Roma Tomatoes - massive growth

This plant is really taking off right now.  It has just completed week 3 of the growth phase.  Today the plant moved to the transition phase.  Earlier in the week the plant was using 1 cup of water a day but now it is drinking 2+ a day.  The transition phase increases the micro and bloom components of the General Hydroponics Flora series.  Already this week the tomato plant started producing blooms.  I may change one of the CFL lights to a 2700K in the next week.  Supposedly this is the generally accepted light for fruiting.  Time will see.  In the meantime you can see by the photo below it has grown much.

Roma Tomatoes - trellis

The tomato has grown tall enough that it now needs support. A trellis was created out of bamboo stakes and zip-ties.  It was created in a rectangle formation with enough space that the light would go between the stakes.


Here is a view from the front.


Also the light was hung from the above shelf.  This is instead of clamping it to a pole.  This allows me to easily move it up and down.  A orange spring clamp is used to hold the cord.


In addition to support and moving light the plant is now using a couple cups of water a day.  So water addition and ph adjustment is now a daily thing.

Roma Tomatoes - Growing good

So this is week three for the "growth" formula on the tomatoes.  This plant is now over 13" tall.  In fact I left town over the weekend and it grew nearly 2 inches.  It is also time to start thinking about support.  When I took it out of the setup to change the solution it tilted on me.  They hydroton is only so stable.  The roots have increased dramatically since last week as shown in the picture below.


Some of those roots are now over 2 foot long!  The foliage is also reaching for more light daily.  In the past seven days the light had to be moved upward 3-4 times.  Twice I had to add water to me solution.  It is using about 1-2 cups of water every 2 days.  Hopefully in the next few weeks I can see the fruits of my labor.

Roma Tomatoes - A week of growth video

This is one weeks time and the second in with the growth formulation.   As you can see below it is growing fast now.



As well as the tomatoes growing, the lettuce setup was changed out.  A new seedling was planted 4 days ago.  This little plant seems to be growing well.

Roma Tomatoes - Day 32

Quick update on the tomatoes.  They are growing at a fast pace now and here is what we have so far.


Today was nutrient change day so here is a good shot of the roots.  Some of them are over a foot long!


Energy Use update - Since upgrading the lights to two 23w CFLs a larger reflector hood and adding a fan here are the new numbers on power usage

• One week it used 9.776 kilowatt hours of electricity @ 12 cents/kwh equals $1.17 a week.
• One day is uses 1.397 kilowatt hours of electricity for and average of 17 cents per day.

Also the lettuce was changed out.  This is a new seedling started a few days ago.  Roots are already poking through the bottom.  Instead of soaking the rockwool cube in ph neutral water I soaked it in ph 5.5 nutrient solution.  I used the nutrient that was already in the system on my last lettuce try.  1 gallon with 2.5mL of Micro, Gro, and Bloom.

Lighting source - pt. 4 DIY refelctor hood #2

This is a downsized reflector hood for the 10w 6500K CFL lamp I originally purchased for the tomatoes.  Since the LED array has failed due to being underpowered I am using the 10w CFL for lettuce.  The reason for this is it is going to take 2-4 weeks to have new PCBs made.  So in the meantime I can test the nutrient formula.  Here is the CAD drawing for the hood which is made from sheet aluminum pop riveted together.





The top side:





From the bottom looking up:





A new rockwool cube with the same lettuce was started a few days ago and will be in the system in a couple days.

Roma Tomatoes - Time lapse video

Here is a quick video of the Roma Tomatoes thus far.  Each frame is one day.  At the end of the video is when I changed to the higher power CFL and things really started taking off.

Roma Tomatoes - Day 28

Just a quick update.  Here is the roma tomato plant at day 28.  The new light setup is having a big effect.  The stem is much thicker and the plant is not drooping over anymore.  I suspect it would be much bigger if I would have started with these lights instead of the one I did use.  It is now in week one of three of the "Growth" mix for the General Hydroponics Flora Gro.  Every day it grows by a noticeable amount.

Lighting source - pt. 3 more power

On the tomatoes a Ultra Sun 6500K 10W CFL for a nano reef tank was used.   It produced growth but was a bit under powered and created a plant that was stringy.  The tomato was reaching for the light.  At the local Lowes home improvement store I found a 2-pack of Sylvania micro-mini CFL 23W bulbs.  They are 100W replacements, 6500K and produce 1,450 lumens each.  Also a socket adapter to make a single to double was purchased.   Then a new 10.5" clamp lamp with a porcelain socket was obtained.  This new hood has plenty of room for the new lights.




Combined the bulbs will be the equivalent of 200W and only consume 46W of electricity.  It will produce 2,900 lumens which should be about 4-5 times what the 10W bulb was giving.   The thought had crossed my mind to start the tomato over again but I am going to see what this does and probably order a bigger bulb as well.  Who knows this setup may be good for another vegetable.

Too little light

Roma Tomatoes



It is getting taller and more leaves but is to thin.  This is an indication of the plant reaching for the light.  If used it will have to be propped up.  The 10W 6500K light is too weak, will hit the Home Depot or Lowes and look for one several times stronger.  This plant can be saved by moving it to my outside garden.

Lettuce



The lettuce is also suffering from lack of light.  When I built this array I never calculated the amount of lumens it would produce.  This array only makes 5.6 lumens which is not good.  I drew up a new one last night which will be a blue only array.  With the LEDs used on the new one it will produce about 857 lumens which should be enough for lettuce.

Roma Tomatoes - Day 20

So it is now day 20 on the Roma tomatoes.   It keeps getting bigger but I am thinking the 10W 6500K bulb may be too little.  Last Monday night I changed the nutrient solution to the 'mid growth' formulation.   Looking at pictures it seems to be growing 1/8-1/4" a day.   A time lapse video is on the way.




One thing I have been concerned with is what is this costing me in electricity?  So enter the Kill A Watt P3 meter.




This is an excellent little tool that will measure the power usage of whatever is plugged into.  Plug it into a DVD or BluRay player and watch how much power is used while it is turned OFF.  So this meter was plugged into the bubble bucket about 8.5 days ago, 206 hours to be exact.  With the Elite 801 air pump running 24x7 and the 10 watt Ultra Sun 6500K CFL bulb and timer it has used 2.02 kilowatts.  The current this system draws is about .15 amps.  My electricity comes from Lee County Electric Co-Op and with taxes costs an average of 12 cents a kilowatt hour.  That means to run this system in its current configuration for one week is about 20 cents.  For about 80 cents in a electricity a month is not that bad!  At under $30 this meter is money well spent.


Lettuce Day 10

Things are not going well for this. The lettuce is growing and the nutrients will be changed tonight.  Thus far the roots have not penetrated the bottom of the rockwool cube.   It seems the roots are pushing the seedling out of the cube.  The hood was moved closer to the plant but it just may be not enough lumen.




But I will press on with this one.   It may have been started wrong or multiple other things. Comments would be appreciated.   Thanks.