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Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2012 1:46 pm
by SisterMaryElephant
Yeah, that's basically right, if you have enough dissolved oxygen (DO) in the nutrients the roots can be immersed giving constant availability to food. Temperature has an impact on the availability of oxygen (ORP) and pathogens too. The higher the temps the less oxygen and more likely to grow unwanted things in the root zone. Nutrient and PH balance issues appear/disappear quicker in hydroponics because soil acts like a buffer.

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 5:02 pm
by sosl0w
Here is a quick picture i snapped tonight. Only plant in my hydro system that is of size right now. Other ones are still babies. But coming along nicely. If i could get them to stop being so damn picky they would take off. The lights have been great for getting my soil plants grown to size before i pot them up and put them outside.

Image


Edit: Guess picture is to big. Cuts some of it off. blah

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2012 12:58 pm
by NateJ
@SoSlow,

Hahaha That's a seriously intense setup for peppers man. Very cool setup. I'm a huge pepper fan and I can tell you are too by the plants you've selected. I had some ghost pepper salsa recently and about died from the heat. The scoville units on those guys are off the charts.

Keep us updated. I've mentioned this in other threads but my tomato plants are flowering/fruiting extremely well under the SolarStorm. I've got about 40 tomatoes on one indeterminate plant that just keeps growing and growing. I'm interested to see if I can grow that plant into my 19 square foot closet. Anyways, keep us posted.

Seriously intrigued by your setup.

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:59 am
by sosl0w
Ok, quick update. I suck at hydroponics. This is my determination now lol. I have tried a 100 different things and still can't get things to grow 100% right. Here is a quick picture of the root mass of my biggest plant (Mustard Hab) Look how the roots all just stop at one spot. They won't go into the water at all. I don't understand it.

Image

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 11:10 am
by SisterMaryElephant
Are the submerged roots, below the water line, soft and mushy by any chance?

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 1:24 pm
by sosl0w
Yes, they seem to be mushy and slimy.

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:36 am
by SisterMaryElephant
OK, check the temp of the nutrients, both in the reservoir and under the plants that have issues and report. Also check your air stones and water flow. It appears to be temp or DO related...perhaps both if the temps are too high. :(

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:52 am
by sosl0w
Temps are at 68 on the dot. I have a water chiller that keeps everything at 68-70 degrees constantly.
I have 4 air stones through out my system. One on each straight if you look at the pictures in the first post. The stones are running on high at all times and should be providing more than enough oxygen as they are over rated for the amount of water I have I believe.

At first I thought it was root rot. But my temps, oxygen, and the fact that i mix in 35% food grade h202, i figured that wasn't the case. Maybe i'm wrong though. I did just order some hydrogryme or whatever its called. So i plan to use that to. Still not sure what to do at this point. Maybe it is poor water flow or something. Maybe i just need to do a full clean and flush of everything, start with fresh plants and try to keep everything overly sanitized? I dunno.

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:24 pm
by SisterMaryElephant
I'm glad it's not temp related but try cutting the h2o2 (in half or completely) for a little while, it could be too strong. I think you fixed the light leaking through the system so I doubt that's it. I assume PH is checked and good.

It could be too much water flow diluting the DO. Do you also run a stone/pump in the reservoir? While one stone per leg may be enough in standing water, is it enough for moving water? Submerged roots need a lot of air. *shrug*

Re: Hot Pepper Grow

PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:13 am
by sosl0w
SisterMaryElephant wrote:I'm glad it's not temp related but try cutting the h2o2 (in half or completely) for a little while, it could be too strong. I think you fixed the light leaking through the system so I doubt that's it. I assume PH is checked and good.

It could be too much water flow diluting the DO. Do you also run a stone/pump in the reservoir? While one stone per leg may be enough in standing water, is it enough for moving water? Submerged roots need a lot of air. *shrug*



I'm out of H202 so next nut change it will go without. I don't run a stone in my res, the water in the piping doesn't flow very fast, its more of a standing water that slowly circulates. I believe it takes about and hour for it to completely circulate. Maybe i don't have enough oxygen in it. I dunno. My one plant that i showed the picture of is right next to a stone. So it should be getting a ton of oxygen. I'm kinda at a lose at this point. Only thing i can think of is to get rid of the plants that have bad root systems and clean and start fresh and see if that works.