By Peat
Cherry Tomatoes Grown Using GH Liquid Nutrients
Submitted on Fri, 2008/10/31 - 11:38am
Last updated on Sun, 2009/01/25 - 5:46pm
Posted in
In this Blog, I will be growing the AeroGarden Cherry Tomato seed kit. It will be starting in Week 2, I have lost my Week 1 information!
This will be grown using the General Hydroponics 3-Part Nutrients - namely the Flora Micro (hardwater), Flora Grow and Flora Bloom
Cherry Tomatoes Harvested up to 25th January 2009 - End of Grow
32 Total Weeks of Growth
Total of 74 tomatoes harvested
Red Heirloom - 55
Golden Harvest - 19
The tomato count is low due to the plants growing rapidly up into the lights, this has necessitated pruning which has lost me many buds.
In Summary
The first tomato formed at 8 Weeks and 3 days
The first fully ripe, ready to eat, Red Heirloom tomato appeared at Week 13 and 3 days.
The first fully ripe, ready to eat, Golden Harvest tomato appeared at Week 13 and 5 days.
The first tomato formed at 8 Weeks and 3 days
The first fully ripe, ready to eat, Red Heirloom tomato appeared at Week 13 and 3 days.
The first fully ripe, ready to eat, Golden Harvest tomato appeared at Week 13 and 5 days.
Weekly Picture Summary
(5 votes)
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Fri, 2008/10/31 - 12:22pm
#2
Yeah, you can rate your own stuff. Definitely made my testing a lot easier. 
Oh! I finally realized, btw, that I could link your nutrients forum topic directly into the Aerogarden Lore book, so the bogus by-gisette page is no longer there. (So it's no longer rated. For now. Oh, well.) I do have high hopes that rating comments / forum stuff will work soon.
Would you like your blog added to the Grow Logs book? It's kind of a mystifying set of choices on the "Outline" tab at the top of the page after you save it.
Fri, 2008/10/31 - 12:27pm
#3
Yes, go ahead - I'm still finding my feet like Bruce. Blogs, glogs, books, stories, logs - heck!
Fri, 2008/10/31 - 5:32pm
#4
Week 2
They are sprouting well, I now have 11 small, strong looking plants - time to prune them down to one per basket as per instructions...
This seems like a waste of good plants. What I have done is open up the sponges and had a look inside to see if I could take some of these seedlings out - and put them in another growing medium (rockwool in my case).
Some of the roots were pretty embedded in the sponge but some came out easily - I managed to salvage 3 plants. These were transferred to my rockwool and planted back in the AG. I now have 6 tomato plants growing.
As the AG cannot support more than 3, due to overcrowding, I will establish these other 3 in the AG first and then plant out into pots with soil. The original 3 will be pruned down to one once I know that I have not damaged any!
They are sprouting well, I now have 11 small, strong looking plants - time to prune them down to one per basket as per instructions...
This seems like a waste of good plants. What I have done is open up the sponges and had a look inside to see if I could take some of these seedlings out - and put them in another growing medium (rockwool in my case).
Some of the roots were pretty embedded in the sponge but some came out easily - I managed to salvage 3 plants. These were transferred to my rockwool and planted back in the AG. I now have 6 tomato plants growing.
As the AG cannot support more than 3, due to overcrowding, I will establish these other 3 in the AG first and then plant out into pots with soil. The original 3 will be pruned down to one once I know that I have not damaged any!
Seedling Phase Mix - Flora Micro 2.1mL, Flora Grow 2.1mL, Flora Bloom 2.1mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 0.8
Week 2
Fri, 2008/10/31 - 5:45pm
#5
Week 3
Here they are at the 3 week stage, the 3 'extra' plants that I recovered are doing great - I will definitely be doing this again, 3 more plants for nothing!
I will plant the 3 out into soil in another 2 weeks.
Here they are at the 3 week stage, the 3 'extra' plants that I recovered are doing great - I will definitely be doing this again, 3 more plants for nothing!
I will plant the 3 out into soil in another 2 weeks.
Mild Growth Phase - Flora Micro 4.2mL, Flora Grow 8.5mL, Flora Bloom 4.2mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 1.8
Week 3
Fri, 2008/10/31 - 5:55pm
#6
Week 4
The plants have grown beyond all expectations, and now have buds at only the 4 week stage. Time to prune these now as per the manual...
