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Help identify tomato problem in DWC

Niclassj

Niclassj

Hey lads.

So I just started my first hydroponic system, which is a simple dwc bucket. My tomato was growing just fine but I recently stumbled upon various problems.

I've seen people growing tomatoes in a tremendous growing pace in deep water cultures, but I don't think mine grows any better than the ones in dirt. My other problem is that the plant is looking very "sad and tired". The outer leaves are beginning to curl up and they feel very soft. I'll give you guys a photo of it.

I am using the GHE flora 3 part series. I'm using them in a 2-2-1 ratio (grow-bloom-micro) with an ec of about 0.7. My tap water is at 0.16-0.18. I am not quite sure whether my ph-meter works properly, but I try to bring my pH down to 5.5-6.0 and I change my solution every ~10 days. So, guys, can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

Best regards

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GH flora will pretty much buffer your PH to 5.8-5.9 about which is fine so I don't think that this is a problem. It would be great if you could give us a little more information like what size bucket, is there an air pump in it and is it producing good bubbles? Did you recently move the plant into direct sunlight?
 
Island_Dan said:
GH flora will pretty much buffer your PH to 5.8-5.9 about which is fine so I don't think that this is a problem. It would be great if you could give us a little more information like what size bucket, is there an air pump in it and is it producing good bubbles? Did you recently move the plant into direct sunlight?
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Hi

The bucket is a 10l sized, regular bucket with a white lid. I just cut a hole for the net pot. I do have an air pump that produces bubbles. I don't know it the bubbles are sufficient as I have never tried this before, but I am using the pump on max power and I guess that should do it. I have the plant under a 4000k low energy.
 
How high is the water level? Are their roots into the water yet? You will need to water the plant from the top until the roots reach down into the nutrient solution. The nutrient solution should be about an inch below the net pot although when the plants are new and the roots haven't developed, i let the water touch the bottom of the pot so that some wicking action can get to the roots. I also use a cup and scoop nutrient solution from inside the bucket and pour it into the net pot from above twice  a day until the roots get to the solution.
 
Island_Dan said:
How high is the water level? Are their roots into the water yet? You will need to water the plant from the top until the roots reach down into the nutrient solution. The nutrient solution should be about an inch below the net pot although when the plants are new and the roots haven't developed, i let the water touch the bottom of the pot so that some wicking action can get to the roots. I also use a cup and scoop nutrient solution from inside the bucket and pour it into the net pot from above twice  a day until the roots get to the solution.
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The water is just touching the net pot. I found a youtube video that stated that it doesnt matter whether the water touches the pot or not since the water is being continously supplied with new oxygen and therefore the plant wont drown. I will attach two more photos. I just noticed that two of the lower branches have broken off during the night.

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The plant doesn't look to bad at all actually. Just monitor it and see what is happening. You may want to buy some calmag to supplement into the nutrients as tomatoes require a lot of calcium and a lack of calcium could cause the leaf curl you are experiencing.
 
Island_Dan said:
The plant doesn't look to bad at all actually. Just monitor it and see what is happening. You may want to buy some calmag to supplement into the nutrients as tomatoes require a lot of calcium and a lack of calcium could cause the leaf curl you are experiencing.
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Thanks mate. I will! :)
 
If you're seeing wilted leaves on an otherwise healthy plant like yours, my first guess would be something is causing the EC to spike, decreasing turgidity as the roots struggle to bring in enough water.
 
Check out the picture though. It appears to only be affecting the new growth... Wouldn't a high EC affect the whole plant?
 
I can't tell from the pic, the lower leaves could be drooping (he mentioned two broke off, don't know if that means something hit them or they dropped during the night) indicating a lack of available water to maintain the transpiration stream or it could just be the angle of the pic. Like the first pic, I can't tell if the leaf is curled and crispy or severely wilted. Which is why I suggested an alternative, not to discount anyone else's theory.
 
Monkey Hunter said:
I can't tell from the pic, the lower leaves could be drooping (he mentioned two broke off, don't know if that means something hit them or they dropped during the night) indicating a lack of available water to maintain the transpiration stream or it could just be the angle of the pic. Like the first pic, I can't tell if the leaf is curled and crispy or severely wilted. Which is why I suggested an alternative, not to discount anyone else's theory.
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The leaves are wilted and soft, not crispy at all. Lower branches are continuing to drop off.
 
Try cutting the ec in half and see if it perks up, it's always surprising how well most plants will do on very little nutrients. Otherwise the plant does look healthy, the roots look a bit under-developed but there's no brown mushy rot or other signs of problems. So the most likely cause of not getting enough water is too much resistance from the water itself, ie high EC.
 
Lower it. EC is a measure of the mineral salts (nutrients) in the solution, higher EC, more fertilizer salts. If the EC is too high, it'll literally reverse osmosis and suck water out of the plant instead of the plant sucking water/nutrients in. So like I said, seeing the leaves wilt with no other reason (no lack of water, no heat spike, etc) my first worry would be too high of an EC. Plus it's also an easy quick fix that'll show results quickly. If that doesn't work, move onto other possibilities.
 
I will agree with monkey as a first try to fix the problem as it doesn't involve spending any money. Mix a new nutrient solution and only add half the nutes to try the theory out. My experience though has been nutrient burn with a high EC.
 
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