how do

[airconednightmare]

hi everyone, long time viewer, first time poster. hoping someone can either help, or tell me where to get help, with a tomato problem. they are being grown indoors under lights (12 hours on, 12 hours off at this stage) in nutrient free soil. they are spanish yellow tomatoes which are coming along nicely apart from a slight yellowing of the leaves and what seems like a small amount of fruit for an otherwise health plant. pic...



i'm thinking N deficiency, i've cut the grow nutrient (8:2:6) by half and added bloom (2:6:3.5) since they started producing fruit but they seem to be growing and flowering under a 12 hour cycle i was under the impression they were photo-sensitive?

any other suggestions?

cheers

tom

[DavidT]

Good evening Tom and welcome to the site. Why are they growing in nutrient free soil for goodness sake, of course they are looking sickly, and giving a poor yield. Feed them. Also what temperature are they growing in?

[rachel_nickless]

are you pinching off the side shoots - looks like a hell of lot of foliage on there mate! Feed regularly with tomato feed which you can get in the shops readily - works a treat and is the trick to loads of tomatoes!

[airconednightmare]

Originally Posted by DavidT

Good evening Tom and welcome to the site. Why are they growing in nutrient free soil for goodness sake, of course they are looking sickly, and giving a poor yield. Feed them. Also what temperature are they growing in?

they are in nutrient free soil so i can control exactly what they get - i have been feeding them they are kept 2-3 degrees either side of 25 Celsius during the 'day' and maybe down to about 15 at 'night'.

Originally Posted by rachel_nickless

are you pinching off the side shoots - looks like a hell of lot of foliage on there mate! Feed regularly with tomato feed which you can get in the shops readily - works a treat and is the trick to loads of tomatoes!

i cut them back before lowering the light cycle - i was hoping this would stop the plant growing and make it flower but it continues to do both. should i just cut off all the new shoots at this stage?

[DavidT]

Why are you such a control freak? Let the plants do what they need to do for goodness sake. And feed them properly.

[DavidT]

Also, if you were feeding them properly they wouldn`t be turning yellow and giving such a poor yield.

[rachel_nickless]

what variety are they?? I agree to an extent with David T you need to let nature have a part in this (I didnt even know you could get nutrient free soil through natural or manufactured means LOL)

Leave them to their own ends. Pinch out (ie dont cut) any side shoots so that the plant is focusing its energies and nutrients into the fruits

The only other thing I can think of is the light cycle - are you mirroring current light hours? As plants are apparently not fooled by artificial means (so I read)

[airconednightmare]

come on, at least it's soil rather than hydro

i know it's not a very 'natural' approach but to some extent neither is having a greenhouse or watering your plants. i am still limited by what the plants what to do ultimately.

i might control more elements of their environment than most but i still have to respond to what the plants what. i predicted they would need less N on the assumption they would stop growing naturally once i cut the light cycle - turns out i have to intervene and control them more intrusively by pinching out the side shoots. they hopefully won't be N deficient if i do this? in the mean time i have fed them more N and i'm waiting to see if this stops the yellowing.

they are spanish yellow tomatoes, i don't have any more info than that to hand. i'm not mirroring day light, as far as i'm aware plants either respond to changes in light cycle or don't - i've grown stuff with the light cycles totally reversed to natural without problems

[rachel_nickless]

may i ask why you grow them like that? eg lack of garden? i only ask as I grow stuff to get outdoors and get some fresh air inspite of the often awful british weather

[airconednightmare]

lack of outside space - i ran out of garden and brought some of it indoors plus you can't knock all year round home grown goodies

[stupo74]

Hi Tom,
"Welcome" to the forum.
While i can see your need to try and grow crops all year round, i have my doubts, as to weather you can control "All" the things the plants need and still make them pay for themselves
Them toms of yours, running under artificial lights to the size that they are now, must have cost a fortune???? Already.
I have a couple of "little lights" that i use to keep my early planted seedlings, (chillies) growing, but only to avoid "Leggy" plants, pre season.

Good luck, with the toms, but dont forget to avoid the wife,???? When the "Electric Bill" arrives???? you might find them toms,,,, stuffed where the "SUN" dont shine

regards stupo

[airconednightmare]

electric bills aren't as bad as you might think, an extra £5-10 a week and that's for 2m square indoor setup with 600 watt hps/mh light and 3 fans. also the growth rates and harvests are far faster/higher than anything i have achieved outside...that plant was a seed until a few days before xmas...it's got half ripe fruit on it already

chillies are a regular in there - they love it