Funny you mention having to go around the lights as I just today realized the difficulties that presents.

When it gets big enough and your lights are high enough it's easy to add a tomato cage to the bucket lid.

How old is that plant?

Probably about two months, maybe a little less. It's an old photo, not a current grow.

To anybody reading this who, like me, thinks they always have a smarter cheaper way of doing things keep in mind that cleaning products such as bleach sprays usually contain a foaming agent and possibly a detergent. This is not the same as bleach. Any of these products I have seen are less than 1% sodium hydrochlorite so you'd need to use at least 5 times as much to get the same concentration. I thought I was cutting corners by using a product I already had on hand but it was definitely at the suffering of my tomato seedlings. Poor things.

Noooooooo!

I know. I have shamed us all.

I got some proper bleach, mixed it to 1/4 per gallon and soaked for 15 minutes. Cleaned out the res, air stone and tubing with proper bleach. Filled it back up with a weak nutrient solution and some bennies. The rest is left to a power higher than myself...

"The rest is left to a power higher than myself..."

You mean me?

Actually, we make our own bleach from pool shock. It's granular so it keeps forever. We make it as needed. Liquid bleach breaks down in...I think...about 6 months.

It's part of our prepping. Yeah, I'm one of those but only mildly.

Did you kill the plants or just stress them?

More than stressed, not quite killed. There is still some soft green growth at the tip so there is hope.

I also started some tomatoes kratky style (I cannot explain why as I do not know myself). Hopefully I can get one to root via air layering and I'll be laughin'. Fingers crossed.

Khang had a pepper plant tossed by the wind and it was trashed, but it came back strong.

Holy cow...the tomato plant has exploded. I raised the lights last night and I just had to raise them another 3".

Roots are pearly white, too.

But I didn't plan ahead...it's too big for a cage now. Looks like I'll have to hang twine from the ceiling and tie the plant up.

Congrats!

Pics?

I'm traumatized. I got my new MH light set up so I carefully moved the tomato bucket to join the others. I was trying to figure out how to support the plant because it's so huge and has heavier growth to one side. The main stem split in 2. :(

I duct taped it together and propped it up but I don't know if that will save it.

Lesson learned...get them in cages before it's too late. Now that I don't need lights right above them my other tomatoes won't have that problem.

I've had branches fold completely over on themselves before, outdoor plants hit by storms, and managed to save them. Some were damn near severed. I just created a splint and used velco straps kind of like setting your leg with a compound fracture, nice thought huh? : ) It works a lot of the time. I don't know about duct tape. Wouldn't have been my first choice because of the adhesive. If you keep it back together it may be fine. The ones I have fixed just create like a knot of new growth were the fused back together. You'll know soon if it will work since anything after the break won't be getting water and lose turgor pressure and wilt. Good luck!

Wow! Great job mitchnc!

No flowers or buds! It's just a real pretty houseplant.

I understand the hesitation to get excited. Definitely looks like good things are coming though.

Nothing wilted overnight. But it's due for a water change and I'm nervous about disturbing it. I may just have to top it off.

It's really hard to work with the plant in its broken state. Just trying to get in and take a water sample disturbs it.

If I just go ahead and cut it off, can I root it in another bucket?

I have kept tomato plants all winter in closet by just cutting and rooting. No not crazy just thought to see if it would live after main plant was through fruiting last year. So yes it will root and fairly quick too. I shove in rock wool or even a cup with water give about a week or so.

Awesome! So I can put it through a net cup directly into nute solution in a 5 gallon bucket?

Do everything you can to prevent the leaves from giving up water and dropping off. Maybe keep a plastic bag over it and air it out once a day.

I'm wondering if something like Super Bloom would get things moving?

I would thing something root oriented would help. Maybe a voice of experience will chime in here :-)

The guy at the garden center said that I should cut back on nutes to stress it.

Stress what? The plant not flowering?

Yeah.

We have...flowers! :)

Yay!

Congrats. What do you think did it?

Either cutting the nutes in half, or was just it's time. Oh, I also started an oscillating fan on all my plants last week. Two hours twice a day.

