Hello everyone, I've been reading here for some time and have my own grow going currently. I'm wondering why my plants are growing so slow. Here is a little info into my setup. I have a hydro drip system I constructed myself. It is basically like a bubbleponics system but it has adjustable drip emitters. I have an 18" bubble curtain in the reservoir to keep oxygen in the water. I'm in the vegetative stage of growth. For this I'm using 2 48" Fluorescent shop lights with a 40w cool white and warm(kitchen/bath) white bulb. I have them about 2-4" above the tops of my plants. I'm growing 5 tomato plants and one herb at the moment. This is a 6 plant system. I'm using Miracle Grow currently for the nutrients, a 15-30-15. The plants have been growing for 3-4 weeks under these nuts(also using hydroton/rockwool for grow media). The tomato plants are all about 6-8"s tall. The herb is only 3-4" tall. None of my plants have amazing root structures. All have been started from seed. The tomatos were actually growing for 1month and 3 weeks but I say 3 weeks because that is how long they have actually been under nutrients. I was a dumby in thinking the plants would grow at first with no nutrients. However the herb has been growing with nutrients from seed crack to now and I am just no impressed. I was wondering if anyone can help me? I use a 1/4 Tsp to 1 gal of miracle grow for my nutrients in the water. Any help on why my plants are growing so slow?
Tomatoes and weed have very different nutrient requirements from each other. Do you know the pH and PPM of the solution? That is very important.
pH is somewhere from 6.5 to 7.0 based on the weak pH test kit I have. ppm is unknown. I don't have a digital tester. :/ I presume I could post a picture of my plants growing currently and show you what they look like so you can better analyze my situation. Hope you all check this post soon don't know how long these pics will stay on this site but here are a few to give some perspective: http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=020220091yq3.jpg http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=020220092in8.jpg http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1000802cy2.jpg http://img6.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1000803xj1.jpg http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1000804om1.jpg http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1000807gj2.jpg http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1000809ok1.jpg
Well I have adjusted the pH today with some pH down, I took a pH test, now I'm sure my pH is anywhere from 5.5 to 6.0 and no higher. It shows the nice yellow color when I do the pH test for my basic pH test kit(which is 5.5 to 6.0). I'm gonna give this a shot for a week or two, this should be more than long enough to determine whether this truly is my problem or not. Thanks for the help, I hope to be coming back with great results!
Both tomatoes and weed have a vegetative stage, where they need a fert higher in N than P and K. This is followed by a flowering/fruiting stage where the fert need to have both P and K about the same, and higher than N. A rule of thumb, if it is good for tomatoes, it is good for MJ. Good luck with your grow.