DWC Tomatoes
Growing Hydroponic Deep Water Culture Tomatoes
Growing DWC tomatoes is a fun and easy way to grow your own delicious and healthy fruits at home outdoors, in a greenhouse or indoors under grow lighting. Compared to growing tomatoes in soil, growing DWC tomatoes allows the grower to produce a much larger plant that yields more fruit with a comparatively more compact root system.
With a HydroBucket, it’s easy to support the water, oxygen and mineral demands of the root system, easily supporting healthy plants twice as tall as most people!
Comparatively, it takes a very large pot of soil or depth of planting bed to support the needs of the roots with for the same sized tomato plant.
DWC growing gives plant roots constant access to water, oxygen (via low wattage air pump) and nutrients so a healthy compact root system can perform more work versus a much larger root system in soil. Soil grown roots are always elongating, searching for more water and nutrients—with a limited amount of oxygen available to them, depending on soil conditions which can vary greatly.
To grow DWC tomatoes most varieties of tomatoes will thrive. Some veteran soil tomato growers are chagrined when they see how large the fruits and the plant itself will develop in DWC hydroponics. Growth rates tend to be considerably faster too!
You can start your favourite seeds in HydroPlugs, rockwool, Oasis, Jiffy Pellets, etc. Using a clean soilless starter medium will prevent water logging and contamination when introducing your seedling into the DWC system. You can also rinse the medium away from the roots of nursery bought plants, although they may take some time to recover and adjust when transitioning from soil to DWC hydroponics. If you do, make sure to remove as much of the soil as possible, as it may transfer pathogens to your nutrient solution.
Note there are TWO basic types of tomatoes, and there can be combinations in between (hybrids). These are:
- Indeterminate varieties–vine like cultivars that will grow and produce fruits indefinitely, so long as conditions allow and require trellising and training
- Determinate varieties–bush like cultivars that tend to grow more compact and produce a limited number of fruits, also requiring support.
NOTE: HydroLids have built in spots that allow you to connect PVC support systems with just some lengths of common PVC pipe
To automate your seed starting process for DWC tomatoes, you can sow seeds directly in your HydroBuckets systems using the HydroPlugs because they are made for the job! This can be a great option because the system will take care of the delicate seedlings for you as they emerge and develop; no more overwatering or underwatering plants. Adding a Seed Starter Lid will allow you to use just one HydroBucket to produce Four robust seedlings (four planting sites instead of standard single site).
DWC tomatoes will thrive anywhere regular tomatoes will, ie same lighting conditions, temperature and humidity are preferred. Outdoors or in a greenhouse DWC tomatoes should receive at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily–watch out for super sunny spots that stay hot all day, as this can stress plants. Indoors under artificial lights a minimum of 8 hours is recommended although the crop will likely grow bigger and produce more under up to 16 hours of light via grow lights like LEDs.
DWC tomatoes, just like soil tomatoes, prefer slightly acidic conditions at the roots, maximizing water and mineral uptake. A range of pH 5.8 to 6.3 is usually ideal.
Always use the best quality water available to you for hydroponics crops; if the water doesn't taste good to you, it won’t taste good to your plants! Filtered water is usually best and clean fresh rain water is also suitable.
Once DWC tomato seedlings have their first set of true leaves, it’s important to ensure that adequate nutrition is being supplied–remember the small amount of starter medium doesn’t contain much in the way of nutrients or fertilizer–this is supplied by you, the grower. The level of control growers have in DWC for supplying crops with optimal nutrition is a huge advantage over traditional methods, as it’s easy to keep plants in the sweet spot for fertility 24/7.
Following a hydroponic feeding schedule is often a great place to reference. That said, using a high quality hydroponic base fertilizer like Cultured Solutions A&B Bloom is simple and economical. Start at ⅛ th to ¼ of full strength once true leaves form and gradually increase feeding levels over time. About four weeks after germination, most varieties will benefit from full strength feeding concentrations. Again, increase fertilizer strength gradually; it’s much easier to add more fertilizer if plants are showing a slight deficiency than it is to try and correct overfeeding, which can set flowering and fruiting back.
Aren’t hydroponic tomatoes watery?
Nope, not at all, For the same genetics, you’ll find you tend to get thicker and fleshier fruits. Some say the fruit is of higher quality due to the increased levels of oxygen at the roots.
Will DWC tomatoes taste the same as soil?
We find they taste even better! Remember in DWC systems, the fertilizer levels are supplied at relatively low concentrations because roots have access to optimal nutrition 24/7. These low concentrations of highly purified minerals allow you to taste more of the plant rather than the soil!
Will hydroponic tomatoes have the same nutrition?
In some instances, they can have more because of the high degree of plant health. Studies comparing nutritional content for hydroponic versus soil show varied results–really depends on the conditions.
That said, DWC tomatoes tend to be free of pathogens like blights, because these harmful microorganisms overwinter in the soil or soil debris, later infecting crops. DWC grown plants tend to be much more clean and hygienic as these hiding places are eliminated. It is much easier to grow DWC tomatoes pesticide free.
Additional Benefits of DWC tomatoes:
-no more messy soil on your patio; or lugging dirt in or out of your home
-the HydroBucket and HydroLid are near infinitely reusable; just clean between crops and they are ready to grow again! And YES, they will stand up to direct sunlight or strong growlighting for decades without fading or becoming brittle
-because the HydroBucket is of a relatively smaller footprint versus potted plants, you can grow many more plants in the same sized area for maximum productivity; they are easy to move around too, being much lighter in weight versus saturated bigger plant pots.
Start Indoor Growing Today!
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