hawkeyext1,

I believe that I already have your nutrients in another
post. I am leaning towards that way though. Judging from the other leaves that
look a yellow, I would assume the plant roots are probably browning and not
getting nutrient up take.

How do the other leaves look on the other crops? I know you
made a couple changes with the light spacing. Are the other plants bouncing
back and these falling off?

Sorry, I have just had a rough morning and might be a little
loopy because of the lack of coffee so bear with me.

Also, I noticed you have been having a host of problems. I
would recommend segmenting out the nutrients and towers if possible. This way
one change isn’t effecting a host of other variables.

Hey Jeremiah,

A lot has happened in the past few weeks. Here's what I've gathered:

The Basil come down with a disease. They were growing well but the disease was eating away at the leaves. I'm still researching this but if you google "basil tiny black dots" a lot of pictures come up looking like what I have. Of course it has now spread to the oregano and spinach in the towers (as well as a pepper plant in soil). When I removed them all the root structures all looked fine. It seems to just effect the leaves. There goes three months of work...

Oregano - Did well until the disease came

Kale - Nutrient Deficiency, typically one leaf of each plant turns yellow

Spinach and Arugula - Not sure what to do

Cilantro - Trying less nutrients and lower ppm

I'm basically gutting everything and starting over. I agree about separating the plants out. Unfortunate with my limited time/money/space I cannot at the moment. Luckily I'm experimenting with all of these plants in dirt as well. I plan to expand this summer and will make sure to separate towers/reservoirs based on the plant type like you suggest.

I'm not sure how to clean the irrigation tubes (which you brought up in another post) as they are all mounted to the stand. That is going to be a pain. When I was cleaning the reservoir out this weekend I tried increasing the pumps pressure to flush the tubes clean but it didn't help much.

Found out the problem. It's called "thrips".

hawkeyext,

What do you do for bug or insect prevention/control?

I use a seaweed spray that appears to have helped keeps bugs away or at bay (at least spider mites). I have heard of some other organic ways as well.

Also, keep us posted on how the battle goes against them! I would never have thought of this.

Hey Jeremiah,

I started using Neem Oil which has helped with the spider mites elsewhere, but I still have small flies and thrips. The files are just around my plants in soil, the thrips on my basil, oregano, and pepper plants (some in soil, some hydroponic).

Since the neem oil the thrips may have lessened a bit but it's definitely not removing them. In fact, I removed all my basil with thrips and replanted (which I now read shouldn't need to be done) and the thrips came back. So today I started using a garlic spray although I'm nervous because I have peas and beans in the same area and they do not like garlic. So I may transition to an organic Safer Spray I just ordered online.

Also, I was spraying with neem oil daily but I think it's overkill. I'm seeing brown spots on the basil which could be a fungal disease. I'm going to transition to spraying biweekly.

Thanks. Looking forward to what you learn from your friends. It looks like most of the bugs (minus flies) have went away. I seem to be only dealing with disease now as I sprayed Neem Oil everyday for two weeks and clearly that wasn't a good idea. Live and learn... (and pray the thrips don't come back as I lesson the spray).

hawkeyext,

So, I couldn’t make it out to the farms but did visit some
great Hydro stores in the Seattle area (Sodo Hydro and Lucky Greenhouse and
Lighting). I am hopefully going to make it out to some farms this weekend or
next week, schedule dependent.

In talking with the team at Sodo Hydro, they recommended
mixing up the sprays if the pests are hard to get rid of. It sounds like you
may have already eradicated them so this might not apply any more but this is
still a good place for a knowledge dump.

The products that they suggested where:

• Organocide 3-in-1 Garden Spary
• Captain Jacks Deadbug Brew
• Micro-Life
  Biological Mosquito Control (BMC)

What they stressed is during an infestation it is good to
spray with a mix of different organic compounds. This would normally be
achieved by using compost tea and Neem Oil outside; however, most people don’t want
to spray compost tea around an indoor area.

The main things outside of Neem to use during an infestation
are Sesame Oil, Edible Fish Oil, Lemon Juice and beneficial bacteria (good luck
if you want to mix them yourself). To my understanding the Captain Jacks adds
bacteria to the plant that goes after insects.

I would be cautious to anyone looking to spray plants. I
always recommend looking up the type of plant and how it reacts to the pest
control substance. Even though the compounds are organic, that doesn’t mean a
plant or fruit won’t have a bad reaction to it! Also, be sure to give sometime
between spray and harvest. I normally just do this as a precaution even though
a lot of organic sprays are fine for human consumption (hence why we use them).

Now the BMC was more so to go after the flies that are in
root system. I would say that I would use this as a last resort and just try to
cover up holes as best as possible, but they said it would do the trick to weed
and critters out of the water system.

I know there are a couple powders that can be used; however,
due to the vertical nature I don’t think those would prove as usuful.

Thanks Humphry Davy. I don't think I got a notification that you responded. Very good info in there. I ended up throwing out most of my basil (unfortunately) but also started using Neem Oil as well as an Organic Safer Spray. A combination of those three things did it.

I have a Pomegranate Tree that still has Aphids. I'll look into your suggestion to see if any of those will help and work on this new pest. Other than that everything else seems to be under control now.

Thanks again for your help and advice.