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dersayliss

tomato & pepper hydroponic problems along with some soil

dersayliss
14 years ago

How long has this problem been going on? This problem has been going on about a month now.

Are you growing in a PVC grow tent? (example: Hydrohut or any other non brand tents) Growing in a basement with 400watt hps.

What system are you running? (DWC? Ebb flow? Aero? Water Farm? Flood Tables? and so on...) DWC & miracle gro moisture control soil.

Type of plants? Early girl hybrid tomato and bell peppers

What was the establishing technique? (Were the seed or clone?) They were seeds started in stone wool for the hydroponics & started in normal miracle gro soil for the dirt plants.

What is the age of your plants? about 30days

How tall are the plants? the tomato plant is about 2ft & peppers are relatively small.

What PHASE are the plants in? (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? the plants seem to flowering and the tomato plant has about 4 nice size tomato's and some small new ones forming

What substrate/medium are you using?(Hydroton, RockWool etc.) stone wool & hydroton for the hydroponic system and miracle gro moisture control soil.

What is the Water temperature? 65*

What color are your roots? White? Brown? Are your roots slimy? roots seem to be white

What Nutrient's are you using?(If growing soiless) GH nutrient & once every other week 5 drops in the watering mix for soil some miracle gro ferts(liquid bottle)

How much of each nutrient are you using with how much water? *Knowing the brand is very helpful* GH nutrient hydroponics 10ml of gro 10ml of micro & 10 ml of bloom per 2gallons of water

How often are you feeding? (If using soiless)every two weeks when i change out the water

If flowering, when did you switch over to using Bloom nutrients? slowly over time

What order are you mixing your nutrients? (example: veg nutes 1st, bloom 2nd ect) micro gro bloom

What is the TDS/EC/PPM you are using? 775ppm

What is the pH of the "Tank"? 5.5

Are you sure your calibration is correct on your equipment?yes just re-calibrated

When was your last watering? 2days ago

When was your last feeding change? (ie. grow-bloom-micro-additional) going on 10days today

How often do you clean your system: example: Flush out water replace with clean water and nutrients? every 14 days

What size bulb are you using? 400watt hps

What is the distance to the canopy? 23'

What is your RH Factor(Relative Humidity)? 55%

What is the canopy temperature? 82*

What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range)69*-82*

What is the current Air Flow? (cfm etc.) small circulated fan on high

Tell us about your ventilation, intake exhaust and when its running and not running ? just a fan blowing the plants and a window fan blowing the light (not an enclosed room)

Is the fan blowing directly at plants? no but the leaves do move a little.

Is your water HARD or SOFT? soft 80ppm

What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? tap that i let sit over night.

Are you using water from a water softener? no

Has plant been recently pruned, cloned off of or pinched. just some dead or dieing leaves, or the ones that are fall off naturally

Have any pest chemicals been used? If so, What and When? neem oil every week

Are plant's infected with pest's? i have seen a few fungal gnats flying around

Ok since this site does not like good quility pictures ive decided to post the pictures to photo bucket and like them to this post please fallow the link to view what i am talking about with my sick plants....




























































Comments (4)

  • joe.jr317
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The necrotic leaves look like victims to spidermite damage. Get a handheld microscope and examine them. They aren't terribly expensive. If you have a magnifying glass, might be able to make them out with it. You'll need to use a pesticide if that is the problem. It appears you have a pretty good size population of mites and they breed REALLY fast. Webbing does not always occur on the leaves unless you just completely leave them be, so don't assume a lack of webbing means a lack of mites. I have used insecticidal soaps to control mites successfully in the past. Neem is claimed to work, but it has too many drawbacks for my liking. Plus, it's a very potent poison to aquatic life, so I don't feel comfortable putting it in our waterways even indirectly. Anyway, you have to get both these types of products on the mites or completely coat the leaves so the mites can't eat anywhere. Mites tend to congregate on the undersides of leaves, but they don't stay there. You will have to coat the tops and bottoms of leaves. Your first course of action should be to remove all affected leaves very carefully while the fan is off so that you can remove the highest concentrations from the room altogether.

    You may have a fungus on your pepper plants, but those dark spots which seem more concentrated on the veins can also be a result of overfeeding a bit. Back off the nitrogen a bit on the peppers. I never use grow solution on peppers anymore and consequently I never have problems with oversized leaves that invite insects or blossom drop.

    In the picture where the pepper plant appears to be yellow, is that because of lighting or because the plant is actually yellow? If it's yellow, you might be battling root rot in that one. Pull it out and smell the root ball.

  • dersayliss
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    wouldn't fungal gnats have the same type of looking damage as spider mites do because i have see some of them so i got stick cards to monitor them and there is an infestation of fungal gnats.. as for the spider mites the neem oil that i am spraying should take care of them & yes i am spraying the whole plant undersides of leaves and every thing very generously with the neem oil/dawn dish soap mix that i spray every week.
    for the neem oil why is it not good to use on a hydro setup?
    The pictures that are looking orange/yellow are from the bad cam and high pressure sodium light i was taking the pictures under .when i smell my root what should the smell be like?

  • joe.jr317
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Fungus gnats are one good reason to avoid an active organic medium. It's common to get gnats from bagged soil products. The larva are the problem, though. Not the adults. So, unless I'm wrong, your hydroton medium should not be infested. The damage doesn't look the same. Actually, gnat larva damage looks more like root rot damage in regard to your top growth. The plant will wilt and yellow due to a lack of ability to take up water and nutrients through the damaged root system. You obviously have fungus in your miracle gro medium. That will invite fungus gnats. But fungus gnats are named that for a reason. They will eat the fungus. Just because you have gnats doesn't mean that they are damaging your plants yet. It certainly doesn't mean the present damage is a result of gnat infestation. Do you want to prevent them from causing future problems? Absolutely. Will it fix your current one? I doubt it. Your plants don't appear to be suffering from a root problem.

    Why not neem? I didn't say it's bad for hydro. It just has too many drawbacks in my opinion. Oils don't wash off so easily and thus inhibit transpiration. Transpiration is very important. You're inhibiting the plants ability to exhale or absorb CO2 if you are coating the leaves periodically. Soaps wash off and also break down. So I don't feel as bad about putting those in our waterways. I have read that adding a surfactant to the neem oil helps with being able to wash it off leaves.

    Smell of root rot? I don't think the root rot actually produces the worst smell, but the opportunistic bacteria that grows as a result will. It smells like a sewer to me. The roots will be brown and look unhealthy. Brown doesn't mean anything alone, though. I wouldn't be concerned, though. I only suggested that because the plant appeared to be yellow throughout. Since that was due to technology, I doubt root rot is an issue at this time.

  • TONYBRUNO_AOL_COM
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I AM GROWING INDOORS UNDER FLORESCENT LAMPS AND THE PLANTS LOOK GREAT, THEY FLOWER BUT PRODUCE NO FRUIT....THIS FOR BOTH PEPPERS AND TOMATOES

    HOW CAN I GET FRUIT FROM THE FLOWERS....I POLLINATE MANUALLY ON EACH FLOWER