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Hydroponic Tomatoes 101: The Secrets for Perfect Growth · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hello, welcome back to Hydroponics Daily, where we bring soilless growing to
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  life, one episode at a time.
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  I'm Dr. Russell Sharp, the inventor of gold leaf, or as it's called in the UK,
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  liquid gold, and today we're talking about tomatoes, the superstar of hydroponic crops.
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  The crop that's probably grown hydroponically more than anything else.
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  And we'll give you some top tips on growing tomatoes.
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  So not a complete deep dive into tomato growing, certainly not one for your experts,
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  but certainly if you're looking to get tomatoes grown hydroponically
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  if you want to diversify start growing some tomatoes here's some
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  top tips that i recommend to make sure that you
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  grow flawless tomatoes so you can grow in
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  a nft system dwc but nft is
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  by far the most common one for growing tomatoes and you
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  can grow a tomato plant on an nft
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  system in a commercial greenhouse it can last for years
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  if you grow it correctly and keep it
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  healthy and the way they do that is they grow indeterminate tomatoes
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  so they keep on growing the main stem they never pinch
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  out the main stem and then they just lay the tomato down
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  when it reaches the top of the greenhouse so you
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  it grows up and then you lay it down so that they've got
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  this really long stem along the ground eventually and after
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  about 11 months and then they just chop it off and start again put new rockwool
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  slabs down so it's fairly sustainable because it's grown for such a long time
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  in that greenhouse so other than growing them in a massive greenhouse and laying
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  them down how could you do it.
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  Start off what are the top tips well the first thing is obviously
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  like anything is to choose the right variety and if
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  you're growing in without supplemental heating then
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  you'll want or if you're you want
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  to get a crop fast that's always a good thing especially if
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  you've you're a beginner in the tomato world so choose
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  a variety that's got a very short window to produce
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  in a harvest so a variety like sun gold is
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  a golden cherry tomato super sweet and ready in 57
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  days some of them can be over 100 days
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  other ones bush early girl great for compact
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  systems so if you're going indoors that's 50 to 55
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  days and then you've got f1 varieties that's
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  a hydroponic favorite and that can be 70 days to maturity so
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  the variety you choose not only affects how fast it is
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  to harvest how much space and pruning you'll need obviously
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  you can get determinate ones that grow to a certain height and
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  then stop growing or indeterminate ones like as described where
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  they keep on growing so choose smart and your
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  future self will thank you and then modern varieties are also
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  resistant to pest and disease as i
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  said in a previous episode i reintroduced two varieties
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  back from almost extinction the manx marvel
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  and the blaby special one in the island man one in
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  leicester but these would not be resistant to the like
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  the modern varieties to many of the pest and disease they're just an heirloom a
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  heritage variety my second top tip is pinch
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  out for stronger growth this is really important it's what
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  a lot of amateurs forget you go into a lot of grow shops.
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  As well and they've got these massive tomato plants that are massive bushes and.
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  They go look at the size of this monster isn't that amazing and you just look.
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  At it go no you forgot to pinch out so you pinch out or suckering is crucial
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  for controlling the growth and boosting fruit yield you won't get the the size.
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  Of the tomatoes and you won't get the the long trusses that fall from the plant if you
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  and do this so especially the indeterminate types
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  produce side shoots between the main stem and the
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  leaf branches and the and the the ptls
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  so if left unchecked these suckers drain energy from
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  the fruit production and just produce too many stems so pinch
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  them out early aim for about once or twice
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  a week so this is something you can do regularly and it
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  also it'll help with airflow for bush
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  varieties you want to be a bit more conservative with pinching
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  out but this habit make sure that you focus on
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  fruiting and not foliage don't actually need that many leaves on a tomato plant
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  to get really good harvest okay this my next tip is be smart with your defoliation
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  a lot of hydroponic growers for other crops will be if they defoliate they do
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  it all at once and that's something you definitely don't want to do with tomatoes.
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  Why? Because sudden large-scale leaf removal stresses the plant and it interrupts
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  water uptake and it can lead to fruit cracking and they split.
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  And obviously that becomes unsightful and diseased mold can get into the split
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  fruit. So defoliate gradually.
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  I normally do a few leaves every day. So just to make sure the plant isn't too stressed.
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  Remove any diseased or yellowing leaves,
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  anything that looks like it's not completely healthy go for
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  those ones first remove any leaves that are doubling up
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  so if you've got like a dense canopy
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  remove either the bottom or the top ones because they're just going to be intercepting
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  old light so you don't want that and then any overlapping leaves are just a
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  breeding ground for pests mildews molds spider mites so yep do defoliate but
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  do it strategically and gradually the next one is a massive one water consistency.
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  Prevents blossom end rots you might find your
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  first attempt at growing tomatoes you get black on the bottom of the
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  tomatoes and you think oh i've got
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  some sort of disease and it's not that is calcium
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  deficiency and you might think right where's the bottle of calmag but
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  it's not normally due to a calcium deficiency it's
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  due to calcium not being getting to the
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  fruit and that's because you haven't watered consistently so if
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  you're in nft making sure that that nutrient solution is always
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  flowing if you're in cocoa making sure that the plants never dry
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  out other crops in hydroponics you might actually
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  want them to be drying out every now and again this one definitely not you will
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  get blossom end rot if the plants don't get consistent water which means you
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  will also suffer from fungus gnats because you're always keeping that soil that
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  grow media sorry moist use timers
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  to check on on that and keep your ec balanced as well because if your.