Growth Phase - Flora Micro 6.3mL, Flora Grow 10.6mL, Flora Bloom 2.1mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 1.9
Week 4 - Before Pruning
Week 4 - After Pruning
Fri, 2008/10/31 - 6:03pm
#7
Week 5
There is considerable new growth around the centre pruned area, the plants look much bushier.
Growth Phase - Flora Micro 6.3mL, Flora Grow 10.6mL, Flora Bloom 2.1mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 1.9
Week 5
Fri, 2008/10/31 - 6:14pm
#8
Week 6
Plenty of bushy growth, buds appearing and some flowers are out.
I've changed the feeding to the 'aggressive growth' mix, I want to push these as much as possible.
Aggressive Growth Phase - Flora Micro 8.5mL, Flora Grow 12.7mL, Flora Bloom 4.2mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 2.4
Week 6
Fri, 2008/10/31 - 6:22pm
#9
Week 7
There is much bushy vegetative growth, perhaps a little too much which is swamping out the buds. I am going to change the mixture to the 'Transition Phase' of growth. This will cut down on the nutrients designed for vegetative growth, and give more to the buds/flowers. The Transition Phase is the prelude to the Bloom Phase, it stops the plants going into shock when the Bloom Phase is mixed.
The Yellow tomato plant is producing more buds than the two red tomato ones, the red one on the right is producing less buds than the red one on the left.
The final photo is of the three reclaimed plants from the pods. You can see how stunted they are against the AG grown ones.
The Yellow tomato plant is producing more buds than the two red tomato ones, the red one on the right is producing less buds than the red one on the left.
The final photo is of the three reclaimed plants from the pods. You can see how stunted they are against the AG grown ones.
Transition Phase - Flora Micro 8.5mL, Flora Grow 8.5mL, Flora Bloom 8.5mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 2.4
Week 7
Fri, 2008/10/31 - 6:26pm
#10
Need a rest after all that, further ones later...
Sat, 2008/11/01 - 1:48am
#11
What kind of light do you have for those little ones, Peat? I'm assuming even a south-facing window isn't enough in an English winter?
Sat, 2008/11/01 - 5:14pm
#12
This will surprise you, buts it's only an East facing window. It gets a good dose of morning/ very early afternoon sun and that's it. Looks like the English sun is the best. 
I have a better picture of the tomato, with it fully grown, that I will put on later in this blog.
Remember that cucumber, that is in the same facing window! The cucumber succumbed to some sort of chlorosis thing, nearly died off, but I recovered it with constant doses of H2O2 The plant now looks healthy again, in fact it has started growing more leaves and, now, many small cucumbers - quite amazing considering that we are now in Autumn; and the light has diminished considerably.
Sat, 2008/11/01 - 5:19pm
#13
Wow, that's amazing, Peat. Congrats! I'm surprised they're doing so well. I've been to England in November/December... 'Twas dark. Well, I guess I'll leave my runty pepper in the western window a bit longer then...
Sat, 2008/11/01 - 6:29pm
#14
It's dark... dark in the mornings and dark in the afternoons. I am completely baffled as to how my plants survive?
I have the cucumber, the AG recovered toms (in dirt) and another 12" container with three normal tomato plants in. They continue to grow, how, beats me?
The cucumber is the most surprising 6 foot tall, in my living room, and still producing leaves and cukes. It's fed tomato food and my 'special' formula of hydrogen peroxide, perhaps that's the key ingredient? All that oxygen to the root ball?
Sat, 2008/11/01 - 8:35pm
#15
That is amazing, on the cuke. The tomatoes, too, I guess, but they chose a low-light variety for the AG, I suppose. Have you gotten any cuke harvest yet?
Maybe I'll try the H2O2 drink on my runty pepper. Poor experimented-on little thing...
Mon, 2008/11/03 - 12:27pm
#16
Week 8
The Transition Phase of growth is now over (it only lasts for 1 week). It's time to move onto the Bloom Phase, this cuts down on the vegetative growth (by cutting down on the Nitrogen) and stimulates the production of buds/flowers.
I have been pollinating by using a paintbrush to gently 'dab' into the flowers, going from flower to flower.
Bloom Phase - Flora Micro 8.5mL, Flora Grow 4.2mL, Flora Bloom 12.7mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 2.4
Week 8
Edit, Gisette: set width to 540 on images.
