Weekend Gardening: Cherry Tomato Plants

Zwielicht · Saturday at 9:44 AM

I try to take some time to garden a few times each week.

So, I have this Aerogarden unit that I got a long time ago. In case you don't know what that is, it's a hydroponics growing system.

That Aerogarden company sells these "grow pods" that they charge a lot for, but I'll be honest, I can't afford those these days! The Aerogarden had just been sitting in my kitchen unused for over a year because of that, but I set it back up recently because my main cherry tomato plant started producing.

I took some of the seeds out of one of the cherry tomatoes, 3D printed my own grow pods, got a bit of soil, and put the seeds in my 3D-printed grow pods.

These were the results!

(One is missing because I took this photo after I planted one of them in my garden)

Here's a photo of the grow pod taken out:

Finally, here's the one I planted in my garden:

roydan · Saturday at 9:53 AM

I had some cherry tomato plants but they took some hits during a few stormy days we had here in the last couple of months, together with some really cool peppers I received.

The tomatoes survived but they're not as good they were. Peppers survived too but are at a far worse condition.

Nargil · Saturday at 11:25 PM

These look very nice!

As I am currently in a flat (but at least with a large terrace), I tried a few plants last year, but those indeterminate tomatoes are impossible to properly grow in pots, even though they are larger and "smart" with a quite big water container at the bottom.

First there were aphids, then we had vacation and tomatoes got a heat and water shock and never properly recovered. They still had plenty tomatoes, but could have been much better.

Can't wait to have a greenhouse.

roydan · Saturday at 11:44 PM

Nargil said:
First there were aphids

I fuckn hate these. I took them out with tweezers ffs

Nargil · Saturday at 11:47 PM

roydan said:
I fuckn hate these. I took them out with tweezers ffs

The most amazing is, when ants start farming them. They pick them and move them around the plant to increase the efficacy so they have more sweet juice to eat. Absolute cunts.

For aphids I used neem oil, but can't say it did that much really. If anything, I felt like it created a film of sort on the leaves and prevented proper functioning.

roydan · Sunday at 12:03 AM

Nargil said:
The most amazing is, when ants start farming them. They pick them and move them around the plant to increase the efficacy so they have more sweet juice to eat. Absolute cunts.

For aphids I used neem oil, but can't say it did that much really. If anything, I felt like it created a film of sort on the leaves and prevented proper functioning.

I ended up spraying a very diluted solution of soapy water that apparently wasn't diluted enough because it killed one of the peppers. Fuckn aphids.

Starblazer · Sunday at 3:21 AM

Nargil said:
For aphids I used neem oil, but can't say it did that much really.

I grounded some neem leaves, created a paste, and rubbed it over & under the leaves. I also sprinkled some paste mixed in water. Already infected branches died but new branches grew without any issues. Initially I thought ants will kill them but later found the truth. I'll spray dishwasher liquid next time.

t2van · Sunday at 4:28 AM

Is it a dwarf cherry?

If not you want to pinch off some of the side shoots so you grow a plant and not a bush.

What did you 3d print? Interested in that..

Toms look good.

Yours @roydan you can burry them a bit deeper which will give the plant support and help it thrive a little bit.

Zwielicht · Sunday at 11:26 AM

Nargil said:
These look very nice!

As I am currently in a flat (but at least with a large terrace), I tried a few plants last year, but those indeterminate tomatoes are impossible to properly grow in pots, even though they are larger and "smart" with a quite big water container at the bottom.

First there were aphids, then we had vacation and tomatoes got a heat and water shock and never properly recovered. They still had plenty tomatoes, but could have been much better.

Can't wait to have a greenhouse.

Thank you!

We have spider mites here and I have to spray neem oil on some of the plants every now and then.

The main cherry tomato plant I have is inside this makeshift mesh greenhouse I put together. That one doesn’t need neem oil, but it’s a too small for the plant, so it’s been growing through the top.

t2van said:
Is it a dwarf cherry?

If not you want to pinch off some of the side shoots so you grow a plant and not a bush.

I’m not sure.

t2van said:
What did you 3d print? Interested in that..

I 3D printed those plastic pods for the Aerogarden.

I believe this is the design I used: https://www.printables.com/model/68578-sturdy-aerogarden-seed-pods

Nargil · Sunday at 11:30 AM

Zwielicht said:
I’m not sure.

You will know quickly. Determinate small ones are maybe 30 - 50cm tall. The indeterminate cherry ones can get over 2 metres and require much more upkeep. Especially with side shoots as @t2van mentioned.

Zwielicht · Sunday at 12:22 PM

Nargil said:
You will know quickly. Determinate small ones are maybe 30 - 50cm tall. The indeterminate cherry ones can get over 2 metres and require much more upkeep. Especially with side shoots as @t2van mentioned.

This one is over 50cm already, so it looks like it.

I'll take a look at it in a bit just to be sure and remove the side shoots after reading about it a little more.

Thank you again!

SilverClouds · Sunday at 3:03 PM

@Zwielicht this is really cool, you can print missing elements to various stuff? It's like piracy but you can use irl

Not gardening but I have left some neem oil in my bathroom in Lanka, TMI but I use it on my armpits, feet, etc sweaty areas to be more clean in this tropical weather, works really well. Couldn't pack this since the bottle isn't very travel friendly. I'd imagine it'd make the plants, uhm, oily

. Oiled leaves lol

.

Zwielicht · Sunday at 5:28 PM

SilverClouds said:
@Zwielicht this is really cool, you can print missing elements to various stuff? It's like piracy but you can use irl

Not gardening but I have left some neem oil in my bathroom in Lanka, TMI but I use it on my armpits, feet, etc sweaty areas to be more clean in this tropical weather, works really well. Couldn't pack this since the bottle isn't very travel friendly. I'd imagine it'd make the plants, uhm, oily . Oiled leaves lol .

Don’t worry, it’s not TMI.

That makes sense you can use neem oil that way. Neem oil can also be used on the feet of parrots to treat dry skin, although we tend to just use coconut oil for that just because that’s what we have around.

Neem oil smells better though.

In regards to the 3D printing, yes, you can print missing components! This is something we’ve done before, and in some cases, you can already find the designs online. In cases where you can’t, you can make them in a program like Blender. There’s a bit of a learning curve with both Blender and using 3D printers, but it’s definitely worth it.

Weekend Gardening: Cherry Tomato Plants

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