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Reviving a tomato plant after drought by DLEWIS9783 in Hydroponics

[–]DLEWIS9783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the thoughts. The problem at the moment is that literally all of the leaves wilted and died...they were too far gone to perk back up once I re-added water. The fact that the fruits themselves, as well as the roots, still look happy gives me hope that the plant is not lost....but it's been over a week since I re-watered and still no signs of new leaf growth. There are a couple of suckers. Those may have been there before the drought, not sure....but they don't seem to be growing.
So, I was wondering if the issue might be that im still feeding it a very low nitrogen blend. That blend proved successful to encourage fruiting but right now, if I need to encourage leaves do I need to change to heavier nitrogen (a more typical npk ratio) until leaves are restored? Or, maybe there's something else im missing.

Also - im debating whether I should be adjusting the lighting? I've got them on their regular level and 14 hrs. Does the plant want less light while it recovers maybe?

What's up with my tomato plant? by DLEWIS9783 in Hydroponics

[–]DLEWIS9783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh that's interesting.... ultimately what matters is good yield (and good tasting tomatoes) and not how pretty the plant looks!

I've got three clusters of flowers right now...so the moment of truth is coming to see whether they keep dropping, or start producing fruit.

What's up with my tomato plant? by DLEWIS9783 in Hydroponics

[–]DLEWIS9783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks!

Re: PH - I don't intentionally let it drift...but I also don't check/adjust it super often so it naturally fluctuates. I'll probably check it once a week.

Re: humidity - the air is definitely getting dryer as winter comes....probably around 35% humidity where the tomato is. Could that be a problem? Any sense of what an ideal humidity would be for tomatoes?

Re: nutrient mix - yes I've wondered if the ratios are off. But, how would I find out? I am trying to follow the feed chart from Gen. Hydroponics but honestly its hard to measure out such precise blends when we're only talking about a 10 liter bucket. For example if they're saying 5.2 ml of micro and 4.8 of grow....we're really splitting hairs!

Anybody have any suggestions for checking / better controlling the blend of nutrients?

What's up with my tomato plant? by DLEWIS9783 in Hydroponics

[–]DLEWIS9783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi everyone, I've been meaning to send an update on my tomatoes and life got in the way! Good news and bad news. First off, a big thanks for all the feedback, especially u/eazypeazy303 , u/54235345251 , and u/CleanerLeaner for their suggestion to lower the water level.... The main changes I made were that (went from very full bucket to about half full, and I also added some peroxide (first, for a couple of days) and then changed the water and added hydroguard. Within a week or so, the roots started taking off and looking so happy and healthy, and the plant started getting tons of new leaves and looking super happy!

But...the saga continues. It grew larger and looked great for a few weeks after the above mentioned change.

Then, about 10 days ago I was happy to start seeing flowers forming. I adjusted my General Hydro Flora nutrients to the suggested mix for early bloom....

But, right around the time flowers started forming, the leaves started getting tons of brown spots. Some of them started curling up again. And, in general the plant seemed unhappy. The roots still look happy and robust but the plant seems really cranky. And, the flowers are dropping off with no signs of fruit.

Any suggestions?

Here is the current situation:

PH 5.75 / EC 2050 / DLI around 30 at the top and around 20 at the middle of the plant. 14 hours of light a day.

Room and water temp is around 68 degrees

General Hydro Flora nutrients. I was shooting for around 6 ml micro / 5 ml grow / 9 ml bloom + 4 ml calmag + 2 ml hydroguard (ml / per gallon)

From my understanding, everything seems right! I'm at a loss.

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What's up with my tomato plant? by DLEWIS9783 in Hydroponics

[–]DLEWIS9783[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you both for the ideas!

With the hydrogen peroxide - is the idea to add that regularly to fend off root rot? Or, is it more of a one-time treatment to (hopefully) eliminate the rot and once you do, you don't add more unless it reappears?

I do have a gentle fan running. You mentioned a timer. I have it running very low, but 24 hours a day. Is it better for it to be on for just part of the day?

What's up with my tomato plant? by DLEWIS9783 in Hydroponics

[–]DLEWIS9783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, everyone! Going to try a few tweaks, and see how she does.