Fan Leafs. Blockers of Light Or Energy Producers???

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edyah

Well-Known Member
Don't know what part of the country you live in but after 40 years of growing tomatoes, we have the holy grail showcased at the 2012 San Antonio Rodeo, a selection chosen out of 4,500 varieties - "Rodeo" aka BHN 602. Second place for me is "Big Beef", 3rd is "Celebrity". "Juliet" is a fine big tomato taste, grape tomato. I don't like heirlooms for what I consider a lack of quality, disease resistance, culture (they crack, catface) or taste.

UB
I live in hot and humid Florida. Last year I grew the Ferris Morris Co. heirloom Brandy Wine tomatoes (5 plants), and a few of the Ferris Morris heirloom Cherry tomato kind, all out side. And Uncle Ben, let me tell you it was a hot mess! The sun beat down on them all day and one buy one I plucked scald tomatoes off stretchy, saggy, pitiful plants. I got pretty good and pitching them into a scrap pile, into the strike zone. Being thrown like baseballs (that was actually pretty fun though, ha)

I ended up, no kidding with two measly cherry tomatoes to eat. That's all. Bon appetit ? I was totally in the dark growing with no knowledge or understanding. I used General Hydroponic Flora Grow, Flora Micro and Flora bloom series, mixing the water with the recommendations on the back per its chart ratios. The soil was amended about 3 feet down with overpriced Fox Farm's Ocean Forest(wow newb).

Next to that crop line I had 4 Northern Light Feminized Auto Flowering mutts. They got about 6 inches high and yielded a few grams. Totally pitiful. I know now that a myraid of problems caused such a weak plant; chiefly my newb mindset. The heat, the humidity the poor soil amended in a sandy Florida ground. etc...


2012 San Antonio Rodeo, a selection chosen out of 4,500 varieties - "Rodeo" aka BHN 602. Second place for me is "Big Beef", 3rd is "Celebrity". "Juliet" is a fine big tomato taste, grape tomato.
I did a quick search and the San Antonio Rodeo seems like an amazing time and place to reveal your work. Wow, Juliet seems tasty as no other. I absolutely love the pungent smell of tomato on the vine. It's amazing. The top 3 out of 45 hundred...I could imagine. Send me a few seeds brah!

I am moving from the outdoors to inside. I have a 40 sf room (with another 20 if need be) perfect for my 1000 watt and hood. With two windows, one for a window a/c to help control the factors. I plan on growing my tests inside, as the elements outside kicked my butt up and down last spring/summer. Armed with a little knowledge or understanding and after reading for hours/days your posts across the interwebs I am confident more than ever that not only will I have relative success, but I will have so much fun at the same time. (ordering Mel Frank's book once I can swing it).

The tomato plant will be mixed in the MJ crop and i will be paying close attention.

I'm considering using Jack's 20-20-20 classic or MG genearl 9-3-6 feed. Maybe use both to see what works to my pot mix. Good stuff.

peace
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Congratulations, you managed to make a post without using the edit function.
Actually my avatar picture is evil Spock, not sure who Dr Spock is

Top tip > The fewer words you type the fewer error's you will make.

Now this is going to complicate things even further for you
this is Nazi Spock




peace
Nice makeup. Do you hold your hand up with your little pinky bent too?

I seriously doubt if you are old enough to have watched any of the original Star Trek series. Your avatar is the original Dr. Spock.

Troll on...at warp speed.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
I live in hot and humid Florida. Last year I grew the Ferris Morris Co. heirloom Brandy Wine tomatoes (5 plants), and a few of the Ferris Morris heirloom Cherry tomato kind, all out side. And Uncle Ben, let me tell you it was a hot mess! The sun beat down on them all day and one buy one I plucked scald tomatoes off stretchy, saggy, pitiful plants. I got pretty good and pitching them into a scrap pile, into the strike zone. Being thrown like baseballs (that was actually pretty fun though, ha)
Your sandy soil will need to be amended with compost. Hot weather maters are Rodeo, Big Beef, Heatwave, Solar Fire, and Sunmaster and most cherry or grape tomatoes like Sweet 100 or Juliet. Being in Texas, I know all about mastering the heat issues.

Jack's 20-20-20 will be fine both on maters and pot. Understanding what you're working with first sure helps to understand where you need to go regarding plant nutrition. Send soil samples off to the U. of Florida for an analysis. Money well spent. For example, my outdoor veggie bed showed an excess of P, so the Aggie lab tech recommended NO organics or synthetics with P in it, only N.

UB
 
UB...I demand you never leave this forum again! Lol...jk.....im glad to hear from you Unc. Seriously though,folks like me need you and I'm glad to get your advice whenever I can get it. That said....how did that Citrus FEed work out for you? I remember you saying you got a little of that to test it out.
 
When I was making the 3rd back cross to the Thunderstuck clone (Bill Wonder made the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th and 6th back crosses). One of the specimens was fairly leafy. And while the plants weren't that big. There was a fair size grow tip at the center base of the plant which was receiving no or little light.

When I pulled it out, it began to bloom with ferocity. Obviously there was a huge difference, with what the bottom buds were doing, with little light as oppossed to more light.

