hi everyone these cherry tomatoes grew
in water using hydroponics more
specifically the cracking method no soil
just water in glass mason jars or old
Folgers coffee jars this was the first
time I had ever grown tomatoes using the
cracky method I made one very rookie
mistake as you will see later but cracky
was forgiving and gave me Tomatoes
anyway more about that later these
cherry tomatoes actually had their start
two weeks ago in the AeroGarden we
planted the seed pots according to the
directions and more than one seedling
sprouted which is normal there are more
seeds in each path than is necessary to
make sure that you get at least one
plant and then you are supposed to thin
the seedlings and just leave one healthy
plant in each pod to me fitting is akin
to killing the plants so I wanted to see
if I could transplant the seedlings and
give them a chance at a happy life I
decided to use the cracky method since
it works great for my salad greens and
herbs but this was the first time I
tried cracky with tomatoes I just didn't
want to throw out the thin plants from
the AeroGarden
at the same time I started a cucumber
plant from seed using cracky but that is
for another video so I'm going to pull
out the smallest plants since they can't
all grow in this small pond and I'm
going to transplant them into these
mason jars I also wanted to experiment
to see which hydroponic solution would
work best so I decided I would grow some
of the plants using the grow big formula
from Fox farms and some using the master
blend formula I have two gallon jugs to
mix up my nutrients one for the bro big
formula and one for the master blend
formula the grow big formula is very
easy to mix you just shake the bottle
and then pour 2 teaspoons into a gallon
of water and shake that's it
the master blend is well more
complicated you need the master blend
you need calcium nitrate and you also
need magnesium sulfate otherwise known
as
consult the directions on the back label
are from mixing five gallons at a time
but for a gallon you can mix two grams
of the master blend two grams of calcium
nitrate and then one gram of magnesium
sulfate okay now it's time to get ready
to transplant the thinned-out seedlings
I'm using Rockville these are one and a
quarter inch cubes and I took a scissor
I made a slit in the Rockville to make
it easier to slide the seedlings into
the cube
I'm also soaking them in water so that
they are saturated I already set up
these two mason jars with the master
blend formula and I set up these two
mason jars with the grow big formula
from Fox farms I do have another video
on how to set up the mason jars with
Rockville and netcups and all the other
fun stuff that comes with the crafty
method so if all of this sounds like a
new language to you make sure to watch
that video there should be a link to it
in the top right corner of the screen
and I'll also leave a link for that
video in the description box below okay
let's see if we can rescue some of the
seedlings that need to be thinned out
from the AeroGarden this pod just pops
out easily from the AeroGarden
you can see there are already some nice
roots coming out of the pod I'm trying
to pull out the seedlings without doing
too much damage to the plant and its
roots but they are really wedged in
there pretty tightly I finally got them
out but not without ripping the roots
but at least I didn't do any damage that
I can see to the remaining seedling
which is going right back into the
AeroGarden the AeroGarden is set up with
two pods so let's see if I have better
luck at fitting the extra seedlings from
the second pod and it was just as
difficult but it looks like I have a
little more of a root with these as you
can see I ended up with six seedlings
that I findout the three seedlings on
the left they have better root systems
than the other three on the right so I'm
going to plant the three on the right
all together in one mason jar and see if
any or all survived the transplant
now you can see why I made a slip in the
rock wall and I'm going to slip all
three of the week or seedlings on the
into this one cube I'm putting this one
into the net cup with a bro big solution
so these three seedlings have less
damage when I fin them out and
presumably better roots I'm going to put
one into the other jar with a grow big
solution and the other two in the jars
with the master blend solution I'm
starting to have doubts about this
experiment since already there are
variables other than the solution I'm
using and that is the damage to the root
systems on the different seedlings not
everything is equal so I won't know if a
plant grew better because of the
hydroponic solution I used or because
the plant was healthier from the start
so much for the experiment of trying out
to different hydroponic solutions okay
now the seedlings are in their Rockville
home and in the mason jars I'm going to
fill in the gaps around the rock well
with clay pebbles to give the Rockville
more stability and also to help anchor
the plant down the clay pebbles also
help block out the light from filtering
down into the water I will also cover
these jars with a paper sleeve for the
same reason to block out the light
if too much light filters down into the
water it will encourage algae growth and
we don't want the algae to compete with
the plants for nutrients so now the
AeroGarden pods are back in their home
and thinned out plants are in their new
homes so let's see if we can get these
to grow cranky style these plants are
now 2 weeks old and they seem to have
survived the very harsh transplants I
subjected them to let's have a closer
look and there is a root there and that
is a very good sign indeed I decided to
transplant the cube with the three
plants together into soil rather than
continue them in the hydroponic solution
so now I have three mason jars with the
cherry tomato seedlings and the other
three seedlings are in soil and all the
seedlings look equally happy at this
stage of the game now it is 12 days
since I transplanted the seedlings into
the mason jars and they seem to be doing
very nicely the roots have started to
develop a little more all three plants
seem to be doing great the one in the
grow big solution and the two in the
master blend solution and even the ones
I transplanted into soil are do
great just for comparison these are the
same age as the plants in the AeroGarden
and you can see the plants and the
AeroGarden are bigger that could be
because they were not transplanted so
they didn't undergo the shock of being
moved into a new environment and having
half their roots ripped off or it could
be because the AeroGarden has an air
pump or it could be the difference in
the lights or maybe even in the nutrient
solution there's really no way to know
for sure but they are definitely bigger
than the seedlings I transplanted it's
now 18 days since I transplanted the
seedlings so another 6 days have passed
since our last check-in and the plants
are doing well all three in the mason
jars and you can see the roots are also
developing nicely you can really leave
the plants alone they take care of
