Day 6
I noticed that the seeds sprouted yesterday. I must have dropped several seeds into the whole; I pinched off all but two seedlings, and will pluck one more in a few days.

@jk Oh, and it smells wonderful. Like a mature tomato plant in summer.

@bloomcs said in BLOOM Components and System Overview: Nutrient Dosing System:
Thank you. I found this interesting. I had to look up what a Peristaltic pump was, and that was interesting too.

I grew eggplant this summer in the greenhouse for the first time, and I cannot believe how much I enjoyed eating it. Cook's Illustrated has a great recipe for baba ganoush. I was also amazed by how productive one plant was. I'm excited to see your grow!

Outside, bleak winter; Inside, tomatoes are growing!

Yesterday I moved to Stage 5: Fruiting. The plant has in fact started setting fruit.

I had trouble when I changed the water yesterday. The extension hose leaks, and I spilled water. So, when it all started back up the moisture sensor gave an alert. I dried it, but must not have reseated the grow tray correctly, because it flooded a second time. I dried it out again. But a few hours later the plant did not look good. I got an alert that the temperature had dropped below the target range. (Which was odd, the temperature inside the Bloom was below the house temperature.) I ran through the system check; everything seemed to be working. An hour later, I watched to make sure the roots were being flooded, and everything seemed to work. It took around 7 hours for the ph and nutrients to reach their target range. Everything has stayed in range since then. The plant has perked back up.

56 days since planting, at it is has an unbelievable number of tomatoes!

I've been pruning it to a single vine and training it in a spiral along a piece of string... I think it is working. Last week I dimmed the lights to 95% and tightened the spiral so the vine is a little further away from the wall lights. There is still some leaf curl, but not as much as last week.

No color yet, but I think they will start to ripen any day now.

Does the root mass every become a problem? Should we ever trim the roots?

Every two weeks I empty the water from my Bloom. Water that is ph balanced and has lots of good nutrients. I've been diluting it and using it to water my houseplants. Do I even need to dilute it? Am I likely to run into problems repurposing the water?

56 days since planting, at it is has an unbelievable number of tomatoes!

I've been pruning it to a single vine and training it in a spiral along a piece of string... I think it is working. Last week I dimmed the lights to 95% and tightened the spiral so the vine is a little further away from the wall lights. There is still some leaf curl, but not as much as last week.

No color yet, but I think they will start to ripen any day now.

Does the root mass every become a problem? Should we ever trim the roots?

@bloomcs I changed water today without spilling water everywhere for the first time. The video showing how to avoid the leak in the quick connect was very helpful. Thank you.

I am having a lot of fun watching the tomato grow. @JT I had no idea that it would try to produce suckers off the main vine. It is just wonderful to watch. Here are some pictures for day 49:

The tomatoes are looking promising:

I am a little concerned about the new growth, the branches are curling a lot. Should I decrees the intensity of the light? Or maybe increase the frequency the roots get flooded?

I am also wondering about trimming some of the old branches:

Thank you for all the help!

I've been aggressively running the suckers on my vine--keeping it to a single vine that I am training in a spiral.

Over the past few days I've been seeing what seem to be suckers growing off the older branches. Here is a picture:

I'm afraid I had plucked the larger ones before I thought to take a picture, but a few of these had grown 5-6 inches tall and set a couple layers of leaves. It is fascinating.

Does the current app automatically update, or do I need to do something to get the update?

The leak is from the orange quick connect. I spent a long time trying to get it seated correctly, but I have not ever managed to get that one on right. When I first start the drain cycle it leaks a lot, then when the flow of water gets going the leak dies down, but when the tank is nearly empty and there are lots of air bubbles, then it leaks a whole lot. My phone seems to have trouble with videos, but I'll try to get one for you.

Outside, bleak winter; Inside, tomatoes are growing!

Yesterday I moved to Stage 5: Fruiting. The plant has in fact started setting fruit.

I had trouble when I changed the water yesterday. The extension hose leaks, and I spilled water. So, when it all started back up the moisture sensor gave an alert. I dried it, but must not have reseated the grow tray correctly, because it flooded a second time. I dried it out again. But a few hours later the plant did not look good. I got an alert that the temperature had dropped below the target range. (Which was odd, the temperature inside the Bloom was below the house temperature.) I ran through the system check; everything seemed to be working. An hour later, I watched to make sure the roots were being flooded, and everything seemed to work. It took around 7 hours for the ph and nutrients to reach their target range. Everything has stayed in range since then. The plant has perked back up.

Here are the pictures from yesterday.
It keeps growing!

There was a funky smell, so I checked the roots. The smell was not any stronger in the root tray, and the roots looked good.

I think the plant looks healthy. There is some very slight curling of the leaves. This picture was taken yesterday, today there is more curling. And today the plant looks a little droopy. I'm watching it, but not too worried. When I've grown this variety before, the older leaves always seemed to curl.

I grew eggplant this summer in the greenhouse for the first time, and I cannot believe how much I enjoyed eating it. Cook's Illustrated has a great recipe for baba ganoush. I was also amazed by how productive one plant was. I'm excited to see your grow!