Catching Up

I've been a little slow in updating the page the past few days. So rather than bore you with all the individual data I'll just update the numbers and totals from August 23rd to August 31st.
So the total harvest between the Garden and the Float system has been 709 3/4 ounces for a total of 44.36 pounds of tomatoes. Pretty good and there are many more to come.

Both the Garden and the Float system are looking a bit ratty with the 95+ degree days. I've refreshed the float system by topping it off with water and adding a cup and a half of nutrient concentrate on the 29th and again today the 31st. I probably did another one but didn't record it.

HARVEST 2010
Totals: G: 339.75 ounces; F: 370 ounces.
8-23-8-31 G: Atkinson/AL 9 at 52 1/4 for a total of 21 at 121 1/2.
8-23-8-31 G: Dona 33 at 104 3/4 for a total of 70 at 218 1/4
8-23-8-31 F: Atkinson/AL 9 at 54 3/4 for a total of 27 at 163
8-23-8-31 F: Dona 36 at 104 3/8 for a total of 86 at 207
8/22 G: 3 Atkinson/AL 5, 5, 6 5/8 for 12 at 69 1/4
8/22 G: 14 Dona 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/2, 2 5/8, 2 3/4, 2 7/8, 3, 3 1/8, 3 1/8, 3 1/8, 3 5/8, 4 3/4, 4 3/4, 4 7/8 for a weight of 44 7/8 and a total then of 37 at 113 1/2 ounces.
8/22 F: 4 Atkinson/AL 5, 5 1/8, 5 1/4, 8 for a total of 18 at 108 1/4 ounces
8/22 F: 14 Dona 3/4, 7/8, 1 1/4, 1 1/4, 1 3/8, 1 3/8, 2, 2, 2 1/2, 2 3/4, 3, 3 1/4, 3 3/8, 3 3/8 for a total of 29 1/8 ounces for a total of 50 at 102 5/8 ounces.

Tomatoes Keep Coming

Yesterday I decided to replenish the nutrient so I connected a little hose to the circulation pump and pumped about four buckets of nutrient out of the float system which started at about a concentration of 27 and after carrying the buckets away and putting water in it went down to about 12. I added 2 1/2 cups of concentrate with the expectation of taking it up to about 25 and this morning it's at about 24 and maybe 4 inches deep.

The harvest from the past two days of tomatoes was 35 tomatoes weighing 114 ounces in total. This is a mix from the garden and the float system. So far we've harvested 49 tomatoes from the garden and 68 from the float system for a total of 393.625 ounces (24.6 pounds).

HARVEST 2010
Totals: G: 182.75 ounces; F: 210 7/8 ounces.
8/22 G: 3 Atkinson/AL 5, 5, 6 5/8 for 12 at 69 1/4
8/22 G: 14 Dona 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/2, 2 5/8, 2 3/4, 2 7/8, 3, 3 1/8, 3 1/8, 3 1/8, 3 5/8, 4 3/4, 4 3/4, 4 7/8 for a weight of 44 7/8 and a total then of 37 at 113 1/2 ounces.
8/22 F: 4 Atkinson/AL 5, 5 1/8, 5 1/4, 8 for a total of 18 at 108 1/4 ounces
8/22 F: 14 Dona 3/4, 7/8, 1 1/4, 1 1/4, 1 3/8, 1 3/8, 2, 2, 2 1/2, 2 3/4, 3, 3 1/4, 3 3/8, 3 3/8 for a total of 29 1/8 ounces for a total of 50 at 102 5/8 ounces.
8/11 G: Corn picked three total now 5. and likely only a couple more.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Only a little more than a week of August left and then we're into September and school. I checked the system this morning and the rain we've been having and the slightly lower temperatures seem to have extended the fill time. CF =24 and I picked a lot of tomatoes from the float system. I'll bring the total up to date below.

HARVEST 2010
Totals: G: 121 1/4 ounces; F: 158.25 ounces.
8/20 G: 2 Atkinson/AL 5 7/8, 6 1/8 for 9 at 52 5/8
8/20 G: 7 Dona 2 7/8, 1 3/8, 1 1/4, 1 3/4, 4 1/8, 4 3/4, 3 5/8 for 23 at 68 5/8 ounces.
8/20 F: 1 Atkinson/AL 5 3/4 for 14 at 84 3/4 ounces.
8/20 F: 8 Dona 7/8, 4 5/8, 1 3/8, 1 3/4, 1 1/8, 4 1/2, 2 1/4, 3 1/8 for 36 at 73 1/2 ounces.
8/11 G: Corn picked three total now 5. and likely only a couple more.