Mon, 2008/11/03 - 12:40pm
#17
Week 9
The first two tomatoes emerge around Week 8 and 3 days
I nearly missed the first tomato, it was covered by a canopy of dense leaves. Most of the buds/flowers were living in the shade of these leaves. I have done some serious pruning and removed all the leaves covering the flowers/buds, they are now free to bask in the light of the growbulbs.
The change to the Bloom Phase has proven worthwhile, the leafy growth has diminished and there are lots and lots of newly forming buds. I have just topped off with water this week, a new batch of Bloom mixture will be put in at Week 10.
The plants are still looking pretty good, the stems are thick and the leafy growth dense and bush like. My Classic is still only on notch number four on the lamphood, I have not raised this in a while.
Week 9
Edit, Gisette: set images to width 540 to see if that helps "recent comments" formatting.
Mon, 2008/11/03 - 5:37pm
#18
These are such great pictures, Peat! Doing one a day until you're up to date?
Suggestion: a harvest tally would be very cool!
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 1:07pm
#19
Thanks gisette,
It's a slow process, but I'm getting there!
I'll stick the running total in the main blog page. That way everyone can see it without ploughing through many pages. 
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 1:21pm
#20
Thanks! Wow, that's pretty good! 
Any idea how long the tomato-bearing will continue? Tomatoes are really perennials, aren't they... Though since people usually don't grow them as perennials, I imagine there's some point of diminishing returns.
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 1:46pm
#21
I really wish I knew how long they would last, as you say, there will come a point when they don't produce.
Remember some time ago, the AG Cherry Tomato Seed Kit only came with 22 weeks supply of nutrients... What were the seed kit owners supposed to do after that - lose their plant or buy more tablets?
Or, switch to liquid nutrients; cost effective, lasts longer and are better for your plants. No brainer!
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 1:56pm
#22
And now they're saying, especially if you use a Deluxe, that even the 22 week supply aren't strong enough. They sell booster nutrients to use in conjunction with the originals. Seems they should redesign that kit...
Maybe the "Country Fair" kits (which aren't for sale yet 
) will come with the boosters. The only "Country Fair" kit one can get yet is "Mega Cherry Tomato" (2 pods, I think), which comes with the AG6 Elite+, which not many places sell yet. (Looks like this place I saved a link to, has gone out of stock now, too.)
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 2:07pm
#23
I've come to the conclusion that you cannot grow cherry toms in your Classic.
The plants are just too tall for this unit. I have quite a few buds now, they are all up in the lights again... Well, you know the next step - cut them all down, lose all the toms and start again.
You will notice that my total tomato harvest is small, it's because I don't have a chance to grow any!
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 2:13pm
#24
Well... I came to the conclusion that I wasn't willing to keep growing peppers in my pro100 (same height as Classic). 
Just too frustrating, as you say, Peat. My first pepper plant to flower still doesn't have any fruit, due to pruning and whatnot - while others could be harvested already if I didn't want them to mature first. (I want to save the mature seeds, and return some to those who gave me the rare seeds. Pepper seeds are easy to save.)
This may sound dumb, but is there any way to train them sideways, ish? I forget what they look like now. Like keep bending the tops gently split and sideways instead of up, inserting spreader of some kind, maybe...
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 2:20pm
#25
I'm not sure, if I wanted to grow mine sideways I would unhook my support wire. They would then happily topple over and grow horizontal - perhaps that's the only way to go?
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 2:26pm
#26
Definitely beats cutting them down or cutting off all their buds again. Yeah, the pictures I've seen of productive classic tomato gardens, the tomatos are kind of flopping to the grow surface. Let 'em fall, and they'll be shorter...
Well, maybe use some supports around the 4-5" level (10 cm), just to keep the vines from breaking under the weight...
Just going by what I've seen in pictures, tho. What do I know? This year I grew my first-ever tomatoes - midsize and outdoors, and with mixed success. (I got 100+ midsize fruit out of the project. Good enough for a first try...)
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 2:27pm
#27
P.S. Tomatoes want to crawl around the ground. That's why we put such effort into staking them. Their natural habit is to hug dirt. Which is a rot problem and garden management problem outside. But inside? Not an obvious problem, so long as the vine doesn't break from the weight.
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 2:41pm
#28
P.P.S. 
