Curling tomato leaves

platinumethics · #1 03-21-2011, 10:12 PM

Hello everyone

I'm seeing some of the leaves of my tomato plants curl in early stages. The plants themselves are bright green which cancels out some description requirements for some issues but I'm not experienced in tomato plants so I don't want to come to my own conclusion.

As far as the setup its a simple DWC with air stones in the reservoir. I'm running a nutrient mix at about 1tsp of GH Grow per 3 gallons of water, the reservoir is an 18 gallon. The water was pre-filtered when added to the reservoir. The temperature never gets below 65F and never above 78F. I've kept the water level right where I need it and the root growth has been phenomenal, really thick roots and white as can be. I've checked the PH everyday and have it balanced between 5.5 and 6.0. The lighting is 18/6.
I'm growing an heirloom variety.

I'm including some pictures.
Any help would be appreciated!

ProZachJ · #2 03-21-2011, 10:56 PM

leaf curl is often environmental, what is your humidity? What Kinda lightsource?

platinumethics · #3 03-21-2011, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProZachJ

leaf curl is often environmental, what is your humidity? What Kinda lightsource?

Right now the RH is 63% at 74.7F
Light source is a UFO 90W about a foot and a half above the plants.

ProZachJ · #4 03-21-2011, 11:07 PM

With an heirloom variety I'd wager that's not enough light. We recently vegged three mortgage lifters in a super cropper. Till they where about 18" tall. They grew great and are now producing fruit in our coco system in the greenhouse. We used 4 UFOS. When I have tried to grow Romas and Little Mamas under 180W or less I haven't been successful. However little mamas where also successful along side the lifters. So I think the extra light made the difference.

GpsFrontier · #5 03-21-2011, 11:13 PM

It looks like your using led lights. If I remember correctly, leaves curling is fairly common with them, and just normal with LED lighting. Another thing that stands out to me is that you mention your using General Hydroponics (GH) gro for nutrients. I assume your referring to the general Hydroponics Flora series. That's a 3 part nutrient solution, it needs all 3 parts (Gro, Micro, and Bloom) to be able to provide all the mineral elements. The ratio of how much of each are added to the nutrient solution depends on the type, and needs of the plant.

platinumethics · #6 03-21-2011, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

It looks like your using LED lights. If I remember correctly, leaves curling is fairly common with them, and just normal with LED lighting. Another thing that stands out to me is that you mention your using General Hydroponics (GH) gro for nutrients. I assume your referring to the general Hydroponics Flora series. That's a 3 part nutrient solution, it needs all 3 parts (Gro, Micro, and Bloom) to be able to provide all the mineral elements. The ratio of how much of each are added to the nutrient solution depends on the type, and needs of the plant.

My inexperience shows

I have been meaning to get micro as I have gro and bloom already. I am hesitant to say I don't have enough light yet as I have a 3x3 area that is being used with mylar all the way around 360 degrees. I will get the micro tomorrow and see if it shows any improvement. I had a feeling it was more nutrient involved. I was about to flush the system and run the plants on pure filtered water for a few days and see what results come about.

ProZachJ · #7 03-21-2011, 11:17 PM

Curling is a common problem under LED lights. But our last grow of tomatoes didn't experience any. Even with varieties that we had tried before.

platinumethics · #8 03-21-2011, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProZachJ

Curling is a common problem under LED lights. But our last grow of tomatoes didn't experience any. Even with varieties that we had tried before.

The thing with my plants are that only one DWC setup is showing curling. The other side is perfect.

ProZachJ · #9 03-21-2011, 11:27 PM

I did one pepper crop where some plants curled and some didn't in the same system with the same light. From that point on I have assumed it was some genetic predisposition to behave that way under LED. I have started to try find varieties that don't curl but then I was really thrown for a loop when the little mamas that I had tried to grow numerous times where just fine the last time.