Pleep's 2022 Tomato Adventure

[Pleepleus]

Spring is upon us in the Northeast and the fever is hitting hard. Transplanting seedlings to solo cups this week to get those big roots before going in the field. I am going to do my best to document here my season.

I have a small produce farm and a day job as superintendent of a golf course so 100 hr weeks are the norm for me. At 50 years old I plan to leave the Golf course soon but it is addictive maintaining such precise turf and battling Mother Nature. So much so when I get home I continue the battle in the gardens

Enough of that nonsense, some transplanting and how I do it for big roots. Roots equal fruits!

I start seeds in round cell flats, many to a cell, under done, on 88 degree heat mat, in a climate controlled (75 deg 45rh) tent under new tech Mars LED light which is on full blast.

My soil is my own mix, recycled and amended, consisting of:

1 part Peat
1 part Earth Worm Castings
1 part Rice Hulls (for drainage)

Amendments:

Oyster Shell
Gypsum
Kelp Meal
Neem/ Karanja Cake
Basalt
Glacial Rock Dust
And others I can't remember currently..


After mixing that soil mix I make an earth worm casting tea by bubbling 1 cup castings in 5 gal water for 24 hrs. I inoculate the freshly mixed soil with the microbe rich tea, cover the tote and let it "cook" for a few weeks.

Seedlings are up and just showing their very beginning of first leaves, early for transplant I know, but this timing works for me.

I use my trusty tongue depressor, yes I carry one with me at all times just ask my super embarrassed wifey lol, and pop the seedling out of the round cell.

I do this when they are quite dry so that a quick shake separates them easily.

I fill a solo cup about halfway and with my tongue depressor I make a hole to the bottom of the cup. I plant the seedlings up to the cotyledons. As the plant grows clear of the top of the cup I will remove any leaf and heel the plant to the top of the cup.

I use Voodoo Juice, put in a nondescript bottle to avoid advertising, you can Google it, it is organic and nothing grows roots like it. 5ml per gallon of water given to seedling until transplant in field.

And here we go!

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[Tormato]

I just have to say - WOW, you really know your poop! (earth worm castings tea)

Thanks for your work background. Do you realize, that because so many of us, here, have limited garden space in our yards, that we are mostly a bunch of turf haters?

[Pleepleus]

I can understand that for sure. I do mow about 5 acres, 3 lawn, rest trails and my two fairways, at home but it doesn't look like a golf course geek lives here it looks like a garden geek lives here. Plenty of weeds in my lawn and mowing takes a backseat to gardens!

@Tormato you sent me most of these seeds back in 2016 over at TV. I can't thank you enough! I am doing my best to do them proud!

The plants that went into cups yesterday have grown. No signs of shock or slowing down.

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[Tormato]

I can understand that for sure. I do mow about 5 acres, 3 lawn, rest trails and my two fairways, at home but it doesn't look like a golf course geek lives here it looks like a garden geek lives here. Plenty of weeds in my lawn and mowing takes a backseat to gardens!

@Tormato you sent me most of these seeds back in 2016 over at TV. I can't thank you enough! I am doing my best to do them proud!

The plants that went into cups yesterday have grown. No signs of shock or slowing down.

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No wonder why many of the names seem familiar. Off the bat, the swap could use Carmello, as there were several requests this past year, but no seeds sent in. And, the Yugoslavian is spelled Crnkovic.

[Tormato]

I don't see anything wrong with caring a tongue depressor, so long as it's not in a pocket protector with a collared white short sleeve dress shirt, with nerd completing thick rimmed taped-up glasses.

[bower]

That's a nice trick with the transparent solo cups.
I confess to a long history as a turf hater. But then I spent a couple of years doing some mowing for the cash. I came to love it. Not just the smell of mown grass but the look of it afterwards, very satisfying of the 'task completion' feeling.
I still have no plans to install a lawn here, but I've started growing some grains, and rather reverently paying homage to the poaceae I neglected and ignored for so long. The grass family are mindblowing as 'staff of the earth'. And very very pretty.

[karstopography]

@Pleepleus Very nice details shared on your methods, thank you for sharing. Do you continue to add the growing media to the cups as the seedlings grow? The cups appear mostly half full in the photos and certainly have room for more media or your particular growing mix.

[Pleepleus]

Yes I heel them in as they grow. It happens fast. Within a few weeks they should be topped up. If I can achieve a solo cup of roots by planting time I know I will have big healthy yielding plants.

