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Need sage advice, I can't seem to make this work. :(


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  #1  
Old 06-03-2014, 10:10 PM
ryeookin ryeookin is offline
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Question Need sage advice, I can't seem to make this work. :(

I see a lot of people have grown veggies hydroponically online and I love the idea! I've been trying to get this to work for months now and each and every attempt has failed. I'm very frustrated and hoping you can help point out what I'm doing wrong.

In snort, I've tried growing kale in 4 different attempts (each attempt slightly different as I've been trying to isolate the cause it fails) and it's failed every time and I don't know why.. I'm hoping someone here might know exactly what the problem was.

My basic deep water culture hydro setup:
I have (2) 2 gallon food safe (type2 HDPE) old protein containers that I've washed out many times to make sure they were clean, I then fill then with tap water and nutrient solution. I also have drilled a 2in hole in their respective lids so as to make room for my netcups. I placed the containers by a window inside my house (I keep the plants inside) that gets some light but not a lot so I also have a 60W clf bulb running for 14 hours a day giving them light as well (the bulb listed below). This bulb is roughly 2 inches or so from the leaves and my girlfriend was thinking the lamp might have burned them but its only warm not hot at their distance, so I don't think this is likely the case (please correct me if I'm wrong). I also put aluminum foil around the containers to keep light from entering the containers so as to try to prevent algae from growing. My goal was to grow via the Kratky method (which in theory should be pretty simple) so I'd basically set them in the solution and let them grow in the same solution for the growing cycle (or until they run out of water but with 2 gallons each, they should have plenty). In theory it should be very little maintenance.

I am able to germinate the seeds in the rockwool just fine but when I transfer them to their new containers they seem to do well for the first week or so and then by the end of the second week they start wilting and I can't figure out why. I've changed nutrient strength, made sure I was precise with the nutrient dosing (I use a measuring syringe to get the amt exact) changed nutrient solutions brands, checked and changed the PH, experimented with starting water levels in relation to the bottom of the netcup and I also even added a bubbler with an airstone to one of my containers and they still die after 2 weeks!

Do any of you know what I'm missing? Why this is happening?
I so want this to work.. this is driving me nuts.

What I've tried in more detail:
Test1: Reading online and watching youtube I filled the first test batch with an NPK ratio of
N18 P19 K38

Test2: Changed the NPK ratios to what were suggested on the side of the "General Hydroponics Flora Series" bottles, specifically for "lower levels of:
N16 P8 K24
Added using a syringe to measure nutrients for more precision.
One cup had its water level just touching the bottom of the netcup, the other one had a small gap.

Test3: I thought it might be the lack of air, so I added an air stone to one of my containers and ran it 24/7. Initially it grew faster then the other container but it also died after 2 weeks. I was thinking it might be PH and tested it with a pH meter I just bought and found one of the containers had a PH of 5.8 which is just below the desired band PH of Kale that I've read (the range being 6-7.5).

Test4: First I changed the nutrients to "Pure Blend Progro 3-2-4". As such I added 2 TSB per container (the instructions said one TSB per gallon online and the bottle said 2 per gallon, I went with the 1gal/1TSB). I also thought the problem might have been PH as I've read that kale prefer a PH of 7.5-6. As such I got a ph meter and made sure the starting PH was within the band. After mixing everything I added some PH down to make it so one container started with a PH of 6.5 and the other with 6.9 (this one has the air stone).

Well it just finished being 2 weeks and my plants are dying again.
*pic of my current setup including plants shown below*

The Kale I'm using:
300 Seeds, Kale "Vates Blue Scotch Curled" (Brassica oleracea) Seeds By Seed Needs
Source: Amazon.com : 300 Seeds, Kale "Vates Blue Scotch Curled" (Brassica oleracea) Seeds By Seed Needs : Vegetable Plants : Patio, Lawn & Garden

The light source I'm using:
Hydroponic Full Spectrum cfl Grow Light Bulb 60 Watt Bulb 5500K H60
Source: Amazon.com: Hydroponic Full Spectrum CFL Grow Light Bulb 60 Watt Bulb 5500K H60: Home Improvement

