Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 22 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page 6.23 Koneiczny was transplanted to the tub on December 29. That gives me an extra month on last years plant. And I’ve gone from 2 1/2 gallons pot of grow medium two around 14 gallons. I am seeking to set the 100% indoor WR tomato this winter. Whatever that is.   Sunday, January 10 View Page The young contender is full of hope. So far I am able to get the soil and air temperature up to 75F with a 4 ft heating mat and a soil heating cable.   Monday, January 25 View Page Well it is the dead of winter and everyone is probably jonesing for some actual grow talk about now so I will try to give as much information as I can. The young contender has been training hard and he is bulking up quick. I added about 7 more gallons of additional soil mixture, which raised the level to the top of the tub and to where the 3rd or 4th branches were. The container is now filled to its maximum capacity of 18 gallons. The first truss did not form flowers, maybe due to the mixed signals of too much light while being too cold overall. The temperature is now 83F/ 84F while the light is on vs 72F/ 73F while the light is off, and it is on for 16h/ off for 8h. Soil temperature stays at 72. When the plant was first moved to the big container it was 18h/ 6h. I may reduce more based on what feedback I get on the tomato board. The plant split at the first truss but no flowers, so I deadheaded the weaker side. I got the temperature up by lining 3 sides of the grow area with 6 mil plastic, put a heat lamp with a fan blowing the air onto the plant, looped a 48ft soil cable around the back wall which is the poured foundation of the house. This combined w/ a 4 ft heating mat and a little heat from the 1500w LED. But they run cool. I am about to start the high P/ K fertilizer today.   Wednesday, January 27 View Page Here is the temperature and humidity profile for the week. These thermometers are really cool. They Bluetooth to your phone and give you this data, and they only cost like $12 on Amazon. One is definitely going in every hoop house this spring!   Monday, February 1 View Page The young up and comer is really packing on some lean muscle. He is ready to lace up the sparring gloves. The plant is producing flowers now. I do not see any mega blooms. The plant looks great with tight nodes and no disease or stress. I’ve just made an adjustment to the light for 15h on/ 9h off. I think the plant needs sufficient darkness to produce a good tomato.   Wednesday, February 10 View Page The young contender has almost completed his training. He has turned a healthy shade of pink. Jokes aside the 50-17-5 has created some monster singles and possibly a mega but I may not wait for it. But at what cost. The leaves show some mottling and aged some. The plant is super compact. Outside this plant would be a foot taller I’d say. I hope the tomato grows in the same way. Probably going to take one of the singles that you can see here. I’ll also wait for the mega but it’s unlikely that I will go for that when the time comes.   Wednesday, February 10 View Page There is now a consistent 15° F gap between the nine hours of dark and 15 hours of light. I did go through a period of many days without a heat lamp because I got water on the two bulbs that I did have and cracked them. That’s been resolved and all systems are go   Tuesday, February 16 View Page The kid is in the ring , it’s showtime. There is a single bloom pollinated and you can zoom to see the young tomato. On the upper truss, there are flowers impacted by the P-K flooding. there may be a mega bloom but it is turned away and I can’t maneuver in my grow area to get a look at it. With one pollinated and maybe one more on the way I’ve topped the plant terminating all other growth.   Tuesday, February 16 View Page I’ve got the temperature on lockdown now! I think this is so important.   Sunday, March 7 View Page The contender could not get a mega bloom so I’ve thrown in the towel and pulled him out of the ring. Learned a lot as always though. It’s finally March and, well, pumpkins.   Wednesday, March 24 View Page Here is what will likely be my final spring soil test for this patch. I will be growing in a new spot next year! I consider this test to be pretty good overall so we are well positioned for a big final year here. I have already ordered the amendments.   Sunday, April 11 View Page Improvements to hoop houses are as follows. Built the jig you can see here, 6 x 8‘ for exact placement of the structures. Dug holes for soil cables to the full 6 x 8‘ inside the hoop houses, which I never do. Normally they’re only 4 x 4. Got 60 foot roof icemelt cables Replace the little crappy ones for each hut. I have all new six mill clear greenhouse plastic for each hut. All of the amendments have been added until then per the recommendations from Western labs. So far the weather has been top-notch and allowed us to be right on schedule. The 1552 young and two 965 Gerhardt seeds have germinated.   Monday, August 30 View Page Calibration weight   Monday, August 30 View Page I picked this 22 inch single on the 6.17 Snyder plants for my first try at the team competition this year. Hopefully I can replace this weight with a larger one in a few weeks.   Monday, August 30 View Page Bottom of this entry from the 6.17 Snyder   Monday, August 30 View Page 3.93 pounds, not too bad   Monday, August 30 View Page Next entry is this 23 inch single from the 5.55 Snyder plant.   Monday, August 30 View Page Bottom of the entry from the 5.55 Snyder   Monday, August 30 View Page 4.59 pounds on the scale, an unexpected surprise! If my singles are weighing this much it makes me very excited because I actually have some Megas going for once.   Wednesday, September 8 View Page Tomato off the 6.44 young   Wednesday, September 8 View Page Bottom   Wednesday, September 8 View Page Translates to 4.68 pounds, another PB by mere hundredths of a pound. We were getting ready to travel and I didn’t like the ripening on the little tiny lumps underneath so it had to be weighed.