Hey everyone! This is my first crop grown hydroponically and I was hoping to get some advice from those with some experience.
I'm growing habeñeros and I think they look pretty healthy, however it has taken them about 5 months to get to that size and they're just starting to flower. So it seems to me that their grow rate is a fair bit worse than if they were out in a garden.
I'm using a drip system with clay aggregate and a 5 gallon reservoir which runs for 15 minutes every hour. They have a 16 hour photoperiod (which was recently reduced to 12 to induce flowering) under a CFL advertised as having a daylight spectrum along with indirect sun light from a nearby window. My pH is kept just below 6. Air and water temperatures are appropriate. I'm using the correct botanicare nutrient solution depending on the phase they are in and changing the water every 4 weeks.
So, does anyone see anything that I'm doing wrong or could change so that my plants grow at a better rate?
There are a few things I'm concerned about, but not really sure if they matter. The roots extend down into the reservoir and form clumps. I'm using city water and not very sure of the chemical content. My plants are very close together. The grow bed is rather small. And the botanicare solution has a tendency to form sediment which then clogs my pump. Thanks in advance for all your help!
Why Hydroponic Habaneros Growing Slower than in Soil?
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- rainbowgardener
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I know NOTHING about hydro. But looking at your picture, your plants look a bit lanky with a lot of internodal space. That suggests to me not enough light intensity. Your lamp looks kind of high above them. It might help if you could just get the light right down close to the plants and/or add more lighting.
I change the water every 4 weeks. I don't have an ec meter to find the ppm. I agree that they probably aren't getting enough light. If I lower the light the top leaves suffer heat stress. What's the best lighting system I can use without needing a ballast? Because as I understand it ballasts are 1-2 hundred dollars.
Thanks!
Thanks!
- rainbowgardener
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" If I lower the light the top leaves suffer heat stress. "
I don't really understand this. I don't do hydro, but I do start tons of plants from seed every year, indoors under the lights. They are ordinary fluorescent tubes in shop light fixtures. I keep them just a couple inches above the plants, on for 16 hrs a day. (I am not trying to get anything to fruit, just grow seedlings out.) I raise the lights as the plants grow. But sometimes they get ahead of me and I have had plants grow right in to the light fixture without suffering any damage that I could tell. Fluorescent lights give off very little heat.
I don't really understand this. I don't do hydro, but I do start tons of plants from seed every year, indoors under the lights. They are ordinary fluorescent tubes in shop light fixtures. I keep them just a couple inches above the plants, on for 16 hrs a day. (I am not trying to get anything to fruit, just grow seedlings out.) I raise the lights as the plants grow. But sometimes they get ahead of me and I have had plants grow right in to the light fixture without suffering any damage that I could tell. Fluorescent lights give off very little heat.
- rainbowgardener
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It should not be giving off so much heat. I think your problem is the kind of light you are using and the position it is in. Those light bulbs are designed to be used in a base down or a sideways/horizontal position. Heat rises. In the position it is in the heat accumulates around the base, which is where the electronics are.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 114AAZpOSZ
I would switch to fluorescent tubes, which are cheap. Alternatively you could get one more like you have and mount them horizontally, shining light on your plants from two sides. There are clip on fixtures for mounting bulbs.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 114AAZpOSZ
I would switch to fluorescent tubes, which are cheap. Alternatively you could get one more like you have and mount them horizontally, shining light on your plants from two sides. There are clip on fixtures for mounting bulbs.
- rainbowgardener
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- rainbowgardener
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