Actually, the reason tomatoes want to hug dirt, is that they have the capacity to add roots along their stems. Would be a hoot to get 'em double-rooted using the empty pod slots. Might grow much better then! Or not. Dunno how much good it does a vine to have more than one rootball. One of my tomato plants this summer sure wanted to do that, though. The one that set so many fruit I ended up picking 'em green and ripening them in a bag because the plant was so overburdened.
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 2:42pm
#29
P.S. Tomatoes want to crawl around the ground.
Interesting, that I did not know.
I have grown them outdoors, indoors and hydro - I think everyone grows them hydro. We'll have to get Bruce to grow his 'wild' across the bottom of his grow tent; it will be good to see the whole thing setup.
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 2:43pm
#30
Crossposted. Worse, I was re-editing a cross-post. 
Tue, 2008/11/04 - 4:40pm
#31
Week 10
The tomato plant has come on leaps and bounds since Week 9, there are many buds and flowers and it's a full time job keeping on top of them to pollinate. As I said before, I am using a little paintbrush to 'tickle' all the flowers and spread the pollen. There are so many that need doing, I keep finding more when I think I have finished.
I have about 19 tomatoes developing well now. Two of the bushes have had to be tied off with ribbon as they have started to collapse forward.
Bloom Phase mix - Flora Micro 8.5mL, Flora Grow 4.2mL, Flora Bloom 12.7mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 2.4
Wed, 2008/11/05 - 5:07pm
#32
Week 11
The tomatoes continue to grow fine. The best producing plant is the right hand one, this one sits the nearest to my kitchen window - extra light?
Bloom Phase mix - Flora Micro 8.5mL, Flora Grow 4.2mL, Flora Bloom 12.7mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 2.4
Week 11
Some more lightbox images - thanks gisette for the instructions.
Sun, 2008/11/09 - 12:52pm
#33
Week 12
Due to being on holiday there has been no Week 12. Because I had nobody to water my AG when I was away, I put the plants into a large container of nutes (stagnant!) and turned the AG off. If I had left them in the AG then they would have drank all the water and left my pump running dry. Unfortunately for me the plants have suffered, despite tying them up they have done a remarkable escapology trick, breaking their restaints, slumping forward and nearly breaking! I have lost all the forming buds and many of my leaves have turned brown. Luckily the tomatoes have survived. The picture of Week 12 is after an emergency lash-up to get the plants restored, anything I had at hand was used until I could do a better job - measuring tape.
Week 12
Sun, 2008/11/09 - 12:54pm
#34
Week 13
OK, the good news. I have 31 growing tomatoes and one of the Red Heirloom ones is now orange, this turned colour somewhere between Week 12 to 13. The plants have survived so all is not lost.
Still the same nutrient mixture: Bloom Phase mix - Flora Micro 8.5mL, Flora Grow 4.2mL, Flora Bloom 12.7mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 2.4
Week 13
Sun, 2008/11/09 - 12:58pm
#35
Week 14
After the disaster that was Week 12, the plant has come on a treat. The first fully red tomato developed at week 13 and 3 days, others have rapidly followed suit. The Golden Harvest (yellow) ones are slightly behind, one of them turned yellow around week 13 plus 5 days.
I still only have 30 tomatoes (one fell off today as I was tying the plant up).
Because of week 12, I lost all my buds and many leaves turned brown and died. Only now have I got the first signs of more buds forming...
Bloom Phase mix - Flora Micro 8.5mL, Flora Grow 4.2mL, Flora Bloom 12.7mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is 6.3, EC is 2.3
Week 14
Sun, 2008/11/09 - 1:03pm
#36
Week 15 and ongoing…
I have decided to make this my final weekly update, I will only post now and again to let you know how things are doing.
The tomato plant continues to grow well and produce tomatoes, I'm unsure how long this plant will continue to do this – many, many weeks no doubt. This thread will fill up with multiple photographs of, essentially, the same plant with a differing number of tomatoes in a variety of growth stages - this will become repetitive.
So, I will continue to use the ‘bloom phase’ of growth. The plants will be fed every two weeks with a fresh batch of water and nutrients, in between they will be topped up with normal water.
Same mixture and the same pH levels from now on - Flora Micro 8.5mL, Flora Grow 4.2mL, Flora Bloom 12.7mL (all per 3.2 litres), pH is kept at 6.3, EC will be kept at 2.4, and the water temperature is around 81oF (27oC) for interest.