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  If the yee seed goes too high then it could struggle to
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  the plant could struggle to get calcium out of
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  there so consistency is the cure making sure everything's consistent
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  the next one is look out for white flies
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  white flies not a pest of many hydroponic crops
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  but they are of tomatoes really they love them they
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  can withstand the sort of trichomes on the tomato
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  surface and they are attracted to the smell of
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  the tomato plants so yellow sticky traps beneficial insects
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  like the predatory wasp Incarcia formosa
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  the name like that I think it should have
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  been from Taiwan formosa that normally means Taiwan and
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  then obviously a bio insecticide something like that
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  so as I say defoliation will help
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  as well reduce the canopy size and places
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  where whitefly can hide and lay eggs whitefly is
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  a really big problem you get it you'll you know just get swarms of whitefly
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  in your grain reader not nice I think they're related to aphids if you're growing
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  in a grow tent you should be able to keep whitefly out just because your inlet
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  filter should keep them out another top tip pollinate by hand use an electric
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  toothbrush a paintbrush and.
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  Some people use other vibrating instruments that I'm not going to name on this podcast.
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  But basically, tomatoes are buzz pollinated because they're pollinated by bumblebees in the wild.
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  And so they don't need cross-pollination. They just need a buzz to get the pollen
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  onto the stigmas from the anthers.
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  So I just flick the flowers sometimes as well. Give them a good flick with a finger.
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  Give them a rub. and that's all you need to do
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  another top tip use trellising clips strings cages
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  to get the fruit up and away and make
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  sure you've got a good structure to the plant they're not going to support themselves
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  unlike other hydroponic crops and grow shops will have
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  all these equipment for you if you're looking to you need
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  any trellising or clips and things like this harvest often
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  the more you pick the more you will the plant will produce
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  so don't just leave ripe tomatoes on
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  the on the plants that will attract pest
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  and disease they'll they might rot and fall
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  off and things like that so to harvest them when they're almost on
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  the turn from orange to red that's a good time
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  people some people harvest earlier but i like to go them just when they're
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  just about to go ripe make sure
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  your fertigation solution is in the optimum that's obviously
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  going to be a top tip as with all hydroponics don't mix
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  your crops don't be growing basil in the same nutrient solution
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  that you're growing tomatoes it's just a recipe for
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  disaster that and obviously my top tip as it always
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  is with any hydroponic crop is inspect your crop daily for pest and disease
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  hydroponics is fast-paced and things can go wrong quickly so you know look out
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  for pest disease and anything going wrong might be a valve is broken or you
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  get in overflow of water where there shouldn't be and.
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  Check out that so that's an introduction
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  to growing tomatoes hydroponically that's a wrap for today's
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  episode if you're growing tomatoes this season i hope
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  these tips have helped and help
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  you get more productive crop probably a bit
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  late to be growing if you're growing outdoors now but if
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  you're growing indoors it's any time of year you can start
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  with tomatoes and the beauty of tomatoes is you don't
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  need to worry about photo period they will flower regardless of
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  the photo period they're also flowers and but
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  unlike auto flowers once you've harvested a crop you if you've
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  got an indeterminate variety you can carry on growing
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  and they'll produce more and more and more and more and that's
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  that's a great thing you don't want to be traditionally if
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  you've got an outdoor crop or a cold unheated
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  greenhouse crop you spend half the year just feeding it
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  constant amounts of water and then you get about 10
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  tomatoes off it and then your next crop that's
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  about to come off the plant the frosts come and
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  so you've only got green tomatoes and you have to make green chutney and things
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  like that whereas with hydroponics and indoor growing you don't have to worry
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  about green chutney and horrible other uses for unripe tomatoes don't eat any
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  of the foliage that any green part of the tomato or the potato they're all related species is.
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  Carcinogenic it's also teratogenic which means
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  that it mutates eggs and sperm so i
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  always have this little thing that i got from a food
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  shop once it's a little tomato knife and it's
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  got four pincers and it cuts off the green bit at the
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  top of the tomato and i'd advise you always cut off the
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  green bit of the tomato especially if you don't want to have cancer or
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  if you don't want to have mutated kids so yeah
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  green tomatoes green potatoes unless they're
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  a specific green variety of tomato but like the leaf tissue of
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  a tomato can make you seriously ill and contains
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  mutagens you didn't know that so only ripe tomatoes
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  whether they're green red orange striped never
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  eat a green potato and never eat an uncooked potato
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  either random stupid facts to end the hydroponic daily podcast today if you
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  found it useful and you know somebody who else is growing tomatoes please share
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  this episode with them and if this episode has been shared with you then you
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  owe the person who shared it with you a pint of the drink of their choice could
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  be a pint of whiskey could be a pint of water.
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  As long as it's not a pint of pure ethanol, then we're all right.
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  Okay, until tomorrow. Thank you very much for listening. Goodbye.