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Question and Answer Page 83.
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Never grown anything hydroponicaly, have grown small truck farm tomatoes. What will I need to grow tomatoes in a 70'x 100' green house in the tropics. Will most likely not need heat or light. Am considering covering the structure with shade cloth to keep out bugs. Need list of materials for drip system.and structure. Need to get inside someones brain and experience. Regards bill parker bparker@eaznet.com
I am a newbie to hydroponics, and having terrible luck, I am using hydro-gardens plant food at reqd. mix with water, my plants look healthy but every tomato has blossom end rot. does anyone know why and is there a cure? I am in South Texas where we can grow year round, but no demand for blossem end for. some one please help
ATTN: SO. TEXAS
Blossom End Rot (BER)
Although referred to as a rot, this problem is not caused by an organism. It appears as a light tan, brown, or black sunken area at or near the base (blossom end) of the fruit. It is not soft, but is firm and somewhat leathery and may be accompanied by a dry rot. Sometimes it appears only inside the fruit as a blackened area, with no symptoms on the outside. Occasionally, a secondary organism invades the tissue causing a soft rot. Remove and discard any immature fruit that show symptoms; once a fruit has blossom-end rot, it will not go away.
BER is caused by insufficient calcium in the fruit. Even though adequate calcium may be applied in the nutrient solution, it may not be reaching the fruit because of in sufficient water. If plants wilt, it is difficult for nutrients to reach the fruit. Although BER is a calcium problem, it can result from water stress. Rapidly growing plants suddenly exposed to drought are especially susceptible. Any condition that interferes with the uptake of calcium may cause BER. Other causes are excessive salinity of the growing medium, high nitrogen, rapid plant growth, high temperature, high humidity, and root damage.
To prevent BER, maintain steady plant growth, and avoid wide fluctuations in water and temperature. The calcium level in the nutrient solution should be at least 125 ppm. Once BER occurs, it can be prevented in nonaffected fruit with a foliar spray of calcium chloride (36 percent calcium) at the rate of 14 to 64 ounces per 100 gallons (or 4 tablespoons/gallon) of water. Or, use calcium nitrate (20 percent calcium) at the rate of 17.5 pounds per 100 gallons (or 9 tablespoons/gallon) of water. For a small scale operation, a commercial product called Stop Rot is available. Use 1 pint per 7 1/2 gallons, and spray twice per week until the problem is corrected.
Avoid excess nitrogen fertilizer, especially the ammonium forms. Ammonium increases the demand for calcium, limiting the amount available. Some varieties may be more resistant to BER than others.
I was messing around on this wild and crazy internet looking for hydroponics information, and stumbled upon your site. Congratulations! You have the best site I've found so far.
Ron, you have a mighty fine hydroponics site. Could you add a "Return to Top" at the bottom of each page"?
I'll put it on my list of things to do this year.
give me answers to the analytical experiment of aspirin tablets to find how much 1 mole in NaOH is to it?
gimme, gimme all I ever here is gimme, gimme
Ron, hello from Spain. Which techniques can I use to recycle water in hydroponics or aeroponics ? Christian.
ebb and flow, NFT, drip systems all reuse the water.
ppm, ph, tds how are these affected by the type of fertilizer that you use for example 7-7-7, 15-30-15,and so on. From what I can figure out the ppm and tds are the same and for example the ppm goes up if you add more fertilizer per gallon but what about the ph? Does the ph change if you strengthen your mix? Also great site easy to get sidetracked on. And what would be the best kind of fertilizer for a first time hydro grower, would organic teas be easier to control the ph and ppm? FROM GORDO
Yes ppm
goes up as fertilizer strength increases.
pH will also change so always adjust
pH after you add fertilizer.
The
cheapest fertilizer is the kind I
sell of course. Organic
fertilizers are very hard to
regulate ppm and ph.
FROM GORDO WHEN USING GROW ROCKS DO I NEED TO RINSE THE ROCKS OFF BEFORE I USE THEM? I NOTICED THAT THEY TURN THE WATER BROWN AND LEAVES ALOT OF SEDIMENT IN MY TANK. TOOK YOUR 11 SITE SYSTEM AND ENLARGED IT TO A 22 SITE FOUND EVERYTHING I NEEDED RIGHT IN MY HOMETOWN EXCEPT A TIMER. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
Yes you do. I think we all learn that lesson from buying rocks in quantity.