I do not like the seedlings so low in the cups for long as there isn't natural air flow. I have a small fan blowing on the tops of the cups to keep the plants wiggling and circulation inside the cup.

They will get a cal/mag foliar in another week along with GroSafe. That will be a weekly thing until harvest. I have plenty of Calcium and Magnesium in my soil but see such a positive response after foliar I just add it to my IPM.

GroSafe, I mean what can be said other than probably the best product to hit the shelves since 2008 for preventive spraying for blights, molds, fungus or killing on contact pest bugs. Organic. Incredible. I spray once a week and the plants will make it until frost or deeper in the season than untreated plants by a large margin.

It basically changes the pH on the leaf surface making it more difficult for spores of any kind stick to them. Harmless to bees. Completely organic.

I see on this site people have a hard time finding Hornworms. Handheld black light at night. 10 bucks on Amazon or Wally. It doesn't just work well, it's fun!! Can pay the kids per worm they find lol

Just some of the absolute Staples in my organic toolbox to hedge my bets against the evils that seek to destroy my tomatoes before the bacon is done cooking haha!

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[bower]

Never heard of the GrowSafe - that's amazing. It's basically vegetable oil, water and citric acid. Like, a salad dressing.
Who knew that dressing on the plants would make it unfit for pests!
Any mortality issues for non target friendly bugs? I'm such a wimp, I even stopped using sticky traps because every time I put one out, I caught some sweet little parasitoid.

[Pleepleus]

Very much like salad dressing! Although I prefer Thousand Island.

I have not seen a spot of PM since using it, good stuff.

Safe for bees is good enough for me!

[Setec Astronomy]

Hey, thanks for all this info! I was particularly interested in the GrowSafe, I bought a similar product to try this year, PureCrop1, I'm encouraged to hear that this type of product seems to give good results. And also thanks for your signature line about keeping seeds in the refrigerator.

I think I started a thread a couple months ago about doing foliar sprays and most people seemed to be hesitant about wetting things down more than necessary--do you actually tank-mix the Cal-Mag and the GrowSafe?

[Pleepleus]

I have mixed the cal/mag and GroSafe in the same tank and sprayed just fine. I do normally spray them separate though, as I like to keep nutrient foliar sprays to just nutrients.

As far as getting the leaves wet unnecessarily concerns, spraying first thing in the morning on a nice day is choice. The leaves dry fast and the plants have the day to process the application. I never spray in the evening.

[Pleepleus]

We have achieved lift off. The transplants have not missed a beat.

Plants require 30% more nutrients under these modern high power LED lights. I was concerned my soil might be a little hot but actually the plants were a little light green for me. A cap full of Neptune's harvest snapped them into shape right quick.

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[Setec Astronomy]

Plants require 30% more nutrients under these modern high power LED lights. I was concerned my soil might be a little hot but actually the plants were a little light green for me. A cap full of Neptune's harvest snapped them into shape right quick.

Wow, that's an interesting tidbit--is that from your own observation or did you get that info from somewhere? And when you say a capful of NH, straight? Normal dilution? Half-strength?

[GoDawgs]

@Pleepleus, I went to the GrowSafe mfg site but they didn't list a mixing rate. How much do you mix up at a time and at what ratio?

I'm concerned about using an oil based product here in the hot summers of Georgia. Does anyone else here have any experience using GrowSafe in Zone 8? It sure sounds like something I could use against all the funk the humidity here promotes.

[Pleepleus]

I mix at 1oz per gallon for regular weekly spraying. I have used up to two oz per gallon for small applications with severe conditions.

[Pleepleus]

Plants require 30% more nutrients under these modern high power LED lights. I was concerned my soil might be a little hot but actually the plants were a little light green for me. A cap full of Neptune's harvest snapped them into shape right quick.

Wow, that's an interesting tidbit--is that from your own observation or did you get that info from somewhere? And when you say a capful of NH, straight? Normal dilution? Half-strength?

I immediately experienced that myself. I had to run the light at 70% as the plants wilted when it was turned all the way up. Seedlings started under the light had zero issues. I then researched and found others with similar experiences. The lights are so powerful the plants metabolism is in high gear.

One capful of Neptune's Harvest per gallon of water. This was applied to seedlings.

[Pleepleus]

A flat I planted 4/12 is looking good. Lots of transplanting in my future! Luckily weather is bad so day job is out and I can get to it.

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