Murray's new Tomato Wall

[Murray]

Here are some shots of my new Tomato Wall under construction.

I have dubbed it the "Tomato Wall" as it will occupy the western end of my new greenhouse and going on the fantastic growth of my tomatoes last season I reckon it will end up being about 2100mm high (7 foot).
I found last season that the tomato bushes got so big they chocked out the sunlight to the grow beds below. They were suspended on a rope ceiling in the greenhouse and left the grow beds below with plenty of room for lettuce etc to be planted.....but not enough sunlight was getting through to the beds below. It was a waste of space.
So the wall of tomatoes will be grown in 4 x 250 ltr fiberglass grow beds in a line along the western end of the new greenhouse. They can then absorb the fierce western summer sun and grow as madly as they like. I will be able to pick fruit from both sides of the wall.

At the moment they are hooked into my 2300 ltr fish tank which has Jade and Silver Perch.
In a few weeks they will be running off their own 1000 ltr tank as a separate system. Got to find some more fish first !!!

So far I have planted Oxheart and Amish Oxheart in one bed. One bed has seedlings that came up self sown from last years crop, so I am not to sure which variety they will be. The third bed will be more unknown self sown's, and the fourth will be Mortgage Lifter. The Mortgage Lifter seedlings are not quiet big enough yet for transplant.....another week perhaps. That will give me time to hook up the last bed and shovel the gravel.

I did not pre wash the gravel, the system will take care of the dirt that comes into the water in a few days. Already the water is clearing again. All the sediment will wind up on he bottom of the grow beds anyway. Adds to the bio of the system. The deep rooted tomato bushes will enjoy the bit of sludge when they get their roots down there, and the fish don't care if the water is a bit murky.

There just can never be too many tomatoes !!!!

[josh]

Murray, How far apart are the tomatoes planted? How long is each tub?

[nick]

murray,
on the fish subject how did your murray cod go? shouldn't they be about a good size for this project? any way keen to here as I am considering getting some for this season. the tomato wall is also a subject I am working on but in a different way. Will post photos if successful and let it die a quiet death if it does not,
Cheers Nick

[fishfood]

murray,
on the fish subject how did your murray cod go? shouldn't they be about a good size for this project? any way keen to here as I am considering getting some for this season. the tomato wall is also a subject I am working on but in a different way. Will post photos if successful and let it die a quiet death if it does not,
Cheers NickThats not fair you have to post failures as well pictures we love pictures

[nick]

sorry will post the withered tomatoe bushes if they occurr,

[Jonty]

Murray,
If I wait a couple of months to buy some growbeds will you be offering free tomatoes with each purchase?

Looks great.

Regards
Jonty

[Murray]

Not really, Jonty.....but I do have some interesting tomato seeds. See the post I am about to put up under Plants.

[Jonty]

Murray,
Just my dry sense of humour having a dig at you growing all the tomatoes.
Regards
Jonty

[Murray]

The tomato wall is progressing well. I now have all 4 grow beds commissioned. Tomatoes all planted out. I can't help it....I have put some sweet corn in one bed, a couple of cabbage seedlings, 4 x Basil and 4 lettuce spread out in the other beds.

In the foreground the seedling trays can be seen, resting atop the 4th grow bed.
The right hand one was seeded Friday with two new varieties of tomatoes, sugarloaf cabbage, lettuce, climbing beans, rock melon, hot chili pepper.
I have used coco peat as the seed raising mixture.

[Murray]

Just planted some Basil into each bed of the tomato wall to help with pest conrol. Basil grows exceptionally well in aquaponic systems. We still have basil pesto in the frig from last season.

I am still running to tomato wall off my 2300 ltr tank system. Need some more fish to commission the 1000 ltr tank which will run the tomato wall.

[Murray]

This weeks update on the tomato wall.
The tomatoes are going really well, each bed shows good growth. The last bed planted is still small but becoming more vigorous.
Can't help it.....I have planted corn in one of the beds and it is powering along.
If corn can go in one bed, why not some cabbage in another, and rainbow silver beet in another and lettuce in another !!!!

I have put in a post at each end to take a stainless steel wire up 2.4 mtrs off the ground. In the next couple of days I will run the horizontal wire ready to suspend the vertical strings that will be used to tie up each tomato plant.