What are the disadvantages of hydroponics growing ?
Ain't none.
Help.... I bought some stuff called 'Hydro-Gro' in a 50 lb box, a big bag of Calcum Nitrate and Potasium Nitrate (for after blooming).
My question is, I'm dumping this all into a 110 gallon contain and pumping out to my plants (130 tomato plants.
How many teaspoons of the Hydro-Gro do I need put in to that 110 gallon container.
If you've got a math forumla, please give some examples.
Does anyone know of a website that will calculate all up ???? This is very confusing to me.
thank, bill
For 100 gallons of water mix 10 OZ (.625 lb.) of
fertilizer.
8 OZ (.50 lb.) of Calcium Nitrate for maturing plants or 4 OZ for seedlings.
4 OZ (.25 lb) of Epson Salt for maturing plants 2 OZ for seedlings
Adjust pH to your crop.
hi all,
hey ron whats up! see you in daytona soon - i need some more grow rocks and a ph test kit - the fish store kits only go to 6 - 7.5.
What's the big deal with curling the bottles. seems like an awful lot of work - for what? I just cut the 2L bottles, paint them and leave them like that. works great for me. am i missing something or is the curling for aesthetic reasons only?
thanks, john
where can i get some seeds - the good kind. It's been a while. the tomatoes are doing great in the 11 plant system and i'll be adding 11 more bottles soon. hope the maxi-jet can handle 22 bottles. need to get those seedlings out of the jiffy pots. by the way, adding an airstone does makes a big difference. thanks again ron, keep up the great work! - see ya in daytona soon.
later, john
Hello -- I just want to mention that Art Smith from Alabama Hydroponics (http://www.alabamahydroponics.com) is kind enough to host Tomato Challenge 2002. The basic objective is to grow tomatoes hydroponically and you can use any system to achieve that objective. In case you are curious about the rules, please visit his website and learn about them. As a matter of fact, that site should be viewed as an excellent place to get feedback from other tomato growers. I had a lot of fun with Tomato Challenge 2001 last year and met some really cool people on the internet.
Hi I have started a new hobbie with hydroponic gardening for the elderly folks I take care of and was wondering if anyone could donate some books or magazines on the subject? Would be much appreciated. Thankyou Sincerly Bonne
Dear Hydroponics Onliners: I am a student of Horticulture and Landscape Design at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and I have been assigned a 2,000-4,000 word essay. I had two choices...Hydroponics and Soilless Culture for tomatoes & cucumbers or interior landscaping. I chose interior landscaping. It seems that I have chosen the more obscure topic. If you any information...no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to you, please email me. Time is not critical, but I am spending this week researching, so all information is very much appreciated. Another classmate has chosen tomatoes and cucumbers, and we are collaborating on the accumulation of data. So please, again, send any pertinent information. Thank You for your time and assistance. I am going to place this site on our billboard at school. The website has already answered many questions. Kindest Regards, Randy. night65@hotmail.com or norloon@moose-mail.com (a.k.a. care2.com)
I am looking for plans for an aeroponics set up. Wondering if I can use 5 gallon pails with lids fed from a common reservoir. Also ,what type of nozzle could be used?
i need to current nutrient solution for cucumber .
Cucumbers
http://www.hydro-gardens.com/fertilizers.html#8-16-36
What nutrients can you use for flowers?
Is it possible to get a nutrient reading by using a multi-meter? If so how would this be compared to the readings from other meter?
mulimeters do have batteries. it would work but you'd have a problem with calibrations and geometry of the setup. better buy one/...
