Tomato leaves 'coiled up'?

[veggiemuffin]

I have a 30 gal bin with 6 gallons of nutrient water in it. I just bought a small aquarium pump that said it worked for up to 10 gallon aquarium and I use one of those 12" long flexible air stones.

Hey, I like that link you posted. I'm thinking about doing the next batch of tomatoes in buckets outdoors. I'm going to look at that more thoroughly right after this post. Either buckets or PVC fence posts. I'm interested in both. Have a tiny yard so don't have enough room to do both.

[veggiemuffin]

I forgot this small factoid:

I'm using Raindrip misters on a manifold inside the bin to wet the roots. The curling didn't happen as long as they roots were just wetted by the misters. It started after the roots reached the water down below. I don't know if that was just conincidence or what. But it added to my feeling that the roots needed oxygen.

[widespreadpanic]

I called the tech support guy at GH yesterday to ask about an Air pump system they had. We started discussing my issue, and he said with my ebb and flow system that I should not need their air pump.

He was positive that my problem was due to my nutrient level being too high.
I replaced/flushed my nutrients with rain water and cut back my T.D.S. to 1000 and this morning when I went outside, all of the "ram horns" had un-coiled?

Some of the leaves were still curled upwards, but them seem to be flattening out.

Do you think when your roots reached the water the started sucking up too much nutrient?

He told me again, as he had in the past, to monitor my readings and the plants will "tell" me what the need, rather it be more nutrients by a dropping T.D.S, or more water by a rising T.D.S.

He was adamant about finding the equilibrium of the plants needs and not just following nutrient recommendations blindly.

[veggiemuffin]

It's possible. I've got a lot to learn before I would have any confidence about what solved my problem. Although I didn't change the nutrient level during that time. I do need to start keeping records. I haven't done that at all for this (my first) build.

[twunky]

My plants look pretty much the same with the top leaf curl. Im new to this forum, so Im going to post a little bit about my system and setup. Im not trying to steal you thread, but rather extend it.

I have a Jubilee (I think) and a BrandyWine Tomato growing in one bucket. I established the root system very well before I transplanted them into the bucket system, so there should be enough root to expand, and the roots not get too crowded.

These picks are of the Jubilee Tomato.

Last week pics:


And some leaves:


I have 5 & 3.5 gallon dutch bucket drip system. I live in central Florida, so the temps have been reaching 105 degrees for long periods. Then some days the extreme heat will be followed by extreme storms and humidity.

On the "curling" plant that is pictured, this plant is currently flowering and it looks like a couple made it through and pollinated.

This weeks pics of curl and flowers:






I have a 26 gallon res. and I keep the Floramato nutrients at about 1.2-1.4. I have been using tap water. I run the nutrients @ 8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm on variations of 1 and 2 min runs. (More in the afternoon heat) Im thinking my nutes are too low, because I read your blog that you where using 2EC and that was too high. (I havent checked the temp of the water, but its in the shade and as cool as I can get it.

I have an air pump, but I only run it for a few mins a day when I get home b/c it gets too hot for some reason. The pump is inside the house and is pumping cooler air into the res. I dont know why it gets hot b/c its brand new.

The nutrient runoff is recycled, but there is a constant 1.5'' of nutrients in every bucket. I have lifted the bottom bucket out of the top one to check the roots, and they havent yet reached this water.


I started them in rockwool 4'' x4'' cubes and transplanted them into a bucket with hydron rock (bottom 1'' layer) and perlite (top layer).


More on the Greenhouse Environment:
I built a outdoor hydroponic greenhouse - allowing some bugs and not 100% sealed. I built this out of an old carport and used one have of it for the greenhouse. I screened in the sides and put greenhouse poly film and 50% aluminet shade cloth over it with wiggle wire to hold it secure - but also easy to take off to clean. I also had to add the aluminet shade cloth to the sides because it was getting too hot. Compared to how hot it gets without the poly and shad cloth, its about a 10-15 degree difference.



I installed a misting system at the top of the greenhouse, but it is not yet functional. I need to buy a incremental hose timer to run for 30 secs, every 5 mins or so during the hours of 11am-6pm. Once I get this working, the temp should drop from 100 degrees to at least 90, hopefully to 80-85.


My guess so far has been then heat. Ive had little flower flower development, and the they looked stunned for a while. But Im getting more what looks like fruit development on a couple plants.

Let me know your thoughts....thanks!

[twunky]

In my case, I was having a nutrient problem. I was using Floramato and this is a little too high in N and not enough P.

I moved over to another nutrient for a couple days, things are looking much better and the uncoiling has begun

[widespreadpanic]

Just got an email from your response, sorry I didn't respond to your last post. I didn't see it until after your last post.

I too am using floramato. The potato leaf brandywine seems to be performing well with the floramato, but my others: beefsteak, green zebra, black krim have not done as well.

I'm wondering? What are you using now? Should I abandon the floramato? I have 15 pounds of the stuff, is there a way to supplement what I've got to get better results? What do you think?

my blog:
The Greene Tomato