chinense Habaneros drooping daily?

Hello, I am new to this forum, and have a question.

On a whim, I decided to grow a few plants indoors. I am starting with habaneros, and I have two plants in a DWC rubbermaid container. I got seedlings from the hardware store a few weeks ago, which would probably be too late had I planted them outdoors. Frankly I was surprised they still had plants... Anyways, I have noticed that the leaves droop at about the same time every night, a bit before I turn the lights off. Is this normal? They perk right back up in the morning, and I can see new growth at the tips.

I have a large rubbermaid container with two 8" pots in the lid. Many holes were drilled the the pots, and they are filled with hydroton. Right now the water line is covering the bottom inch or so of the pots. No roots have grown out yet. I had to wash soil off them to put them in the hydro system, but any shock from that is over. I am using BC nutes, slightly less concentrated than the directions, for now. PH is between 6 and 6.5, I am trying to conserve my PH-down solution, money is tight. By the way, utilities are included in my rent, so this could be cost-effective for me. I live in a finished basement, so the temperature stays pretty constant. I removed two 2-bulb
T12 fixtures from my ceiling to use for grow lights. Bought two 6500 kelvin, 3150 lumen and two 3000 kelvin, 3400 lumen bulbs, 40 watts each. Two-outlet air pump running two big airstones. As far as I know, I have done everything OK except for the following:
Slightly higher-than-ideal PH.
I haven't light-proofed the DWC yet (will do soon).
I can't measure the PPM of the nutrients (and can't afford meter).
No timer yet, although the light on/off times vary a bit (~18/6), the leaves droop at the same time.
Fluorescent lighting instead of HPS, but the spectrum is a nice mix, and I keep them very close. They don't get hot at all, barely even gets warm. They are suspended from the ceiling and the hydro garden is up off the ground.

Sorry for the long post. Plants are growing fine, just wondering about the "daily droop", if it could be related to anything else, and any other suggestions.

Thanks

Sounds fine, I have had plants do exactly that. Then they stopped.

Welcome!

I don't do hydro, but I would hazard a guess that the plants you bought were extremely root bound, and may need to develop a better root system to support themselves.

Any yellowing of leaves?

Thanks for the replies, I do hope it stops, like Slinter's plants.

Pam: Yes, they were rootbound when I got them, at least they fit my understanding of the symptom, with roots circling the inner perimeter of the pot. But support doesn't seem to be an issue, at least in the structural sense. It is only the shoots which droop, not the main stem, which is thick and has been pruned back quite a bit. But if you mean in a life-support sense, that is possible, although becuase I clipped them from a foot tall to about 6" (in order to eventually SCROG them), I would think the root mass gathers sufficient nutrients... but then again, I do have a weaker solution than is recommended for early/mid veg stage, to save money and avoid burning my (smaller) plants. They show no signs of over-feeding so I will probably use full strenth when I change my reservior.

Cheezy: No yellowing. There are some small holes in the older leaves, some bugs must have started to munch on them when they were at the store. I have looked for pests and can't find any on these plants, but I have seen a few fungus gnats around my soil-potted violet. They don't seem to be a big deal, though.

Only time will tell, I suppose. I really do need a timer, though. I think the problem might be somehow related to the lights, since it's a steady, recurring problem. Seems like the plants are telling me it's past their bedtime.

I have another question, and I don't feel it warrants another thread:

I have noticed the nutrient solution separating, with solids dropping to the bottom in the past week. Is this OK, just requiring a reservior change, or is this a sign of some underlying problem?

ryanmark said:

I have another question, and I don't feel it warrants another thread:

I have noticed the nutrient solution separating, with solids dropping to the bottom in the past week. Is this OK, just requiring a reservior change, or is this a sign of some underlying problem?

Click to expand...

Change nutrient solution more often and precipitation will decrease.

Cool. I haven't changed it yet (been about two weeks since they've been in), but they are doing well. The drooping phenomenon is still occuring, from about 9 pm - 4 am, maybe the large amount of water in my reservior is affected by the moon's gravity? Just kidding. Or maybe not, who knows. All I do know is that I am seeing some flowers starting to bud on the larger plant. No roots out the bottem yet. I hope I get pods.

So you took these plants from soil to hydro? Any problem with that?

No problem, maybe a day or two of shock, that's all. I elaborated a bit on the Overwintering Peppers thread. I have a few pics, taken during the "droopy time". Sorry about the quality (phone camera).