Here's a comparison shot of the Vito clone and a 2nd back crosser to the TS clone, where I found the light deprived tip. Actually this probably isn't the exact 2nd back crosser, but it was one of them that was in the set.

wonder6.jpg The Vito clone on the right, while it looks compariable to the plant on the left. The vito clone due to very heavy resination, weighed in at about almost 4 times the weight, to 2nd back crosser on the right. (<=these were flowered under fluroscent lighting only)
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
UB...I demand you never leave this forum again! Lol...jk.....im glad to hear from you Unc. Seriously though,folks like me need you and I'm glad to get your advice whenever I can get it. That said....how did that Citrus FEed work out for you? I remember you saying you got a little of that to test it out.
Haven't tried it on pot, does well with other tropicals.

Thanks for the kind words.....

Grow hard,
UB
 
I was looking for something with a little less P in it but I take it the 20-20-20 peters formula is perfectly fine for vegging?Did that have the necessary macros and micros in it? You gotta let us know how that goes if you decide to test that citrus FEed on pot plants.I was looking forward to that. Grow On

Marley
 

Slab

Well-Known Member
Have we come to a decision? Do leaves block or absorb light?
i pulled most of the leaves offa my plants in anticipation.
Wait, did I fuck up? Will the plant grow them back?
it blocks 5% for itself, reflects and transmitts the rest., keep in mind not every leaf is the same. the lower leaves are different internally. with offsetting leaves and the different blades counts on each one is perfection for absorbtion.

solar panel manufacts. could learn something.


Uncle Ben is a great professor, he gives out homework with no time limits!

and to you weirdos, go fly a kite

in traffic
 

Bud Brewer

Well-Known Member
Go back twenty page's it's been proven only far red gets thru a bit.

Uncle Bmeat proved himself wrong again by putting up a link he didn't read showing very little usable light gets past.
 

Alexander Supertramp

Well-Known Member
Don't know what part of the country you live in but after 40 years of growing tomatoes, we have the holy grail showcased at the 2012 San Antonio Rodeo, a selection chosen out of 4,500 varieties - "Rodeo" aka BHN 602. Second place for me is "Big Beef", 3rd is "Celebrity". "Juliet" is a fine big tomato taste, grape tomato. I don't like heirlooms for what I consider a lack of quality, disease resistance, culture (they crack, catface) or taste.

UB
Tomatoes are "Red Gold" for my family. Had one "plot" yield 60.3 tons per acre last year. Its the row crop I like best...
 

Figong

Well-Known Member
Go back twenty page's it's been proven only far red gets thru a bit.

Uncle Bmeat proved himself wrong again by putting up a link he didn't read showing very little usable light gets past.
Yup, far-red does quite well - It can easily penetrate top canopy, and is part of the reason that the red to far-red ratio needs to to be kept in check control stretching, or to induce it (based on what you're doing) Tis just one of the many reasons why a plant may stretch more under HPS than MH, as well. The HPS has more far-red in it.
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Don't know what part of the country you live in but after 40 years of growing tomatoes, we have the holy grail showcased at the 2012 San Antonio Rodeo, a selection chosen out of 4,500 varieties - "Rodeo" aka BHN 602. Second place for me is "Big Beef", 3rd is "Celebrity". "Juliet" is a fine big tomato taste, grape tomato. I don't like heirlooms for what I consider a lack of quality, disease resistance, culture (they crack, catface) or taste.

UB
Tomatoes are "Red Gold" for my family. Had one "plot" yield 60.3 tons per acre last year. Its the row crop I like best...
Go troll somewhere else. Final warning.
 

Slab

Well-Known Member
Go back twenty page's it's been proven only far red gets thru a bit.

Uncle Bmeat proved himself wrong again by putting up a link he didn't read showing very little usable light gets past.
What it stated was that the leaf absorbs 90%. What "gets past" is half, the rest gets reflected.

-
 

mufastaa

Active Member
I think there are many benefits to removing leaves indoors where light is limited.

If they are well below the canopy and not near a budsite, i think it takes more water/nutrients to keep the leaf alive than it gets from the leaf.

Also removing these leaves helps airflow a lot, in my case removing lower leaves is necessary to keep RH below 50-60%.

I think an important fact is that every green part (buds too)of the plant contains photosynthesizing parts, and when buds are in direct light they obviously get much fatter(everyone should know this), and removing leaves is sometimes the best way to keep them in the light.

when removing leaves i keep in mind that like most plants, new leaves are much more efficient energy producers, and they are usually smaller so not a problem. All that being said I keep as many leaves as i can.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Tomatoes are "Red Gold" for my family. Had one "plot" yield 60.3 tons per acre last year. Its the row crop I like best...
Dats alot of speecie spiceey meataballa!

Gave my wife's surgeon and his crew about 10 lbs. of vine ripened maters today in exchange for a cortizone shot for her. ;) Yields are quite surprising too considering I left all the leaves on the plants. You'd think that according to conventional noobie wisdom they would have yielded far less.

UB
 

keebo3000

Well-Known Member
[video=youtube;xYq7CuVpAeo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYq7CuVpAeo[/video]

I know many started out on the grow bible..
for outside grows of course.... ed rosenthal, who writes about indoor cultivation says different. he says trim for circulation and light penatration
 
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