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Tomato flowers falling


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  #1  
Old 02-26-2010, 09:43 PM
eduardomachado eduardomachado is offline
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Default Tomato flowers falling

HI, I have a plant of tomato in a NFT... the PPM its about 1200... PH about 5.9
itflowered but now the flowers all falling from the stem... no fruit set... its outside... gets like 5-6 hours of direct sun...

Also for the last weeks the leaves are like curling downward.... the plant its grwoing like 1 inch a day

what could be wrong?

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Old 02-27-2010, 02:19 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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1. What is the air temp (both day and night)?
2. What is the nutrient temp (both day and night)?
3. What nutrients are you using, and how often do you change them?
4. Are you adding any additives to your nutrients?
5. Is the nutrient solution cloudy or clear?
6. Are you using a air pump in the nutrient reservoir?
7. Do you see any pests/insects on or around the plants?
8. Do you have any plants in soil with the same curling of the leaves?

P.S. Do you have pictures of the problem?
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Old 03-01-2010, 05:52 PM
danielshinall danielshinall is offline
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I also have some questions and comments:

1. What kind/variety of tomato plant is this?
2. How old is it (from seed to today – age)?
3. Have you changed the fertilizer solution (lately or ever)?

4. Curling of the leaves – seems like a minor nutrient deficiency like Calcium deficiency.
5. Flowers are falling off – appears to be because of the day length (too short).

I agree with GpsFrontier, pictures would be great!
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Old 03-01-2010, 08:03 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Quote:
4. Curling of the leaves – seems like a minor nutrient deficiency like Calcium deficiency.
Ya, that was one of my thoughts, that's why I was asking about what nutrients were used as well as if any additives were used. I also had a thought that it could be the "Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus" but didn't want scare anyone because it has been known to wipe out whole crops. I think mostly in California, but don't know if it's regional or not. That's why I was hoping for pictures, and was asking if he had any soil grown plants with the same curling of the leaves. I also know that a cold nutrient solution is known to cause curling of the leaves, but usually stunted growth also.

But If I had to guess without any information I would probably say try adding Calcium, because this is what General Hydroponics had e-mailed me back about tomato's needing extra extra calcium, and how to identify a Calcium deficiency:

"Calcium effects the plant's ability to uptake all sorts of nutrients. This is why it is recommended to supplement with Calcium when growing plants that consume a lot of it (such as tomatoes). You most likely won't be able to pinpoint a Calcium deficiency on the plant, because it can appear as a plethora of other deficiencies. Nutrition in Hydroponics is a building block philosophy. Once you have low concentrations of one element, the rest react differently to other elements, and this can start a chain of lockout. Very few growers will know that this all started with Calcium. In your particular case, I would recommend using a CaMg product from the beginning of their lives to the end. That way you won't have to play the guessing game of nutrition manipulation and you will be providing them with the CaMg that they require."

Not sure the lighting would be a problem though. I believe eduardomachado is growing outside under a car port or something, so he is just referring to direct sunlight, and the plants actually get lots of indirect sunlight. Though the variety could play a part in that I'm sure.
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 03-01-2010 at 08:17 PM.
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  #5  
Old 03-01-2010, 09:40 PM
eduardomachado eduardomachado is offline
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Default here are the pics....

Thanks for the suggestion guys...

here are the tomato pics... the plant its growing like crazy almost a inch per day.... PPM its at 1250... PH its at 5.8....

no other plant its showing the curled leaves....

It is under a covered car port for now... but it gets 3 hours direct sun in the morning and 3 in the afternoon....
The lat pic its a fenced area that I build to house a semi-greenhouse it would be covered on only 1 side to avoid strong wind.... the top would be covered with green house plastic... it would be 10x20 and Ill have a 10x20 area for earth gardening....
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  #6  
Old 03-05-2010, 06:57 AM
eduardomachado eduardomachado is offline
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Update... I have some Tomatos
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Old 03-05-2010, 02:17 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eduardomachado View Post
Update... I have some Tomatos
That's good to know. I can see some curling from the pictures but I don't have enough information to make any suggestions. Did you figure out what the problem was?
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Old 03-05-2010, 02:35 PM
eduardomachado eduardomachado is offline
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I fixed the PH was a little too high
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Old 03-05-2010, 04:09 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eduardomachado View Post
I fixed the PH was a little too high
That's interesting, if anything I was thinking it was a little low. But certainly not enough to cause the problems you described. What did you change the pH to? 5.5? I keep my tomato's at 6.0. They are still young at this point, but as far as I can tell they look very healthy. Now that the weather is warming up they are starting to grow faster also. I just sent General Hydroponics a e-mail about it, hopefully they will reply sometime today.

I do know that specific plant requirements will vary (even for the same variety) according to regional climatic conditions, and from season to season within that region, as well as growing conditions. But I wouldn't think that a .05 difference in pH either way would cause the plant to abort fruiting.
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Old 03-05-2010, 04:14 PM
eduardomachado eduardomachado is offline
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Sorry GPS... I misinformed you... the PH was really close to 7.0, now its 5.5...

Its the only thing I changed....

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