Seems hard to believe that two months have already elasped since I started this project. My regular garden is pretty well gone, but I still do have tomatoes, peppers and some pole beans. The quality is starting to go down hill, but they are still better than store bought.
It seems that I learn something new every day. Here is my latest updates.
There is now no doubt in my mind that short cut to nutrient solutions is a no no. I first started with Green Air Products hydroponic nutrients on one tomato and then used miracle grow on another tomato. All looked good for a couple of days. After one week there was a noticable different. The GAP was twice as big and the main stalk was much thicker. So now I have converted all to GAP nutrients. I just today ordered two gallons of GAP nuets. One gallon each of the micro base, and grow solutions. They are pricey at $27, but highly concentrated. Each gallon will make 768 gallons of solution. I have yet to use the GAP bloom solution. I will do this with a couple of my early buckets later on this weekend. I will also cut my lights back to 12 hours today to encourage blooming and fruitation. Kind of funny since I had several of my plants outside and they were already blooming due to the shortening of the days. My biggest hydro tomatoes are now near tennis ball size. Since they are of the early girl variety, I expect them to be ripe by early Oct..
And here are some of my latest pics. Actually these pics are two weeks old. The tomatoes are clear to the ceiling now, and I will have to move the buckets off of the shelves and set on the floor. Once I cut the light back and add the bloom nuets I am hoping vegetative growth will slow down.
If you will notice, in the background I have sheets of styrofoam insulation with foil backing. I already had several sheets laying around, and they make the ideal light relector. Eventually I will make a grow closet around my plants. That way light will remain concentrated to encourage maximum growth.
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