Tomatoes fruits setting on different sizes & nutrients formula
by Ray
(PJ, Malaysia)
Well, I'm having another problem planting hydroponics tomatoes during the fruiting stage (about 5th cluster flower), I found the tomatoes fruit setting or growing in different sizes at same cluster. For example, the 1st cluster fruit, 1st/2nd fruits are big (about 100mm dia.) while 5th/6th are very small (about 30-40mm dia.). What is the cause on this? is it because of the nutrient or is it normal?
Furthermore , I'm mixing my own fertilizer as following (listing the macro-nutrients only) :-
1) PN (Potassium Nitrate ) - 25 Kg
2) CN (Calcium Nitrate ) - 33 Kg
3) MKP (Mono-Potassium Phosphate) - 8 Kg
4) Mg (Magnesium Sulfate) - 18 Kg
5) Sop (Potassium Sulfate) - 4 Kg
The above contains will mix into the 48 gallon water and about 8 liters of it will be taken to mix with 600 gallon water. (which should be able to get about EC - 2.0) Is this the nutrient formula work well as I use this formula for vegetative and flowering/fruiting stage. (only play around with EC)? I experience it before, working only OK, fruits are small especially fruits after 3-4th cluster.) Should I change it during the flowering/fruiting stage? As you mentioned before, during the flowering/fruiting stage, the Phosphate should be higher, should I add more in MKP?
Some of the article I went though before, they advice to add Calcium / Potassium higher during the fruiting stage, therefore I was wondering what nutrient need more actually? Please advice on the nutrient formula as mentioned above.
Answer: Ray- some tomato varieties tend to set fruit all at once, while other varieties will fruit a little at a time over a longer period of time. It sounds like this is just normal, and you have a variety that behaves in that fashion. As your tomato plants begin to produce fruits, you should adjust the nutrient solution to have high Phosphorus. Decent amounts of Nitrogen and Potassium are still required during this period. It is important the fertilizer also contains a good amount of Calcium, which helps to transport other nutrients within the tissue of the plants. Having Calcium available to the tomato plants as they fruit will help prevent blossom end rot in your tomato crops.
A good N-P-K ratio for the nutrients as you begin fruiting would be 2-4-2, 15-25-15, or 10-25-10 (all of which fit my description above). As far as nutrient strength....the EC of your solution can be slowly increased from young tomato plants to fully mature and fruiting plants. As you slowly increase the EC from week to week, pay close attention to the leaf tips of your plants. At the first sign of leaf tip burn, you should consider this nutrient solution strength to be your "upper limit", and may want to even back down the nutrient strength a little bit.
Looking at your nutrient list, for your flowering/fruiting formula I would recommend using significantly less Potassium Nitrate and (in it's place) use more mono-Potassium Phosphate. This reduces Nitrogen, increases Phosphorus, and still includes a good amount of Potassium and Calcium. This should give you a solid base formula for big tomatoes. I chose to reduce the Potassium Nitrate instead of reducing Calcium Nitrate because Calcium is so important to the healthy fruiting of tomatoes. There is room in the formula to dial back the Magnesium Sulfate a little bit, also.
On very hot days, when the tomatoes use more water, you need to mix the nutrient solution up slightly weaker than you normally would- otherwise, the tomato plants may consume too much fertilizer on hot days. The other option would be to ALWAYS run the EC at slightly less than the maximum. This still produces very good results, and also gives you a little safety "buffer zone" against over-fertilization. Hope this helps you out Ray, and Happy Growing!
AffordableGarden Design&Setup
Hi everyone, Jason from Jason's Indoor Guide here. When I got started with hydroponic gardening more than 24 years ago, my first garden used rockwool cubes and B.C. Nutrients....and I remember thinking to myself yeah, sure, there may be a lot of advantages to gardening with hydroponics, for example there are very few pest problems, therefore very little pest control, no weeding, no plowing or tilling the soil, no soil testing or having to add things into the garden soil, no watering the garden....but for someone who just wants to grow their own vegetables and have more control over their food supply and the quality of the food that they eat, the cost of constantly having to buy grow media and hydroponic nutrients makes this an expensive hobby for most people...
Epic Nutrient Change
I suppose when you take into consideration how much money you save NOT
having to buy food at the grocery store, it is surely cheaper to grow
your own food hydroponically even with the cost of high quality
nutrients. Nevertheless, I didn't have a whole lot of money to work with
and I needed to make my efforts as affordable and effective as
possible....and in the last 24 years I HAVE learned a thing or two!
As you browse through Jason's Indoor Guide, you will notice all of the
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lava rock, because the media is re-usable and it eliminates a huge
operating expense. So once a hydroponic system is built, garden
maintenance is minimal- check and adjust the nutrient solution daily,
and to change it completely every 2 weeks....and the biggest operating
cost is the hydroponic nutrients. (and the electric bill, lol)...
Homemade Cloner
And, regarding the cost of the nutrients....I experimented for about 3 years with making different compost teas and nutrient teas, but there is still a lot of expense $$$ associated with making high quality nutrient teas....like kelp meal, liquid seaweed, rock dust, bat guano, un-Sulfured molasses, worm castings. You can eliminate a lot of this expense by becoming an expert at making high-quality colloidal humus compost, and use your properly made compost as the basis of your hydroponic nutrient solution.
Unfortunately, I have been gardening for over 24 years and I have only
just recently mastered this difficult skill....and even then, only
because I happened to find a very easy to follow, high quality technique
and decided to follow the instructions to the letter. I produced more
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year! If you can master the technique, I highly recommend it. It is one of the top 3 things you can do to
increase the productivity of your food production efforts, while at the
same time decreasing the amount of effort required to grow all of your
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production system.
And when I say decrease operating costs, I mean decrease them to almost
ZERO, especially if you are producing your own nutrients...
High Efficiency
Hydroponics
The ultimate solution to eliminate the cost of your hydroponic nutrients: Imagine a hydroponic system that does not require you to buy any nutrients, does not require you to make your own compost, and does not require you to brew your own nutrient tea. Seriously! No cost and no effort as far as providing nutrients to your plants! Plus, at the end of the gardening cycle you harvest all of your garden vegetables, PLUS YOU HARVEST FISH from the system--->
Aquaponics
This solution is aquaponics. If you are serious about producing all of your own food and being self-sufficient, this is the ultimate solution for reducing expenses (as much as possible), reducing the total amount of work required, and maximizing the productivity of your gardening efforts. I have been gardening for over 24 years, and it is the perfect food production solution in my opinion.
Besides mastering how to make high quality compost, learning aquaponics is one of the top 3 things you can do to increase your garden productivity, reduce your total costs, and reduce your total work. The product that I learned from is called Aquaponics4you. With all of my hydroponic gardening experience, the first time I came across the Aquaponics4you product I knew immediately that it was something very special! Place an aquaponics system outdoors and use the sun instead of grow lights, and you have reduced every garden expense to nearly ZERO!
The Same System/ 10 Weeks Later!
