Hydroponics Update: My Tomatoes Sprouted!

In early February, I wrote about my goal to give hydroponics another shot. I described last year’s attempt (and ultimate failure), and I mentioned my setup for this year’s attempt. Now more than a month later, it’s time for a hydroponics update.

My tomatoes sprouted!

In fact, they’re not just sprouting – they’re thriving. Just look at all those leaves. I’m feeling pretty excited about their progress. And I have a lot of hopes for a decent tomato harvest this year.

My Initial Setup

In my previous post, I mentioned the items I had gathered for my hydroponics experiment. I bought a liquid plant fertilizer, and Amazon had some red heirloom tomato seeds that seemed promising. At the time, I thought I’d have to do a lot of guesswork and prayer to get my plants going.

Fortunately, my red heirloom tomato seeds came with their own set of instructions, eliminating the guesswork. The instructions said to put the starter seed containers in the slots of the hydroponics tank, add a couple of capfuls of fertilizer every two weeks, and to change the water every month or so to minimize algae.

I followed the instructions to the letter, and voila! Beautiful tomato sprouts.

What Happens Next?

Well, I had set my expectations for my plants pretty darn low when I started. I filled every single slot of my hydroponics tank with tomato seeds thinking that a few of them wouldn’t sprout. All but one seed container sprouted (though one plant did sprout a little late compared to the rest).

For now, all of these little plants fit snugly in my hydroponics tank. They won’t mind sharing the device so long as I continue to leave the light on and the water topped off. However, these plants won’t stay small for long (hopefully!). In another month or two, they’ll be too crowded to grow properly. Even my tomato seed instructions said to only plant a few seeds in a small tank.

But I’ve got a plan for my plants.

As soon as the weather cooperates, I’m going to move at least half of my plants to my backyard greenhouse. The greenhouse is small, so I can’t accommodate all of my tomatoes – but it should keep my young tomatoes warm enough this spring that they should be nice and big come summer.

Any plants that I leave in my hydroponics tank will make for good backups, in case one or two plants don’t survive the transfer. And I’m interested to see whether my hydroponics tank can compete with actual sunshine as far as growing tomatoes is concerned.

I’ll Keep You Posted

I love gardening, but I haven’t had a lot of success overall. I’m hoping that by getting an earlier start this year and making the most of my hydroponics tank and greenhouse that I’ll finally enjoy an actual harvest. There’s something magical about homegrown tomatoes, and I’m happy that I get to share my journey with you.

If you have tips and tricks for keeping my garden growing, please feel free to share them in the comment section below. I don’t have a lot of yard space, so I’m working with the limited tools and information that I have. Any feedback you give can make a big difference .

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