Grow Guy

Winter is over, the weather is starting to warm up and I finally cleared out my dutch buckets ready for the new growing season. An early start will mean that I can experiment with more types of vegetables and different growing methods this season.

My courtyard does not get enough sunlight in winter to grow throughout the year but I thought it would be interesting to show how the root structure from last seasons tomato plants. The roots are very fine without a strong taproot and spread throughout the vermiculite and pearlite mix. Initially I thought my buckets might be a bit small for tomato's but I am going to reuse them for tomato's again this season as well as other plants. Surprisingly the mix was still moist despite having not been watered for a couple of months which shows how effectively vermiculite retains moisture.

Things I struggled with last time include powdery mildew, red spider mites and poor accessibility to the plants. Planting too close together resulted in pests and disease spreading very quickly and the poor access meant that I could not treat the plants with spray effectively.

Due to the low height of my greenhouse roof I am going to grow my tomato's in the open courtyard this time where height and access to the plants is not restricted. I will be covering the buckets with lids to stop and excess water from entering the system rather than the layer of stones I used previously.

I let my suckers get all out of control and had to really cut back my tomato plants. They were really smothering each other and I just could not get the spider mites under control using organic pesticide. Thinning the plants to allow more airflow seemed worth a try. I asked at the local nursary and they said the lower winter temperatures and rain should also help as spider mites don't like winter months.

So what is a sucker and why should they be removed? There are two types of growths off the plants main stem. One produces the leaves and the fruit and the other grows another stem that produces fruit and more suckers. Allowing suckers to grow means that the plant has to use more nutrients for growth when means less for fruit production. I have seen a few growers online that grow single stem plants that produce an amazing amount of fruit. Check out this video over on Bobby's MHPGardner channel

I noticed fine silky webs with red specs on my plants for the first time this morning. A quick look on the interweebs and they are Red Spider Mites! An early sign of these pests is the plant leaves start to turn a speckled yellow or white. This is because spider mites sit on the underside of the leaf and sip the plant fluid removing the chlorophyll. More advanced signs are a silky web appears on the leaves with small red insects and they can cause real damage if left unchecked. There are various ways of dealing with them. One way is to create a humid environment with good airflow which will prevent spider mites from appearing and the other is to use a insect spray. I opted for an organic insect spray made from canola oil and garlic and applied it to the plants but in the future I will try the preventative approach by ensuring good airflow and humidity.

More about spider mites:

• They like courtyards where the climate is hot and dry, if you have a greenhouse in the courtyard they like than even better.
• They like plants that are placed up against the wall where airflow is restricted.
• Can hatch in as little as 3 days. 
• Become sexually mature in as little as 5 days.
• Can live between 2 and 4 weeks laying 200 eggs a day. 
• One female can lay up to 20 eggs per day and can live for 2 to 4 weeks, laying hundreds of eggs.
• Accelerated reproductive rate allows spider mite populations to adapt quickly to resistent pesticides.

I noticed that a few of my tomatoes had black bottoms. By my understanding this is from inconsistent watering where the calcium is not reaching the fruit (My grow solution may also be too weak for the plants at this stage in the growth cycle). There are other factors that may cause this problem but I have been a little irregular with my watering so it seems a likely cause. Why have I been irregular with my watering? I collect my water from a nearby spring a short distance travel by car but sometimes the plants draw the solution up really fast. There were a couple of occasions when the plants went without water for a day or two at a time. I thought that I may have been over watering them so I was not really too concerned if they had occaision to dry out. Obviously this was incorrect so I will chalk it down as a lesson learn't. The affected fruit is generally higher up on the stem which supports that the calcium is not reaching the fruit  Any affected fruit should be removed as there is not way to save it.

Urban Agriculture is the growing of food in or around a village, town or city. Food security, food safety and income generation are all key motivations for the practice. Direct access to fresh fruit, and vegetables through urban agriculture can improve food security and food safety. Urban Agriculture has a long history from the Egyptians through both WWI, WW2 and the depressions that followed. So what is the difference between food security and food safety? 

Food security has to do with the on going availability of food. This has existed throughout history and often food has been stored for times of famine. The term 'food security' was only established as a formal concept at the World Food Conference in 1974,

Food safety is specifically around the handling, preparation and storage of food. I am particularly interested in trying to avoid pesticide and herbicide residues that might be found on the fruit and vegetables that we buy in stores.

My tomatoes are ripening enough for me to pick a couple every two days. The sizes vary but they are a good round shape, have a nice smooth skin, and they taste great! I have not had any issues with bugs and the mildew seems to be under control. The plants are still producing new leaves and I am trimming off the dead leaves as they dry out. There are a couple of things that I will change in the system next time but overall I am happy. I think I placed the buckets to close together which I think might have an effect on the amount of fruit that is produced but I willI keep a record of the daily harvest and I will post the figures once the plants have stopped producing fruit. I probably could have been more aggressive with the grow solution but I will only know once someone tells me if the plants underproduced or not?

I noticed that a couple of my tomatoes are finally turning red and rippening. I am actually going to taste one in the next day or two. The leaves on the lower parts of the stem have started to turn brown and die. I think is the natural growth cycle of the plants because there is new growth on the upper stems of the plants. All of the red fruit is on the lower section of the plants and the higher sections have lots of flowers so I hope that once I pick the ripe fruit some of the nutrients will then start to produce fruit on the rest of the plant.