Fungus gnats are one good reason to avoid an active organic medium. It's common to get gnats from bagged soil products. The larva are the problem, though. Not the adults. So, unless I'm wrong, your hydroton medium should not be infested. The damage doesn't look the same. Actually, gnat larva damage looks more like root rot damage in regard to your top growth. The plant will wilt and yellow due to a lack of ability to take up water and nutrients through the damaged root system. You obviously have fungus in your miracle gro medium. That will invite fungus gnats. But fungus gnats are named that for a reason. They will eat the fungus. Just because you have gnats doesn't mean that they are damaging your plants yet. It certainly doesn't mean the present damage is a result of gnat infestation. Do you want to prevent them from causing future problems? Absolutely. Will it fix your current one? I doubt it. Your plants don't appear to be suffering from a root problem. Why not neem? I didn't say it's bad for hydro. It just has too many drawbacks in my opinion. Oils don't wash off so easily and thus inhibit transpiration. Transpiration is very important. You're inhibiting the plants ability to exhale or absorb CO2 if you are coating the leaves periodically. Soaps wash off and also break down. So I don't feel as bad about putting those in our waterways. I have read that adding a surfactant to the neem oil helps with being able to wash it off leaves. Smell of root rot? I don't think the root rot actually produces the worst smell, but the opportunistic bacteria that grows as a result will. It smells like a sewer to me. The roots will be brown and look unhealthy. Brown doesn't mean anything alone, though. I wouldn't be concerned, though. I only suggested that because the plant appeared to be yellow throughout. Since that was due to technology, I doubt root rot is an issue at this time.

Hi again guys, I'm learning quite a lot from all of you. I've gone over the bottle and labels and I'm pretty confused about one thing. The Micro is 5-0-1, the Bloom is 0-5-4, but there are other nutes in some of it that don't make sense to me. I will start with the Bloom (I was wrong before) Available Phosphate (5%) Soluble Potassium (4%) Soluble Magnesium (3%) Soluble Sulfur (5%) This is what it says on the label. What is the purpose of all this Sulfur?? On the Micro there's 5.5% Ca. So, let me get this straight, the Ca ups the pH? Someone told me that C. Annuum don't need much Nitrogen at all, and to get it below 50 if possible. When I do this by using the Micro, I suppose there isn't enough Ca to help with the pH, right? See, I never had this problem before, it was only when the plant got older, which I guess is expected as they're bigger and get more hungry. Here are the readings from my system, both newly calibrated pH and PPM meters 3 days ago, over the last 3 days. pH 5.83 - PPM 472 pH 5.77 - PPM 433 pH 5.61 - PPM 362 Todays reading is.... pH 4.92 - PPM 498 What on earth could be causing a drop in pH and raise in PPM so vigorously in 24 hours? I haven't even touched the system other than check visually quickly. You see, I dare not increase the nutrient amount or they take more damage? So am I starving them or overfeeding them? I have attached a link to some pictures of how bad it looks. They don't look too good :( Link at the bottom of page. Plus the amount of floral abortion (I think that's the name used) is insane. I thought it could be a pollination issue but nothing I do matters, it'll flower, then drop off from the stalk. Hmmm.... Probably every day I see 10 dropped flowers :( Any further help? I'll definitely be changing the solution again today. Just, are you sure putting so much Nitrogen is ok at this stage? Here is a link that might be useful: My sick Chili plants :(

The blueing/dark color on the leaves indicate to me that the plants are not getting/uptaking nutrients adequately . In my opinion 9C (=48F) was not and is not cold for tomato plants PROVDED you hardened them off , for several days, prior to planting. The second issue is the soil temperatures. In order for the plants to be able to uptake nutrients, a minimum soil temperature is required . 50 -55F ? ( = 12 C) should be ok. Again, in the hardening off process the roots also are introduced to cool temperatures gradually, so when they are placed in cool soil ( 10 -12C) they won't get a shock.. MY Recent Experience: On 4/8, 9, 10/15 I planted bunch of tomato plants, some with protection some withoiut. In the following week we had lows going down to 38F ( =3.5 C) .few nights. I have seen no ill effects. BUT before planting out I did check the soil temperature. It average around 52F. So far our average lows have been 42-43F. My plants are normal, though they are growing very slowly. I have seen buds on several of them. I think your plants should rebound. I would water them with lukewarm water (~ 26-27C). When I want to water mine, i fill watering cans and let the warm up in the sun for several hours. Warmer water will raise soil temperature and help dissolve the nutrients better for the plants uptake. JMO Sey

Fungi and molds are normal parts of a soils make-up. A few are harmful, but usually those fungaluglies only raise their heads when soil conditions lean heavily toward water retention being excessive. Monitoring your soil's moisture level with a wood dowel rod sharpened in a pencil sharpener or skewer will be helpful in avoiding over-watering and soggy soils. You're probably under-fertilizing, btw. Also, if you're not already watering so you flush the soil when you water, ytou should do that on a regular basis - say every 4th or 5th time you water. This accomplishes 2 things: it keeps the level of mineral salts in the soil low, which facilitates water/nutrient uptake, and it prevents the ratio of nutrients in the soil solution, each to all the others, from getting so badly skewed that the plant has difficulty taking up nutrients because of an excess of another. These created shortages are called antagonistic deficiencies. The plant looks good. You've done well to keep it so nice indoors. Tip - keep a close eye out for spider mites - ivy's nemesis. Al