Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by DarkChessLord » Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:36 am
Thanks for posting your experiment. In my experience, anything except for dwarf tomatoes will grow too unwieldy to make sense for an indoor grow. Dwarf tomatoes with a compact habit make much more sense, and will give you more yield (pounds of tomatoes) as well. I highly recommend Cherokee Tiger dwarf plants. They taste incredible and won't get taller than about 2'.
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by antisocial » Thu Mar 07, 2013 1:16 am
Thanks DCL, it's been fun. I'll have to pick up some seeds.
Here's some more pictures, 4 and 5 days later, and it's getting a bit messy in there.
Indeterminates might have been a bad choice seeing as how I'm 2 months away from being able to put the plants outside.
Here's some more pictures, 4 and 5 days later, and it's getting a bit messy in there.
Indeterminates might have been a bad choice seeing as how I'm 2 months away from being able to put the plants outside.
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by SisterMaryElephant » Thu Mar 07, 2013 1:20 am
Looking good, any pictures in normal lighting? 
Disclaimer:
I still use HID and I'm NOT an LED expert. All of my LED knowledge is from other parties or research so I can't say from first hand experience one way or another. I also run a medical grow consulting business in SoCal.
I still use HID and I'm NOT an LED expert. All of my LED knowledge is from other parties or research so I can't say from first hand experience one way or another. I also run a medical grow consulting business in SoCal.
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by antisocial » Thu Mar 07, 2013 8:31 am
I'll have some regular lighting photos soon. Unfortunately, almost all of the pictures from the first 5 weeks under the SS400 are veg. setting lighting. The plan was to put a fluorescent light in there as well, but it hasn't happened just yet. Hopefully, I'll bring the journal up to date by the weekend, and I'll be able to add some current regular lighting photos.
In the mean time here are a few more photos which are again, 4 days later.
By the way, I hand pollinated with an electric tooth brush a while back. But, pretty much every week now I'm buzzing flowers in there--it works great. It's pretty cool to see the stream of pollen flow out. I'll try and get someone to videotape my while I buzz. There are some great videos on youtube for anyone interested in seeing the buzz technique in action.
In the mean time here are a few more photos which are again, 4 days later.
By the way, I hand pollinated with an electric tooth brush a while back. But, pretty much every week now I'm buzzing flowers in there--it works great. It's pretty cool to see the stream of pollen flow out. I'll try and get someone to videotape my while I buzz. There are some great videos on youtube for anyone interested in seeing the buzz technique in action.
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- First tomatoes.
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by antisocial » Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:22 pm
4 days later and I had a bit of an emergency: a couple of plants started to fall over, so I made a trip to Home Depot and got some bamboo and made some tripod/pyramid supports. That's 4 foot bamboo.
I also did some trimming, it was an absolute jungle in there. Trimming, and staking made it much easier to move the plants and get in to water....shouldn't have gone with indeterminates.
It's odd, I thought I'd have to keep the lights much closer. The top leaves pretty much immediately begin to yellow after a couple of days under the flower setting, if they are closer than 2'.
I also did some trimming, it was an absolute jungle in there. Trimming, and staking made it much easier to move the plants and get in to water....shouldn't have gone with indeterminates.
It's odd, I thought I'd have to keep the lights much closer. The top leaves pretty much immediately begin to yellow after a couple of days under the flower setting, if they are closer than 2'.
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- Much nicer. 4' bamboo...the plants are getting big.
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- Pretty thick...more little tomatoes too!
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by antisocial » Sat Mar 09, 2013 2:26 am
These pictures are a week later(I'm gettting close to current now, finally).
The plants grew about a 6" in height, and the tomatoes have gone from BB-sized to about 3/4" in diameter.
You can see the Roma tomatoes have set, they are easy to identify even at an early stge they have that little nipple/bump on the bottom, and are noticeably oblong almost immediately.
I tried to twist and train some of the vines when I staked them to gain some overhead room.
The plants grew about a 6" in height, and the tomatoes have gone from BB-sized to about 3/4" in diameter.
You can see the Roma tomatoes have set, they are easy to identify even at an early stge they have that little nipple/bump on the bottom, and are noticeably oblong almost immediately.
I tried to twist and train some of the vines when I staked them to gain some overhead room.
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by antisocial » Sun Mar 10, 2013 4:58 am
These pictures are 8 days later, and are about 10 days from current. I'll have to go and pull of my current pics from my camera in the next couple of days.
The tomatoes are getting big, and the room smells fantastic!
I did some more clipping, and pulled off some suckers to get some more light to the lower fruit sets. Things are looking good.
I've been reading some about the effects of UVB on tomatoes. It seems UVB increases sugar, aromatic compunds, lycopene, and carotenoid production.( As it turns out lycopene and carotenoids protect our skin from UVB damage! So, tomatoes use something that damages skin to make something that protects skin..kinda' cool.) I have never been able to replicate the taste of outdoor grown tomatoes indoors, they are always a little bland. It looks like I am going to have to try out the UVB bulbs now--more fun! I'm hoping for a higher BRIX score than I've ever had indoors, and better overall taste.
The tomatoes are getting big, and the room smells fantastic!
I did some more clipping, and pulled off some suckers to get some more light to the lower fruit sets. Things are looking good.
I've been reading some about the effects of UVB on tomatoes. It seems UVB increases sugar, aromatic compunds, lycopene, and carotenoid production.( As it turns out lycopene and carotenoids protect our skin from UVB damage! So, tomatoes use something that damages skin to make something that protects skin..kinda' cool.) I have never been able to replicate the taste of outdoor grown tomatoes indoors, they are always a little bland. It looks like I am going to have to try out the UVB bulbs now--more fun! I'm hoping for a higher BRIX score than I've ever had indoors, and better overall taste.
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- Shiny and fuzzy.
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- Golden shiny hairs.
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- More flowers.
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- Well over 4' tall now.
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- Welcome to the jungle.
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by antisocial » Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:30 am
5 days later, and the plants are about 5' tall now.
The light is as high as it can go, and the uvb is on.
I also cut down the light to 12hrs from 16hrs.
The light is as high as it can go, and the uvb is on.
I also cut down the light to 12hrs from 16hrs.
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by antisocial » Wed Mar 20, 2013 2:17 pm
These pictures are 4 days later.
Things are coming along nicely, and the fruit sets are looking pretty good.
Things are coming along nicely, and the fruit sets are looking pretty good.
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- Two nice fruit sets on a really healthy plant.
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- The plants are a little out of control now.
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Re: CLW SS400 Tomato test.
by antisocial » Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:42 am
These pictures are 3 days later.
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