HOW's IT GOING?
So let's have an assessment shall we. The float system has been awesome and a big surprise. It has grown terrifically but the haphazard support system I came up with has been a disaster. The rains and winds have blown it over so the plants are mostly all over the ground. Next year it I do a float system I'll improve the supports. I have some simple ideas for that that I should have thought of this year. Experience is a great teacher.

I may swap out the nutrient in the float system soon because the plants are looking a little poor which always makes me think perhaps the nutrient is getting out of balance. Maybe tomorrow!

The garden has been a surprise too, especially the garden tomatoes which have been doing great. Powdery mildew took out the squash early and I just didn't plant very much corn, but the few ears we got were good.

Power Failure and Continued Harvesting

The system was showing signs of distress and I didn't quite know what was wrong. Some of the plants looked like they were shriveling up. I checked the nutrient level and at 27 it was pretty high, but then I noticed that the pumps were off. The ground fault detector had fired and apparently the contribution of the splashing is pretty important. I added water and CF =16 so I added a cup of nutrient.

Since last count I've picked 14 tomatoes. Four were picked from the garden and the other ten were picked from the Float system. Total harvest for both systems is currently 222 3/8 ounces or 13.89 pounds. Given the number of plants this is not too great a yield, but there are still a lot of plants and tomatoes to pick from. The scorching days have produced lots of splitting and I've lost quite a few tomatoes to the ground due to failure of support systems. So there are no shortage of problems. Still even this leaves lots of tomatoes on the kitchen counter top. We've been having tomatoes every night with dinner.

HARVEST 2010
Totals: G: 89 1/2 ounces; F: 132 7/8 ounces.
8/17 F: 6 Dona 1 7/8, 1 3/8. 1 1/8, 4 7/8, 4, 3 1/4 for 28 at 53 7/8 ounces
8/17 F: 4 Atkinson/AL 5,5,5 3/4, 6 1/8 for 13 at 79 ounces
8/17 G: 4 Donas 4.25, 4, 3 3/8, 2 4/4 for a total of 16 at 48 7/8 ounces
8/15 G: Dona 3 at 4 3/8, 2, 4 1/8 for a total of 12 at 34 1/2 ounces.
8/15 F: Dona 2 at 1 3/8, 5 for a total of 22 at 37 3/8 ounces.
8/15 F: Atkinson/AL 2 at 6 1/4, 7 for a total of 9 at 57 1/8 ounces.
8/14 G: Dona 3 at 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 5/8 for a total of 9 at 24 ounces.
8/14 G:Atkinson/AL 2 both 5 ounces for total 7 at 40 5/8 ounces.
8/11 G: Corn picked three total now 5. and likely only a couple more.

Seven More Tomatoes

A little rain tempered the transpiration. This afternoon the CF = 27 and it was about three inches deep. We'll see how it does tomorrow. Meanwhile I think it is interesting that the float system is currently more productive in weight than the garden. The garden actually has more tomato plants about 14 than the float system which has 10 and they were planted the same day.

HARVEST 2010
Totals: G: 75 1/8 ounces; F: 94 1/2 ounces.
8/15 G: Dona 3 at 4 3/8, 2, 4 1/8 for a total of 12 at 34 1/2 ounces.
8/15 F: Dona 2 at 1 3/8, 5 for a total of 22 at 37 3/8 ounces.
8/15 F: Atkinson/AL 2 at 6 1/4, 7 for a total of 9 at 57 1/8 ounces.
8/14 G: Dona 3 at 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 5/8 for a total of 9 at 24 ounces.
8/14 G:Atkinson/AL 2 both 5 ounces for total 7 at 40 5/8 ounces.
8/11 G: Corn picked three total now 5. and likely only a couple more.

Took about thirteen tomatoes today

System was down to a depth on the shallow side of about an inch and a half with a CF = 27 so I topped it off and added 2 cups of concentrate.

HARVEST 2010
Totals: G: 64 5/8 ounces; F: 74 7/8 ounces.
8/14 G: Dona 3 at 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 5/8 for a total of 9 at 24 ounces.
8/14 G:Atkinson/AL 2 both 5 ounces for total 7 at 40 5/8 ounces.
8/11 G: Corn picked three total now 5. and likely only a couple more.
8/14 F: 7 Dona 3/4, 1 3/8, 1, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 2 3/8, 3 3/4 for a total of 20 at 31 ounces.
8/14 F: 1 Atkinson/AL 7 1/2 ounce for a total 7 at 43 7/8 ounces.

No one has mentioned to me that I was putting up the dates incorrectly ... so I fixed it today for this post and hopefully I'll be paying more attention going forward. I should mention too that the Dona/Atkinson/AL distinctions are sort of arbitrary because I'm really sorting the data more or less by weight where <>= 5 is Atkinson/AL.

