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Old 08-31-2012, 08:14 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Lake Havasu AZ.
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Hello KDillon,
From the picture it looks healthy, but a picture (especially an old one) may not show everything (especially in the true colors). But I have a few possible thoughts though.

First is that you switched from using florescent lighting to using HID. Florescent lighting generally causes the plants to reach up towards the light because it's low light levels (especially in flowering/fruiting plants). This also tends to make the plant tall and thinner. When you switched over to HID lighting the plant may likely have just taken the advantage of the higher light level's to grow healthier, thicker, stronger stocks (that you say you experienced), rather than just continuing to try to grow up towards the light (for better photosynthesis) with the lower light levels of the florescent lighting. That's because the light levels are directly related to plant ability for photosynthesis.

Second thought is, it takes a lot more energy for a plant to produce flowers/fruit. Any slow down may also be a result of all the new buds/fruit you say the plant is producing.

Third thought is, even though you stated the nutrients your using, that dosen't say in what concentrations your using them, and/or if your fallowing the manufactures directions (for anyone not familiar with them). Not to mention if you have ever changed the nutrient solution. Or even how many gallons the reservoir is/holds. I can only guess that it holds about two gallons going by the picture, and may or may not be an issue depending on the other factors.

Forth thought is temperatures, when you switched to HID lighting that increased the heat from the light source 10 fold. Did you adjust the height of the light source so the air temp at the top of the plants foliage isn't any higher than 85F max? Also I don't believe you mentioned the water (root zone) temp.

P.S.
As for when to switch over to bloom lighting. As soon as you want the plant to produce fruit. Some people prefer to pluck the buds and grow more foliage before letting the plant bloom, and others (like me) would allow it to produce fruit ASAP like it has done in nature for century's.

"indeterminate"
indeterminate is a classification of the plants height, not when or how often it flowers. Your thinking of the term "continuously fruiting plant" Continuously fruiting plants fruit from the start of their life to the end. A indeterminate plant has no defined plant height and can grow quite tall. Indeterminate peppers have been known to grow well over 10 feet tall. Determinate plants have a specific determined/defined plant height. Determinate plants are often also called bush variety. Most determinate pepper and tomato varieties only grow 3-4 feet tall.
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 08-31-2012 at 08:23 AM.
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