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Tennis Ball Lettuce and Orange Hat Tomatoes in Bounty Gardens

Grow log by lynnee · Original thread

8 visual updates16 photos17 replies
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CropLettuce, tomato
VarietyTennis Ball lettuce, Devil's Ear lettuce, Crisp Mint lettuce, Merlot lettuce, Orange Hat tomato
MethodAeroGarden hydroponics
EquipmentAeroGarden Bounty Elite
Plants7
AudienceExperimental

What you can learnA mixed compact-garden diary covering lettuce thinning, root recovery, tomato spacing, pollination neglect, delayed ripening, full harvest, and regenerative pruning.

Actions:2 Pruning1 Planting1 Transplant1 Watering1 Harvest
Useful practices
  • thin head lettuce aggressively
  • limit Orange Hat tomatoes to about three per Bounty
  • shake tomato flowers for pollination
  • harvest fully coloured fruit and prune spent branches
  • remove interior growth to improve air circulation
Problems encountered
  • overcrowded Tennis Ball seedlings
  • a separated lettuce seedling lost most of its root
  • tomato blossoms dropped before pollination was resumed
  • long nutrient neglect caused discoloured leaves

*The days were calculated automatically and approximately.

Day 91
UPDATE#8
Grower update

Update #8

Actions taken

PruningRemoved discoloured leaves, fruited branches, withered blooms, and crowded interior growth.

L By lynnee

Here are the before and after photos of the Orange Hat pruning. I think you can get the general idea. I took off the badly discolored leaves, the branches that had fruited, and interior growth that had no room to grow. Air circulation should be improved.This closeup photo shows how bad some of the leaves looked. I think the discoloration is caused by lack of steady nutrients.We'll see whether they're finished for good, or willing to produce another crop. There were s lot of withered blooms that came off in the pruning, so I'm hopeful.
Day 90
UPDATE#7
Grower update

Update #7

Actions taken

HarvestCollected all fruit from the three Orange Hat plants at day ninety-two.

L By lynnee

At 92 days, I harvested all the fruit from my three Orange Hat plants. These guys were horribly neglected, but produced like champs! The roots are still healthy, so I'm going to do an R&R and major pruning today. We'll see whether they will produce another crop.The pruning will require removing a LOT of discolored and dried up leaves. Photos soon.
Conversation
C
Clovis Sangrail

How did they taste? I harvested a few from one of mine a couple or three days ago, and they were a bit . . . harsh. Not at all sweet. Tasted . . . tasted green. But they looked just like yours when I harvested them. I've never had orange tomatoes before. How should they taste?But I sure do have a lot of them.

L
lynnee

The Orange Hats taste very sweet when fully ripe, Clovis Sangrail. When the first ones turn completely orange, they are not actually ripe--they do taste a bit green.The color turns slightly darker when they're really ripe, but they may be overripe--and developing cracks in the skin--when you can see the color change. The overripe ones are still perfectly edible, and still keep well on the kitchen countertop.I think that if you wait a week or so after they turn orange, that they'll be perfectly ripe. I can't say for sure, because I left the toms on the plants for much longer than usual, because I didn't have time to harvest them. The ones in the tray in the photo are sweet, and that was at 92 days. None of the toms had gone bad while still on the plants at that point.Husband the Tomato Snob loves these! I think they're slightly better than the AG Golden Harvests, because they're sweeter. They also don't need the kind of pruning the GHs do.

Day 69
UPDATE#6
Grower update

Update #6

L By lynnee

The Orange Hat tomato has looked like this for ages. (Photo taken 10/26/24.)The fruit has FINALLY started to ripen. (Photo taken 11/2/24, at 73 days.) The first tomato started to show some yellow at 70 days.
Conversation
C
Clovis Sangrail

My Orange Hat looks like the top photo, but it is about 2 weeks behind yours, so hopefully will start getting color in a couple of weeks.That Tennis Ball was a bust. I kept waiting for it to make a ball, whereas I should have eaten it when it was young and tender.

L
lynnee

Clovis Sangrail , I found a note somewhere that said head lettuces wouldn't form balls in an Aerogarden. My Tennis Ball behaved exactly like yours. I guess the overhead lights make the plants want to reach toward them?

C
Clovis Sangrail

I have a vague memory of reading that somewhere, too. Why would that happen? Isn't the sun overhead?

