Why are my veggies so sad =[

11 years ago

Hello, a quick intro to myself, I am a new user here on garden web, I have joined because I am currently trying to grow variety of herbs and veggies and they are struggling. =[

My boyfriend made me a hydroponics system out of pvc pipe and a 13 gallon tote (along with a water-pump and airator/stones.) The system starts and stops at the same end and using gravity drips down the pvc piping, around the elbows and back into the resevoir, where the water is re used once it is pumped back into the top of the system!

We are using 3" net baskets with fabric stuffed at the bottom. the fabric hangs down inside the tube and collects the water (wick) and the rock-wool cube (which our plants started in) sit ontop of the fabric and gain moisture form there.

We recently hung up 2 - 120 watt CFL lights. one is a VIta-lume BLUE light and one is an identical RED light. also the plants are next to 2 windows which get about half a days worth of solid light in. best spot we could find in out apt. =/

We are using a light mixture of maxi grow and mirical grow (upping doses as plants get bigger)

our pest situation is under control - minimal fungus gnats and plants are checked daily. gnats should be gone in a few days.

Our plants are sad, please if you have any ideas why I would like to hear them! Any and all advice/criticisms are encouraged! (More pictures to come soon!)

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Comments (8)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
11 years ago
Are those two lights all that you have? Sunlight from windows is never much help in growing plants that require high light conditions.

Hopefully, someone will jump in and provide some useful help, but you might also visit the Hydroponics Forum right here in the gardenweb. It stays quite active and has some knowledgeable people helping out.
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SweetPotato222
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the advice Rhizo_1 ! I could probubly manage to add more light, however the plants seem droopy but they are quite green, wouldn't they lose color if it was a light deficiency? thanks again for your input!
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digdirt2
11 years ago
Plants get "droopy", what in the jargon is called "leggy" because they have weak, stretched stems due to insufficient light provided for them. They actually stretch to reach the light. That makes the cell tissue within the stem weak and the circulatory system contained within the stem is compromised. It can lead to all sorts of problems.

It honestly is not possible to have too much light for plants grown indoors. Even greenhouses sometimes have to use supplemental lighting. So you can see how far short your set up is falling. Light fixtures are usually kept much closer to the plants than yours are.

You also might to want to check out the Growing Under Lights forum here as well as the Hydroponics forum for details more relevant to your unique method of gardening.

Dave
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SweetPotato222
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks Dave! I'll definitely try to get more light on them, or at least lower the lights i have now!
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macky77
11 years ago
I don't do hydroponics, but I do grow all my own starts from seed and I've grown cherry tomatoes to maturity indoors in the winter.

Just to add to Dave and rhizo's posts... I've found that too warm an environment can also cause weak, leggy growth. As the plants grow, they respirate more and more, heating the room and causing it to get more and more humid. Cooling off the room can help a lot. I like mine to hang around 15 or 16*C at night and no higher than 20*C during the day, if I can help it. We have a small de-humidifier and if it gets really bad in my growlight area (I have a humidity gauge), I'll run it briefly for a couple of nights (beware of running it too long as the unit itself gives off heat in operation) and it really helps clear the air. We don't have AC, so my grow lights are in the basement and a well-directed fan is enough to cool the space sufficiently.
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abnorm
11 years ago
I have toyed with various Hydro designs......As-it-is constructed I think your "system" is flawed....

A wick is used in a "tank" to continuously pull the liquid up to the plant......in your system the wick would only be wetted for a short time while pumping......

As-constructed your system of pipes needs to FLOOD the pipes/baskets and then allow to drain....and then Repeat as often as necessary to insure good growth.......from the picture it also appears there is alot of pitch to those pipes.....speeding their too quick drainage.......(Household wastewater plumbing uses a Maximum 1/4" per foot pitch to drain both solids and liquids)

So......I think you are starving your plants as well as the noted lack of lighting........As a test: Try additional TOP watering SOME of the plants individually to see if they improve......

AND report back for some possible fixes

doug
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SweetPotato222
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks ABNORM ! Unfortunately I am a little scared to flood the system entirely since we are on the 2nd floor with the landlord right below us the last thing we need is to flood their kitchen as well! However, instead of the water running for 30 min increments 6 times a day, I just changed the cycle to run for 1 hour increments, 4 times a day. Hopefully this will allow them to soak up more water. The fabric we are using is capillary mat from the hydro store. We didn't know we were supposed to soak the fabric before using it, so once we actually soaked it the plants seemed to be doing MUCH better, however still not 100% I will let you know how they're doing with the new water cycle and hopefully there will be more improvements

WEIRDTREV, there a bunch of different kinds of cucumber, garden beans, and tomatos. And as for the landlord, he was actually stoked because he wants some fresh greens!

TO ALL, hopefully within the next week a larger, more powerful light will be added to the arsenal! Gardening is something very important to me as it is something I have been doing with my mum my whole life since I can remember. This is my first year not being able to have land to use so my incredible boyfriend built this for me so I can still enjoy this hobby.. I really hope they start to cheer up more!
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Why are my veggies so sad =[

Comments (8)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

SweetPotato222
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Why are my veggies so sad =[

Comments (8)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

SweetPotato222Original Author

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digdirt2

SweetPotato222Original Author

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abnorm

SweetPotato222Original Author

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SweetPotato222
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