Once the tomato has given up it's last fruit, and is due for a well deserved retirement, then I will let you all know how many toms I have received from it – yes, I will count them all!
In Summary
The first tomato formed at 8 Weeks and 3 days
The first fully ripe, ready to eat, Red Heirloom tomato appeared at Week 13 and 3 days.
The first fully ripe, ready to eat, Golden Harvest tomato appeared at Week 13 and 5 days.
Week 15
Sun, 2008/11/09 - 1:10pm
#37
Remember back in time, 17 weeks ago... I reclaimed 3 cherry tomatoes from my seed kit, grew them in my AG until they were big enough and then transplanted them to soil.
After a re-potting a few times (as they grew), they were eventually transferred into a 12" pot. Here they are, growing nicely and producing. I cut them down once, as per the AG instructions, but have left them grow wild after this. No light hood to impede their growth this time, the only light they have is from my indoor window ledge where they sit all day.
Here they are at 17 Weeks
Sun, 2008/11/09 - 1:47pm
#38
Week 17
Looking a bit bare because I had to do some drastic pruning. To recap, the plant is growing great on my water pump and air stone modification (blog about this modification coming soon), too great in fact. It had outgrown my Classic, all the buds were getting fried by the lights. Only one thing to do... Call in a very sharp scissors! The plant has been cut down lots, any new forming buds will now be at a reasonable distance from the lights - I can then get some proper tomatoes rather than burnt ones!
At the moment, most of my buds/flowers are now in the bin - tough call but I think it's for the best. The plant will soon be back to it's normal self and giving me more toms. I now have some leeway with the hood, it can be raised another two notches.
Due to the ongoing problems with the plants falling over, I have secured them with some electrical flex. It's doing it's job admirably, they are rock steady now.
Week 17
Sun, 2008/11/09 - 1:55pm
#39
Week 19
This is two weeks after the severe prune I gave it at week 17 - it looked very bare then. Here we are now, the plant is up into the lights once more, the hood has been 'extended beyond' the normal setting and I may be back to square one again - pruning all the buds away because they are getting burnt. I do wonder if I will ever get anymore tomatoes, the Classic is just to small for this plant. It's really annoying cutting all those buds off, I have lost so many potential tomatoes now.
Week 19
Sun, 2008/11/09 - 1:59pm
#40
So sad to prune all the buds off, isn't it. 
Well, they'll grow back, with patience...
The potted group looks pretty happy, huh? I'm surprised at how well they're doing on weak light!
Thanks for the update! 
Mon, 2008/11/10 - 4:39pm
#41
Ooh, I love your weekly summary lightbox pictures up top! Thank you!
Is that getting sufficiently easy to do? To make the lightbox stories?
Mon, 2008/11/10 - 4:42pm
#42
Yes, it's really simple now after your instructions, I can rattle them off quite quick now.
The main pictures were getting a little lost in this blog, seemed a good idea to put all the main ones at the top - glad you like it.
Mon, 2008/11/10 - 4:48pm
#43
Oh, good - glad the lightboxes are getting easy enough. Stage next is a lot more work... To make it even easier, could be hard, in other words.
I do like it! Flipping through the pictures, week after week as a time series, the garden growing really comes alive. Or I think so, anyway. I like the discussion, too, but tend to flip through pictures, then read discussion, then open up specific pictures based on the discussion if I think I missed something I'd like to study again.
Mon, 2008/11/10 - 4:58pm
#44
My personal choice is to have the pictures 'large' in the main blog window, it sort of gives it more impact. The lightbox is great for adding extra pictures, and now, a weekly time series - I'm happy that worked out.
I initially set it up to autoplay but then went back and changed it all to step thru, couldn't make my mind up which I preferred.
Mon, 2008/11/10 - 5:09pm
#45
I made up my mind when I started with the lightboxes - I strongly prefer step thru. Autoplay is doomed to always go either too fast or too slow. And I don't much like being a passive viewer. Must click something! 
I really like the pictures lightboxed, always, best. It lets me see the narrative whole, and the pictures whole, and drill in. And comes out vastly better in Recent posts and Recent comments and other digest forms. And loads faster (assuming you link the thumbnails to real thumbnails, instead of full-size pictures the s/w must retrieve and scale down...) To each his own, though. 