Yes! Air flow. I know I have mentioned that at least a dozen times ; ) Oh, and I would leave it on all the time if possible. Helps with thigmomorphogenesis. I have no idea if I spelled that correctly. Basically the plants response to wind is to stay shorter and develop thicker stems and that helps with overall nute transport. It will also help with evaporation causing the plants to uptake more water and again help with uptake as well as you need air exchange. Replacing the air around the plants ensures better access to CO2.

"Helps with thigmomorphogenesis"

Showoff! :)

I'm pretty sure I killed the cutting by overfeeding. Shame, because it sprouted lots of roots. But my other three (Homestead, Ace 55, Large Cherry) seem to be doing great. Unfortunately I didn't know enough to choose determinate varieties, so I may end up with a jungle.

I need to top off my tomato plant's solution.
Since it is showing flower buds, do I want to cut back on N?

As a reminder, I'm using GH micro/gro/bloom.
What recipe should I use at this stage?

You gonna top up with nutes? I thought you were a water change guy ; p

If it works for you.....

Topping up like I do is largely about timing. You also need to track nute usage for said timing and be able to calculate the ppms and dilution ratios with those additions. I top up with fresh water in between nute additions. My tomato plants typically go about 2 weeks between nute additions. Top ups in between every other day with fresh water only.

Ok. So since I haven't been tracking that, am I better of doing a full water/nute change for this round of plants just to be safe? And if so, what recipe? It's really not a big deal to toss the whole bucket.

I need to take better notes. I've been doing it sporadically but not with enough detail. I loves me a good spreadsheet! Lol

I really appreciate all your help and advice. I don't mind that this science is a little difficult, but when you fail you've lost months. And we're not getting younger.

I would just do regular changes for now. The bloom recipe from your Flora series 3-part is decent. You could just use that and that would keep me from complicating things ; ) I have found it to be on the heavy side though so go half of what they recommend and see where that puts the concentration. You can always up it from there. If you're using tap water, I don't remember, don't worry about adding any epsom or cal-mag for now. Your tap water most likely has it.

Thanks! Will do. Their transition to bloom is 2-2-2 (tsp/gallon) and bloom is 1-2-3. I'll do a half dose and measure.

Using GH 1-2-3 ratio and cutting that in half yielded over 900 ppm! So I diluted it down to about 550. No other additions.

Tons of flower buds. Doesn't mean they won't drop off but I'll cross that bridge.

So this plant got huge before I did anything to promote flowering, assuming that's what did it.

I have three more tomato plants that are growing fast. I plan to cage them tomorrow. At what size should I intervene if they haven't flowered? They're about a foot tall now.

Let them do their thing. I don't switch over to a new mix until I start to see the first buds. Look at the GH feed schedule and you can see why it is the way it is. Vegetative growth is higher on N and lower P and K. Aggressive veg even higher N. Transitioning into bloom, when you start to see buds, P and K get raised. Blooming and ripening, K get raised P stays about the same.

More N in the beginning for overall growth. Higher P and K when it start to flower. Raising of K further for fruiting. It can be simplified like this...there are higher N requirements for vegetative growth, P helps with flowering and K helps with fruit production, specifically starch and sugar production.

A lot of what you read is weed focused where you are forcing bloom by changing lighting and/or nute variables. Tomatoes aren't like that. If the conditions are good they will start to flower when they are ready. It's when they start that you will need to start to address the higher P and K requirements to avoid issues like blossom drop and poorly developed and tasteless fruit.

This is the branch that broke off a couple weeks ago. I put it into its own bucket, and just like you guys said...

So now that my one tomato plant has lots of buds, and some of them are opening up as we speak, do I need to get additional products, or will my micro/gro/bloom accomplish the rest of the grow?

Hmmm. Efficient leave coverage it SEEMS.

Light burn is light burn though.

Also red wavelengths = fruit.

Yeah, this clone has very few flowers but it's mother is fruiting like mad. All my other tomatoes are as well.

so ur saying cloning sux. fine by me.