I have 5 plants in a hydro system. I have over 315 watts of cfl over the top and two 85 watt cfl lights on the under side. The plants all are about 4 feet tall. I have to trim almost daily to keep them from growing in the lights and burning. The tops of some of the plants are so dense the are alost like buds. Any thoughts on how to train these plants to quit growing up and setting some of the hundreds of blooms that drop. Since planting these plants in March, I have ony harvested 5 peppers. I thought that upgarding the lights last month would solve the problem but no luck.
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Trimming and training
- Thread starter Saxon Squire
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Do a google search for low-stress training. It's basically what redeyes said about tying the plants down. Probably will have to find that info on a pot site, but this is what i'm talking about(my peruvian purple chile from '06):
Beginning:
Starting to tie over:
Flat and bushy:
Side-view:
Dunno if it's too late to start since they are so tall already, you could always cut back aggressively and let them grow back and tie down as they grow. Just some ideas man, keep us posted and try and get some pics. We love pics
Beginning:
Starting to tie over:
Flat and bushy:
Side-view:
Dunno if it's too late to start since they are so tall already, you could always cut back aggressively and let them grow back and tie down as they grow. Just some ideas man, keep us posted and try and get some pics. We love pics
Also as far as the blossom drop, do you have an oscillating fan blowing on the plants or any other means of shaking them slightly? Outdoors wind & bugs will pollinate, indoors you either have to do it by hand by literally touching the flowers with a finger or paintbrush, shaking the plants or having some air shake them for you.
Too much nitrogen will also cause blossom drop.
Too much nitrogen will also cause blossom drop.
Here are the pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27308756@N04/3177710753/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27308756@N04/3177710753/
Another question. My reservoir is 6 gallons. The plants consume a gallon a day and I top off every three days. As long as the pH is good, do I have to drain the tank or can I just top it off every few days.
I have a fan that I move 2 or 3 times a day and shake plus the vibration of the pumps. Once in a while I will hand pollinate with a paint brush.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27308756@N04/3177710753/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27308756@N04/3177710753/
Another question. My reservoir is 6 gallons. The plants consume a gallon a day and I top off every three days. As long as the pH is good, do I have to drain the tank or can I just top it off every few days.
I have a fan that I move 2 or 3 times a day and shake plus the vibration of the pumps. Once in a while I will hand pollinate with a paint brush.
Saxon Squire said:Here are the pics
Another question. My reservoir is 6 gallons. The plants consume a gallon a day and I top off every three days. As long as the pH is good, do I have to drain the tank or can I just top it off every few days.
I have a fan that I move 2 or 3 times a day and shake plus the vibration of the pumps. Once in a while I will hand pollinate with a piant brush.
Holy shit son! You weren't lying about running out of room, those things are huge!
I have 2 bhut, 1 fatalli, 1 red savina and 1 chocolate. I have had 2 bhuts and 3 red savina peppers so far.
I started with dope nutrients from the supplier for six months. After flower drop then switched to General Hydroponics with a 2/2/2 mix. Now also using Chili Focus for top offs before changing the tank every 2 weeks. I need to add about 3 gallons every 3 days.
You should invest in some bloom/flowering ferts and see how that helps. I imagine that will clear up a lot of the flower drop problems. Peppers that look extremely healthy, lush & dark green with no fruit usually indicates too much N too low P.
There are other factors that will contribute to blossom drop, but judging by the looks of your plants that might be it.
Most hydro nutrients are two part systems with one for veg, one for bloom.
For example botanicare pure blend pro:
Gro: 3 - 1.5 - 4 for veg
Bloom: 2.5 - 2 - 5 for flowering
There are other factors that will contribute to blossom drop, but judging by the looks of your plants that might be it.
Most hydro nutrients are two part systems with one for veg, one for bloom.
For example botanicare pure blend pro:
Gro: 3 - 1.5 - 4 for veg
Bloom: 2.5 - 2 - 5 for flowering
Saxon,
Most bloom and fruit ferts I have seen seem to be int ratio of 1-6-6 or even higher, such as 1-10-10.
Even though you have a lot of lumens, I'm not sure the leaves are getting much light penetration. That's one of the major drawbacks of CFL bulbs, especially in a set-up like you have.
Mike
Most bloom and fruit ferts I have seen seem to be int ratio of 1-6-6 or even higher, such as 1-10-10.
Even though you have a lot of lumens, I'm not sure the leaves are getting much light penetration. That's one of the major drawbacks of CFL bulbs, especially in a set-up like you have.
Mike
When I started with the hemp fertz, everyone told me grow and bloom was not needed for peppers, unlike hemp. I thought the Chile focus wouldhelp with anything they were lacking.
Saxon Squire said:
Chile focus is a fertilizer designed for soil that just happens to be able to be used in hydro from what i found (had to google it lol, didn't know what it was so I don't know if that's true).
But yeah, for any fruiting or flowering vegetable you will do better with a bloom fertilizer.
With peppers you will do better with a low N fert, in both soil and hydro.
For lettuce and other leafy crops you are fine with only a veg fert. high in N.
Or...if you grow in coco....you can use one nutrient for both veg and bloom due to the unique properties of the medium
Where's willard when we need him? He's the real hydro guru around here, I'm still learning too.
Saxon Squire said:
I agree. Peppers will grow and bloom continuously at the same time unlike other popular hydro plants, so the super bud formulas are not really needed IMO. A little extra Phosphorous can help fruiting but you don't need a full "bud" cycle.
I believe Willard uses even amounts of GH micro/grow/bloom year round, which is similar to what I use when growing in hydro
Well I did it, but had a wild surprise. I cut those plants down to about a foot and half. I did not want to keep paying the power bill and nutrient bill with no fruit. If they don't do well, I'll clone the surviors and put new plants in this spring.
As I was cutting them out, deep inside where I could never see and light never reached I found 2 red savina peppers. One was the biggest I have ever seen. This thing was between the size of a golf ball and a pool ball.
I'll keep you posted as these plants come back. At least now the light is reaching all the plants and through the canopy. In celebration, I took the smaller pepper and am making a batch of Crying Tiger using my mutant red savina in place of Thai Birds Eye. Look for a post in the cooking section of the forum.
As I was cutting them out, deep inside where I could never see and light never reached I found 2 red savina peppers. One was the biggest I have ever seen. This thing was between the size of a golf ball and a pool ball.
I'll keep you posted as these plants come back. At least now the light is reaching all the plants and through the canopy. In celebration, I took the smaller pepper and am making a batch of Crying Tiger using my mutant red savina in place of Thai Birds Eye. Look for a post in the cooking section of the forum.
Txclosetgrower said:Do a google search for low-stress training. It's basically what redeyes said about tying the plants down. Probably will have to find that info on a pot site, but this is what i'm talking about(my peruvian purple chile from '06):
Beginning:
Starting to tie over:
Flat and bushy:
Side-view:
Dunno if it's too late to start since they are so tall already, you could always cut back aggressively and let them grow back and tie down as they grow. Just some ideas man, keep us posted and try and get some pics. We love pics
This has given me a great idea... I'm going to try and build something to facilitate this training... hmmmm. Will post pics later this week after I hit the hardware shop....
lostmind said:
Some kind of wire mesh with big 1" or larger holes would work well. They do that for growing pot, it's called a ScrOG (screen of green) Basically as the plant grows up through the screen, you pull it back down and train it horizontally underneath the screen.
Although I'm not sure how well this would work for peppers, since they're more of a continual harvest/growth crop whereas pot is a single harvest plant. It might get hectic under the screen after awhile.