by matt.ohara

Question by pompanojack: Hydroponic growing tomatoes?
When starting tomato plants from seed, at what point are they ready to place in the container they will be grown in? Must the roots have become long enough to reach the bottom of the container?

Best answers:

Answer by endless_cash
Assuming that you are using an ebb and flow system, the roots need to be long enough to touch nutrients during flow (when the tray is full). The roots do not have to be touching the bottom of the tray.

by The Kozy Shack

Question by john m: Why are the lower leaves of my tomatoes dieing?
My hydroponic tomatoes are growing very fast, and are adding new leaves almost daily. but as the new leaves come in the old leaves are start to wilt ,and die at the tips. why are they doing this, and what will happen once the growing slows, will they lose all of there leaves.
They are growing indoors as a constant 82F throughout the day, and room temp at night.

Best answers:

Answer by Charlie
Not sure where you are John but your plants could have a fungus disease like fusarium wilt or some other fungal disease. It’s a common disease of tomatoes and there isn’t much you can do for it except to make sure you buy resistant varieties. If you know the variety you can check with a plant expert at your local college or contact your County Agent for assistance.

by Gardening in a Minute

Question by james r: difficulty/questions growing hydroponic tomatoes?
im contemplating starting to grow hydroponic tomatoes and i would just like to know what i am getting into. i will hopefully have a 400 watt HPS and MH bulb along with an ebb and flow system and nutes etc. how hard is it to grow tomatoes? i have a whole room for it and the ceiling is about 9 feet tall, although i wouldnt wanna get the plants larger than 5-6 feet. do you all know of some easy strains to grow and some general tips? thanks

Best answers:

Answer by JoyceB
I found some answers on hydroponic gardens and some helpful articles at this site.

Answer by bilberrybrian
Tomatoes are a fairly straightforward and forgiving plant to begin with. I would recommend growing determinate cultivars over indeterminate cultivars, though it sounds like you have a fairly tall ceiling so it could go either way for you. If needed you could just top off an indeterminate vine if it were to grow too tall. Explanation of the difference between determinate and indeterminate:

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/tomato/2000082337022708.html

list of cultivars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tomato_cultivars

Grow whatever cultivar that you enjoy the taste of and manage the plant as needed. Sounds like you have some fairly nice equipment, good luck!

Question by Austin: Can I grow hydroponic tomatoes with 2″ net cups.?
I want to grow them start to finish in the 2″ net cups.

Best answers:

Answer by bluepeahen
Yes, you can.

Answer by overserved
lol i was wondering the same thing. Have you already set up your hydroponic PVC set up? i would like to chat about what you are planning because i am doing the same thing. overserved@yahoo.com. my name is rick. i am thinking about makeing a vertical hydroponic system. much like the one at walt disney world but on a realistic scale.

by matt.ohara

Question by Steve in NC: Anyone know anything about hydroponic tomatoes? Greenhouse grown?
Looking for a good chemical mixture for the water, specifically for tomatoes in a greenhouse. Thanks

Best answers:

Answer by subcrete42
just make some compost and make “compost tea”…just get some old pantyhose and use them like a teabag, put a bunch of compost in it, and stick it in a big barrel of water. after awhile, the nutrients will have leached out into the water, packed with everything your plants need.

plus this is organic…you don’t want to eat a bunch of “chemicals”

Answer by Yen P
The guys at CropKing know a lot about this stuff, and they have literature for what ever you need as well:

www.cropking.com

If you need affordable but advance environmental controls for your greenhouse, check us out (www.link4corp.com). Email me for more information info@link4corp.com

Answer by what’sthis4
Hi,
Take a look here, I found all kinds of help here for my hydroponic questions:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/hydro/

http://www.wikihow.com/Feed-Plants-in-a-Hydroponics-System-the-Easy-Way

http://www.alternativegarden.com/

Hope this helps you,
Dave