DEEDS ROOT CITY

Nick08* · Mar 8, 2014

thirdcoasttx said:
From what I read ber is usually due to calcium deficiency.

I would agree. And I have been adding a Calcium/Magnesium supplement. Maybe it has to do with all the new growth and new tomatoes coming in there isn't enough? The only reason I don't necessarily buy that idea is that even when there were about 10+ much larger tomatoes ripening at the same time I never saw that issue...

My other thought is that maybe since I had the nutes bumped up to higher PPM's, somehow the calcium was getting locked out? If that's the case...hopefully the newer slightly lower formula will help. I will keep an eye on things and try to get the the bottom of it either way.

thirdcoasttx · Mar 8, 2014

Here is the link to what I was reading.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/tomato/2000082444023571.html
It mentions calcium uptake is reduced if the ph is out of the range of 6.5 but its also talking about soil so im not sure how that compares to hydro. Anywho let us know when you get to the bottom of it!

Devv · Mar 8, 2014

+1 on 200.

My tom's suffer from BER, our soil and water is high PH. Normally I see it on the first few tomatoes. Last year I used Calmag, alot, and still had it, but it showed in the second round of fruit setting instead of the first. I watered with it. This year I'm going to try foilar and watering with Calmag. But what I really need to do is fix the soil, I wanted to add sulfur this pre-season, but ran out of 'round-tuit's.

Edit: It may well be that the plant is putting out so many fruits that it exacerbated the issue.

Nick08* · Mar 11, 2014

Do they absorb cal/mag through leaves as well? Interesting.

On my last checkup the other 3 "large" tomatoes are starting to ripen, and none showing any symptoms of BER. Weird, it was just the one... but I'll take it!!

stc3248 · Mar 12, 2014

Looking great Captain Greenhand! I wouldn't sweat that BER unless it shows up on more fruit. You can be doing everything right with some varieties and it'll still show up now and then. As long as most of your fruit stays clean you should be fine. I don't know about foliar feeding with calmag, but adding it to your water should help knock it out. By the looks of it, you'll have more than enough tomatoes even if you lose a few.

Devv · Mar 12, 2014

I read about it the other day (foliar feeding calmag), and according to the poster it's supposed to work better. I would say yes, they take up Epson, Seaweed Extract, and other nutes in that fashion. And I do want to point out my BER tomato issues are global, I see it on all the plants when it occurs.

Nick08* · Mar 13, 2014

stc3248 said:
Looking great Captain Greenhand! I wouldn't sweat that BER unless it shows up on more fruit. You can be doing everything right with some varieties and it'll still show up now and then. As long as most of your fruit stays clean you should be fine. I don't know about foliar feeding with calmag, but adding it to your water should help knock it out. By the looks of it, you'll have more than enough tomatoes even if you lose a few.

Thanks Shane! Still nothing new and the rest of the current crop continues to ripen. So not sweating it at all

I'm slowly learning to just go with the flow... I'm realizing that despite my best efforts, things can't constantly be perfect. Can't sweat the small stuff!

Devv said:
I read about it the other day (foliar feeding calmag), and according to the poster it's supposed to work better. I would say yes, they take up Epson, Seaweed Extract, and other nutes in that fashion. And I do want to point out my BER tomato issues are global, I see it on all the plants when it occurs.

I guess that makes sense, seeing as how they absorb plenty of other stuff 'foliarly' (I might have just made up a word, haha) never had any real issues with BER myself... but I will definitely keep this in mind! Thanks!
Both my Thai and Brain are just growing and putting out pods like gangbusters, but neither of them wants to ripen anything up yet! LOTS of green pods still. My patience (or lack thereof) is really making the waiting game a tough one!! :mope:

thirdcoasttx · Mar 14, 2014

Got some more questions for you nick, when the roots start growing further down into the bucket do you decrease the amount of water in the bucket to encourage the roots to continue to grow down? Once they have reached the bottom of the bucket how much water do you use? And does the mass of roots affect the aeration of the water?

Nick08* · Mar 16, 2014

thirdcoasttx said:
Got some more questions for you nick, when the roots start growing further down into the bucket do you decrease the amount of water in the bucket to encourage the roots to continue to grow down? Once they have reached the bottom of the bucket how much water do you use? And does the mass of roots affect the aeration of the water?

Technically the water level does not need to be up to the netpot, but I actually keep mine higher than recommended, and keep it about halfway through the hydroton. So my water levels are higher than normal. Not really sure why I do it this way... I just started that way, and have good results so I havent changed it (and my roots seem to be doing just fine!) You would think having all those roots in the water would affect aeration (and it might) but I havent noticed any issues resulting from this.

