Hydroponic Tomato Experiment ⑤ – Growth during Winter

Please take a look at the pictures.

These pictures were taken in January 2013, about one month after the previous transplant stage. Due to the different picture angles, it’s hard to see the growth from the previous month. However, there was no big change from the past month. Since the room temperature was low, there was a decrease in growth rate. Also, there was no big difference in the amount of sunlight, but the tomato plants receiving a lot of sunshine seemed grow faster than the other ones. Overall, the plants had thin, frail-looking stems. They did grow upward guided by poles but I was concerned about further growth with such a thin foundation. I had hoped the stems would have been stronger.

From this stage, more and more branches and leaves sprouted. It is important in growing cherry tomatoes to remove extra branches and leaves. By doing this, you provide nutrients to the whole plant and will have fine fruit. In this hydroponic experiment, however, I refrained from removing extra branches and leaves as much as possible to make sure this was a convenient growing method and to see how the tomato plants would grow under such conditions. When compared with growing plants in soil, hydroponic culture can provide plants with nutrients more efficiently because hydroponic settings provide plants with water and liquid fertilizer at all times. Therefore, I expected to be able to harvest fine cherry tomatoes without removing extra branches and leaves. I haven’t removed any extra branches or leaves so far. However, you will need to perform some work on the plants at later stage; details to come in future articles.

I planted seeds in autumn and had them sprout in early winter. Since their high growth period was in the middle of winter, I noticed that their growth had slowed down. I remember wondering how many of them would survive the coming winter.