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Showing posts with label TOMATOES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TOMATOES. Show all posts
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
How To Ripen Your Green Tomatoes
Ideally, the best way to ripen tomatoes is always naturally on the vine. This is not always possible if they are under threat from frost as often happens.
There are many ways to encourage ripening. Here are my recommended three methods to ripen those green tomatoes:-
Pick and store method.
Bring the unripe green tomatoes into your house. Put them one layer deep in a cardboard box,(or a paper bag) with a layer of newspaper between the tomatoes. Inspect your crop regularly, when they start to colour remove the paper and store at room temperature, but not in direct sunlight. I never put my tomatoes on the windowsill to ripen as they can be scalded by the sun, or they are softened without ripening. Tomatoes ripen from the bottom up and from the inside out, not mention all those good vitamins A and C being stripped from the tomatoes as they are scaled by the sun.
Hanging upside down method.
You can dig up the vines or take them indoors if in a pot. Strip the leaves off the vines and hang from a height. This can be done in a semi heated garage or greenhouse, to ripen tomatoes (kind of)naturally on the vine. It replicates the tomatoes being left on the vine as much as possible.
Quick Ripen with fruit method.
This is by far the fastest method I have found to ripen my tomatoes. If you put your green tomatoes in a paper bag with an apple they will ripen quicker. The Ethylene gas given off by fruit will help to ripen the tomatoes quickly especially in an enclosed space such as a paper bag.
The warmer the area you keep the tomatoes in the quicker they will ripen. You can stagger ripening if you keep some in a warmer place than others. You can therefore have a longer more constant supply of tomatoes if timed correctly.
Tomatoes that are whitish, yellowish or are in the early stages of pink to red, are the ones that will ripen the first. Bright green ones are really slow to ripen and some may not get there at all!
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Thursday, December 8, 2011
How the GE Jenbacher Engine grows tomatoes.
See how the Jenbacher Engine affects your family's dinner.
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Friday, December 2, 2011
Growing Tomatoes in Hydroponics
There are seven main system designs used for growing in Hydroponics, I will introduce you to two systems that are very easy to build and run
Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
The NFT system consists of a channel, a nutrient tank, a small pump and some plumbing.
The channel is placed on an angle with the lower end of the channel over the top of the nutrient tank. The nutrient is pumped to the top of the channel where it flows back into the nutrient tank. The channel should be on a gentle slope to allow the nutrient solution to freely flow back into the tank, an angle of around 15 degrees is good.
Common materials used for the channel are plastic rainwater pipe with holes cut into it, plastic guttering or even polythene sheet folded into a triangle can be used.
I always use a small submersible pump that is placed on bottom of the nutrient tank, make sure that the pump is capable of pumping to the height of the elevated end of the channel.
The nutrient tank is preferably made of plastic and should not allow light in, light will cause algae to grow in the tank and the algae will feed on your nutrients instead of the tomato plants.
For larger NFT systems the addition of an air pump and air stone in the nutrient tank will greatly improve the oxygen absorption of the plants and maintain healthier roots.
The tomato plants will simply have their roots suspended into the nutrient solutions.
Static Solution Technique
The Static Solution Technique consists of a nutrient tank, a lid for the tank with holes drilled to fit the pots, pots filled with an aggregate like small river stones or rock wool and preferably an air pump with air stone.
The plants are planted into the pots with their roots hanging out drainage holes in the pots. The roots need to be dangling just into the nutrient solution in the tank. If the plants roots are not long enough to reach the nutrient solution simply water the pots with nutrient solution until the roots do reach, this will happen surprisingly fast.
The air pump provides air to the air stone which is placed in the bottom of the nutrient tank. The air will stop the roots rotting and will provide them with the required oxygen.
Nutrient Solution
Hydroponic nutrient solution can be purchased online or at your local garden centre or hydroponics shop. The concentration of nutrient required for tomatoes is between 22 and 28 CF. Most nutrients have a guide on the bottle of how much is required for a specific concentration. A device called a CF Meter can be purchased to allow you to precisely measure the nutrient concentration.
Planting your hydroponic system
Carefully remove your plants from their pots and gently shake off all dirt possible. Rinse the plant roots under the tap to clean off any further dirt. If you are using NFT to grow your tomatoes, simple hang the plant with is roots just into the running nutrient solution and gently tie the plants to a support. If you are using the Static Solution technique, again clean off the soil from the plant roots and place the roots through the drainage holes of the pot and fill the pot up with aggregate, the aggregate will initially provide all of the required support for the plant.
Looking after your hydroponic system
Make sure you place your system somewhere that you can easily provide support for your tomato plants, against a lattice, down-pipe or fence is ideal. tomatoes love lots of sun and will produce much sweeter juicier fruit if they have plenty of sun.
Ensure that you always have plenty of nutrient solution in your tank, the plants are totally reliant on the solution for survival. Top up with nutrient solution as required, this will vary greatly on the size of the plant, if the plant is fruiting and the air temperature.
There are lots of resources available on the internet which will provide you with a much deeper level of information. I hope this has been enough to demystify hydroponics for you and encourage you to give it a go.
Hydroponics can be a lot of fun and picking you own homegrown sweet juicy tomatoes is fantastic.
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