If you are growing fruiting plants, have you ever thought about when you should switch the light times and when to switch the nutrients along with other questions? Here, we will provide plant care techniques for the fruiting plants
In general fruiting and flowering plants should have the lights set as 12 hours ON and 12 hours OFF in the very beginning after transplanting them into the garden.
The nutrients to start is 25mL of each Aqua Vega A and Aqua Vega B for a full water reservoir. Once the plant starts to flower or bloom, you should then switch the nutrients to 30mL of each Aqua Flores A and Aqua Flores B for a fresh new tank of water.
Plant care techniques are essential weekly. Check out our article here.
Some flowering plants are also fruiting plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. These fruiting plants will require pollination.
Pollinating is important for fruiting plants as it is what happens in nature for food yield. As the garden is indoors it is unlikely for bees or other pollinators that usually do this in the wild. This section will go over how to pollinate for fruiting plants without pollinators.
When flowers start to appear for your fruiting plants, to pollinate, just use your fingers to gently tap and shake the flowers a few times so that the pollen goes into the stigma. Do this for all of the flowers. Pollinating will only need to be done once per flower (though it doesn’t hurt to try a few more times) so this procedure only needs to be done 3 times per week (the more the better).
Other great ways to pollinate include adding a fan that blows over your plants moving the pollen naturally, using a paintbrush to rub the flowers, and simply knocking on the side of your garden to cause the whole unit to vibrate.
One plant that requires extra care when pollinating is cucumbers as they have two types of flowers: male and female. Using a small paintbrush you will want to rub the inside of the male flower and then the female flower. This will move the male pollen to the female flower to create the fruit.
After pollination, you should expect to see fruiting if it is a fruiting plant. Here are some things to expect for fruiting and flowering plants - especially on how and when to harvest.
Harvesting Tips For Specific Plants
Baby Cucumbers
It takes 14-21 days for germination. The plant will require a specific pollination process after it blooms of using a paintbrush to touch the male flower and then the female flower. It takes 50-55 days for the plant to mature after transplanting. You can harvest when the plant is near maturity when the baby cucumbers are around 2-3 inches long. Only harvest the mature baby cucumbers for optimal taste.
Cherry Tomatoes
It takes 7-14 days for germination. The plant will require pollination after it blooms. It takes 60-70 days for the plant to mature after transplanting. For this plant, you should also trim off the suckers near the nodes once you see them. This helps the plant to focus on fruition rather than growing more leaves. You can harvest when the plant is near maturity. Only harvest the mature cherry tomatoes for optimal taste.
Dwarf Strawberries
It takes 14-42 days for germination. The plant will require pollination after it blooms. It takes 150 days for the plant to mature after transplanting. You can harvest when the plant is near maturity. Only harvest the mature dwarf strawberries for optimal taste.
Hot Anaheim Peppers
It takes 14-21 days for germination. The plant will require pollination after it blooms. It takes 100 days for the plant to mature after transplanting. You can harvest when the plant is near maturity when the hot anaheim peppers are around 2-3 inches long. Only harvest the mature hot anaheim peppers for optimal taste.
If your fruiting plant is not on this list, feel free to contact us at support@justvertical.com.
We will provide you with the information that you will need to grow your particular plant.