I'm a beginner at hydroponics so I'm sure I did something stupid. I hope its obvious to anyone reading this.
I made a little climateroom. I can control the humidity, air temprature, water/nutrients temprature, light,
I use about 4 to 5 liter buckets. I tried a few different tomato varieties. Hybrid vitador. And like 5 cherry varieties. But they all keep dying or becoming like a zombie that doesnt grow. Their leaves all slowly dry and fall off. Leafs turn lightgreen and crispy starting at the tips. There is no algae in the water and no visible mould or fungus of any kind. They do well for 1 to 2 weeks and then they stop and slowly die.
The plants are growing in stonewool in a bastket suspended over nutrient water. Its deep water culture. Air is added with an airstone and aquarium pump. The nutrients I use are general hydroponics florabloom floramicro floragro.
I tried reversed osmosis water with calmag and tapwater without. T tried seedlings from outside of climate room anf from inside. I put on the lights 12 hours a day. The nutrient water temprature I tried from 18 to 21 celcius. Air temprature tried all between 21 and 25 celsius. Relative Humidity tried from 60% to 75%
There is airflow inside and fresh air from the outside trough an airfilter. It refreshes the air 1 or 2 or 3 times a day. I tried many varietied between these settings. Help what am I doing wrong? The same thing happened to my cucumbers. Thy became lightbrown and completely crispy. I stopped trying with cucumber. However my californuan wonder paprika is doing great. Can anyone help me? What settings should I try?
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CptAmbition
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CptAmbition
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- Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:31 pm
Some aditional info. I tried varieties vitaror f1. Roma cherry. Romello f1. Gardenets delight. Black russian. Rosso cremlin f1. Cerise. I tried nutrients according to the bottle instructions. And I also tried less nutritions.
Ill updoad photos of a few of the tomatoes and the paprika thats doing well. The current settings are
12 hours light 12 hours dark
24hours airstone
Nutrients floraseries according to instructions.
About 5 liters of water per container. Watertemprature about 19c. Airtemprature about 23c. Relative Humidity 72%. I try 2 lampsettings distance from plants. 25cm and 60cm distance. Doesnt seem to make a difference. Nutrientswater ph I tried 5.5 , 6 and 7. The nutrientwater is slightly lightbrown from the nutrients but is clear and cool and oxygenated. No algae. The roots of the plants are nice and white. They are clean and not slimey or thin. Not any green. Not any brown.
Ill updoad photos of a few of the tomatoes and the paprika thats doing well. The current settings are
12 hours light 12 hours dark
24hours airstone
Nutrients floraseries according to instructions.
About 5 liters of water per container. Watertemprature about 19c. Airtemprature about 23c. Relative Humidity 72%. I try 2 lampsettings distance from plants. 25cm and 60cm distance. Doesnt seem to make a difference. Nutrientswater ph I tried 5.5 , 6 and 7. The nutrientwater is slightly lightbrown from the nutrients but is clear and cool and oxygenated. No algae. The roots of the plants are nice and white. They are clean and not slimey or thin. Not any green. Not any brown.
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applestar
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I’ll let the hydroponic experts answer the details, but at least part of the problem is insufficient light. 25cm is still pretty far for even the brightest unless it’s one of those heavy duty green house lighting that burns hot, and you haven’t mentioned what kind of light I think?
Also in mentioning the fertilizers, which of those are you using? At least one is meant for inducing blooming which you wouldn’t use until the plants are more mature. Initially you would use higher N(1st number).
The pepper growing better than tomatoes makes sense since it needs less light than tomatoes. Also, peppers thrive with warmer temperature than tomatoes especially in seedling stage, which might mean it’s too warm for the tomatoes.
Also in mentioning the fertilizers, which of those are you using? At least one is meant for inducing blooming which you wouldn’t use until the plants are more mature. Initially you would use higher N(1st number).
The pepper growing better than tomatoes makes sense since it needs less light than tomatoes. Also, peppers thrive with warmer temperature than tomatoes especially in seedling stage, which might mean it’s too warm for the tomatoes.
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rainbowgardener
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I'm not a hydro person either. But looking at your pictures, I wouldn't say your plants died; I would say they never really got started. Your seeds germinated and then they never really got going after that. Were you trying to start your seeds in the same hydro system that the plants will be growing in? I don't think people usually do that. They start them in a tray, with a growing medium (maybe rock wool) that can be kept damp but not wet. When the seedlings are farther along and sturdier than yours, they are transferred into the hydro system.
I agree with applestar. The spindliness of your tiny seedlings is an indication they are not getting enough light. I would not try to save the ones you have. No matter what you do, they will always be stunted from their bad start.
A healthy tomato seedling should be stocky and short, with not a lot of space between leaf nodes, and leafy.
I agree with applestar. The spindliness of your tiny seedlings is an indication they are not getting enough light. I would not try to save the ones you have. No matter what you do, they will always be stunted from their bad start.
A healthy tomato seedling should be stocky and short, with not a lot of space between leaf nodes, and leafy.