Willus' Indoor Fall-Winter-Spring Grow Log (Season 2012-13)

[z_willus_d]

I picked off a couple rotting tomatoes from the 2nd truss up of the large Perth's pride today. These look to be exhibiting your garden variety BER syndrome. It may have something to do with my over-stimulation of every open blossom I come across. I might need to lay off and let the plant focus on the fruits it has already in the making. I saw a 3rd tomato w/ signs of BER from the same truss, but I thought I'd leave it on to see if it can pull through.

-naysen

[amideutch]

naysen, you are growing these plants in an semi-controlled indoor environment. Something is stressing the plants. In my previous house I grew Purple Haze in a 1gal smart pot using Fox Farms "Light Warrior" as an aggregate and BioBizz BioGrow for ferts in front of my south facing window as an experiment. Plant grew to 10 feet and only problem I had was blossom drop do to heat and small growing container yet had no problem with the fruit that set and grew to maturity. Ami

[z_willus_d]

Ami- I'm often amazed at the heights to which a tomato plant, seemingly undernourished and cared, can flourish despite it's environment. On the other hand, I'm commonly dismayed in my own serial failures where inextricable "set-backs" seem to plague my best attempts at providing only the best for my little growers. I'm not sure what the answer is, and I wish I could say I was learning more than technique and minutiae detail, learning something transcending and holistic; something that works. My major successes in the garden have almost always been entirely out of my hands where nature steps in and gets the job done right. I can't say my failures haven't offered opportunity to learn and grow knowledge in the "art," though. It's been interesting.

As for the stress here, I agree; but I can't locate it. I hope there isn't something fundamentally wrong in my environment, like say the water supply.

-naysen

[kurt]

You might have hit the nail on the head.The water in the containers might have gone bad and is a breeding ground for your ailments no matter if fresh water is added.I did see where you had to remove some.Roots need oxygen and plants do not do well in stagnant water.Can you open a container up and take a look at the water source?

[maf]

Similar to Kurt's thoughts, I suspect the container soil might be too wet. Have you tried digging down into the soil on one of the affected containers and seeing if the mix is too soggy a few inches down?

[z_willus_d]

Hi Kurt/Maf- my comment on the water supply was directed more to the quality of the water (Roseville, CA city water in this case), rather than the application soil retention. I'm using one of Raybo's InnTainer designs with his recommended media construction constituents, ratio followed to a tittle. In this case, I am using sunshine #4 advanced as part of the mix, and Raybo had commented recently that he found the advanced formulation to be more water retaining than he ideally would like for tomatoes (coconut coir). I'll be switching back to the standard Sunshine #4 formulation in the future. Perhaps Raybo can comment on the advanced, but I doubt it would be causing too much trouble.

In any case, I grabbed a couple moisture meters and took measurements at 2", 4" and 8" down in each of the three InnTainers. I found they all matched moisture levels. That is dry at 2", medium wet at 4" and almost fully wet/moist (on the meter far right) at 8". When I dig down, I find moist soil that is in no way waterlogged, just wicked well and moist. I see roots spread across what seems like every bit of volume in the containers, probably owing to the strong, vigorous root stock I'm using.

I wish I could find a reliable place to test the city water for its suitability to use for garden purposes. My neighbors tell me the water here is some of the best around, but that may be based on a different set of factors for humans as for plant life.

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions.
-naysen

[z_willus_d]

It's not entirely obvious to see, but if you put a little imagination behind it you'll note that my Perth's is a bit chagrined. I'm holding out for a fruit that's actually consumable. We'll see soon enough if I'll get a late Christmas present in the way of a nice medium to small sized purple beefsteak. It's curious that the blush only just showed today after the day before when I started topping a bit.

I dropped a few other pics in the post as well. You can see the general state of the garden. That last pic is of an avocado tree, I believe. I noticed a putrid smell emitting from the middle Iditarod InnTainer. That's the weakest, sickliest of the vines. I wonder if I should throw it out. Any ideas on what to do with a anaerobic bacterial mess of an SWC?

--naysen

[z_willus_d]

We picked our first two tomatoes, Perth's produce, on Jan. 11th. They were cut for distribution within our first of what I hope will be several or many BLT sandwiches.