Original nutrient solution I was using (for tests 1-3):
General Hydroponics Flora Series QT - FloraGro, FloraBloom, and FloraMicro, 32 oz each
Source: Amazon.com : General Hydroponics Flora Series QT - FloraGro, FloraBloom, and FloraMicro, 32 oz each : Hydroponic Fertilizers : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Nutrients for test 4:
1 qt. - Pure Blend Pro Grow - Vegetative Stimulator - Hydroponic Nutrient Solution - 3-1.5-4 NPK Ratio - Botanicare 718475
Source: Amazon.com : 1 qt. - Pure Blend Pro Grow - Vegetative Stimulator - Hydroponic Nutrient Solution - 3-1.5-4 NPK Ratio - Botanicare 718475 : Fertilizers : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Air pump:
Hydrofarm Air Pump 2 Outlets 3W 7.8L/min
Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Air stone:
Hydrofarm AS4RD 4-Inch Active Aqua Round Air Stone
Source: Amazon.com : Hydrofarm AS4RD 4-Inch Active Aqua Round Air Stone : Patio, Lawn & Garden

PS- I'm sorry some of my pics are blurry. My phone camera has trouble focusing on small objects sadly. I worked on getting a clearer picture for a bit but had no luck. If it's really important let me know and I'll see if I can borrow my gf's camera for a nice clear pic of each plant.

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  #2  
Old 06-04-2014, 12:48 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Hello ryeookin,

OK, That's a lot to read and try to figure out, so let me start with a few points, then ask some questions. First point is that bulb looks awfully close to the seedlings. Second if the rockwool is touching the water, it's likely waterlogged. Third, seedlings that small don't need much nutrients at all, and I don't understand how your mixing the nutrients. Can you give volume measurements? How many mL per gallon of water of each (gro-micro-bloom). You don't need a syringe, regular teaspoon's and tablespoons are fine. One teaspoon is 5mL, and one tablespoon is 15mL. Lastly, as I remember the so called "Kratky method" is nothing more than a water culture system without the air pump.

1. Is the rockwool cubes sitting in water?
2. How are you mixing the nutrients?
3. What is the water temperature (day and night)?
4. What is the air temperature at the plants leaves (day and night)?
5. What is the humidity near the plants leaves?
6. Is the top of the rockwool cubes more wet than just barley damp?
7. Without the CFL, how much light does the seedlings get?
8. Do you have something against using an air pump?
9. Have the roots begun growing out the bottom of the cubes /baskets yet?
10. What is the pH, and does it fluctuate a lot?
11. What is the chemical and mineral composition of the tap water your using?
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 06-04-2014 at 01:13 AM.
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  #3  
Old 06-04-2014, 04:48 PM
ryeookin ryeookin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GpsFrontier View Post
Hello ryeookin,

OK, That's a lot to read and try to figure out, so let me start with a few points, then ask some questions. First point is that bulb looks awfully close to the seedlings. Second if the rockwool is touching the water, it's likely waterlogged. Third, seedlings that small don't need much nutrients at all, and I don't understand how your mixing the nutrients. Can you give volume measurements? How many mL per gallon of water of each (gro-micro-bloom). You don't need a syringe, regular teaspoon's and tablespoons are fine. One teaspoon is 5mL, and one tablespoon is 15mL. Lastly, as I remember the so called "Kratky method" is nothing more than a water culture system without the air pump.

1. Is the rockwool cubes sitting in water?
2. How are you mixing the nutrients?
3. What is the water temperature (day and night)?
4. What is the air temperature at the plants leaves (day and night)?
5. What is the humidity near the plants leaves?
6. Is the top of the rockwool cubes more wet than just barley damp?
7. Without the CFL, how much light does the seedlings get?
8. Do you have something against using an air pump?
9. Have the roots begun growing out the bottom of the cubes /baskets yet?
10. What is the pH, and does it fluctuate a lot?
11. What is the chemical and mineral composition of the tap water your using?
Firstly thanks for your reply GpsFrontier!

I'm sorry it's so long, I just wanted to make sure I added everything so it would be easier to diagnose. Looks like I missed some things though so again sorry as this is about to get even longer.

I'll answer your questions below in order:
1) They aren't sitting in the water. Their is a gap of a little less then an inch between the bottom of the netcups and the water surface. In the container that has a bubbler the top of the rockwool is wet to the touch though as the bubbles that hit the surface of the water splash water on the bottom of the netcup/rockwool. The other container (with no air pump) has more roots and they go down into the water and the part of their roots out of the water (between the water and netcup) grew small hairs on them which from what I've read are to absorb oxygen.

