Live Stoner Chat Live Stoner Chat - Jan-Mar '24

[Blue_dreamer]

Nothin better than sun grown tomatoes in healthy dirt! I'm in raised beds, but only have a 10 x 20' fenced in space. Shit load of dear around here that eat anything and everything. So, somewhat limited on space. Will be doing a few trellis this year for the first time with inderterminate tomatoes(sun gold) and others) , beans, sugar snaps, and maybe those Kamari melons. Will be interesting to see how much space it saves

Saw some guy online that was using those totes with dirt sort of like an earthbox. He drilled a bunch of holes in 3", sunk them to the bottom on one end and filled with dirt/compost. He was growing tomatoes that had an exterior trellis. Amazing the quantity he was able to pull!

Are you sprouting indoors with a heat mat?

Yeah, I sprout indoors on a heat mat. Last year I just used 2" netcups with coco in them. But I'm not doing hydro this year, so I'll probably just get some knockoff rapid rooter plugs. I'll get things started towards the end of February. That will give me 8-10 weeks to start everything indoors.

This year I'm going to do less tomato plants, but I'm going to try letting 2-3 suckers grow out per plant at the root of the plant. I watched some videos about maximizing yield, and they found that if you like 2 suckers grow when the plant is young, you can close to triple your harvest. You just trim the branches off the sucker for a little ways, and then let it grow up another trellis like its its own plant.

 

[Fermented_Fruitz]

I also have some everglades tomatoes that I'm going to plant on my fence line. Apparently they are like the proto-tomato that every other tomato has hence come from. They are super small cherry tomatoes. I'm going to plant them on my back fence line on my chain link fence in the backyard so they have something to climb on and see what happens. I had some seeds last year and I could not get a single damn one of them to sprout. I tried everything. I finally messaged the guy on ebay and was like hey man, what gives? He said they grow wild on his property and he just goes out and collects seeds and maybe I just got some off a sterile plant or something, so he sent me another 20 or so seeds.

But I am REALLY looking forward to those Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomatoes.

I am debating how I want to do my garden this year. Last year I grew everything in Kratky hydroponics and used Masterblend nutrients. Same stuff I use on my weed. They grew fantastic, but both me and my wife noticed the tomatoes were just missing "something". They were good. Better than store bought. But just not as good as non-hydroponic tomatoes. So I think I'm going to do things more naturally this year.

I've been debating about building some raised beds. But I really like using totes and buckets because then I can re-arrange my garden however I feel like each year. And I already have 10 of those 27 gallon rubbermaid totes, and they are only $8 each at Costco right now. Drill a few holes in the bottom, put down a layer of landscape fabric and fill it with compost.

 

[JP1]

Yeah, you can get 20 gallon grow bags for like $4 a piece. I'm not seeing a ton of benefit in raised beds besides "it looks nicer."

Definitely looks nice but they can turn into jungles. Also tends to attract a lot of mildew and bugs. Wife mostly grows flowers in them now and bunches of other stuff in containers so we can move them around

 

[Blue_dreamer]

View attachment 1662539

This is shockingly accurate.

 

[JP1]

We don’t have basements in the south! Maybe a tornado shelter in the back yard if its an older house!

Why is that? Just about all single family homes have basements here. And they're very convenient when they're not flooded

 

[Cerebral Goo]

We put in 4 4x4 and 4 4x8 raised beds about 18" deep a couple years ago. It's a ton of dirt and needed a bobcat to fill them. Too much soil to grow tomatoes in. The plants get so big they collapse onto themselves unless you're gonna trellis them

Most determinate tomatoes won't get that much larger than a big tomato cage. The inderminates go apeshit! Another great thing about our "hobby" is learning how to train plants!!!

 

[Blue_dreamer]

Definitely looks nice but they can turn into jungles. Also tends to attract a lot of mildew and bugs. Wife mostly grows flowers in them now and bunches of other stuff in containers so we can move them around

My wife likes to grow giant sunflowers along one side of our house.

 

[Fermented_Fruitz]

Definitely looks nice but they can turn into jungles. Also tends to attract a lot of mildew and bugs. Wife mostly grows flowers in them now and bunches of other stuff in containers so we can move them around

Ya its almost a waste doing veggies here! So hot if u dont start with decent sized plants in spring u will have the summer heat and uncontrollable insect invasions to where getting a harvest is a bitch! Unfortunately 99% of beneficial insects don’t hunt above 90F so in summertime a good spraying regimen is all u can do but its a bitch cuz shit that kills mites may not kill aphids so requires tons of spraying! Plus most u need low temps so gotta wake up at 6am to spray veggies i am never gonna eat! No thank u

 

[Fermented_Fruitz]

Why is that? Just about all single family homes have basements here. And they're very convenient when they're not flooded

We have attics instead i guess!

Def not convenient and get hot af and can give bugs a place to hide!

 

[Cannaficionado]

Ive been trying to get something like this for a week now