HARVEST 2010
TOTALS: G: 44 ounces; F: 55 7/8 ounces.
10/12 G: 2 Dona, 4, 2 7/8 for total of 6 at 13 3/8 ounces.
10/8 G: Atkinson/AL 5 1/4,6, 6 3/8, and 7 3/4 for 4 more total 5 at 30 5/8 ounces.
10/11 G: Corn picked three total now 5. and likely only a couple more.
10/10 F:Atkinson/AL 2 at 7 3/8 and 7 1/8 for total of 6 at 36 3/8 ounces
10/10 F: Dona 1 at 1 1/2 for a total of 13 at 19 1/2 ounces
10/11 G: 2 Dona, 2 1/4, 1 for total of 4 at 6 1/2 ounces.
10/10 G:Dona 1 at 1 1/2 for a total of 2 at 3 1/4 ounces
10/8 G: Corn picked 2 and they look good. Total = 2 corn

Got some rain last night so float system was fine, CF slightly down from the extra water, but 90+ degrees will likely fix that quickly enough today. Current temperature (5:41 p.m.) is 96.8 F.

Making Up a Batch of Concentrate

Yesterday's top-off left me about out of nutrient concentrate so I had to make up a new batch this morning. I use the Total Gro Steiner hydroponics solution and it's just great. LOOK HERE The 8-5-16 mix is talked about HERE The site also have numerous other nutrient combinations and lots of technical materials for those who want to understand what is going on more deeply. This is fascinating stuff if you are technically inclined.

I mix up a concentrate by combining one pound of the white mix in a gallon of water and separately one pound of the blue mix in a gallon of water. This gives me a gallon of white concentrate and a gallon of blue concentrate. This is further diluted at about one ounce of concentrate to a gallon of water to make working strength solution. Note that when I say I added a cup of concentrate I mean a cup of the white (8 fluid ounces) and a cup of the blue (another 8 fluid ounces) to the system's tank. So I'm really adding two cups of stuff. You can't combine the concentrates at the concentrate concentration (there's a tongue twister) because it will cause essential nutrients to combine chemically and precipitate out and then you will have nutrient deficiencies.

So this morning my CF =22 and the system is fine but I was out of concentrate so I made up two gallons of white and blue solution. It took maybe half an hour since I carry all the paraphernalia, a bucket, a scale, some bags of powered 8-5-16 fertilizers and sit around contemplate the scenery as I mix things up. Now with two gallons of each I'm good for the rest of the Summer I figure.

This is just great fun! It's one of the best hobbies in the world.
Harvest Update — 3 more corn and 2 Donas from the garden 2 1/4, and 1 ounce.
HARVEST 2010
10/11 G: Corn picked three total now 5. and likely only a couple more.
10/11 G: 2 Dona, 2 1/4, 1 for total of 4 at 6 1/2 ounces.
10/10 F:Atkinson/AL 2 at 7 3/8 and 7 1/8 for total of 6 at 36 3/8 ounces
10/10 F: Dona 1 at 1 1/2 for a total of 13 at 19 1/2 ounces
10/10 G:Dona 1 at 1 1/2 for a total of 2 at 3 1/4 ounces
10/8 G: Corn picked 2 and they look good. Total = 2 corn
10/8 G: Atkinson/AL 5 1/4,6, 6 3/8, and 7 3/4 for 4 more total 5 at 30 5/8 ounces.

A Couple More Tomatoes on the Counter

Went out to check the system. CF = 27 and maybe 2 inches deep at the shallow end. Will need some more water soon. Picked two more tomatoes and surveyed the status of the rest. They have tended to be reddening from the bottom with the top staying green relatively longer. I've been picking them and bringing them in to counter ripen which has worked fairly well so far. The Harvest scroll below is documenting both the current picks and the cumulative number and cumulative weight by variety although really it's just small and large. The Donas have been really small and the large are not exactly gigantic. Basically 2 ounce and 7 ounce tomatoes so far. Went out later and picked two more tomatoes from the Float system when I checked the CF it was 32 so I decided to top it off and added 1 1/2 cup concentrate which should take it to around 22.

HARVEST 2010
10/10 F:Atkinson/AL 2 at 7 3/8 and 7 1/8 for total of 6 at 36 3/8 ounces
10/10 F: Dona 1 at 1 1/2 for a total of 13 at 19 1/2 ounces
10/10 G:Dona 1 at 1 1/2 for a total of 2 at 3 1/4 ounces
10/8 G: Corn picked 2 and they look good. Total = 2 corn
10/8 G: Atkinson/AL 5 1/4,6, 6 3/8, and 7 3/4 for 4 more total 5 at 30 5/8 ounces.
10.8 G: Dona 1 3/4 for 1 at 1 3/4 ounces
10/8 F: Dona 3 at 1 1/4, 1 1/4, and 2 1/2 for a total of 12 at 18 ounces.
10/8 F: Atkinson/AL 4 7/8, and 3 1/2 for total of 4 at 21 7/8 ounces.
10/4 F:Atkinson/AL 2at 4 3/4 and 8 3/4 for a total of 2 at 13 1/2 ounces.

