maxikap

[amideutch]

Thanks meg. Just wanted to know how big the planting hole is. Ami

[svalli]

The Biolan system has been on market couple of years, but I can not find any comments on any Finnish gardening forums, so it makes me think that the price must be high. I have not noticed these on the shelves of any local gardening centers, but I have not actually been looking for them.

My tomatoes started to show similar symptoms as you had last year. I do not know the cause, but now I have changed the potting mix used with the tomatoes and stopped using a new fertilizer. It has been so cool that the plants have not grown much, so I do not yet know, if they will straighten. My original potting mix was made by Biolan and has composted chicken manure with peat, tree fibers and bark in it. My MIL lost all her tomato seedlings this year when using same mix. I noticed that any transplants, which I had planted to that mix had poor root systems. The grow bags for the watering system has same ingredients, so if I'm getting these bases in future, I would try to use some other grow bags with it.

Sari

i'm sorry about your problems, Sari. i remember last year as one big nightmare for me. mine unfurled and semi-straightened eventually (after about a month) but it still didn't look right and plants were still troubled. however, i didn't try any repair actions. i hope that changing the mix fixes it for you.

i'm not sure what's in the mix that came with the maxikaps but it's quite odorless (none of that sweet composted manure smell). but on comparing with May-end photos of last year, this year's plants look much bigger and healthier and are flowering earlier. all because they're consistently fed and watered in that (most likely) sterile soil. so, we're relying heavily on the special maxikap fertilizer. wondering what's in it. not going to rock the boat right now but perhaps next year i will experiment with different fertilizers.

--meg

Originally Posted by akeimou

relying heavily on the special maxikap fertilizer.

and here's guaranteed minimum analysis (as shown on the label) of the MaxiKap Fertilizer 4-3-7 +Micro+

Total Nitrogen (N) 4%
Soluble Potash (K20) 7%
Sulfur (S) 2.4%
Manganese (Mn) 0.01%
Zinc (Zn) 0.006%
Boron (B) 0.006%

Available
Phosphoric Acid (P2O5) 3%
Magnesium (Mg) 1%
Iron (Fe) 0.029%
Copper (Cu) 0.017%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.09%

i'm fertilizer- and chemistry-challenged. is it a good recipe? what if anything might be a cause for concern?

thanks much,

--meg

[dice]

Calcium is not mentioned. There is probably not much in
the planting mix, either. A handful of gypsum per plant
would probably help, maybe cultivate it lightly into the
top of the soil around each plant. The way that container
mix stays moist in self-watering containers, it should
gradually dissolve so that the plant roots have access to it.

the plants are looking good with lots of flowers and fruits and relatively little flower drop. the shade is up, fans are on, vents are open during the day. at night it still goes down to below 10C so the heater is still turned on. i've been thinning the plants religiously to assist with air circulation. and filling up the 50-litre water reservoir every 8 days now.



and no BER! so far, that is. usually the plums, green sausage, opalka would have BER starting with their first fruits. this is like a miracle. but i have the calcium supplement on standby.

but there's this on momotaro and pink plum rosa. black margins and tips on newer growth.



can't seem to find similar photos. is this what's considered as 'scorched' in textual descriptions of tomato problems? or is it a nutrient deficiency? now thinking of adding calcium even if no BER.

all in all a good experience so far with the maxikaps. but still have much to learn about greenhouse environment control and SWC nutrient control.

--meg

ps: dice, do you prefer gypsum over calcium nitrate? thanks.

[dice]

ps: dice, do you prefer gypsum over calcium nitrate? thanks.

Yes. The calcium nitrate is also high in nitrogen. It does not
look to me like your plants need more nitrogen. The 4% in
your fertilizer is likely plenty (depending on how much
fertilizer you added, of course, but I am guessing that you
followed instructions that came with it for that). Gypsum
contains only calcium and sulfur.

In a low pH soil or container mix, say below 6.0, I might use
dolomite lime instead, or 1/2 dolomite, 1/2 gypsum.

You can see what nitrogen deficiency looks like on the
page at the URL below. It starts from the bottom leaves
and works its way up.

http://4e.plantphys.net/article.php?ch=5&id=289

If your plants do not look like that (or have a generally
light green appearance all over), they do not need more
nitrogen, so I would not use calcium nitrate for a calcium
supplement.

a duh! moment... indeed, SWC provides consistent watering, esp if the reservoir is kept watered :-]

2010 was a bumper crop year! i don't think i've ever had harvest like this since i started growing tomatoes in late 90s. plentiful, healthy, and beautiful tomatoes.



but oh so heart-breaking tasteless!! not one of the 36 varieties tasted good. not even the reliable sunsugar. so i replaced half of the sterile soil with composted manure and the taste improved for the little ones but not for the beefsteaks.

i don't know which is worse, 1 or 2 excellent tasting tomatoes (sometimes zero) from diseased plants or lots of yukky tomatoes from healthy plants.

i still think SWC is a good idea. probably just need to read up on the soil and feeding threads.

the quest continues...

