Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

When I get my system going i want to grow tomatoes. I have read that with airoponics and DWC that you can with some high yeild varietys get up to 20kg per plant. Has anyone ever got this? Is it a realistic figure?

I know that Joel got 9 kg's off one plant, and however much he has got off the perennial psycho tommy in the pics he has posted, but to me IMHO 20 kg sounds pretty optimistic. Would be very happy indeed with that kind of result. Reckon the key is the same with any vegies, get em in early, beat the season and win! We always aim to pick the first tommy's before christmas, which can be a stretch here in Adelaide without a greenhouse.

My view is what is the difference between getting 20kg of one plant or 10 kg of each of 2 plant, particularly if the 2 plants take up the same amount of space as the 1. I have had some plants in my time that have produced that sort of load (in soil), but they sprawled all over the place and took up heaps of room. Would have been more productive having a few trellised plants.

good point. Maybe it should be looked at as a yield per square metre

I hd cherry toms that did that to me - went all over the place, but the tiny toms were worth if for the taste!

Monya I like that idea of yield per sq meter. It would be interesting if a few people would estimate what they would get out of a 1000l system meat and veg. Maybe using the period of spring summer without climate control. This way we could get a better general idea of yield independent of location.

Hi, Someone posted a link on the forum a couple of months ago of a place here in Australia that had all sorts of tomato seeds.........not the heritage seed place ... I have searched but can't find the link.....can someone help

Muzza

www.heirloomtomatoes.bizland.com/varieties.htm

is this them muzz?

Monya,

I used to look forward to getting my first tomatoes before Xmas when I lived in South Australia, too.......then I moved to Brisbane where I'm getting those tomatoes right now. In fact, we started harvesting our first tomatoes (Black Russians) about four weeks ago.

And that's just one of the reasons we live in Queensland now.

I love black russians, that have a great flavour to them don't you think GD?

Does that mean you can growtommies without the aid of a greenhouse all year round up there by using different varieties?

I haven't grown all year round.....we cut our gardening right back in the middle of summer......the humidity and insects get too nasty. It seems that we can most of the year.

EB.....Black Russians are great once you get past the idea that tomatoes can only be red in colour. My partner devours all them that she can get her hands on.

You can grow tomatoes all year round where I am in Far North Queensland Monya, but as Gary says, the bugs in summer require a bit of thinking around...either picking green and ripening inside in a brown paper bag or using exclusion bags on the actual fruit until it ripens.

We use a combination of both as well as lures for the fruit flies.

Black Russians are great I reckon Joel, Gary, haven't grown any in a while and should do them again this year. I got on a roll where I had to try every type of heirloom tomatoe I could lay hands on...I'm nearly back to the beginning of the list now.

The Green Zebra's are another very striking non-red tomatoe, and the little yellow cherry pears look like cartoon lightbulbs...they're among my favourite non-red varieties.

The problems that we experience with gardening in Summer drive my interest in the use of greenhouses and fully controlled environments.

The problem you descrtibed GD is why I'm going with a "greenhouse". I'll explain more once I do up a thread on my system once I start it. I got a gazebo (one used to park a car under) from a garage sale for $30 and I'm going to put shade cloth on the un-covered bits and making a plastic condom (best term i could think of) to cover the lot in case of rain or cold weather in winter.

Cheers,

Duncan.