Nick08* · Mar 18, 2014

I did another nutrient solution refresh today:

Kept the concentrations at last weeks rates on all but the Douglah. Definitely noticing some over-feeding leaf curl so I dropped it again. Water levels were a little higher this time too, which lowered the concentrations even further.

3/18/14
Tomato: 1.5 tbsp micro, 3 tbsp bloom, .5 tbsp grow, 1 tbsp CalMag ~950ppm - 5.5pH
Thai'brid: 1.5 tbsp micro, 3 tbsp bloom, .5 tbsp grow, 1 tbsp CalMag ~1050ppm - 5.5pH
Douglah: 1.5 tbsp micro, 2 tbsp bloom, .5 tbsp grow, 1 tbsp CalMag ~750ppm - 5.5pH
BrainStrain: 1.5 tbsp micro, 3 tbsp bloom, .5 tbsp grow, 1 tbsp CalMag ~1000ppm - 5.5pH

NOTES:

Tomato is absolutely flourishing. Easily another 50 tomatoes on the vines, with plenty more about to come in.

Thai is really giving me some fits. Not necessarily in a bad way, but I just cannot figure out what is going on with it! It has the most curled and gnarly thai pods I've ever seen. It's also taking longer for any of them to ripen (or so I thought) upon further inspection yesterday, I found an extremely small, brand new RED pod, much newer than many of the other pods. But before I noticed the new red one, I actually took one of the curled ones and gave it a taste test (thinking somehow the peppers were a hybrid with something, and that maybe they would never turn red?) but it tasted VERY jalapeno like, and nothing like a normal thai chili flavor. So now I'm extra confused. :think:

Douglah now has at least 2 pods forming!!! FINALLY!!!! :woohoo:

Brain is also chugging along like a champ. Still no color changes, but lots of pods.

Tomato:

Damn thing is beginning to look like the Mayflower with all the rigging I have to the thing upright! haha

Thai:

Never seen thai pods look anything like these...

First ever baby red (looks alot more like a normal Thai)

Douglah:

Here are a few of the seedlings left at the office:

Still no fatalii's, and my damn Reapers all dried out over one of the weekends

Have a Rocoto though!

thirdcoasttx · Mar 18, 2014

Looking good! That tomato plant is out of control!!! Are you using organic nutes or synthetic?

Devv · Mar 18, 2014

I hope those Reapers come back! I had a plant get really dry last week, set it in the shade and soaked it. It surprised how fast it came back.

Nick08* · Mar 18, 2014

thirdcoasttx said:
Looking good! That tomato plant is out of control!!! Are you using organic nutes or synthetic?

I use synthetic, pretty sure. Whatever General Hydroponics 3 part Flora series is.

Devv said:
I hope those Reapers come back! I had a plant get really dry last week, set it in the shade and soaked it. It surprised how fast it came back.

I'm really hoping so too! I had some thai's that dried out, and bounced right back with a little water. The reapers are being a bit stubborn, but gonna keep trying!

thirdcoasttx · Mar 19, 2014

I use synthetic, pretty sure. Whatever General Hydroponics 3 part Flora series is.
I'm really hoping so too! I had some thai's that dried out, and bounced right back with a little water. The reapers are being a bit stubborn, but gonna keep trying!

Yeah I think im going to switch to gh the stuff I am using now is organic and it is very dark. The roots that have grown into the water are getting covered with a brown tint. It wipes off but I dont want to clean roots everyday because I read anything that covers the roots can essentially suffocate them. As far as reapers go I have had zero success with them, if they do germ they die. I do however have some seeds from a different source maybe I'll try them again some day.

Nick08* · Mar 29, 2014

Wow, things have been crazy at work. Havent had much time for the plants,let alone to update and browse the Glogs. Been out of town for a while, but luckily the plants didnt seem to mind almost 2 weeks between changes.

I did another nutrient solution refresh today:

Lowered the concentrations a little further, seeing some continued signs of leaf curling on both the super's. Also lowered the water level a bit to just about 3 gallons.

