Aeroponics tomatoes dieing. Need help fast.

[One2ManyHobbies]

I have an aeroponics containter. It's a rubber made container with a fogger (like this one https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190384948974). I planted 4 tomato plants and 4 pepper plants and they have been doing great until I first cleaned the container.

I took the container out back, lifted the lid and set it on the edge of two tomato cages so the lid and the roots were suspended in the air. Hosed out the container, cleaned it with a very watered down rubbing alcohol to kill any bacterial growth and hosed it out heavily again. I put it the bottom in direct sunlight to let it dry out a bit.

I noticed the plants, especially the tomato plants, were wilting so I gave their roots a very soft spray from the hose which collapsed all their horizontal root structures into one singular cluster as the water collected and ran down them. Something I did not foresee. Note, it was not the force of the water it was the weight of the water collecting on their roots.

I set everything back up and tried hard to nurse my tomato plants back to health. They looked like they were coming back but the next day began their decline again. It's now been about a week and I've been waiting for them to spring back and their just looking absolutely pathetic and now the very tips of their leaves are just barely starting to turn yellow.

I have tried adding more nutrients and more water, neither of which have changed anything. I don't know exactly how many nutrients I've put in but if I had to guess I'd say about 7-8 ounces of each of the FloraBloom and the FloraGro, and about 9-10 ounces of the FloraMicro. Which may sound like a lot, but I put in about that much when I first started out and it worked great.

I checked the PH of the water which is exactly at 7.

I'm out of ideas. The pepper plants are doing great.
I know tomato plants like more acid in their diet, should I increase the acidity of the water? If so, how? I also read somewhere that you can put a small amount of hydrogen peroxide in to kill off some of the bacteria but not harm the plants. Is this something I should do?

Or should I give up on the aeroponics for this round and fill up the container so that the water level is up to the net pots and make it a bastardized hydroponic system?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Do it for the plants!

[malkore]

Just how long were the roots out of the hydro/air spray? It sounds like you fried them by exposing them to air for too long.

I did hydro in my basement one winter, just growing peppers. I didn't ever measure my nutrient solution, or change it out. I just kept my water level up and watched the plants for signs of deficiency or overdose.

I did, however, build my tub and pump/spray bar with a ball valve so I could simply open it and shoot all the old solution out, and then immediately refill.

You shouldn't clean/disinfect in the middle of a grow cycle, just after. The water movement and lack of light should keep the nasty stuff from forming in the first place.

I also have run several Aerogardens, for up to 5 months on a single grow cycle, without ever cleaning like you did.

Give the plants time...they'll probably recover. I took hydro peppers and direct planted them in the dirt, no hardening off at all, and got a great crop once the plants converted to soil roots. During that transition I had to soak the ground daily to keep it looking badly wilted but alive.

[One2ManyHobbies]

Thanks for the advice malkore.

I ended up filling it up with water. Then I tried lifting the container to move it and omg water weighs A TON! My back subsequently hurt for a day. The tomato plants sprang back to life soon afterward. They are growing taller again. Oddly enough the pepper plants seem to be at a developmental halt. I should have kept notes on the whole process especially of how many chemicals I put in. I'm fairly convinced that filling it up with water brought them back to life. I am beginning to wonder just how much fog is required to support the moisture needs of eight plants. I know I was given numbers back when I did my research but I really don't know how I would measure how much is in there. So now I have a hydroaeroponic monster. It's Alive! It's Alive!!!

[cynthia_h]

1 gallon of water weighs 8.34 lb.

It can add up....

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[rainbowgardener]

(In round numbers) " a pint's a pound, the world around." Didn't you grow up hearing that?

(8 pints in a gallon, so that would make 8 pounds per gallon, reasonably close to Cynthia's actual number.)

[parcgreene]

Glad to here your plants spring back. Do you have pictures of them?