Aunt Ruby's German Green Bloom issues

[Elagrow]

I have 5 aunt ruby's growing inside a tent under a LED light, they are so far the largest tomato plants I have ever seen, however, they have only produced 1 flower site, and it has pollinated and producing a good looking tomato. The problem is, out of the 5 plants, only one has a single tomato on it.

The tomato plants are outgrowing the tent in height, and have folded and followed the top of the tent, stretched out, they are easily well over 8ft tall, and have stems branching off that are about as thick as a roll of quarters.

We started them from seed around Feb. using Ocean Forest soil, we put tomato tone on top of the soil, and are currently using a RAW organic bloom formula at around 800-1k ppm with a 5.8 PH. Our light cycle is 12 on 12 off. The room is being controlled at around 75F degree's.

Any idea's?

[Salsacharley]

Your LED light spectrum might not be right for stimulating flowering and fruiting. I understand that the blue spectrum should be predominate in the flowering stage. I suggest you research your current spectrum and what is considered best at the various growth stages.

Charley

[wormgirl]

Let me preface this by saying, I know little about indoor tomato growing. But here are my observations.

I have to wonder if something is going wrong with pH. 5.8 sounds low to me. I just googled and see that tomatoes can grow from a pH of 5.8 to 7. They are said to be happier in the 6 to 6.8 range. So it may be you are teetering on the extreme low end of the range, perhaps that explains the one lone truss of flowers. I would try to bring that pH up.

I don't think 12/12 is optimal for tomato flowering. Outdoors, we just had the solstice... tomatoes flower under long days, not short.

From the pictures, the plants look leggy to me. Not bushy and full. So I wonder if the amount of light is sufficient. I also agree to look into the light spectrum.

If I were you I might just put one or more of the plants outside, if at all possible. Harden them off first. You can take cuttings of suckers and start more for inside, to try again. I don't think the plants you have are viable to produce indoors, but you can start over. Good luck and keep us updated.

Jenn

[ContainerTed]

My first thought when I read the original post was "too much nitrogen". But the light spectrum may have some effect. I agree with the above post about the ph being too low. Azaleas and dogwoods may like the low ph, but tomatoes like things more balanced.

If you're fertilizing, back off on the nitrogen and increase the potassium. If all else fails, get those babies some sunlight.

[Nematode]

They look hungry.
For nutrients and light.

[Nematode]

When you have them all closed off from the world in that closet they dont know if they should make leaves or fruit unless you steer them.

Google up tomato generative vegetative.

Vegetative is leaf growing stage, generative is fruit growing. There are techniques for inducing each.

[zipcode]

They look leggy to me. Meaning not enough light. Either the spectrum is not complete, or the power is too low. Lack of light has a serious effect on flower formation and pollination.

[Elagrow]

I don't think its lack of light, the LED in there is equivalent to a 600w HID light. The Raw Bloom is 3-12-12 though we are going to bump up the P and see if that helps.

for lighting, the blues are for growth, and the reds are for bloom, though it is possible that the light doesn't hit the correct wavelengths for the reds to induce flowers, it is a light we are testing from china. (works great for growth, but possible not for bloom)

They really aren't leggy, the stocks are about 1-1.5" thick.

Also, I somehow posted this in the wrong topic for some reason, if we can get it moved to the correct topic, that be great!

[Nematode]

Originally Posted by Elagrow

They really aren't leggy, the stocks are about 1-1.5"

Too vegetative. It's up to you to steer them more generative.

[Nematode]

How to steer you tomatoes.
Outside in the ground tomatoes get all these cues from their environment.
Your tomatoes think its spring.
http://www.semena.org/agro/Tomat-3-e...haracteristics

[Elagrow]

Originally Posted by Nematode

How to steer you tomatoes.
Outside in the ground tomatoes get all these cues from their environment.
Your tomatoes think its spring.
http://www.semena.org/agro/Tomat-3-e...haracteristics

thats a cool little guide.

anyrate, a short update, we did manage to get it to produce a couple more small flowers, and they pollinated, and have little tiny tomatoes starting. We set the temp in the room to 76F, increased the P,K and changed to an 18on 6off cycle. Hopefully we will see more flower sites popping up soon

[wormgirl]

Did you address the pH issue?

I know you feel there should be enough light, but it seems like the plants are telling you there isn't. No chance of moving them outside then?

Jenn

[Elagrow]

Originally Posted by wormgirl

Did you address the pH issue?

I know you feel there should be enough light, but it seems like the plants are telling you there isn't. No chance of moving them outside then?

Jenn

They started to flower, and even produce. its starting out slow, but im sure will pick up now that they are producing.

To move them would kill them. They are in a tent with several plant support yoyo's, one of the plants is well over 10ft tall at this point, the others are all over 8ft tall. They are used to mild temperatures, and it would be rough to harden them off at this point.

ill post a picture on here of them when I do finally pull them out to show the size of these monsters, its really hard to see with a picture while they are in the tent.

[Nematode]

You could root some suckers and get a jump on the next round.
The greenhouse growers pull the lower leaves, lower the vines and keep them growing, some past 20 trusses, not sure if you have the room for that.

[Elagrow]

Originally Posted by Nematode

You could root some suckers and get a jump on the next round.
The greenhouse growers pull the lower leaves, lower the vines and keep them growing, some past 20 trusses, not sure if you have the room for that.

I wasnt aware that tomatoes could be cloned. I thought they were age based rather then environment based.

Room is really no issue, I could convert the whole room into a grow area if I wanted, the tents I use are nice as I dont have to put that much money into lighting, and temp control. though I do have HID setups or T-5's that have been setting in my store for months with no interest, and probably wouldn't hurt to use them in a grow room.