in the recipe. When I do leaf tissue analysis the results always comeback high in iron so I’m surprised I even need to add any. We very rarely have blossom end rot in the greenhouse unless some of the Drippers get plugged up and the plants don’t get what they need, but we do get quite a bit in the field from time to time on the first pick, but they normally come out of it pretty quickly. Hopefully we all have a good growing season, thanks Mike!
I have been using some 15-15-15 fertilizer tilled into the ground in the Spring a week or two before planting. I also use some of the tomato version of Miracle Gro on my tomatoes every week or 2 starting when I transplant them into the ground. In the fall, I also like to shred at least 1000 pounds of leaves and till them into my main garden before the ground freezes so that they are fully composted by April.
Looking good. I noticed some small maters down there on first cluster. Soon as this current weather system moves through it’s game on next week for planting tomatoes out in the garden. It’s time too. I’ve got some plants forming first blooms in containers. As far as fertilizer for in ground tomatoes I usually have soil test every 3-4 years and go with the recommendation from that. ( it helps to have a family member who owns a soil fertility consulting business) Most years I just make sure to use balanced fertilizer pre planting and pelletized gypsum for the blossom end rot. When it comes time to feed them I mostly use a water soluble tomato fertilizer from Schultz that I get here at the farm store. Looking forward to seeing your field crop planting and learning what you do to be successful there
Sounds like you got a great system down. I’ve also used the pelletized gypsum in the past because our soil has a very high pH, and sometimes adding lime can make it worse. I try to do a soil sample every other year but I’m pretty bad about that and just end up spreading what I did the year prior and it has always worked out for me. Got some green tomatoes that are the size of billiard balls, and starting to get some weight to them! Hope you have a great growing season, get those tomatoes in the ground!
Thanks Jason... watched it twice... Rain water is my only source of supply, it comes out of the tank at a PH of 6ish, after Yara Ferticare Tomato, Calcium Nitrate and when required Kista K is added PH drops to high 5's, I am happy to leave it there. Greenhouse # 1 has 80 bato's, 160 tomatoes and a 250 gallon reservoir running a recirculating system, ball floats top the tank up daily and EC is re-adjusted each morning. I do add a couple of weekly foliar sprays, Mag Sulphate, MPK and Calcium to name a few...
A 250 gallon reservoir with a recirculating system would be nice and maybe I will change over to that eventually. Sure would be nice to have water with a low pH because I spend almost $500 a year on sulfuric acid. I use to do foliar sprays weekly but quit doing it five or six years ago and haven’t noticed any difference so I just never started back up but I’m sure it’s helpful. Sounds like you got a pretty good system, thanks for sharing!
I normally just use a cow manure out of a bag. I’m trying something new, crab and lobster shells ground fine with kelp fertilizer. I’ll keep you posted
i also use sulpheric acid 33%. my local napa gets it in 1 gallon bags and delivers it to me. i use far less then you with my small (3x9 tray with a 50 gallon res.) ebb and flow system. do you add silica to your mix?
So I finally had to use my 93% sulfuric acid this last time so I turned my bellow pumps way down and slowly turn them up a little bit each day until I got the pH below six. Got to be careful working with a new titration curve it increases incrementally but it is nice using way less acid now than before. And no, I do not use silica, what is the purpose of that?
@wishwellfarms it makes them more resilient to pests and its a cell wall strengthener make the stems less likely to kink or break. I could be slightly off I need to re read some stuff
A pump to recirculate the feed solution is not necessary in my set up, because the source water fills the tank in a swirling motion as the Bello pumps proportion the fertilizers and acid into the swirling water and is fed and refilled every 30 to 40 minutes and from my experience the feed solution is always mixed completely.
Hey, thanks for reaching out, that is what I did in the video, I named and measured each fertilizer. These amounts are diluted into a 50 gallon stock tank and then proportioned with a 1 to 100 ratio billow pump.
Tomato Plants are looking great.
Thanks, yeah, I’m pretty happy with how they’re looking this year other than being stretched out a little long. They’re currently about 5 feet tall and the third cluster has been pollinated and the fourth cluster has formed. First cluster is about the size of golf balls currently.
Bro! Great job!
Thanks!
I had assumed that the orange color of tank 1 was rust. Now you’ve explained that it is added Fe. Here in the south, untreated well water is highly concentrated with iron. I do add Ca upon transplanting the tomatoes and peppers to combat the blossom end rot. Last year was my first time using it and not one plant had any issues. Thanks for sharing your success. And I agree, every year is a little bit of trial and error to succeed over previous years.