I am harvesting cabbages every other day at the moment.....too many.....so this summer I will have to get more organised in raising only a couple of seedlings at a time in order to space out the harvest and have a steady supply.
For the last month I have been planting 2 or 3 cabbage seedlings every 10 days, so it should work out a bit better as the summer goes on.

[Murray]

Now, this is a tomato wall.!!!!!!!!!!
Photo of a tomato farm run on Auto-Pots. Other photos can be found here. (http://www.autopot.com.au/default.aspx?PageID=e9a8b293-aa6d-4314-83f9-72ddbe638df3) on the Auto Pot site.

http://www.autopot.com.au/content/images/Elmac%20LR03.JPG

[Murray]

Here is a photo of the first hand of tomatoes on my new tomato wall.
The variety is Amish Oxheart.
A second smaller hand can just be seen in the background.
many of the other bushes have started to show their first flower clusters.
Second and third photo. I have rigged up the overhead wires to suspend the tomato string droppers.
Used some old yacht fittings I have kept for such a day.
The turnbuckle at the bottom and the pulley (part of an old mainsheet car) to balance the load on the two wires.
The other photo shows the two pulleys at the top of the pole (two old main boom cheek blocks).
It will be easy to tension the wire (stainless halyard wire) as the load of tomato's increases.
Murray

[josh]

How is the Tomato Wall getting along ? Can you post some more recent photos please?
Josh

[Murray]

Hi Josh, I have just attached the tomato vines to the overhead wire using the tomato hooks. They are growing well.
You can see some sweet corn that is going well sharing the side of one of the beds.

[Murray]

I made some big changes to the tomato wall yesterday. I have taken out half of the tomato bushes as they have been so severely attacked by grubs etc I have lost heart , especially with the Beef Steak variety.
The ones that the grubs and fruit don't get are eaten by the King Parrots.

I have left the Grosse Lisse and Amish Paste tomatoes which interestingly are not so nearly attacked.
The Amish Paste being a small variety are a bit like cherry tomatoes and are rarely attacked. They are good bearers and have a very nice flavour.

Some weeks ago I switched the pipe work for the Tomato wall over to run off the main tank. Yesterday I fitted up a new 1000 ltr tank to the 4 grow beds and transfured the pipe for the tomato wall to the new tank.
I then transfered my 3 remaining big Silvers and 3 big Jades to that tank. The motivation for this move was to provide a home for the 400 plus Murray Cod. They now reside above the new 1000 ltr tank in the header/fingerling tank.

[Jonathan Dyer]

Sounds like Queensland is not the place to be, well for at least 5 months of the year. :)

[fishfood]

Hi Josh, I have just attached the tomato vines to the overhead wire using the tomato hooks. They are growing well.
You can see some sweet corn that is going well sharing the side of one of the beds.On the tomato hooks i got mine today thanks murray

[Jonty]

Murray,

Lookin' good. It's a shame the really great flavoured tomatoes are the ones attacked all the time. I beat the birds and fruit fly with paper bags. Had the same problems with King parrots eating my plums. Maybe they've gone over to your place.:confused:

[Murray]

Hi Jonty,
It is a bit mystifying re the BeefStakes, but they have suffered more than the others.
A couple of weeks ago I started spraying weekly with Seasol and that did help a lot in controlling the bugs, but not enough in the case of the Beef Stakes.

[Jonty]

Murray,

The really great tasting varieties like beefsteak have very aromatic fruit and the leaves have a strong smell. A cherry tomato on the other hand doesn't smell as much and neither do the leaves.

I suspect their smell, flavour of the leaves and fruit is why they are first choice for the pests.

Regards
Jonty

[daniel]

Here is an interesting tip for protecting fruits/veggies (from birds at least), that i read a while ago.

Supposedly, birds prefer bitter fruit over sweet. So the orchid grower in the article planted a range of fruiting lillypillies amongst the orchids in order to lure the birds away from the crops. They claim it works..

I should be able to find the article if anyone requires.

[Murray]

That is very interesting Jonty. It explains a few things. I have often wondered why the cherry tomato types are rarely attacked by bugs.

And I would appreciate such a link Daniel.