Update after G.K. Chesterton Conference

Came back from the 29th Annual G.K. Chesterton Conference, which was great and found the CF = 32 and the system down, but not so far down that it might not have held for another day. So it still seems to hold for about three days. I topped it off with water which drove the CF down to 16 and then added a cup of concentrate (both white and blue) and it came up to CF = 20 on a quick look so I left it. Later when I went out and checked it had slipped up to CF =22 which is about what I thought it would do.

Checked out the garden and decided to try to harvest a couple of corn. They look great so we're having the first corn tonight for dinner. I've posted everything below in the Harvest section.

HARVEST 2010
10/8 G: Corn picked 2 and they look good. Total = 2 corn
10/8 G: Atkinson/AL 5 1/4,6, 6 3/8, and 7 3/4 for 4 more total 5 at 30 5/8 ounces.
10.8 G: Dona 1 3/4 for 1 at 1 3/4 ounces
10/8 F: Dona 3 at 1 1/4, 1 1/4, and 2 1/2 for a total of 12 at 18 ounces.
10/8 F: Atkinson/AL 4 7/8, and 3 1/2 for total of 4 at 21 7/8 ounces.
10/4 F:Atkinson/AL 2at 4 3/4 and 8 3/4 for a total of 2 at 13 1/2 ounces.

Rain and Topping Off

This morning around 10 it was 86 F outside and the CF = 32 and I decided to top the system off which I did at 12 o'clock -- it ran down to a CF = 18 and I added a cup of concentrate to bring it up to 24 if the 1.5 per quarter cup would hold which it doesn't seem to have been, but I'm a creature of consistency and rule.

A relatively heavy rain storm came through last night and actually blew limbs off the tree, blew the float system plants heavily to one side and actually blew down three of the tomato cages in the garden. I straightened up the tomato cages, left the float system as is since there's not too much to be done in its present jungle state and picked up a few of the limbs blown off the tree. There are lots of tomatoes reddening on the vine and now the corn is getting to a size which likely means it should be picked but I'm no expert on when corn should be picked since this is the first time in about 18 years or so that's I've planted any.

Picked an Atkinson or Abe Lincoln from Float System

CF=30 and picked a 4 3/4 ounce tomato from the Float System and later noticed another red one which was hiding at weighed in at 8 3/4. Plan to top the system off tomorrow afternoon and see if it will go three days.

HARVEST 2010
10/4 F:Atkinson/AL 2at 4 3/4 and 8 3/4 for a total of 2 at 13 1/2 ounces.
10/2 F:DONA 4 at 1 5/8,1 1/2, 1 1/2, 1 1/4 total 9 at 13 ounces.
10/2 G:Atkinson/AL 1 at 5 1/4 ounces
7/31 DONA 1 at 1 1/4 so total now is 5 at 7 1/8 ounces.

Today is fairly overcast and mild temperature 86 F. We're expecting hotter days the rest of the week so the transpiration will increase.

First Garden Tomato Picked Today!

It rained yesterday and this morning the CF =20 (actually the other meter said 14 which panicked me a little because that's low enough to foster splitting and I had splitting my tomatoes. Anyway I added a cup of concentrate which took it up theoretically to about 26 so we'll see. Meanwhile I picked the first tomato off the garden and it was one of the larger ones, either an Abe Lincoln or an Atkinson and weighed in at 5 1/4 ounces.



HARVEST 2010
10/2 DONA 4 at 1 5/8,1 1/2, 1 1/2, 1 1/4 total 9 at 13 ounces
10/2 G:Atkinson/AL 1 at 5 1/4 ounces
7/31 DONA 1 at 1 1/4 so total now is 5 at 7 1/8 ounces.

Pictures later! Later has come! Picture Summary: Top: the Jungle (the float system with the plants all over the place) the fruit is hard to see with the foliage. On the Left is the Garden with the tomatoes most in evidence because the foliage is less luxuriant and the plants are confined in a more orderly manner. The picture on the right is a cluster of tomatoes in the jungle. These are the larger ones either Atkinson or Abe Lincoln, not sure which. Then the lowest picture is some Donas in the jungle. They are tending to split which I think may be due to low nutrient levels and the cycling of the nutrient as the system transpires, especially on the super hot days we've had when it got into the low 100's.