new system

[crad]

I am growing a variety of bell peppers and some serrano peppers. I am going to the green house to find 4 pepper in a week to replace the tomatoes so I only have peppers in the pipe system. The bell peppers are green, yellow, red organic seed peppers. I have some purple peppers and some chocolate colored ones as well.

I am constantly changing the light setup to fit the growth process. I am working on a design that will look like an upside down U shape on a block and tackle system so it can be raised and lowered to accommodate pepper height. I decided at this time to concentrate on the lighting for the peppers and strawberries. the tomatoes are just for fun and to see if they can be trained. total experiment.

Thing will change as I start new Job on Monday to support my business plans. They are 10 hr days and 80 miles one way from the house. I live in rural northern MN so work is were you can find it. So my plants are gonna go through withdrawals from seeing me to only seeing me once a day and more on days off.

I hope to be moving 2 of the systems to our greenhouse in couple of week. I will post them pics after it is set up correctly.

I am having issues with my strawberry grow. I am now changing the system around and have 36 3in pots and 13 3/12 in pots in the new system and am going to drip feed them. I am buying day neutral strawberries. I will see if I can get that correct as flood and drain did not work correctly would loose cash that way so it is drip to waste or to storage and will check the waste for nutrient strength and stuff to see if it is reusable or plant food for soil garden and house plants.

I am designing total artificial light grow on strawberries. After I get them growing correctly we working on a pick your own in a high tunnel operation at the same time hopefully next year it will up and the following year in the pick your own full run operation. really depends on how many crops we can get with our day neutral berries. not worth the effort on 1 to 2 crops a year.

[fintuckyfarms]

How about some udate picts

[crad]

Man busy at work been putting in 60 hours and travel time of 3 hours a day, nuts I tell you. here are some pics and I have blooms on my tomatoes I need some advice though. I think I need some micro-nutrients and would like some ideas on my peppers.

here are some pics and I have had to adjust the lights every day on the tomatoes. I changed to bottled water last change and I can tell you the difference. So water quality under lights is a very big deal. So next nutrient change I am going to do well water next change with out softener.

So tell me what you think.

[GpsFrontier]

Hello crad,
I forget what nutrients your using, but I wonder why you think you need micro-nutrients. If your using commercially made hydroponic nutrients they should have the micro-nutrients in them. That's the difference between hydroponic nutrients vs soil nutrients. Also I don't know of a complete micro-nutrient supplement you can get. You will probably need to buy each element separately, and make your own to do so. I do see the picture with the yellowing leaf, and although a nutrient deficiency (or toxicity) is possible/probable, there could be environmental issues causing it too.

But one thing stands out to me from your post, that was about your water quality. That's probably the most overlooked factor for hydroponic growers (and a definite source for plant toxicities). Even if you just noticed visible sings of a problem now, the problem could easily have been caused/started weeks earlier. On the same token any change may not be able to be noticed for weeks into the future as well. I would start by making sure I was using good water quality (straight well, or rain water may have problems as too). Make sure I was mixing the nutrient solution appropriately, and check pH daily to make sure it's within range. Then pluck off the yellowing leaves, and wait a few weeks to see if there's improvement. Even if a few more leaves begin to yellow, it could be still be from damaged plant tissue from before (unless it's completely new foliage).

[crad]

the blotches are probably from salt and yes this is an experimental system totally.

My real question is what are these and where can I find out what they are?

the growth of my tomatoes from yesterday to today.

[GpsFrontier]

Hello crad,
I assume you are talking about the little insects on the pepper plant. They look like aphids in the picture to me, although I think I see a little green spider on one of the leaf stems too (probably looking to feed on the aphids). Here are a few links on them to compare with.

Aphids Management Guidelines--UC IPM
Aphids | University of Kentucky Entomology
Aphids
Major foliage plant hosts of aphids are Aphleandra
aphids

Pest identification database
UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program
Pests of Agriculture, Floriculture, and Turf—UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines and More
Control Options Database Search
Featured Creatures: The Good, The Bad and The Pretty
Plant Pest Identification Aid

[crad]

I thought they were aphids and yes them are green spiders just never seen them that thick before.but see the tomatoe size difference from the pics just 24 hours apart. I do believe I am going to have a light issue on the tomatoes I believe I will have to try some sort of spot light system.