Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thats also high humidty and not enough air movement TC.

So are you actually seeing any signs of deficiencies?

Also Tomatoes are day-neutral plants, so they don't flower according to the amount of darkness they get, they flower due to how old they are. Is the soil-based tomato the same variety and age as the one in your AP system? Some varieties flower quicker then others. Also, what is the mean temp and humidity in your area?

Do you have enough phosphorous for your fruit to set? Phosphorous is the primary nutrient for fruit/flower development, potassium plays a role, but more so in the development of temps. Nitrogen is primarily for foliage growth. Magnesium is paired with phosphorous for fruit development.

Please give me more details and I can diagnose your problem.

I have noticed a couple of fruit on the ox hearts but much better fruiting on the tiny toms. Since the tiny toms usually come in earlier than other tomatoes I suspect it is a temperature problem. The earth garden is way ahead in fruit on both types as the soil is warmer, this system mean to stay cold for the trout the average water temp is about 18c.

After the loss of most of my fish nutrients may have been part of the problem but I have had good levels of nitrates all along, and I have always added some seasol. After kogane mentioned the phosphorous it got me thinking seasol contains virtually none so maybe he is right. I am now adding a little humonia which is a good source of phos.

Judging by the size of the plants that would be a resounding yes!! The first thing that would have happened is that the toms would have been short and stunted.

Are the grow beds on brick pavers? Is the air temp around them likely to be significantly higher than the dirt garden? Is the dirt garden mulched?

You could also have an issue with copper - copper affects pollen production - so even with a plentiful supply of bees to pollinate for you nothing will happen anyway.

Interested in the temp difference between the dirt garden and the AP beds.

Chatty

I think this is the main issue, the AP system is for trout so I keep temps down. Water is now averaging about 20c and I am starting to see much better fruit set. I am also picking ripe tom thumbs from the growbed. I have not measured but I believe the dirt garden would be 22c - 23c average. Air temps would be very similar. Dirt garden is mulched but is a bit short on water. Recent hot winds have burned the bottom of ripening roma's right off.

I reckon that'll be your answer there. Toms will cook pretty easily.

Does the dirt garden get the same amount of sunlight each day? Is it in a more or less exposed position than the AP beds?

Chatty

Obviously the problem has been solved, but I'd like bring a point up.

He said that a lot of his fish had died off, so its possible that the tomato's grew and then fish died, thus phosphorous levels dropped sometime into development.

Either way, glad to hear you solve the problem

The roma's are in the dirt garden, they were setting fruit very well but water is an issue, dirt and AP are within 15 feet of each other and pretty much same air and sun. The AP has no problem with water or burning.
In the end I probably wont ever know for sure what the issue was. The fish loss was a bit early to directly affect the fruit set but it may have unbalanced the system. However I have always had nitrate readings and most plants were growing fine. For example the bush beans were flowering and I was picking beans from the start of December. The main change was to pH levels they went from 6.8 to 7.6 due to buffering from the scoria and shell grit. Also the tom thumbs were setting fruit ok.

Since I increased seasol dosage and started adding about 50ml of aged urine a day the pumpkin and watermelon have shown improved growth but again this may relate to higher average temperatures as well