Everyone is saying "MULCH"! >> I have added several inches of mulch around the tomatoes and cucumbers >> I used a composted soil amendment as mulch Mulch is insulation. Like fiberglass insulation (which would work, in its own weird way!) the thicker the better. Also it's best dry on top, damp on the bottom where it touches that non-insulating soil amendment, and airy in the middle. Several inches isn't a lot if you are having problems that could be linked to heat and humidity. Tomato roots are impressive water sucker-uppers. IF they're healthy. Water and healthy roots do not add up to heat wilt, even without shade cloth. I have conditions similar to yours: heat, sun and wind. What the tomatoes DO have is gangster roots, and they haven't the slightest tendency to wilt. YET. Knock on wood. I just jinxed it, didn't I? Are you absolutely SURE that the watering goes down to an appreciable depth? Water it with a dribble for hours! Since there's no such thing as water wilt on a grown tomato that's not going to die, what do you have to lose? Then add another four inches of straw on the previous four.

Yes I did use tap water. I had to fill three 18 gallon totes. Drained old solution out and filled with tap water and Flora Kleene. Let them sit an hour or so in that cleaning solution as recommened than drained. Since I did not add a drain plug at the bottom of the totes, at setup, I wasnt able to get the last 1/2 or so of cleaning solution out of the bottom (which is may be the cause). Than used 4 gallon buckets to premix the nutrient solution and fill tubs back up. Checked the PH again and it was kinda low. Raised it to 5-6 (I have to calibrate it after changing batteries). Day 3 and they still look really sad and wilted.

Be careful NOT to over-water, if that plants aren't turning different colors and just seem limp it's from over-watering. Just give them time and see what happens. But try to not water them for a couple of days.

Hi Ban, I hear you on the Flora Kleene stuff ... just like all of those whiz bang products, they are worth hanging on to and some time you may get some tough salt buildup in the hydroton or whatever you have in the EnF and it may come in handy...you never know (the astronomical cost $30 is another subject) I used to take care of that problem, which was not frequent but is more common in desert climates, by just running water through the media pHed as low as ok for the plants. When you finish the growing cycle, you can just put all the media into a large tub, and just soak it good, dump the water and soak it at a pH of 4 or so, dump, and soak rinse. That's how I'd recycle it swirling it around with my hands to get the old organic matter out, and that saves a lot of money on buying the media. When I let the roots completely dry out in the rig, they came out more whole and easily compared to wet roots. For DWC it was never an issue. I still have some strawberries running that I planted in two tubs nearly 14 months ago. They are outside and whenever it rains the hydroton gets rinsed, but if they were inside, I would just run a gallon of $0.88 Walmart distilled water through the pot,s like I said in the first post. You could use RO or Rain too. That's better than tap or well because it sucks the residues into solution more, and having it pH'ed around 4.8 for tomatoes is fine. It takes extremely little pH down to pH distilled water if it isn't already at low pH. The acid side pH dissolves the carbonates and phosphates which build up and leave a white residue. Your tomatoes sound great! Must be a pretty tough set-up to deal with plants that big. Here's a picture of strawberry roots damaged by chlorine in tap water after a res change: (chlorinated water damage from res change of strawberries) Tomato is less sensitive to chlorine than strawberry but if there is very little organic matter in the solution, they can get punched too if chlorine is not dissipated. Like your situation, I lost some of the plants at the edges, where the bubbler was not very efficient. Good luck. I'm so caught up in tomatoes I've neglected the strawberries, no res change since June 3! PC This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Thu, Nov 13, 14 at 11:34