Yeah, we have super high iron in our water as well however, it still calls for a little bit of added iron in the recipe. When I do leaf tissue analysis the results always comeback high in iron so I’m surprised I even need to add any. We very rarely have blossom end rot in the greenhouse unless some of the Drippers get plugged up and the plants don’t get what they need, but we do get quite a bit in the field from time to time on the first pick, but they normally come out of it pretty quickly. Hopefully we all have a good growing season, thanks Mike!
I have been using some 15-15-15 fertilizer tilled into the ground in the Spring a week or two before planting.
I also use some of the tomato version of Miracle Gro on my tomatoes every week or 2 starting when I transplant them into the ground. In the fall, I also like to shred at least 1000 pounds of leaves and till them into my main garden before the ground freezes so that they are fully composted by April.
Sounds like you got a pretty darn good system down, I bet your tomatoes taste and look amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Looking good. I noticed some small maters down there on first cluster. Soon as this current weather system moves through it’s game on next week for planting tomatoes out in the garden. It’s time too. I’ve got some plants forming first blooms in containers. As far as fertilizer for in ground tomatoes I usually have soil test every 3-4 years and go with the recommendation from that. ( it helps to have a family member who owns a soil fertility consulting business) Most years I just make sure to use balanced fertilizer pre planting and pelletized gypsum for the blossom end rot. When it comes time to feed them I mostly use a water soluble tomato fertilizer from Schultz that I get here at the farm store. Looking forward to seeing your field crop planting and learning what you do to be successful there
Sounds like you got a great system down. I’ve also used the pelletized gypsum in the past because our soil has a very high pH, and sometimes adding lime can make it worse. I try to do a soil sample every other year but I’m pretty bad about that and just end up spreading what I did the year prior and it has always worked out for me. Got some green tomatoes that are the size of billiard balls, and starting to get some weight to them! Hope you have a great growing season, get those tomatoes in the ground!
Thanks Jason... watched it twice... Rain water is my only source of supply, it comes out of the tank at a PH of 6ish, after Yara Ferticare Tomato, Calcium Nitrate and when required Kista K is added PH drops to high 5's, I am happy to leave it there. Greenhouse # 1 has 80 bato's, 160 tomatoes and a 250 gallon reservoir running a recirculating system, ball floats top the tank up daily and EC is re-adjusted each morning. I do add a couple of weekly foliar sprays, Mag Sulphate, MPK and Calcium to name a few...
A 250 gallon reservoir with a recirculating system would be nice and maybe I will change over to that eventually. Sure would be nice to have water with a low pH because I spend almost $500 a year on sulfuric acid. I use to do foliar sprays weekly but quit doing it five or six years ago and haven’t noticed any difference so I just never started back up but I’m sure it’s helpful. Sounds like you got a pretty good system, thanks for sharing!
Can you please make a video on water soluble fertilizers .
Can you be more specific because that’s what this video was about
I normally just use a cow manure out of a bag. I’m trying something new, crab and lobster shells ground fine with kelp fertilizer. I’ll keep you posted
Sounds like some great fertilizer and I’m sure it’s gonna have lots of calcium which is helpful for Tomatoes, looking forward to hearing how it goes!
i also use sulpheric acid 33%. my local napa gets it in 1 gallon bags and delivers it to me. i use far less then you with my small (3x9 tray with a 50 gallon res.) ebb and flow system. do you add silica to your mix?
So I finally had to use my 93% sulfuric acid this last time so I turned my bellow pumps way down and slowly turn them up a little bit each day until I got the pH below six. Got to be careful working with a new titration curve it increases incrementally but it is nice using way less acid now than before. And no, I do not use silica, what is the purpose of that?
@wishwellfarms it makes them more resilient to pests and its a cell wall strengthener make the stems less likely to kink or break. I could be slightly off I need to re read some stuff
Do you have a pump that constantly recirculates the final mixture?
A pump to recirculate the feed solution is not necessary in my set up, because the source water fills the tank in a swirling motion as the Bello pumps proportion the fertilizers and acid into the swirling water and is fed and refilled every 30 to 40 minutes and from my experience the feed solution is always mixed completely.
Helo Mr.Jason...can you share your formula with us...please....😊
Hey, thanks for reaching out, that is what I did in the video, I named and measured each fertilizer. These amounts are diluted into a 50 gallon stock tank and then proportioned with a 1 to 100 ratio billow pump.
It appears you are running a drain to waste system. What do you do with the waste water?
Just runs into our fields, I'm not set up for a recirculating system.