It’s been almost three (!) weeks since last time I posted… Sorry! My mom and I found this awesome flooring warehouse that we’ve kind of been going nuts with for my brother’s house, so everything else has fallen by the wayside a bit. On to the gardening!
I got an email from our local distributor a couple of days ago that basically informed us that, during the summer, it is acceptable to use half-strength tonic concentrations. This means that instead of 400mL of each tonic per 20 gallons, use 200mL of each. This is a totally good thing, because the TG has been absolutely inhaling water like a freaking elephant. Rough estimate? The TG is sucking up 60-80 gallons a week. We basically have had to refill the reservoir every two days or so, after letting it get down to the top of the pump every time.
However, we’re seeing even more massive amounts of growth!
South Side 6/3/13
North Side 6/3/13
We’re going to have more tomatoes than we know what to do with. It seems every time I lift a leaf to check on a plant, there’s either buds or baby tomatoes growing nearby. The tomatoes have almost entirely taken up the West side of the TG – all of the lettuces there got choked out from lack of sun. We’re seriously considering not having tomatoes in the TG next year, just because they’ve completely taken over. We do have one bunch of tomatoes that is beginning to ripen (finally).
Ripening tomatoes (Cherry) 6/3/13
These are supposedly the cherry tomatoes. My dad is entirely skeptical, because if these are actually cherry tomatoes, they’re HUGE. The circumference of the biggest one I could get to (the one on the right in the above picture) is about 6 inches.
There has been another Great Pea Harvest, as we’re calling it. This pea plant just keeps getting more and more massive!
Pea Plant – New Stalk 6/3/13
This new stalk is just about hitting the ground, and we have the pea plant in the second section of the TG. That’s about 3 feet off the ground, so we have a 36″ pea bush.
The cucumber is finally producing, and may I just say that baby cucumbers look kind of freaky?
Baby Cucumber 6/3/13
The marigolds are going nuts, though that’s not saying much, as it’s fairly hard to kill marigolds.
Marigolds (East Side) 6/3/13
And the basil I didn’t think would get enough light randomly popped out between some tomato stalks.
Basil 6/3/13
We do have some new little bugs that are not thrips, but are going to town on the cucumber leaves. They haven’t really seemed to bother anything else, but that might change in the near future. We’ve had caterpillars chewing on leaves, but those don’t really bother me as much.
New Bugs
If anyone has any idea what kind of nasties these are, please let me know! And also if you have any organic-ish (not heavy pesticide) way of getting rid of them, that would be fantastic! They move like caterpillars, but they’re tiny. And it’s mostly just this one leaf that they’ve colonized.
I’m so glad I can help some of you make an informed decision on the TG. As always, if you have any questions, post a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, happy gardening!
Aeroponic Tower Garden Review 
I LOVE my TG too!!! I just found out about it about2 1/2 months or so, and already I have SO MUCH lettuce, and peas, and cilantro, and cucumbers galore!! Wht a Great Way to GROW non GMO food! We KNOW what we are eating.!! Yippee
Hi! Your cucumber leaf looks like little caterpillars have been munching on it. I’ve had the same ones. I use a 3 in 1 organic spray from Lowes. It’s Garden Safe brand and about $6 a bottle. That gets rid of pretty much all pests. Caterpillars can be tricky though. You can hand pick them, of course. Those are tiny and hard to pick. You can use an organic control for them called BT or thuricide. Oh, I also found a good source for inexpensive rockwool, like $8 a sheet including shipping to me! You just have to order at least 30 sheets to get the good price. I started a group buy for it so my friends and I could save some cash. I’m also a distributor, but we don’t get any credit for the rockwool! Happy growing!
Thanks for the info!!
Are the plants resilient when picking the crops?
It depends on the plant. Our tomato loved being harvested, as did the basil we put in (until the tomato choked it to death). The lettuces, not so much. I think those are one-harvest crops, not a while of lazy picking like we did.