No problem, I'm not an expert, but I try to help other people whenever I can. I'm still learning daily myself.
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I flood my plants for 15 minutes every flooding. My schedule is 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 10pm, 2am.
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That wouldn't be over watering at all. In fact, I would be concerned that it wasn't enough. Weather plays a big factor in it, but I would probably want it to water at least once per hour, at 15 min ea (likely two, 15on/15off). I just wouldn't want it to flood more than 30 continuous minutes in any one cycle. If you see any signs of wilting, then when the water cycle starts again they perk up, that would indicate they aren't getting enough water. My tomatos are being watered 30 on/30 off during daylight, and 30 on every 3-4 hours at night. I would rather 15 min cycles but my timer only has 30 minute minimum on/off cycles.
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I do not have an airstone, I was told it was not needed in an ebb and flow system where air is sucked in by the ebbing and flowing of the water through the hydroton.
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I wasn't sure what your watering cycles were when I asked about the air
pump and stone. For your situation it wouldn't be necessary (it wouldn't hurt either though). It would make a difference if the flooding cycles were more than 30 min or the weather was much warmer. Air does in fact get sucked/pulled down into the
growing medium when the flooding cycle drains. But if it were a long time before it drained, the roots would need to get all the oxygen from the water it could. Also the water molecules cant hold onto the oxygen molecules as well the warmer the water temp gets.
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the buckets are 12"-16" I think. I placed the plants all the way down in the bottom of the bucket and then poured in the hydroton around them. I did this b/c in my experience dirt growing maters that's a great way to get fast healthy root growth. Does it not work the same way hydro?
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I know from growing tomato's in dirt myself, that roots will grow out of the stem portion of the plant when transplanting. But I only buried them a couple of inches extra deep. Sounds like you may have buried as much as a foot of the stem. Not sure how that will work out. It probably was a shock to the plant in any case. At worst, they might have developed stem rot, even with the cycle times you have.
P.S. The water level when the system is flooded should be about 2 inches below the top of the growing medium in order to help prevent root rot. That's high enough to water the root ball, but not soak the stem.
Assuming that these are
not cold weather variety's, and your
nutrient solution is mixed according to the directions. I would assume the problem is probably related to the weather. And without proper airflow to keep the plants dry, and the high humidity, they may have gotten a fungal disease as well. I'm not sure about the watering cycle because I haven't been keeping an eye on them to check for wilting, but that may play a part as well. If they did get a fungal disease, the plants are small enough that I would probably just replace them and start with healthy plants.
E-mail General Hydroponics directly at:
tech@genhydro.com to be sure you are mixing the maxigrow
nutrients correctly. You can also send them the pictures with your information to get there thoughts as well.
Here is a list of:
Tomato diseases and disorders
Disease Management in Home-Grown Tomatoes
Tomato Disease*Identification*Key-Fruit