2) With the first 3 tests using the flora gro micro and bloom I would put a gallon of tap water in my container first (tap is around 6PH in my tests). Then I'd measure the nutrients I'd need from the gro and add it to a clean glass. I'd then fill the glass mostly with water (so its not so concentrated) and then pour it in to the container. Rinse and repeat for the other two, bloom and micro nutrient solutions for each old protein container. I was doing it this way as I hear that mixing all the concentrated nutrients together in their concentrated form can cause some 'nutrient lockout' or some such. After that I'd top it off with tap water and then stir it with a plastic spatula.

For reference:
Gro label: http://generalhydroponics.com/site/g...s/floragro.pdf
Bloom label: http://generalhydroponics.com/site/g...florabloom.pdf
Micro label: http://generalhydroponics.com/site/g...floramicro.pdf

As for the amount I added in test 1(per gallon):
gro 20ml
micro 10ml
bloom 15ml

The amount I added in test 2(per gallon):
gro 15ml
micro 10ml
bloom 5ml

The amount I added in test 3 (per gallon):
gro 15ml
micro 10ml
bloom 5ml

One of the containers in test 3 had no nutrient solution added, just tap water. This also died in roughly 2 weeks.

The amount I added in test 4 (per gallon):
Pureblend pro gro 15ml

Hmmm.... after looking things over, test 4 numbers above are a little high. That is the instructions say I should have used just 10ml and I used 15ml per gallon. Would the nutrient numbers I have listed in test 4 be enough to kill the plants in 2 weeks?

Pureblend progro nutrient reference:
http://www.botanicare.com/Assets/PDF...dSheet2014.pdf

Also this is the syringe I've been using:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1500_.jpg

3/4) I looked and I don't have a thermometer that works at the moment (I have one but it apparently only works for taking peoples temperatures). The room they are in has an ambient temp that fluctuates between 72-74 degrees F.

5) I'm not sure I have something to measure this with at home. It's certainly less then it is outside. I've been keeping my AC on for the past 3 months so its not very humid compared to outside at least. Do you need a more specific unit of measure for this?

6) Yeah, the one with the air pump is soaked and the one with no air pump is dry.

7) Mostly only indirect sunlight. I have them placed in the sunniest spot of my windows but my condo windows don't get direct sunlight due to building positioning and outside trees.

8) No not really. I'm willing to try anything to get this to work right now. If it means air pumps, I'm cool with that (especially since I own one now). I just like the idea that the Kratky method was simpler tis all.

9) Yep, the roots they did most of their growing the first week into the second week then stalled. The one with the airstone seemed to get its root pushed back up to cling against the bottom of the net cup due to the surfacing bubbles which kept it wet (read not much root growth in this one). The one with no airstone had much more root growth with 3 roots growing down into the liquid about 3 inches deep.

10) The container with the airpump has a PH of 6.99(starting ph was 6.96). The container with no airpump has a PH of 7.15 (starting ph was 6.58). I'm not sure why the no airpump container has such a high ph. Maybe I didn't let it settle long enough or I needed to mix it longer after adding the phdown. As for how often it fluctuates, well I checked them the day I put them in and today (two weeks later). Do I need to measure it more often?

11) I haven't tested this personally but I found this from my water company:
http://www.amwater.com/ccr/delaware.pdf
http://www.amwater.com/twq/delaware_twq.pdf

Is that what you needed?

PS - Thank you for your time!
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Old 06-06-2014, 05:07 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Hello ryeookin,

First I'm curious as to why you changed nutrient manufactures? Did you think the Flora series nutrients were not working? For plants that small your mixing them way to strong. Like I mentioned "seedlings that small don't need much nutrients at all". You were mixing the flora series fine (in tests 2 and 3) for a full strength nutrient solution. However seedlings that small don't need more than 25% to 33% of full strength. I will mix one gallon in a water bottle of full strength nutrient solution then, dilute it by adding 75% to 2/3's water in the system with the seedlings. The bonicare nutrients call for 7 mL for seedlings but I would probably go half that for seedlings that small. And your mixing them at 15 mL which is 1.5 times full strength.

That brings me to another point, I would never use so much water/nutrient solution for seedlings that small. It's a waste, they will never use it up. For just a couple starters like that I would probably just place them in a small Tupperware container, then just dip the cubes in a cup of the diluted nutrient solution once or twice a day. Just to keep them moist, but not soaked.

Reply to question answers
1. Having the bubbles splash the bottom of the cubes is fine, as long as the cubes aren't getting too wet.