The multi meter of which I was speaking does have batteries. It is used to test electric current as well as ohms. I do get a reading using it on the ohm setting. If solution is made stronger then the reading does change. The markings for the ohms starts at 1k then goes to 500, 100, 50, etc and goes to zero. Using mircle grow it gave me a reading of apx 80 at 1 tsp per gallon of soulution. As the solution was made stronger the reading went down in number. As I do not know what readings you would recieve with this concentration using other meters it is of no help to compare. Thank you Sue
It's science fair time again. Any suggestions on how to sprout a potatoe suspended in water? Mary
Hello all, Been a long time since I was here. Glad to see this site still going strong. I have 2 of the 2 liter setups going in the summer, use miracle grow, love them. I was hoping for some help. There use to be a link http://www.ns.net/~bennu/bkyd/green.html that had plans for a build it yourself greenhouse. It was made from PVC pipe and was a half circle shape. The web site is gone. If anyone happens to have the site or the plans saved I would really appreciate a copy. My Email is Calmnus@yahoo.com.
Thanks for your time.
Mike
Attn: Mike
Look for the posting on Jan. 14th, 2002 on this forum. There's a hot link there.
lush tomato plants grown on pre-mixed nutrients not blooming after 2.5 months. is this a nitrogen excess problem? if so, am i to add potasium sulfate (or other?) to the nutrient solution? will this effect legume crop in same resevoir? thanks for info,
Would fish be able to grow in hydroponics solution? i have an idea for a very cool garden if you can lmk i am very curious.
No but some hydroponic plants will grow in fish water.
how many gallons of water are required for the 11 plant system????????
About 2 gallons
hello ron, nice site, however, it just simply amazes me the amount of people that constantly ask questions starting with ron ive just got to know..., or ive went through the entire site and..., faithfully searched..., on and on. anyway the caffinated fella a few pages ago (this visit) was i believe on the right track, if the people that post these queries were not so darn lazy and had any desire to do for themselves then....... and by the way after several visits to this site i have yet to get through it scott
hello ron. i enjoy your site I noticed a grow light in my local hardware store. It a Sylvania Gro-lux, 20watts, 875 lummen(450@one foot), 80 degree,10,000 hrs,fits in a 110 normal socket, priced at under twenty dollars. Do you know about this, and do you have any comments about it.
Good for a low light indoor ornamental plants but useless for high light plants like veges.
Hey Ron, Love your site...my husband and I have learned so much and greatly appreciate your work! Do you have schematics with the individual lengths of the PVC on the 16 plant system?? If not, can you at least tell me if you use gallon jugs and if so how far apart are they in the 16 plant system center to center?? Thanks so much, Angel
I use the 2 liter for the 16 plant and standard distance is 12 inches from center to center. The gallon systems I put 18 inches apart.
how do you know when to change the nutrients
When it gets low or every two weeks. Which ever comes first.
Ron, How often should I flood my 11 plant system with tomatoes and peppers? I'm using a combination of rockwool and growrocks for my medium.
every half hour or so
how could I make a homemade filter system for my science fair project?
if mixing a two part hydroponic solutions together tends to precipitate some compounds, making them unavailable to the plants, would it be possible to feed the plant with solution "A" for five (5) minutes, followed by five minutes break, then finally five minutes of solution "B" Jerry Ching
I doubt it.
I love this site. let me tell you what pump im using. I have a single plant aqua-farm. but im using a a small pond pump from wally world. I have it run 24/7. I have a cherry tomato in it. I have seen everyone using the aquarium air pump. Just wonder if thats what i should use and if im running to long. not sure infact the plant has been in a week. what ever you can tell me is cool. Thanks
Pond pumps and aquarium pumps are all submersible pumps.
Ron, Neat aeroponic set up.I want to try it.Two questions :where did you get the baskets and what is the timing on the pump.Thanks for all the great. Jim in Durham
The pump runs continuously and any indoor grow store sells the three inch baskets.
I am new to hydro and having great success with my tomatoes, but my sweet peppers just grew tall, leaves turned up and spotty and die off. Fruit is very small , losts of blooms then nothing. Can anyone help. Thanks Sandy rdgypsys@strato.net
DO U NEED GROW ROCKS AND ROCKWOOL OR ARE THEY THE SAME THING??? ALSO WHAT ARE SOME GOOD NAME BRAND GROW ROCKS????
No they are not. Use one or the other. GeoLite is good stuff.
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