themselves basically at this stage okay
it's a month later so these plants are
about six weeks old at this point let me
take the paper sleeve off so we can have
a look at the roots and the plants seem
to be doing fine now we are at seven
weeks and the plants and the mason jars
are really doing nicely here you can see
one of the seedlings I planted in soil
and although it is healthy it is growing
much more slowly than the hydroponic
Krupke plants but remember it was from
the seedlings that I had damaged in the
transplanting process and now for
another comparison let's have a look at
the plants in the AeroGarden
and they are doing the best of all they
even have flowers but if you look
closely at the cranky plants you can see
something happening maybe the start of
some bugs on them as well so they are
not so far behind the AeroGarden plants
or is that just wishful thinking on my
part and let's have a look at the roots
it's always fun to look at the roots you
can't do that with soil again for
comparison this is one of the seedlings
I transplanted into soil and you can see
it is growing but much slower than the
hydroponic plants you can see how much
bigger they are you can't see the roots
on the plants in the soil but I'll bet
they're not as pretty as the crafty
roots here is the third plant
I pruned it here it was growing too tall
and I wanted to keep the plant a little
shorter I will need to prove the other
plants at some point as well it's now a
couple days later and the plants are
still doing very well and let's take a
look at the plants in the soil and
although it is growing it is growing
very very slowly it's now 8 weeks since
I Finn Dee's plants from the AeroGarden
and this plant in soil is still only
around 3 inches tall I must have really
shocked it badly when I ripped it out of
the AeroGarden
but the ones of the mason jars have
continued to grow nicely and here you
can see we finally have some flowers and
look how tall this plant is no
comparison to the one in soil ok I can't
help myself
I have to take a look at the roots they
always look amazing to me by the way I
have the plants in a corner area of my
house
this window faces south and this one
west so it gets lots of light from both
sides I also have a fluorescent lamp and
overhead grow lights so the plants are
really getting a lot of light we finally
have a teeny-tiny tomato very small I
don't know if you can see it these
plants are not seedlings anymore
they've been growing nice and tall and
we are now at a little more than 10
weeks since I transplanted these
seedlings they were 2 weeks old at that
point so the plants are actually 12
weeks old and doing really nicely now we
are at 12 weeks since we transplanted
these seedlings so the seedlings are 14
weeks old the plant is growing very big
and putting out lots of flowers I needed
to tie a wood slat to the jar to keep
the plants steady and straight and I'm
using an electric toothbrush as an aid
in pollinating the plant I'm really not
sure if this variety needs it but just
in case the vibrations from the
toothbrush help to shake up the pollen
and the flowers and distribute them
where they need to go you can see it's a
winter outside so it's really nice to
have plants growing in the house that we
can eat the winter months can be cold
and dreary and the plants really help to
balance that out and at the same time
provide us with some fresh produce
okay let's have a look wait this is the
cucumber plant it's also growing nicely
using the cracky method but that's a
different video this video is about
tomato plants so let's take a look it's
now 14 weeks since we transplanted these
and a seedlings from the AeroGarden
and you can see the AeroGarden is
putting out a very nice crop of cherry
tomatoes and the cranky tomatoes are
also starting to put out fruit but not
as abundantly as the AeroGarden I stake
the plant to give it support you can see
the water level is a bit low and the
leaves look a little droopy so it's time
to add more water I add fresh water most
of the time but once every two weeks or
so I add water with nutrients just make
sure not to add too much water into the
jar you don't want to drown the plant
the plant is still growing but here is
where I realized what a mistake I made
from the very beginning remember this is
my first cranky tomato experience my
previous experience with cranky is with
all types of lettuce and parsley and
basil but never fruiting vegetables now
I'm experimenting with cucumbers and
tomatoes and I learned that the same
little mason jar that works for lettuce
is way too small for the tomato plant I
know that sounds obvious but somehow it
did not occur to me so next time bigger
containers for the plant
definitely I wonder if Folgers coffee
comes in jumbo sized containers that I
can reuse well for now I'm going to make
do with what I have but I will use a
much bigger container next time there
are multiple advantages to a bigger
container I think I can support the
growing plant better in a bigger
container and also it holds more a
hydroponic solution at one time so you
don't have to refill and wonder if you
need to refill with nutrients or just
fresh water on the downside it takes up
much more room and it is heavier to move
around I found a glass vase that looked
a little bigger but it really wasn't
much bigger
anyway I move the plant into it I
thought about using the kitty litter
joke to set up
a container but the pouring hole is off
to the side not in the center and I was
afraid it would be unbalanced I really
need to go to Home Depot and find a
bigger container alright just a quick
peek at the AeroGarden and you can see a
nice crop of tomatoes growing and back
to our craft key Tomatoes they are a bit
behind the AeroGarden but they're doing
just as well now the plants are 18 weeks
old 16 weeks since I transplanted them
as young seedlings and we finally have a
red cherry tomato and a few more on this
plant these are really filling up so
nicely I feel bad that I didn't start
them out in a bigger container but
that's part of life you live you learn
and then you do it better the next time
around so now we are at 20 weeks so
these plants are around a hundred and
forty days old and we have some nice
clusters of tomatoes yes it's always fun
to look at the roots I never get tired
of looking at the roots and here we have
some red ones we have been picking off
the red ones as they ripen and also
pruning the plant since it is so
top-heavy and keeps wanting more space
to grow I know
bigger container next time the plant
continues to grow and grow and it's so
beautiful
so the plants kept growing and
eventually I transplanted this one into
soil where it continued to grow for a
while giving off more and more tomatoes
all in all I'm very satisfied that I
rescued these seedlings from their
impending doom well that's it for this
video I learned a lot from this
experience growing tomatoes in small
mason jars
next time bigger containers I hope you
enjoyed watching this video if you did
please like comment subscribe or all
three and thank you for watching bye