2. First I'm concerned of what might be in your tap water. Second like I mentioned above your mixing them way to strong. I would recommend using RO water, or buy some bottled water for now to eliminate water quality as a problem. And yes mixing concentrated nutrients together will cause mineral elements to bond, that's why they are in separate containers to begin with.

3/4. If your room temp is between 72-74 degrees F, your water temp is likely fine (below 80F). However I am still concerned about the heat from the bulb being so close to the seedlings.

5. I asked about humidity because small seedlings like that should have high humidity levels (70% 80% etc.). They even usually benefit from a humidity dome (a clear plastic cover to hold in humidity). Also if the humidity level is low, that light bulb being so close just dries them out all the more.

6. The one that is dry is probably not getting enough water (drying out), and the other one is could be suffocating (not enough oxygen to the roots). It also could develop root rot or stem rot.

7. Seedlings that size don't need a lot of light, but they won't grow to full size like that. CFL lighting should be fine for those type of plants, but you'll need to change your lighting setup.

8. A water culture system, is a water culture system. Eliminating the air pump might be less expensive or easier, but it wont make your plants grow well. It's just doing what you can under the circumstances. I once used miracle grow instead of hydroponic nutrients because I ran out. Did the plants die right away? No. Were they still healthy a week later? No.

9. The root growth likely stalled because the seedlings aren't healthy anymore. Probably from multiple issues. Leaves, and/or roots drying out, roots suffocating, nutrient strength being 4 times stronger than they need. The one with the roots longer is likely due to a lack of moisture in the rockwool cube. The roots needed to stretch out to locate moisture.

10. Your pH is to high. That can also lead to nutrient deficiency, try for 6.0. For new growers I would recommend checking it every day, at least until you get used to how and why it can fluctuate.

11. Well I asked this question mostly to try and get you to think about the water quality your using. I'm surprised you went to the effort to find your local water quality report. Usually people just take a EC or PPM reading. But they don't know what those numbers represent. That was the point I wanted to make. Anyhow as I recommended earlier, I would use RO or bottled water for now to eliminate the question of water quality issues.
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Old 06-06-2014, 04:27 PM
ryeookin ryeookin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GpsFrontier View Post
Hello ryeookin,

First I'm curious as to why you changed nutrient manufactures? Did you think the Flora series nutrients were not working? For plants that small your mixing them way to strong. Like I mentioned "seedlings that small don't need much nutrients at all". You were mixing the flora series fine (in tests 2 and 3) for a full strength nutrient solution. However seedlings that small don't need more than 25% to 33% of full strength. I will mix one gallon in a water bottle of full strength nutrient solution then, dilute it by adding 75% to 2/3's water in the system with the seedlings. The bonicare nutrients call for 7 mL for seedlings but I would probably go half that for seedlings that small. And your mixing them at 15 mL which is 1.5 times full strength.

That brings me to another point, I would never use so much water/nutrient solution for seedlings that small. It's a waste, they will never use it up. For just a couple starters like that I would probably just place them in a small Tupperware container, then just dip the cubes in a cup of the diluted nutrient solution once or twice a day. Just to keep them moist, but not soaked.

Reply to question answers
1. Having the bubbles splash the bottom of the cubes is fine, as long as the cubes aren't getting too wet.

2. First I'm concerned of what might be in your tap water. Second like I mentioned above your mixing them way to strong. I would recommend using RO water, or buy some bottled water for now to eliminate water quality as a problem. And yes mixing concentrated nutrients together will cause mineral elements to bond, that's why they are in separate containers to begin with.

3/4. If your room temp is between 72-74 degrees F, your water temp is likely fine (below 80F). However I am still concerned about the heat from the bulb being so close to the seedlings.

5. I asked about humidity because small seedlings like that should have high humidity levels (70% 80% etc.). They even usually benefit from a humidity dome (a clear plastic cover to hold in humidity). Also if the humidity level is low, that light bulb being so close just dries them out all the more.

6. The one that is dry is probably not getting enough water (drying out), and the other one is could be suffocating (not enough oxygen to the roots). It also could develop root rot or stem rot.

7. Seedlings that size don't need a lot of light, but they won't grow to full size like that. CFL lighting should be fine for those type of plants, but you'll need to change your lighting setup.

8. A water culture system, is a water culture system. Eliminating the air pump might be less expensive or easier, but it wont make your plants grow well. It's just doing what you can under the circumstances. I once used miracle grow instead of hydroponic nutrients because I ran out. Did the plants die right away? No. Were they still healthy a week later? No.