3/29/14
Tomato: 1 tbsp micro, 2 tbsp bloom, .5 tbsp grow, 1 tbsp CalMag ~963ppm - 5.5pH
Thai'brid: 1 tbsp micro, 2 tbsp bloom, .5 tbsp grow, 1 tbsp CalMag ~842ppm - 5.5pH
Douglah: 1 tbsp micro, 1 tbsp bloom, .5 tbsp grow, 1 tbsp CalMag ~656ppm - 5.5pH
BrainStrain: 1 tbsp micro, 2 tbsp bloom, .5 tbsp grow, 1 tbsp CalMag ~865ppm - 5.5pH

NOTES:

Tomato is still pumping out lots of new growth, and fruit. Have at least 5 clusters of 10+, and then a few random smaller clusters. Growing like crazy (which is kind of a bummer since there's no room, just means alot of pruning)

Thai is still putting out loads and loads of flowers and pods, all remain green except the single red one I noted last refresh, and then a bicolor pod i spotted today. Looks like it might be trying to change from green to red?

Douglah now has at least 4 pods forming! And the original 2 are showing signs of slow but steady growth as far as size and rdiging.

Brain is now ripening pods!!! I first noticed a slight color change on one pod on 3/24... but now there are at least 4 pods in some stage of color change!

TOMATO:

THAI:

DOUGLAH:

BRAIN:

EVERYTHING:

Heading out of town again Monday, could be for a week, so hopefully things continue to progress without any major bumps, I'm going to have to try and give my girlfriend a crash-course on hydro maintenance. :drunk:

Dreamweaver · Mar 31, 2014

In the same boat as you trying hydro for the first time and first time growing chile's.

I was running a lean mix of 1-1-1 tsp/G on a monthly change...this worked OK till the plant flowered and started bulking up...leaves went a little yellow.

Called GENERAL HYDROPONICS the next day and the tech said that was too lean and the back of the bottle chart was wrong.

He said as soon as it flowers go to a 0.5-1.5-2.0 tsp/G (G-M-B) per week mix which should be 1,000-1,200 ppm + the water.

Ive got my triffid in a south facing window here in AZ and so far it likes it.

The white powder on the leaves and stems worries me a little...nute bleeding?...maybe try some Florakleen?

Here's my bhut from yesterday at 120 days.

Oh my main trunk aka fan leaves also popped off...i think it's caused by the fast trunk grow.

Have you tested you based water for ppm and cal as well as PH?

Nick08* · Apr 1, 2014

Dreamweaver said:
In the same boat as you trying hydro for the first time and first time growing chile's.

I was running a lean mix of 1-1-1 tsp/G on a monthly change...this worked OK till the plant flowered and started bulking up...leaves went a little yellow.

Called GENERAL HYDROPONICS the next day and the tech said that was too lean and the back of the bottle chart was wrong.

He said as soon as it flowers go to a 0.5-1.5-2.0 tsp/G (G-M-B) per week mix which should be 1,000-1,200 ppm + the water.

Ive got my triffid in a south facing window here in AZ and so far it likes it.

The white powder on the leaves and stems worries me a little...nute bleeding?...maybe try some Florakleen?

Here's my bhut from yesterday at 120 days.

Oh my main trunk aka fan leaves also popped off...i think it's caused by the fast trunk grow.

Have you tested you based water for ppm and cal as well as PH?

Plants are looking pretty good!

"He said as soon as it flowers go to a 0.5-1.5-2.0 tsp/G (G-M-B) per week mix which should be 1,000-1,200 ppm + the water."

This sounds about right, as on my last nute change I used the same dosing but in tablespoons and 3 gallons of water. Although I thik his quote on PPM's is way off. With that mixture my PPM was ~850ish. Over 1,000 is too high, I started noticing signs of serious nute burn that high.

[SIZE=11.818181991577148px]I've tested my water before and its about 125 PPM, and 8+ pH. Just using the dropper testing method.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11.818181991577148px]I actually trimmed all the trunk leaves for two reasons: they werent getting much light, and in my small closet it makes it alot easier to get to the back plants if I have the lower leaves off.[/SIZE]

Dreamweaver · Apr 1, 2014

Leaf curling could have been heat or excess nitrogen?...the 0.5 tsp/G of G is the key maybe.

Here's their chart from the website...

Note the ** note which i guess is more applicable to chiles and his recommendation.

Nick08* · Apr 1, 2014

0.5tsp/G = 0.5tbsp/3G

both equal out to 7.5ml

Dreamweaver said:
Leaf curling could have been heat or excess nitrogen?...the 0.5 tsp/G of G is the key maybe.

Here's their chart from the website...

Note the ** note which i guess is more applicable to chiles and his recommendation.

0.5tsp/G = 0.5tbsp/3G

both equal out to 7.5ml

Dreamweaver · Apr 1, 2014

Yeah...both are 2.5ml per G