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ventaak

Stunted growth in Hydroton + MaxiGro.

ventaak
9 years ago

I'm trying to experiment with "hydroculture" / "passive hydroponics". I generally don't know much about hydroponics and whatnot; only what I've watched from Youtube videos and those were for recirculating pump systems and not passive.

Anyway, I figured I would wing it and bought some MaxiGro along with some hydroton, then threw them in a container with some sweet basil seeds. The plants would sprout, but just as the actual non-seedling leaves started to come in, the plant would turn black/brown, shrivel up, and then die.

After researching, I figured that maybe I used too much of the MaxiGro. So I got a TDS EZ meter, and sure enough the solution was like 2000+ ppm or something.

So that brings me to now. I reduced the MaxiGro nutrient solution to about 213 ppm (my tap water's ppm is about 43ish). The sweet basil didn't die this time when it started growing its second set of leaves, BUT now it's growth is stunted.

You see the attached photo? It's been EXACTLY like that for over 3 weeks now.

Meanwhile, I have sweet basil plants in my windowsill that I started in "GreenThumb" brand soil from a mom and pop hardware store, and after a month and a half they're already over 2 feet tall.

Any idea on what I'm doing wrong?

With regards to my water pH, I bought some cheap yellowish Chinese testing strips off of eBay and according to those my water pH is 5/6ish. I'm also growing indoors on southern facing windowsills that get flooded with full sunlight over 6+ hours a day.

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