9. The root growth likely stalled because the seedlings aren't healthy anymore. Probably from multiple issues. Leaves, and/or roots drying out, roots suffocating, nutrient strength being 4 times stronger than they need. The one with the roots longer is likely due to a lack of moisture in the rockwool cube. The roots needed to stretch out to locate moisture.

10. Your pH is to high. That can also lead to nutrient deficiency, try for 6.0. For new growers I would recommend checking it every day, at least until you get used to how and why it can fluctuate.

11. Well I asked this question mostly to try and get you to think about the water quality your using. I'm surprised you went to the effort to find your local water quality report. Usually people just take a EC or PPM reading. But they don't know what those numbers represent. That was the point I wanted to make. Anyhow as I recommended earlier, I would use RO or bottled water for now to eliminate the question of water quality issues.
Thanks again for the feedback GpsFrontier!

The reason I changed nutrient manufacturers is because in my previous tests I couldn't tell why it was failing. I thought it might have been the nutrients themselves so I tried a different brand and had the same problem (so its not the nutrient brands themselves which you knew already).

I'll look into smaller containers for my seedlings, I thought they'd eventually grow and be pretty big from what I've read online.. eventually needing the water, maybe a month or 45 days down the line. From what you said that's not so. Another thing I thought was that I could just use one set ratio of nutrient solution for the plants entire growing cycle, not that it needed to vary depending on the plants stage (the bottle says it yep, but I saw a bunch of people online recommending one set ratio to use for their plants growing cycle, not taking this into consideration). As such I'll be making these changes and see how that effects the next batch. Thank you.

Ideally what I'm trying to mimic (if I can get my initial tests to work) will be this guys hydro setup at my house with those black bus buckets:
Easy & Quick Hydroponic Spinach & Kale - YouTube

Looks pretty simple. Does that look viable to you?

In reply to your answers:
2) Roger that. I'll make them weaker following your recommendations. I'll also look into testing with bottled water or distilled water to test if water quality is an issue.

3) Roger that. Give them less light in the seedling stage as the close proximity of the light indeed could be drying the seedlings out. When should I move the light closer and how close should it be do you recommend?

5) Well I was germinating them in a plastic dome for a week or so (which goes well) then was transferring them to the netcups out of the dome at about a week. Should I keep them in the dome longer?

7) Ahh ok. I did notice however that they germinate much faster if I use that CLF bulb. They'll pop out of the rockwool at around 4 days. Otherwise using just the light from outside it'll take around a week or so. Another thing interesting is the plant that was dying that has the air pump, well I turned the CFL light off earlier this week and it looks like its starting to recover maybe (and turn towards the window). That directly confirms the light's close placement to the seedlings indeed was hurting the seedlings. My GF is totally going to hit me with a "I told you so". lol :P

8) If I need a air pump I'm cool with that. If I do get this worked out where by I can get them growing well with an air pump, I'll likely experiment THEN with no air pump. My original inspiration for the Kratky method was the youtube video by this mhpgardner:
Off-Grid Hydroponics Experiment - The Kratky Method & Floating Raft Hydroponics - YouTube

9) Alright my next batch I'll be changing the following:
-Give them less light in the seedling stage as the close proximity of the light indeed could be drying the seedlings out.
-My water could also be a problem. I should run my next test with distilled/RO/bottled water.
-Look into using smaller containers so I don't waste solution.

10) Roger that, next target starting ph will be 6.

11) Well you are going out of your way to assist me, I wanted to give you useful info if I could. Looks like I missed my mark though. As such I think my next step here would be to pick up a ppm/EC meter as that'll likely be more helpful in the future.

Thanks again.
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Old 06-11-2014, 04:47 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Hello ryeookin,

Quote:
I thought they'd eventually grow and be pretty big from what I've read online.. eventually needing the water, maybe a month or 45 days down the line. From what you said that's not so.
That 's not really what I meant. I didn't mean that the plants won't drink up much water over a 45 day period while they grow to full size. I meant that seedlings an inch or two tall don't need a gallon or two of water each. You can start seedlings in a small container and transplant them into their permanent home after they get anywhere from 3-9 inches tall (depending on the type of plant and hydro system). I attached some pictures of a simple seedling starter like I'm talking about that I built.