--meg

[dice]

Perhaps they stayed too moist. Flavor is often attenuated here
when we get a lot of rain while tomatoes are ripening. You might
mix something like perlite or pumice into your container mix
this year, so that it will not hold quite as much water.

You could look at rnewste's 3:2:1 mix for his Earthtainers:
3 parts potting mix, 2 parts bark fines, 1 part perlite. Search
in the container growing forum for "3:2:1", he has described
it a few times. (Search button is at the top of each page here.
Click on the little arrow to the right of it to get Advanced
Search.)

thanks, dice, i'm glad you mentioned the water, i almost forgot about that. when i removed the tomato plants last fall, i noticed that the root system has gone past the soil and was actually sitting in the water reservoir! that's probably why entire plants would go limp and dead-like when i forget to check the water level and reservoirs have gone empty.

found this problem addressed in rnewste's earthtainer construction guide---chap 3 step 3 says to install landscape fabric to inhibit the roots from growing down into the water reservoir. or else, "Cleanout was terrible, and the tomatoes had a bland, hydroponically grown taste." darn, i didn't do my homework well! :-[

the problem now is where and how to install the landscape fabric in a maxikap where the wicking basket is actually a styrofoam cylinder with solid wall and open bottom that barely touches the reservoir floor. thinking now that the earthtainer is a better SWC, in this respect at least.



one nice thing i noticed about the maxikap is that after 6 months of use there was no bad smell and no buildup of any sort in the reservoir. the water remained relatively clean, with probably a teaspoon worth of soil granules that had escaped out of the wicking cylinder, if that. and that's with no aeration holes except maybe the watering hole.

okay, so, for the coming season(s):
1. install landscape fabric to prevent roots growing into the reservoir water
2. try a different soil mix like rnewste's 3:2:1
3. try a different feeding system: tomato tone, kelp, worm casting, etc
4. try some fungi/pest control: actinovate, mycogrow, biota, etc

i think i'm gonna add to my bucket list---have one problem-free tomato growing season.

--meg

[dice]

The extra air space in the container mix and additional trace
minerals in the organic fertilizers should do a lot for the flavor,
plus grow healthier plants. You could invest in a moisture meter
(cheap compared to your other materials) and check them
before adding water. Let the container mix get down to the
border between the "dry" and "moist" ranges before refilling
the reservoirs.

[rnewste]

akeimou,

I've got several Seasons under my belt now with the SWC EarthTainer, and I am perhaps half the way to getting it all tuned in for optimal results. What I found in the early years was permitting the roots to freely go down into the water reservoir led to weak tasting tomatoes. Perhaps not the only reason, but a major contributor, in my view. See the photo in the Guide that graphically shows the roots mucking about in the reservoir.

The 3:2:1 Combo Mix so far, is giving me adequate moisture delivery to the root system, but not too much that would saturate the Combo Mix. Can it be further improved? You bet! and I'm hoping EarthTainer users will try different Combo Mix ingredients and provide their feedback. This Season, I have replaced all of the Miracle-Gro Potting Mix in the "3" part, with Sunshine #4 Mix from the local Hydroponics Store.



A little pricier than Miracle-Gro, but the quality of the Sunshine Mix looks far superior to Miracle-Gro. Again, this is probably a 3 to 5 more year process for me to get everything "tuned" to in-ground taste and productivity results.

Raybo

[dokutaaguriin]

Poor flavour was also influenced by the very cool spring and summer (okay, downright cold!) we had.
Jeff

picked my first tomatoes, Sunsugar and Suncherry. not quite ripe and already very tasty and sweet!!! no big ones ready yet.

it could very well be one of those rare years when any variety will be delicious, i hope.

we've had mostly rainy and cold days this spring with the odd sunny and warm day in between. and this week is probably our first real summer with no precipitation in sight and forecast highs of 25C or thereabouts. so, i don't think it's the sun that did it for those first pickings. could be one or more of these that i did differently this year:

- installed water filter
- installed landscape fabric to prevent roots from getting into the water reservoir
- didn't use the usual maxikap liquid ferilizer in the reservoir
- did the mycogrow-biotamax-actinovate dip
- added worm castings to the soil during transplant
- added kelp meal to the soil during transplant
- used a 5-3-8 shrimp ferilizer

but of course as usual around this time of the year the leaves start fiddleheading :-[

--meg