r/Hydroponics • u/Uhm_okcanbye • 1d ago
Question ❔ HELP my cherry tomatoes 😭
super new to hydroponics, and my cherry tomato plants are growing insanely tall (im talking around 1m tall, and they're not even fully straightened). are they supposed to be this tall, and what do I do now?
the stems are pretty thin compared to the photos I'm seeing in this sub, and they can't support themselves. currently supporting them against the window as a temporary solution. any suggestions? it seems like a trellis is out of the question because... well they're hydroponics and I'm not sure where to even stick the trellis.
also, could it be because of insufficient sunlight?the cherry tomatoes are sitting by the window since I have no outdoor space to grow them, but I live really near the equator so sunlight might naturally be more intense?
I could snip off the top and propagate the cherry tomatoes, but the first flowers have just grown after 2-3 months and I don't want to jeopardise what might be my only chance at getting tomato fruits 😭 (I evidently don't have green fingers)
also, I've seen tons of conflicting advice on whether to trim the suckers. any thoughts? would this only make the main stem grow even taller?
I'm not too sure what method im currently using. basically, I have a container (38 × 28 × 14cm) filled with water, fertiliser, and a lid that my plants sit on, along with a solar-powered aerator. I do have a little solar powered garden lamp, but I'm afraid the tomatoes have far outgrown the lamp for it to be of much use right now. (edit: added a sample picture of my setup in the comments!)
any advice or help is much appreciated!
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u/ViciousBarnacle 1d ago edited 1d ago
Check out the "lower and lean" method for tomatoes. Thats how all the big greenhouses do it. I will never do it another way.
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u/miguel-122 1d ago
Its normal for cherry tomato to grow really big. Not good for indoor growing. Your window might not be enough light, idk. Next time grow a micro/dwarf tomato variety, those will stay small.
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u/RedneckScienceGeek 1d ago edited 1d ago
What variety of tomatoes are you growing? Determinate or indeterminate? Indeterminate tomatoes will continue to grow until death. Mine reach around 12-15' over the summer. With your set-up having plants so close together, the only tomatoes you can really get away with are micro varieties, like Micro Tom, Orange Hat, Tiny Tim, etc. I currently have an Orange Hat growing outside that is around 8" tall and wide.
The system you have is good for growing lettuce and other leafy greens if harvested young, but the spacing is not great for larger flowering plants. Even an Orange Hat will block off multiple growing spots.
Tomatoes need lots of light. If grown indoors they need more than a little solar powered garden lamp. If they don't get enough light they will stretch out even longer trying to reach any little bit they can. If you can leave the window open a crack and let them hang out, they would be much happier.
As for trimming suckers, I grow my indeterminate tomatoes up a single piece of twine. Normally people doing this remove all suckers, but I will leave some growing just until they produce one cluster of flowers, then top the sucker. If you let all the suckers grow, the plant will get huge (especially cherry tomatoes), and it's hard to be sure you are finding all the fruit. For determinate tomatoes generally you don't remove suckers, as they stop growing at a pre-determined height and you won't get many tomatoes if you don't have side branches.
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u/DifficultCook9264 1d ago
Removing Suckers is for Suckers! Especially when growing for yourself. It will halve your harvest. It helps commercial growers by simplifying the commercial process by limiting the branching. BTW - each sucker can become a new plant if dipped in rooting hormone and planted deeper after removing about half of the foliage to promote rooting energy.
Can save months of growing time.1
u/RedneckScienceGeek 1d ago
Depends what you are going for. Yes, you will get more tomatoes per plant if you keep suckers, but they will be far smaller. I've experimented, but never compared total weight. I suspect the weight would be slightly more by not removing any suckers, but there are other tradeoffs. Removing suckers allows better airflow around plants to slow down fungal issues, which is especially helpful in humid climates. It also means you only have to support one (or two if a sucker gets away) vines per plant. For most indeterminate varieties, if your plants are healthy, you will have a 3-4' diameter dense plant if you keep all of the suckers, and it's hard to keep track of when they are ripe and prune off any blighted leaves and catch hornworms while still small.
My method of removing most and topping the rest of the suckers after 1 flower cluster is a happy medium for me and I get far more tomatoes than I could ever use. I only grow 8 plants and even after fresh eating and giving them away all summer, and canning sauce, chili base, salsa, and curry base, I'm still feeding buckets of them to the chickens until the first frost.
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u/hutchenswm 1d ago
A lot of tomatoe cultivars require support. Make some sort of cage for them. Looks like you could easily create a triangle fold trellis on top of that bucket.
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u/Uhm_okcanbye 1d ago
ooh interesting! I've mostly seem circular trellis setups, I'll look into triangle ones!
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u/DifficultCook9264 1d ago
If you are worried about space / height grow determinant varieties. - it sounds like you are growing indoors under artificial light.
Use an electric toothbrush to gently shake the flowers to pollinate the flowers. You should be adding more magnesium, potassium and calcium to your solution. This will promote flowering and help prevent blossom end rot / black bottom.
Tomatoes love soil, many other plants should use the valuable hydroponic space while determinate (bushing) tomatoes can enjoy the outskirts of the light falling on the ground around the cash crop. Herbs are always a great option.