You'll notice it doesn't have a gallon or two of nutrient solution in it. Only a cup or two. Also the nutrient solution in it is very weak. I would mix one gallon of full strength nutrient in a gallon jug, then pour a little in the seedling starter, then dilute that by adding more fresh water to it. So it was something like 10-25% of full strength. I didn't even have an air stone in it. I just sloshed the water inside it a couple times a day to soak the bottom of the rockwool cubes to keep them moist throughout the day. However If I had a pump and air-stone I could have used at the time, I would have liked to use it so I didn't need to make sure the cubes didn't dry out and slosh the water around by hand.

Quote:
Ideally what I'm trying to mimic (if I can get my initial tests to work) will be this guys hydro setup at my house with those black bus buckets:
Easy & Quick Hydroponic Spinach & Kale - YouTube

Looks pretty simple. Does that look viable to you?
Yes that is a typical water culture system, and very close in design and materials that I built for growing lettuce. Here is a link to the one I built Forth System

Quote:
I'll also look into testing with bottled water or distilled water to test if water quality is an issue.
I wouldn't use distilled. For more info on the subject, there are some articles about water quality on my website on the "Hydroponic Gardening Articles" page. Also here is a link to the water filtration system I built for my greenhouse.

Quote:
Give them less light in the seedling stage as the close proximity of the light indeed could be drying the seedlings out. When should I move the light closer and how close should it be do you recommend?
That's not really what I meant. Not necessarily less light, and soon they will need much more light. Just that the close proximity of the bulb to the leaves can easily burn leaves (especially seedlings). More florescent light, but placed farther away so they wont burn the leaves. Not enough light and the stems grow long and skinny as the plant reaches up to the light source. If it has enough light, the plant doesn't need to reach up to it.

Quote:
Well I was germinating them in a plastic dome for a week or so (which goes well) then was transferring them to the netcups out of the dome at about a week. Should I keep them in the dome longer?
I would if you can, at least until they get 2-3 inches tall or so. That would help give them a better start. As long as it doesn't get to hot under the dome, and they get enough light through it.

Quote:
If I need a air pump I'm cool with that. If I do get this worked out where by I can get them growing well with an air pump,
I get them at Wal-mart in the pet supply's section. Just a simple aquarium pump. I wouldn't bother getting the more expensive one that states it's more quiet than other brands. To me they are about about exactly the same, and the aqua brand is half the price of the other one. Here the twin output (30-60) gallon aquarium pump runs about $12, and will work fine for now. If you need more air output later when the plants get big, just get another one.

Quote:
As such I think my next step here would be to pick up a ppm/EC meter as that'll likely be more helpful in the future
That's fine if you have the extra money. In over 7 years I haven't found the need to buy one yet. A good one will run you at least 100 bucks, and I can buy lots of nutrients (3,000-4,000 gallons worth) to grow lots of plants with that money. The EC/TDS/PPM meters only tell you the total accumulation of everything in the water, they just don't tell me the one thing I want to know. That is what amounts of each element. Plants don't use nutrients evenly, so you can start with a balanced nutrient solution, and even have the recommended EC/TDS/PPM weeks later. But the nutrient solution can still be unbalanced and deficient in some elements and toxic build ups of others as the plants grow and time goes by. EC/PPM/TDS meters only tell you the relative total strength of the nutrient solution, but not what's in it, or in what amounts their in. You can easily judge the relative strength without a EC/TDS/PPM meter.
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 06-11-2014 at 04:52 AM.
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  #7  
Old 06-17-2014, 07:17 PM
ryeookin ryeookin is offline
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Posts: 4
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Thanks again GPsFrontier for all the advice/help!!

You know what? When I turned off my CFL light (that was very close to the seedlings) in a little over two weeks my dying plants came back! They aren't growing fast but they're green and growing. I put the light back on during the day around 8 inches away to help supplement light. This pretty much tells me YES I have been killing my plants with the close CLF light and not doing them any favors with the nutrient solution as well.

With your advice I believe my next batch I'll be doing the following:
1)Germinate my seeds in my dome significantly longer, until they're 2-inches or so tall.
1a)I'll likely use either tap water for this phase (which is what I had been doing, and that part had been very successful) or very diluted nutrients as per your suggestion.
2)After I transfer them I'll make sure the starting target PH is 6, I'll make sure I'm using the correct amt of nutrients this time and make sure the light isn't too close to harm them.

That should make my next batch much better. If not then I'll then repeat the above with bottled water or RO water (I'm hoping the issue isn't my tap water).

Thanks again!
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  #8  
Old 12-02-2014, 01:39 PM
wilder wilder is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 2
Question

Hey ryeookin, were you ever able to get your system working without air stones?

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