2017 screen house tomatoes
 

Thought id share some picture of the last few month of this years tomato hoop. On the left are the artisan tomato varieties from artisan seeds out of northern california, grafted to maxifort rootstock, on the right Sungolds grafted to maxifort. Fertigation is a tensiometer based gravity drip emitter product that feeds a 1.6 EC/5.8pH solution based on soil moisture, but with zero runoff through the life of the plants. Nursery 5 containers and a 70/30 peat/perlite medium. Thanks for having me :)

Looks nice and a lot of work involved.
Worth

Glad to have you here! That's a nice set up you have designed. Let us know how your harvest goes later on. :yes:

wow, nice. Looking forward to hearing about your progress!

Yes, very nice.

What led you to want to grow grafted plants?

Greetings Backyardbrix,

I moved to San Marcos in February after many years in Valley Center. I used to grow 50-100 tomato plants per year, but now have room for only 10 or so.

It is a lot cooler here, only 7 miles from the Pacific. Have you had any problem with grey mold? I have been afraid to plant any black varieties because they are susceptible to that disease.

Any other advice you have regarding growing tomatoes at the coast would be welcome.

Thanks for all the kind words. This is the third year ive grown grafted tomatoes in this format. I did a side by side season with my go-to heirlooms grafted and ungrafted and recorded yields and such. The results were convincing for a few plants but with some- like the striped german hierloom- the plant becomes too vegetative and the yields are not helped much.

I also re use all my media unless i have a serious problem or insect infestation the run before, so having resistant rootstock helps ensure i'm not asking for disease problems. After the second season, the peat mix is incorporated into outdoor beds to grow other veggies.

Im also just kind of a nerd and like grafting things just to graft them.

For what its worth, I will say in a true hydroponic system which i also have running usually (recirculating, perlite only medium) the grafted vs ungrafted results are slimmer

Always experimenting :)

I am about 2 blocks from the ocean in Point Loma, so technically i have water on three sides of me on the end of this peninsula. I grow black krims through the end of december with little mold or mildew problems. My secret? well its not a secret... Bacillus Amyloliquifaciens. Particular strains of this bacteria when applied foliarly or to the root zone trigger the plants defense systems through SA resistance, and via microbial antagonism. Basically its a game changer for any crops suseptible to foliar disease in high humidity conditions. Im not sure what the rules here are for linking to outside sources but there is a phenominal article published in "Frontiers in Microbiology" i can send you on the subject if youre interested.

Love to see the article!

Here ya go :)

[url]http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00883/full[/url]

There are many other articles like this out there, some more recent. This is probably the most thorough article that doesnt require a subscription to access though.

I used to use Stylet oil and before that neem products to fight PM and other foliar issues in my tomatoes. Since finding this bacteria and utilizing more compost teas, I didnt need to spray any oils last year at all. And I live in PM country :)

[QUOTE=backyardbrix;642344]I am about 2 blocks from the ocean in Point Loma, so technically i have water on three sides of me on the end of this peninsula. I grow black krims through the end of december with little mold or mildew problems. My secret? well its not a secret... Bacillus Amyloliquifaciens. Particular strains of this bacteria when applied foliarly or to the root zone trigger the plants defense systems through SA resistance, and via microbial antagonism. Basically its a game changer for any crops suseptible to foliar disease in high humidity conditions. Im not sure what the rules here are for linking to outside sources but there is a phenominal article published in "Frontiers in Microbiology" i can send you on the subject if youre interested.[/QUOTE]

Backyardbrix:

I googled "Bacillus Amyloliquifaciens" and many articles and some ads for products containing Bacillus Amyloliquifaciens. It is quite inexpensive. I think a lot of folks here would welcome anything that helps avoid gray mold.

TV allows you to link to articles. I found many articles on the bacillus in Frontiers of Microbiology. Can you provide a link or the title of the article you refer to?

It is truly a life saver. I even went out and bought a number of roses to plant on the side of my yard after being convinced if it's efficacy. Bacteria for the win :)

[QUOTE=backyardbrix;642407]It is truly a life saver. I even went out and bought a number of roses to plant on the side of my yard after being convinced if it's efficacy. Bacteria for the win :)[/QUOTE]

I will give it a try and let my cousin know as well. He lives in Sunset Cliffs, not far from you, and his Black Krim were wiped out by fungus last year.

I searched "Amyloliquifaciens" in both the General Forum and the Common Garden Disease and Pest forum and didn't get any hits. That is rather surprising considering the depth of coverage here.

Looks promising and bacterial controls are the future IMHO. That said I will add that I have had great success eliminating mold and mildew with potassium bicarbonate which is very cheap and for me solved my PM and BM issues in 2 treatments.

Edit: I see Monterey has it for 16 bucks, for that price I'm down for trying it. [url]http://www.montereylawngarden.com/documents/public/products/Monterey%20Complete%20Disease%20Control%20Brand%20RTU_2-column%20Label_(01).pdf[/url]

[QUOTE=BigVanVader;642485]Looks promising and bacterial controls are the future IMHO. That said I will add that I have had great success eliminating mold and mildew with potassium bicarbonate which is very cheap and for me solved my PM and BM issues in 2 treatments.

Edit: I see Monterey has it for 16 bucks, for that price I'm down for trying it. [URL]http://www.montereylawngarden.com/documents/public/products/Monterey%20Complete%20Disease%20Control%20Brand%20RTU_2-column%20Label_(01).pdf[/URL][/QUOTE]

Certainly, potassium bicarbonate has been a big help for me in the past as well. I see bacterial "innoculation"...if you will... as more of a preventative measure though. Fill up the hotel rooms with good guys so there isnt room for the bad ones kinda thing.

Just be aware that there are many strains of the BA bacterium out there and some may not be as effective as others. Some brands consider their strain of BA proprietary and wont release the name or other info even after i filled up their voicemailbox with questions :)