struggling seedlings whats wrong?

[pecker88]

Originally Posted by Nematode

Took a quick look at the ocean forest, adding hydro nutrients to that would result in an overfeed situation, at least until the plants run the level down a bit. They will let you know when they are hungry.
Bottom fed hydro can work but may need occassional (couple times a season?) flushing from the top to prevent salt buildup.

thanks. The 5 gal. buckets have ProMix Ultimate and ProMix Ultimate Organic.
Only the solo seedling cups had fox farm ocean forest.
Take a look at the 2 solo cup seedlings in my latest set of pics.

Left is totem with fox farm soil
Right is rockwool cube, promix, perlite and pinch of 8-8-8 fert.
Both are wilted almost the same.
Weird considering the huge dif. in growing medium.

[Nematode]

Thats a lot of variables what is your goal?

[pecker88]

Originally Posted by Nematode

Thats a lot of variables what is your goal?

to grow seedlings and plants that don't curl downward.
So far every seedling medium I've used produces downward curl.

#1 bag of seedling mix In my first post
#2 fox farm ocean forest
#3 rockwool cube germination, then placed in promix/perlite with pinch of fert

This weekend I'm starting new seeds in promix / perlite only. After 3+ weeks when they sart to look yellow I'll with water 1/8 strength hydro. solution.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by pecker88

to grow seedlings and plants that don't curl downward.
So far every seedling medium I've used produces downward curl.

#1 bag of seedling mix In my first post
#2 fox farm ocean forest
#3 rockwool cube germination, then placed in promix/perlite with pinch of fert

This weekend I'm starting new seeds in promix / perlite only. After 3+ weeks when they sart to look yellow I'll with water 1/8 strength hydro. solution.

I don't know anythiing about hydroponic growing other than visiting a large hydroponic commercial farm near me

http://www.shushanvalleyhydrofarm.com/

But what I do know is that my seedlings grown mainly inground and sometimes in containers have leaves that are twisted, sometimes upside down, until the plants get bigger and then all is well,

Carolyn

[Nematode]

There are many here using earthtainer which wicks like yours. I would pay a lot of attention to how they do things especially the media as the wicking properties are critical to get enough water vs waterlogging. Raybo 3-2-1 mix is one that seems to work.
Disclaimer: I dont use earthtainer, so take it all with a grain of salt.

I am wondering if you have an overwatered situation?

Dont wait till they yellow to feed them they are ready for 1/4-1/2 strength hydro when the first true leaves show if they are in neutral media.

Make sure your hydro feed is complete with 16 elements, most are partA andB.

Personally I would never know what to really add if I started with a hot mix and had to switch over to semi hydro at some point. Easier to start with nothing in the media and give them what they need every feeding/watering. Others put a fertilizer strip in and add only water.

[pecker88]

Originally Posted by Nematode

There are many here using earthtainer which wicks like yours. I would pay a lot of attention to how they do things especially the media as the wicking properties are critical to get enough water vs waterlogging. Raybo 3-2-1 mix is one that seems to work.
Disclaimer: I dont use earthtainer, so take it all with a grain of salt.

I am wondering if you have an overwatered situation?

Dont wait till they yellow to feed them they are ready for 1/4-1/2 strength hydro when the first true leaves show if they are in neutral media.

Make sure your hydro feed is complete with 16 elements, most are partA andB.

Personally I would never know what to really add if I started with a hot mix and had to switch over to semi hydro at some point. Easier to start with nothing in the media and give them what they need every feeding/watering. Others put a fertilizer strip in and add only water.

thanks for all the pointers. I also have an earthbox that I built a planter for and moved inside, see here:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost....45&postcount=1

I followed the earthbox instructions and added the recommended ammount of 8-8-8 granular fertilizer and 1 lb of lime. I have not put anything into the earthbox except plain RO water. Also, I used the exact same media in the earthbox as I used in all my buckets, 50/50 ProMix Ultimate, ProMix Ultimate Organic. I also added some perlite.

Result...the once droopy Red Robin tomato seedling that is pictured in my OP is about 1 ft tall and has 2 clusters of tomatoes set on. The plant looks great, and straigntened out all drooped leaves about 1 week after transplant.

This would lead me to believe that the combination of 1-2 Tablespoons of granular fertilizer, along with the hydro nutrients (initially at full strength, now 1/4 strength) have burned and stunned the plants in the buckets.

or

The buckets are not acting the same as the earthbox and are over watering the plants.

[Nematode]

Is 1lb of lime the recommended amount? Seems like a lot as pro mix usually is ph corrected.

[pecker88]

Originally Posted by Nematode

Is 1lb of lime the recommended amount? Seems like a lot as pro mix usually is ph corrected.

Yep, see here p. 2: http://earthbox.com/earthbox-pdf/EB-...IONS_NEW-2.pdf

[Nematode]

Out of my zone. I cant help anymore.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost....2&postcount=58 shows the hydro formula I have settled on for the season.
Plants seem fairly happy.

The whole fairy tale here:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...t=36692&page=1

[pecker88]

Originally Posted by Nematode

Out of my zone. I cant help anymore.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost....2&postcount=58 shows the hydro formula I have settled on for the season.
Plants seem fairly happy.

The whole fairy tale here:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...t=36692&page=1

thanks for all your help. I'm going to keep experimenting, Raybo's 3-2-1 mix sounds very promising. I'll keep posting pics here when time allows.

[pecker88]

for anyone following my saga, tonight I changed the potting mix of the latest New Big Dwarf that I planted about a week ago.

The bucket was super heavy when lifting out of the reservoir bucket.

After I pulled the plant and dumped the old mix, I **may** have discovered the problem; soggy mix. The bottom 1/2 of mix I could squeeze water out of in my hand.

I shook off as much of the old mix from the root ball, then rinsed bucket and replaced with Raybo's 3-2-1 mix. I used Premier Peat Moss, mini bark nuggets and perlite.

heres the peat moss

[KC.Sun]

Above quote:
One other thing is that by evening all the plants (especially peppers) are drooping like in the above pics. By morning after 8 hrs of darkness the peppers are perked up, the toms not so much.

I wonder if your plants are like this because plants have light and dark reaction in their photosynthesis cycle. - if a plant biologist can chime in on that, it might help you there.

I grow exclusively in earthboxes now. Your comment above about not using the fill tube might cause a water logging problem. Earthbox based designs rely on capillary action to moisten the soil. If your containers have poor drainage or is too cold, that may account for excess fluid retention in your containers.


I'm don't recall Earthtainers having a slit designed in it so that overwatering isn't an issue. With earthboxes, there are side panels that release and relieve water logged in the box. This was designed to avoid overwatering through the fill tube, but also to release water build up when it rains.