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okami_gw

Roma tomato trouble

22 years ago

Please help:

Plant: Roma tomato plants

Problem: Leaves curling up and in on themselves with a desiccated appearance, while other leaves are curling down and it normally affects the tops of the Romas. It is happening for the majority of them but not all of them.

Set up: Ebb and Flow hydroponics with up to 20 Romas with an 80-liter reservoir. Table set up is 5-4" PVC pipes. Timer set for 5-15 minute cycles at 8am, 12 pm, 4 pm, 8pm, and 12 am. Water changed weekly and topped off every other day with RO water. The nutes are homemade using a Hoagland and Snyder formula as follows:

Per liter

.51 grams Potassium nitrate

.82 grams Calcium nitrate

.49 grams Magnesium sulfate

.136 Potassium phosphate (mono)

Micronutrients are mixed for 1000 liters at a time and 37.5 milliliters are added to every 80-liter reservoir as follows:

70 grams Iron EDTA

15 grams Manganese sulfate

12 grams Boric acid

2.2 grams Zinc sulfate

.6 grams Copper sulfate

.2 grams Molybdic acid

1 liter of RO water

My own perception and current plan:

It seems like an overwatering(leaves curling down) and high salt problem(dry leaves curling in on themselves). IÂve already lowered the E&F cycle from 3 hours to 4 and tried diluting the nute mix. This hasnÂt worked. IÂm going to get 1" supports and put them under one side of the table so that all the water drains out. The water comes in on one corner and comes out the another corner on the same side.

Let me know what you think.

CYA

Okami

Comments (5)

  • 22 years ago

    Are you having high temperatures? What media are the Roma's in. clay pebbles, or what? DO you have any other plants growing sucessfully in your current nute mix? For active growing tomato plants your E&F schedule seems not enough;

  • 22 years ago

    Well I think I have found the problem, key word being, "think."

    My nutes start out at 5.2-5.5 and after a week they go to 6.7-6.8. So I might be suffering multiple nute lockout due to high ph.

    Temps are around 28C and they are in clay pebbles. They grew well before and normally do well after weekly water changes. I'll start staying on top of my nute ph daily now.

    What would you suggest for a proper E&F schedule?

    Thanks,
    Okami

  • 22 years ago

    I too have had high pH problems, but I've just discovered "pH Down" from General Hydroponics; it works very well, and seems to be highly buffered (pH changes tend to last);

    Well, it doesn't look like the weather is too hot there; hmmmn

    Maybe:

    You diluted your nute mix so your last nute mix wasn't too strong...
    Salt build-up in the clay pebbles?

    Since you suspect overwatering this might seem counter-intuitive, but if the leaves are a bit limp I'd increase the frequency of the E&F; four hours with the roots exposed to the air sounds too long, but it sounds like you've had success with this before, so this is puzzling;

    I've grown tomatoes in an E&F system using clay pebbles for two years, and my schedule is six minutes off, 2-3 minutes on; however, I've got 2 litre bottle systems, which makes it easy to cycle quickly:

    It sounds like you're using a table type E&F which would make it difficult to cycle that quickly.

    Maybe try leeching out the built up salts in the pebbles, other than that I'm perplexed.

  • 22 years ago

    Ph Down would be a godsend, but check where I'm at. Literally everything is DIY. The set up, wiring, lights, chemical nutrients was all made or wired up by me. I spent 2 months just researching how to do it and finding the materials. My Ph down currently consists of 85% phophoric acid diluted with water(always add acid to water, never water to acid). My Ph up consists of potassium hydroxide.

    I'll probably start a once every 3 week flushing and up the E&F cycles. I can go with a every 3 hour for 15 minutes on. I'll be checking the Ph daily though as I think if I got this under control everything else might follow. I'm not dealing with limp leaves, but with leaves that curl under themselves like a ram's horn.

    Nice set up. I see you used that one online page's set up. I wish I had it so easy. I'm planning on adding a salad mix set up in the winter and actually getting flat land for a greenhouse in late winter/early spring.

    Okami

  • 22 years ago

    Yes, I tried the online style design; low cost to build, easy to clean, very easy to move; I've had good luck with it, although I just cannot find a big enough container that I can eaily connect to the PVC pipe that will hold most tomato rootballs! I'm going with a modified drip system for the 'maters.

    I did find a reference to sulphur deficiency causing downward leaf curl, maybe try adding small amounts of sulphur?

    Anyway, good luck,
    Ted

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