S
swimmom500

My Orange Hat looks to be around the same size and is just starting to flower. Planted it in a Harvest with a Veranda Red. The Orange Hat is much further along than the VR although they were started the same day. Unfortunately it’s a Harvest so I have no idea how old these plants are. I guess a need to start writing the planting date on a piece of tape.

C
Clovis Sangrail

I even stick a piece of tape on my Bounties. We have lots of squirrels in my neighborhood, and we pretty frequently lose power when one fries itself on a transformer, so I record the start time just in case I have to reset the garden.

Day 36
UPDATE#5
Grower update

Update #5

Actions taken

WateringMisted the Orange Hat plants during unusually warm room conditions.

L By lynnee

Here are three Orange Hat tomatoes in a Bounty Elite, after 40 days. There are a few blossoms that have set fruit, but the fruit is too small to photograph.Quite a few blossoms dropped before I remembered that you have to shake tomato plants (at a minimum) to pollinate them! I need to get out the kid's toothbrush, maybe.I misted the plants today, even though tomatoes don't like water on their foliage. It's very warm in the room today and tomorrow.
Day 14
UPDATE#4
Grower update

Update #4

L By lynnee

Clovis Sangrail, after seeing that photo, I think I'd limit the Orange Hats to three in a Bounty. And guess what! That's what is going on here. The plants are about 4" tall, and may be starting to produce blooms. The shoots in the middle are too tiny to tell whether they are leaves or flowers.And here's a progress photo on the lettuces. Crisp Mint is relocated to the top right, and Devil's Ear is on the bottom right. (I guess it's called Devil's Ear because the leaf tip is slightly pointed, like Spock's ears.)The two Tennis Ball plants aren't forming small heads yet. They're forming leaves that sprawl out.
Day 8
UPDATE#3
Grower update

Update #3

L By lynnee

Happiness! Both Tennis Ball lettuce seedlings are doing fine. All three Orange Hat seedlings are also fine.
Conversation
C
Clovis Sangrail

Thanks, lynnee . I am watching your Orange Hat tomatoes and Tennis Ball lettuce with great interest because I ordered both of those. Edited on 9/4 to add -- My Orange Hat seeds arrived today. And now the dilemma -- Harvest or Bounty?These really are only 6 to 9 inches tall, but they do spread. Here's a picture from the Baker Creek site. There are 6 in this Harvest --I'd only do a couple in a Harvest, not 6 like that, which I think kind of looks like P.D.Q. Bach's wig. But could I squeeze 4 into a Bounty and just let them cascade down the sides?

Day 6
UPDATE#2
Grower update

Update #2

Actions taken

PruningReduced an overcrowded Tennis Ball pod containing about eight seedlings.
TransplantMoved one separated lettuce seedling into a different pod despite severe root breakage.

L By lynnee

Today I thinned the Tennis Ball lettuce pod. There were about 8 seedlings--far too many for lettuce that forms a 6" head. I tried to separate one healthy seedling and move it to another pod (see arrow in photo), but the root broke off about 1/4" from the stem. It may or may not survive. It's perked up since this afternoon, so maybe it will be okay. Left side: two Tennis Ball pods.Right side: Devil's Ear in back, Crisp Mint in front.
Day 1
UPDATE#1
Grower update

Update #1

Actions taken

PlantingStarted the lettuce and superdwarf tomato pods five days before the update.

L By lynnee

Here are the seed packets from the new-to-me lettuces and superdwarf tomato that were planted 5 days ago (8/21/24). All the pods had germinated seeds by the next day!
Conversation
C
Clovis Sangrail

Sprouted in a day? I am ordering some of that Tennis Ball lettuce. My Gaea's Blessing Buttercrunch never did sprout. Blessing, my ass.Going to order some of those Orange Hats, too. Eight to nine inches tall -- Can I grow them in a Harvest? I am really looking for tomatoes like those Campari tomatoes in the produce section. These are about 2 ounces each. Bigger than a cherry or grape, but not as big as a small roma. Suggestions? Baker Creek didn't have Camparis.Edited to add -- Order complete. And they are going to send me a packet of mystery seeds.I just realized these are the same people who we get our Merlot from.

L
lynnee

My first Merlot was a mystery seed packet, Clovis Sangrail. I thought they were unloading stuff that didn't sell, and almost didn't try it! It was the "very black" description that piqued my curiosity.I'm looking forward to their 2025 Whole Seed catalog, which is available for preorder now. Fun articles, and beautiful photos.My Tennis Ball has lots of little leaves, so probably needs thinning. Don't remember how many seeds were planted, so don't know where to start, and therefore am doing nothing.

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