Trouble with German Johnson's

From the beginning, they seemed a bit weak in the system. I bought them as organic seedlings from Whole Foods. They just never seemed to take well to my aquaponics system, though they had 3 very large tomatoes (still green) on them. For the past week, they've looked weak and wilted, as if they weren't getting enough water. I tried giving them a little boost of nutrients, I tried pouring fresh water over their roots, and I tried cutting the water level down a little. Nothing - they remained wilted. I finally pulled them up yesterday, 'cause they simply didn't look like they were going to make it. The roots looked pretty rotten.

Doesn't make sense, as there are several other tomato plants in that same grow bed, and all are doing fine and producing fruit and looking healthy.

So, maybe it's just that German Johnson's don't do too well in aquaponics (or my aquaponics)? Or maybe I just had a couple of weak plants.

Will try them again next year to see if they consistently perform poorly in my system.

Peanuts + Fall update

Well, I pulled up my peanut plants today. I didn't really know if it was the right time or not, but I figure it won't be too much longer before we have our first frost, and I wanted to have them up before then. In any case, we have peanuts! I'm gonna dry them out for a few weeks, so I'll report back on how they taste.

In other news, I have a bunch of green tomatoes on the vine. They are still very green, and I keep hoping that one morning, I'll wake up and they'll start turning. Time is running out!


The broccoli is looking good. I've been battling some caterpillars that really eat up the leaves like crazy. They hit them last spring, as well. I've seen fewer and fewer recently, so maybe I'm winning the war. Or, maybe they are regrouping for another assault.

The bok choi is looking good, but the spinach is kind of hurting. When it sprouted, it looked like grass it was so thick together. I suspect that maybe it was TOO thick, and they choked each other out. Hopefully the strong will survive!


Finally, I'm gonna get some rainbow trout in the pond in November. I hope to grow some cilantro or something in the buckets during this time, but I'm not sure anything will grow with the water as cold as it will be. If all else fails, I'll empty the pond and fill it up periodically to keep the nutrients down. Apparently, the trout don't like water over 70 degrees F, so it may be a struggle to fatten them up enough to eat by next spring.