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Hydro Jalapeno Problem and PPM Question

I'm attempting my first hydro grow indoors with an Early Jalapeno that I sprouted in a 1" rockwool cube. My system is a 5-gallon DWC with a big air pump and big ring air stone. Lights are currently (4) 26W CFL cool whites for the vegetative stage, hanging about 2" above the plant on an 18/6 cycle (I have 45W warm whites for the flowering stage). I'm using RO water and Fox Farm nutrients (Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom).

I'm in the 4th week (maybe closer to 5 or so if you count the sprouting time and all that before I actually put the plant into the DWC bucket). The plants are exhibiting some problems on the leaves, which I think is probably nutrient burn, but I'd like some opinions. The leaves are showing some spotting. Some just have slightly yellow spots, while others are showing dead spots. One has small black spots along the edge of the leaf toward the tip. Part of the stem has turned purple (leading me to believe this could be a phosphorous deficiency at first). I tried following the Fox Farm feeding schedule but I think it may be too strong for this plant. This week, I had the solution up to 1600 ppm, which is toward the top of the range for this week according to the schedule. I adjust the pH to 5.8. I've been searching a lot for a concentration suitable for Jalapenos but haven't found anything specific, except for maybe one chart that gave a value for capsicums. After seeing that yesterday (it said something like 900 - 1250 ppm), I was worried that I'm actually burning this plant, so yesterday I diluted it down to about 1240. This evening, it seemed to look a little better. Leaves aren't quite as droopy (although some are showing the "claw" still, which is also what makes me think I'm giving it too much nitrogen). I decided a little bit ago to drop it even more to be safe, and now it's down to 1080 ppm, pH 5.8.

What do you all think the problem here is? Check out the pics attached. You'll notice also that I cut the new growth in the middle like 4 or 5 days ago to try that technique and see if I can get it to branch out more and stay relatively small.

Does anyone else here have experience growing Jalapeno hydroponically? What is the proper PPM and pH range for this plant? Any tips? Opinions on lighting schedule or anything else? I should probably switch things over to flowering pretty soon since according to the seed package, it's a fast harvest time (I think 75 days?), but I wanted to let it grow a little bigger, get stabilized, and give the topped part of the plant a chance to heal and start growing out more. I plan on putting those 45W warm white bulbs in place of the currents ones on a 12/12 cycle.

Oh, and the roots are looking fantastic and have exploded in the last week. The longest and oldest one is discolored toward the bottom (somewhat brown) though, but it's been submerged and I think it might just be stained from the nutrient solution.

Thanks for any advice!

 
Welcome to THP loudawgucr! That ppm range you have is for mature plants and you are doing the right thing bringing your ppm down somewhat. It still may be way to high for such a young plant especially that peppers need very little in the way of ferts. I'd also keep your light schedule on 16 hours a day. I don't grow hydro but there are several here that can help you out.
 
Mix all three together as per FF mixing chart
1part grow big,1 part TB,1 part BB then dilute with fresh water until ppm is around 350 ppm then correct PH to 6.0-6.3 ,they will green up in a day or too.
Big Bloom has a tendency to settle on the bottom of tank so watch your pump filter.
formula de Pablo for Foxfarm Hydro
seedlings until first flower
5ml GBH +5ml TgrB + 30ml BB + 10ml Hygrozyme enzyme add to 1 gallon of water
{ck ppm of fresh water first and subtract that from mix to achieve correct amount}
now pour this gallon into a 5 gallon bucket and dilute with fresh water until ppm is 350 ppm
now correct ph to this amount at PH6
feed this to your plants.
Depending on your tank size you will need to do a few calculations to achieve this in a larger res.
after they have developed the first flower buds,
use the Tiger Bloom and Big Bloom full strength...the hygrozyme will make it all work out.
at week 8 give a dose of GBH without the Tiger Bloom
ck ph /ppm daily

good luck
 
one other thing,switch to coco fibre if you want to benefit from a Organic Based nutrient,with this most of the BigBloom will stay in the medium after a few cycles.
 
Here's a link to a site/forum devotoed to hydroponic chili-growing:

click

The guy running it is very knowledgable and I'm sure you'll find help/info there.
 
Some claim their nutes are for soil or hydro only, others can supposedly be used in both. As far as I know, you could use any hydro nutes in soil, but should use only half of the recommended amount!
 
You know, that was crazy of me to ask that question when I am already using my ferts in my watering regimen and it says for hydro, soil, and coco...
 
AlabamaJack said:
You know, that was crazy of me to ask that question when I am already using my ferts in my watering regimen and it says for hydro, soil, and coco...


You know, I first read this as "using my farts in my watering..." and the visual of you bent over with your bottom stuck in the grow box has had me giggling all morning.
 
In hydro, I keep concentration at 20-30% of what manufacturers recommend , or 400-550 ppm.

Always remember what the fertilizer manufacturer's are selling......

Keep Ph at 6.5
 
Thanks for the info, sounds like I'm overfeeding. I'm going to drop the solution down to 400ppm today and see how things go. The plant is already looking a little better so far, so I think I'll have it fixed up very soon! The new growth where I topped is splitting up nicely into multiple branches.

I also have a couple more questions. From my reading, it seems that due to the natural origin of the pepper plants there doesn't seem to be much of a distinction between the vegetative and flowering stage since the hours of light aren't very far apart between the seasons. Therefore, should I not be doing this in stages? It seems that the normal 12/12 cycle for flowering doesn't quite apply here. Should I just set it to 16/8 and always leave it like that? Also, should I not switch to the warm white 2700K CFLs? I've seen posts saying that since it's pretty much always summertime, the cool white 6500K CFL's are good for the entire grow. Maybe a mixture of the two?

Likewise, it seems from pablo's post that I should be feeding the mixture for the flowering phase. I haven't added any Tiger Bloom yet since traditionally I'd still be in the vegetative stage. For the Jalapeno, should I basically just always be in the flowering stage and always feed flowering stage nutrient mixes?

Thanks for everything so far, I hope I'll have something good to show for it all! I've never grown a pepper plant before so this is new for me in that regard as well.
 
Chiles are day-neutral, ie, photoperiod has no effect on flowering/fruiting. I run a MH and HPS for 16 hrs/day for the entire year and find no benefit in changing to all HPS for flowering or all MH for vegetative growth.

I use the same NPK ratio all the time but I have chiles in all stages of growth; I think if you are market growing and want all your fruit at the same time, you can change nutrient NPK ratios.
 
AlabamaJack said:
If you use these nutes for hydro, could you use the same in your watering regimen for soil?

Hi AJ,
Foxfarm make a Soil or a Hydro in the Grow Big formulation.
use the soil for soil and the Hydro for anything but dirt.

pablo
 
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