Mon, 2008/11/10 - 5:15pm
#46
P.S. If you want to see something bizarre, find a page of Recent Comments, where more than one comment has a lightbox. If you open the lightbox on any of them, you'll see it's stepping through all lightboxes on that page - that being a page of recent comments.
I kinda like it.
Mon, 2008/11/10 - 5:51pm
#47
Love the light boxes but it's been kinda crazy seeing the different results. I'm sure you'll get it figured out, Ginger.
I've been cogitating both your problems with tomatoes and peppers.... I have regular sizes of both growing and haven't had any problems with topping blooms. I've never touched the peppers but prune the tomatoes almost daily. Granted, I don't have a plethora of toms yet but I'm getting leaves and (slowly) flowers down low. Is it just a matter of timing or am I having beginner's luck?
Mon, 2008/11/10 - 9:50pm
#48
How are your peppers "regular size", never pruned, and less than 8" tall?
That may be the crux of the matter. You're growing under much brighter lights, in the Deluxe, right? My plants were already... 15" tall? when they transferred to the Deluxe, and they were still jam-packed with three plants squished together, and their leaves are fairly big and dark. I pruned. They branched. My peppers only produce flowers at the crux of a new branching. But the branches that started however far down below, just stretched until they reached the light to leaf / branch again - right back up at the top.
So - my plants and Peat's may be stretching to the light a lot harder than yours are? And hopefully mine will do that less now, because I removed the middle plant?
Obviously, I'm just guessing. It's a great question.
Tue, 2008/11/11 - 11:11am
#49
It's the same here, the branches flower great, they then shoot up into the lights. I tried a severe prune, this helped in that I now have a number of forming toms lower down - but, the majority of buds want to form at the top. I prune nearly everyday, what I prune are decent branches that would form many flowers, I don't have a choice.
The problem is the Classic, it's just too small. If I had a Pro200, Deluxe then I am pretty convinced that all this would be solved. If I can get many buds in the situation I have now, then they would be a long way away from the hood of a better model AG. I would then harvest a decent quantity of tomatoes.
Also, you may remember that this AG is running on a water pump AND an air stone. I will be getting much better and faster growth than just a pump only. This does not help!
The stretching of the plants to the light could be an issue as well, our bulb light output cannot compete with yours - they will stretch less with yours. You can also throw in my use of GH nutrients, this will have a bearing on the plant growth. Better nutrients, better growth; outstripping the capacity of my Classic...
So, perhaps what I am doing here is pushing the plants beyond what the Classic can tolerate. If I stuck to the 'standard grow' (AG tablets, and no air stone), then perhaps I would not be having these issues?
I have to say that the Classic & Pro100 are not the best for growing tomatoes and peppers. If you want plants like this then I would stick to a Pro200 or Deluxe.
Tue, 2008/11/11 - 4:51pm
#50
I wish I knew why my peppers are staying so dense and compact, it doesn't make sense since they're 4' tall in the field. Maybe the intense light has something to do with it, they don't grow much in height but are spreading out all over the deck. I've already had to move one greek oregano and will have to move the other in a few days to give it light. The oregano is doing much better in the herb garden with growth formula than bloom, BTW and we had to pinch off quite a few buds yesterday.
The tomatoes are of unknown origin and they've produced tomatoes outside from twice cherry size to almost hamburger size. I almost killed them with PH and nutrient problems and do serious "scientific" pruning almost every day. Here's a crazy theory - every time I raise the tomatoe's light hood they grow to fit in a day or two. A few leaves get burned from hitting the lamps and that branch quits growing. I prune it back pretty severely and start getting growth down low. None of my plants have overgrown the light hood much, have yours?
I'm at a total loss about the peppers not growing upwards but think the secret to tomatoes is to prune severely and prune often, before buds have a chance to form.
Back when I was in landscaping we "espaliared" plants by putting weights on the limbs to make them bow over then have new growth growing straight up again. I had a Dracina Marginata 7' tall with geometric limbs growing up then out then up then out then up again, all by making the limbs droop and have new growth go upwards.
Back on topic, I do think the Classic just isn't made for most normal plants. For herbs and lettuce it's fantastic but beyond that it's going to be a handfull.
Oh look, I can rate my own blog as 5 out of 5
Lots of photobucket stuff to do with my old photos...