bigbudz said:
Very glad I found this thread/forum, I was just tellin my hubby 5 min ago that i wanted to grow some tomato plants too. Then i came across this. Same thing go for hydro? Grow them like i have my MJ?
Similar to MJ but you can use regular Walmart type nutes.
The tomato plants transpiration rate will increase dramatically. This sometimes causes the fruits to split. I've found that covering them with a sun filter helps eliminate a lot of problems. You can use different levels of blockage to get the desired effect of perfect fruit.
I'm talking "fruit" as in whatever the produce of a particular plant is. As in "Flower/Bud to fruit".
Here's some trivia for you.
A tomato plant grown in FDA approved levels of commercial ferts, has a minimum of 400 units of Vitamin A in it.
The same tomato grown hydroponically with proper variables to maximize the fruits potential has 4,000 units of vitamin A.
Ten times as much.
The fruit will have a much stronger flavor as well. Green peppers are very noticeable in that regard.
The amount of "Meat" in each fruit will also be increased. Less pulp.
I've got a 25 by 10 foot hydro setup in my front yard in a greenhouse. I'm using 4 inch PVC for the NFT method. 80 plants in all.
Each year, I take the guys at the plant a bunch of veggies. I can't eat all of that and I've never canned anything. I freeze some on cookie sheets and then vacuum pack em for freezing. You can't tell the difference when you cook them later.
Good luck to you! If I can help, just let me know.