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Help identifying the issues with these Ghost Peppers

johnnyfive

johnnyfive

Hi everyone.
 
It's been almost a year since I planted these 2 ghost pepper plants. One of them only started producing fruit recently. The other ones gave like 8 pods a few months ago and is producing more at the moment too.
 
My concerns:
1) both plants seem to have a very slow growing pace and the new grow seems to be drying ( ? ), to the point that there are branches without any leaves on them. Overall, I thinks these plants have too few leaves for their size (~1 meter tall).
2) many leaves end up turning yellow-ish/pale. Both plants never left the grow tent (HPS 250W). I'm using autopots and I noticed a few bugs near the water valve. They are white, VERY tiny (1mm or less), and stay on top of the water. If I stop watering they go elsewhere, at least I can't see them on the same spot.
 
Any ideas why my grow is so slow with, theorically, good temperature/humidity conditions? Should I worry about these white bugs?
 
Cheers
João
 
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From what I've seen on fertilisers, anything that says "Bloom" is usually low in N as its targeted for flowering/fruiting and not foliage growth - I imagine the same can be said for hydro nutrients.
 
I don't know anything about Autopots, but a quick google looks like the fluid that is in the reservoir should be a nutrient mix. Is this the case or is it just plain water with occasional supplements of calmag and MaxiBloom?
 
Check the underside of the leaves for those little white bugs and give them some nitrogen fertilizer. If I had to guess, the fact they have no soil so no natural nitrogen, and the ferts you are using sound low in N, so they are probably a little low on it. 
 
drathag said:
From what I've seen on fertilisers, anything that says "Bloom" is usually low in N as its targeted for flowering/fruiting and not foliage growth - I imagine the same can be said for hydro nutrients.
 
I don't know anything about Autopots, but a quick google looks like the fluid that is in the reservoir should be a nutrient mix. Is this the case or is it just plain water with occasional supplements of calmag and MaxiBloom?
Click to expand...
I fill the reservoir with plain water. Ocasionally I top feed with maxibloom/calmag.
 
IMO nitrogen, iron or suphur deficiency.
iron / sulphur deficiency may be caused by high PH and not an actual lack of it in the mix
 
johnnyfive said:
I fill the reservoir with plain water. Ocasionally I top feed with maxibloom/calmag.
Click to expand...
 
OK I think this may be the problem.
 
I haven't done any hydroponic growing myself but as far as I'm aware the reservoir needs to be filled with nutrient mix not just water. This is because the nutrient mix is the only source of food for the plant. The medium, whether it be perlite, coir etc. is simply a structure for roots to grow in, not a food source
 
I'm also not sure that topdressing in a hydroponic set up has any benefit. I would assume that any occasional/corrective nutrients are added to the reservoir.
 
Hopefully someone with more hydro experience can confirm
 
+1 deficient. Probably primarily nitrogen.
 
As drathag said, when growing hydroponics you rarely ever have just plain ol' water in your reservoir.
I see you have them in soil and perlite? Even if you used a potting mix with a high fertiliser content, it's likely pretty well depleted after a year.
In future, easier to use a sterile growing medium like hydrotron and have your resevoir be the sole control of all your plants nutrients.
If you want some more info on ferts and the like, cannabis forums are pretty handy  ;)
 
Regarding a fix, get yourself some hydro nutrients like AUTOPOT A. You want to use the vegetative formula (higher in nitrogen) which is often labelled as A. Mix it up in your reservoir according to the label and hope for the best.
 
I would also consider moving your lights closer, but be careful as that new growth might be pretty fragile.
 
Thanks everyone. I will give the plants MaxiGrow for a while. Compared to MaxiBloom, it is richier on nitrogen. Hope it helps.
 
johnnyfive said:
Thanks everyone. I will give the plants MaxiGrow for a while. Compared to MaxiBloom, it is richier on nitrogen. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Hope it helps.
Just it keep as a constant in the reservoir and I think you should look at moving the lights closer, too. Just do so with a modicum of caution.
 
I think pH is the problem in this case but I am unsure if too high or too low from the photo's. I would suggest flushing with pots out with a known pH nutrient.
 
Don't mind the bugs. Super tiny and float on water sounds like springtails. They live in the soil and don't do any harm. Maybe they are even beneficial
 
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