Plants dying under new 4' shop lights

15 years ago

Hello all, i am sort of new to all of this.

I have been growing under a light i had bought at a local hydro store. It (my tomato plant) had been doing wonderfully, but I couldn't keep it where it was. It was getting to tall and wanted something bigger. I recently went out and got some 4' 6500k natural light Philips "Daylight Deluxe" 2325 lumen shop lights. They are super bright and look wonderful! Problem is, my once beautiful super healthy looking tomato plant now looks like it is hanging on to its last grim moments...

I thought it was the mixture at first and that wasn't it. I came home one day and the water was low, thought that might be it... Wasn't that either, so all I can think is it has to be the lights..

here are some pictures of how it looked and the "dying" process its in.

http://i53.tinypic.com/3338vgh.jpg - healthy

http://i52.tinypic.com/2uq0jh5.jpg - meh

http://i53.tinypic.com/2aj2cso.jpg - OH NOES!!11

i am using Cutting Edge and Rootbastic in my mixture, it is ph'd out and yeah, have had it growing just fine until it went under these lights.

PLEASE Save mah plants!!!!

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Comments (8)

akzorz
Original Author
15 years ago
Just wanted to say, the second picture is misleading. It looks like there isn't much light on them, but look at the third picture, more close to what the lighting situation really looks like...

The plants are on an 18/6 cycle and get water for 15 mins ever 4 hours. There are some beautiful roots that hang all the way down to the water, but only a couple which is why they are still on the drip system.
I think this just about gives you all the info you could know.
They are perfectly temped at 70-75degrees and 18-26% humidity. So, I don't get it. :(
taz6122
15 years ago
How many shop lights are you using? I suppose it could be lack of light if the light you used before was HID. Normally lack of light would cause the plant to stretch and get leggy.
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akzorz
Original Author
15 years ago
It is growing under 2 shop lights right now... I went to my local grow store and he said it could be a nitrogen deficiency but I didn't think it was until last night I noticed some yellowing leaves. I replaced the water with just plain ph'd tap water and am going to see if it was getting too much nitrogen because the leaves were turning a darker green and sagging...

Either way this is all frustrating. today i noticed the roots weren't their beautiful white selves but were looking a bit brown. I'm not sure if this was because of the micro being a purpleish color, or if it was just not doing good, but i am very worried.
taz6122
15 years ago
Hydro is good when you're up to snuff on everything and have the right testing equipment but I find it much easier and cheaper to grow in a soilless mix. You might want to look into SWC's. I would also add another light fixture. I have 2 dual overdriven fixtures per shelf. That's slightly more light than 3 normal output fixtures per shelf. I've grown tomatoes inside just in front of those shelves with the stems tied to the ceiling and 10-12' long. Harvested a few dozen fruit and disposed of them because it became a struggle to water plants on the shelves.

I would still like to know what kind of light you were using before??
akzorz
Original Author
15 years ago
24" T5 Grow light from a local shop. I cant remember the exact specs...

I have been looking all over the web and it seems that I had a nitrogen deficiency, so I think i am going to do some Veg mix with a little more Micro than before. I have just PH'd water right now and did a little flush, cleaned out all the barrels and i removed the other tomato plant that just seemed to not be doing so well.. It hadn't developed any good roots.

I'll let you all know the updates.

For the time being, here was a leaf from the bottom branch of the tomato plant.

http://i53.tinypic.com/11hqd1d.jpg

I think the dry spot was from when I sprayed some light mixture on the leaves to help it grow... haven't done that since. :-\
wordwiz
15 years ago
That plant is starving for light. You simply cannot grow a tomato to maturity using shop lights. Your plant needs darn close to 30,000 lumens for 16 hours a day. You are giving them a fraction of that, thus the long distance between nodes.

I have some toms growing in a modified aeroponics system but they are under a 600 watt, 72,000 lumen MH bulb.

Mike
akzorz
Original Author
15 years ago
well here is the update.

http://i51.tinypic.com/nwjywp.jpg - Note the spots? is the Nitro getting pulled out cause the plant is growing? or what? that doesn't look like light starvation.

http://i56.tinypic.com/250htfp.jpg - Edge burn :-\ I didn't think over watering was possible... From what i have found this looks to be more like under watering? should i up the ammount i am running over the plant? It has a few roots that drop down, but only 2-3 (decent size though, lots of legs off of it) that do make it. :-\

You guys think the spots could be fungus? just sterilized the buckets and this is a new pump. same hose... but i ran that through with hot water for about 5 mins before i re-connected it. *ugh* just don't know what to think.
akzorz
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, its not the water for sure. I just checked all of my other plants and they look wonderful. I am going to go buy a second lamp.
Wordwiz, that will get me up to around 14,000 lumens. It's only one plant, sooo, hopefully that will work. If not, i am going to try the vertical shop light idea.

I checked up on light starvation, it has some similar effects, but idk. I might go buy a light set up from my local store, but it is just so darned expensive!!