My triumph was blemished by a rotten tomato, the larger of two. It wasn't completely rotted through, and I actually went so far as to taste some of it's cleaner flesh and it wasn't bad. But most got trashed. I rate the second tomato a 7 for taste. Consistency wasn't perfect, but for a first tomato this wasn't half bad at all. They compared favorably overreaching the store bought counter-parts we had on hand to fill the gaps.

I posted a few pics of the "garden room" from this morning. I've taken to topping the vines here an there leaving a branch to spike to the roof. I can't wait for the rest to ripen.

Best to all-
Naysen

[z_willus_d]

Scott, I was working myself up to a purchase of the BotaniGard ES solution to control Aphids/Thrips this Winter/Summer season, when I came by this cautionary post on the UMass Agg Ext. website:
http://www.negreenhouseupdate.info/i...gard-es-injury

"Pesticide Beauveria bassiana (Botanigard ES) injury on tomato BotaniGard is a bio-insecticide containing the fungus Beauvaria bassiania . Tomato plants sprayed with BotaniGard ES have developed edema-like symptoms, downward curling of the leaves and yellowing along the veins of the leaflets. Injury has been reported with the ES formulation. Less injury is likely when using the WP. BotaniGard should be applied to tomatoes in the greenhouse with caution."


Suffice it to say that warning along with the steep price (~$90) for the quart have "scared" me off the product. I thought I'd get the info out if any others were considering this organic product for their tomato thrip control.
-naysen

[Mlm1]

Naysen,
That is great to see you starting to enjoy the fruits of your labor. I hope you get a lot more like that this winter.
Marla

[Crandrew]

agreed! congrats on the first fruit

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Scott, I was working myself up to a purchase of the BotaniGard ES solution to control Aphids/Thrips this Winter/Summer season, when I came by this cautionary post on the UMass Agg Ext. website:
http://www.negreenhouseupdate.info/i...gard-es-injury

"Pesticide Beauveria bassiana (Botanigard ES) injury on tomato BotaniGard is a bio-insecticide containing the fungus Beauvaria bassiania . Tomato plants sprayed with BotaniGard ES have developed edema-like symptoms, downward curling of the leaves and yellowing along the veins of the leaflets. Injury has been reported with the ES formulation. Less injury is likely when using the WP. BotaniGard should be applied to tomatoes in the greenhouse with caution."


Suffice it to say that warning along with the steep price (~$90) for the quart have "scared" me off the product. I thought I'd get the info out if any others were considering this organic product for their tomato thrip control.
-naysen

Very interesting I will keep that in mind if I ever get a greenhouse.

[z_willus_d]

Marla, Crandrew- thanks for the well wishes. I'm looking forward to more and better as the season progresses. While I wait, I have plenty of mouth-watering salsa canned from last season to keep me happy. And let's not forget all the delicious sauce. Yes, I am enjoying the fruits...

Take care.
-naysen

[Crandrew]

Naysen, where did you get your salsa recipe? I have never tried canning before but would like to this year. If you have a proper recipe/process you could share I would love to get that in an email or PM. thanks

Cran

[z_willus_d]

C-

I don't have what most would consider the best recipe. It's really basic, and I only modify a little of this or that with each batch to change the thickness/reduction vs. freshness characteristics. I got my method from a Cuban-Xpat who used to work with me. It involves only three major ingredients: tomatoes, peppers (Jalapeno were her choice), and cilantro + spices (mainly salt). I either grill or flame grill the tomatoes and peppers, then remove the skins. Let the peppers cool in a paper bag. Remove seeds from peppers. I sometimes use my Vigiro tomato mill to remove the tomato seeds depending on the consistency I'm aiming to hit. The tomato mash and pepper (about 60/40 or 65/35 ratio depending on the amount of heat you want) get blended together with the cilantro briefly in a food blender. You can then season to taste, can and process. If water bath, you'll want to heat up the finished product before adding to the jars. If you have a pressure cooker like I have, I don't think it's critical to heat up the contents before pouring into the jar. Somehow I feel they're fresher that way, though I'm not sure it changes anything since the contents will be super heated during the pressure cook process (~15-min at 10lb or there abouts).

If you've not gotten into canning/jarring, I highly recommend it. There's no better way to handle a bountiful harvest -- short of sharing -- and there's always a great gift in a given jar of tasty sauce.

You'll find plenty of better and more elaborate recipes for salsa online and here at the Tomatoville site on a search.


Good Luck!
-naysen