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Post by tonydedo on Jul 15, 2020 18:20:29 GMT -5
AeroGarden puts multiple seeds in each pod, and if more than one sprout they instruct you to snip out the smaller plants at the base of the stem. But when my first project sprouted three beautiful mega cherry tomato plants from one pod, I couldn't bring myself to kill off two of them; this is not China, there is no one-child policy in my garden. So I carefully pulled two of the three and shuffled them through various hastily rigged systems until they eventually made their way into a second-hand Farm XL that I recently acquired. Thirty days later, and they're actually flowering more generously than the original plant! Side note: why does AeroGarden call these "mega cherry tomatoes?" After 60 days the original plant is only 8" high, and the replanted sprouts are 6". These came in the "jumbo veggies seed pod kit," that AeroGarden says requires a tall (Bounty or Farm) garden. I would have expected a bit bigger plant. Any thoughts?  A second bell pepper plant also sprouted in the original garden, but it did not travel as well as its tomato neighbors; while living in an over-filled DWC system it developed dark purple, almost black splotches all over its leaves. I replanted it in the Farm XL and it seems to be growing, albeit painstakingly slowly, nowhere as quickly as the original plant. I'm seeing the beginning of flowers up on the top of the plant, but the dark splotches are still there. I assumed the splotches were because I over-watered it, and after a week in the Farm I was kinda expecting them to go away. Any thoughts?  And for those of you playing the home game, I planted a half dozen heirloom cherry tomatoes and two bell peppers in the other side of the garden the same time I re-planted the tomatoes and peppers. This is all part of my Covid Victory Garden.  |
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Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
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Post by Sher on Jul 15, 2020 19:12:44 GMT -5
I love the idea of a COVID Victory Garden!
As for the mega tomatoes, I don't know. I've never grown them. Someone else should jump in soon with an answer for you.
I also love saving the extra babies in pods if I have somewhere to put them. Most do well.
As for your purple pepper, the top looks healthy. I would remove all the damaged leaves. New shoots will come out of the sides and you should end up with a nice, bushy shaped plant.
I love following your posts. Always enjoyable reading!
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Post by tonydedo on Jul 22, 2020 20:17:42 GMT -5
I took Sher's advice and pruned back the purple pepper, and it's now growing nice and strong. Thanks! I think I'll call it Prince, the pepper formerly known as Purple.  The tomatoes are also flourishing; curiously they're shorter and denser than the original plant, but have better fruit set. I find this unusual because I topped the original plant, but not these extra sprouts. I would have expected the topped plant to be shorter and have denser fruit, and these un-topped plants to be taller and less dense. Did I get that backwards? I also had a tomato and pepper in an outside container that was far from optimal, so I threw them in the empty spots in this garden to see how they'd do. So far, it's not looking good. Oh well, you can't save them all... |
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Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
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Post by Sher on Jul 22, 2020 21:50:48 GMT -5
tonydedo "Prince, the pepper formerly known as Purple."  I'm so glad the pepper is thriving! I also am very interested in your tomato experiences. I rooted two cuttings of my tomatoes, and they have strong, two-inch roots now. I had decided to not top them when I replant them just to see what happens. I'm curious to see if mine respond backwards, too.
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Post by tonydedo on Jul 26, 2020 21:30:54 GMT -5
Prince the Formerly Purple Pepper is thriving, and his tomato buddies look pretty good too. It's hard to tell from the picture, but there's no sign of the black/purple coloration on the leaves and he seems to be thriving. The tomatoes are doing alright, but they stopped growing at about 6" and are no longer flowering. Now I know some of you are going to jump in and tell me 6" is plenty and size doesn't matter, but I'm not quite satisfied.  Both plants have developed a thick, tough canopy of dense, dry leaves, but I noticed under the canopy there were some fresh, green leaves and even a couple flowers on the plant on the left. I know you're not supposed to top a tomato plant this far along (it's been 70+ days) and topping it is supposed to stop it from growing upward. But I'm getting more comfortable with experimenting, so I hacked away that top layer and we'll just have to see how it does. If nothing else, it will make harvesting those top few tomatoes a little easier.  Post script: the little pepper and tomato in the back that I transplanted from outside aren't looking so good. We'll give them another couple weeks, but I think it was too little, too late. *Bring out your dead* |
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Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
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Post by Sher on Jul 26, 2020 22:24:02 GMT -5
Glad you are getting more comfortable hacking away a too-dense canopy. I have kept plants from holding too much condensation and mildewing by doing that.
I am still enjoying your gardening exploits!
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Post by tonydedo on Aug 4, 2020 15:13:12 GMT -5
This project is taking off! I'm thinking I planted a little too much and I'm going to need to shift things around soon. Five tomatoes and three peppers is probably too much for the garden on the left, and the Pepper Formerly Known As Purple is going to start overshadowing the tomatoes soon. Fortunately I have those replacement Bounty gardens that AG sent me, which are still sitting in the box. In the back you see a gathering of misfit vegetable plants: the four weakest zucchini plants that didn't go into my DIY garden (more on that later), a pepper plant my son insisted on buying from Walmart, which turned out to be four plants in one pot and are going to make up for the lack of peppers in my first project, and two cutting from an outside tomato plants I decided to play with. The back garden is still empty; I expect to plant sometime in September to round out my Corona Victory Garden winter harvest.  |
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Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
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Post by Sher on Aug 4, 2020 15:38:52 GMT -5
It's looking good, Tony!
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