Bush Beefsteak tomatoes growing hydroponically.

So far I am happy with my choice of the bush beefsteak variety to grow hydroponically in the greenhouse.

I was beginning to wonder if they would ever get out of the flowering stage and begin setting fruit. The plants had only flowers for several weeks, and even though I misted and tapped the trusses, they just would not set fruit.

My gardening book advises that you should not train or terminate the growing tip of bush type plants. However, for beefsteak tomatoes it advises to let seven trusses set and terminate the growing tip.

Here I am with a bush beefsteak. What the heck am I supposed to do with that?

At last I decided that I had enough flowers, and if they all eventually set there would be plenty of tomatoes. So I pinched off the growing tips two leafs beyond the last truss. Now the plants are setting fruit from top to bottom. There are still a few open flowers, however, there are plenty of tomatoes forming.

I am growing four plants in Autopots, and they are slurping up a gallon of nutrients a day. Presently I am using a TDS of about 2800 with a pH of 6.5 or so.


I had hoped to have tomatoes by the first of July, but it does not look like that is going to be the case this year. In any event, I expect that there will be plenty of tomatoes.

In mid-March I started Best Boy, Black Cherry and Glory Hybrid plants for the soil garden. They were grown hydroponically in coco coir and perlite and planted in the garden in on May 14, 2009. I noticed that the plants stressed for several days when the sun was shining on them. I misted them several times in the afternoon, and they bounced back quickly. Now, the root systems have developed and they are growing quickly. Each time I empty a hydroponic system I pour the used nutrients on the tomatoes. As I usually only go two weeks between changes, there are plenty of nutrients remaining for the garden plants to absorb.

Today I planted a drip ring system with Large Cherry, and two self watering pots with Tiny Tim tomatoes. I intend to bring these plants inside at the end of the growing season to grow under lights. Plan ahead....