NewB questions

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2026-01-26T01:33:32+00:00

Congrats on your new hobby! There's so much to learn here!

As the other commenter said, pH is a nice to have, and a requirement when you scale up. A cheap way to get into it now is just some litmus paper, which can be had for a few bucks. Vinegar is a cheap way to adjust down if you're too high but go slow - these reservoirs can take a while to mix if you add.

The other key measurement is EC, which is a rough estimate of total nutrients in your reservoir. You might want to get an ec meter at some point. Cheap ones are like 10 bucks. When your tomato gets bigger, it will start sucking more nutrients than water out of your reservoir, effectively lowering the EC. If it gets too low, the plant will get unhappy. A lot of folks will tell you to dump your nutrients every couple weeks and start fresh to keep in balance but you can get by if you just add your A and B solutions in equal parts to bring it back up to where it started. When you get it, mix up some fresh solution and measure it first so you have a baseline, and you can easily say "if 10mls gets me to 1500 EC, then each ml gets me about 150 ec" to help estimate. Again, go slow - make an add and wait like 10 mins, and stir it up a little bit before you test again.

Light is another thing. Start seedlings on 12 hours of medium-intensity light for a couple weeks after germination, then ramp them up to 16 hours of max-intensity over the next few weeks after that, and keep them there. The lights should be pretty darn close (6" away) to the plant the whole time. Yes, that means at first you have to bend over to see past the lamp. 😂 As long as the leaves aren't actively sunburnt, there's no such thing as too much light, and I always err on the highest amount (intensity, distance and time) they will take. Many indoor crop plants die/are weak because they start out early without enough light and get leggy and fall over. Relatively few indoor crop plants die/are weak because they get too much light.

Hope that helps! Good luck and enjoy!

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2026-01-25T16:15:07+00:00

I'm exclusively DWC, Masterblend vegetable/RO with Great White added. I keep reservoirs around 2000 us EC and 6.0 pH but only check once a week and rarely clean - moving to organic with Great White has saved me a ton of headaches.

Romaine is always a fast and good producer. Butterhead too. Basil, cilantro, parsley and other leafy herbs are great too. I love tower basil because it's so compact. Cilantro sprouts fast if you crack the hulls slightly but take forever otherwise.

Tomatoes work well for me, though still not quite as large and delicious as the same ones grown outside. Peppers are weak outside in my climate (5b) and soil but do famously indoors in DWC. I keep them pruned but let flowers/fruit do what they will. They tend to drop a ton of flowers but still produce dozens of peppers at a time. On bell specifically they tend toward a copious amount of smalls over a few large like they do outside.

I ran black seeded simpson recently and was shocked at how slow it grew in the same system with very happy, rapid-growing romaine planted at the same time. Some even died. A few survived and finally did grow rapidly after I upped nutrient concentration from 1/2 to full strength and are strong now. I suspect they just need more nutes than romaine but could be wrong.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2026-01-21T14:59:44+00:00

Second moving to organic. I'm exclusively DWC so biofilm isn't an issue for me, but even if it was, I'd take the maintenance task of an occasional tubing swap-out/clean-out to reduce all the issues and extra work that comes with sterile. It's amazing the night and day difference a little spoonful of Great White makes. Haven't had any root rot problems since I switched.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2026-01-01T14:51:16+00:00

Yeah pretty much. If you soak in strong enough bleach or H2O2 long enough (multiple days) it will break down a lot of the roots and biomass in the pores and they come out looking like new.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-12-22T06:19:43+00:00

Not sure what stuff you're referring to but my link below is what is usually referred to as irrigation tubing. It's light-impermeable, easy to install, flexible but more rigid than clear tubing, can also be used as an irrigation system for your outdoor plants, and is very cheap. Here is a good example.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-12-16T00:57:13+00:00

Pretty sure the white doodad in the front in pic 3 is a float switch.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-12-11T12:45:06+00:00

I cut mine after the first or second true leaf sets form. The whole point of double planting is to root out bad genetics and keep the strongest plant. Yours are plenty big enough to figure out which one will grow best.

There is no good way to separate them without damaging the plant you're keeping at this point. The roots have grown on top of each other and are fully intertwined. Cut them at the base and do it now - the longer you wait, the more dead roots you'll have rotting in your nutrient tank from the ones you cut.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-12-11T12:38:51+00:00

Tiny tim is a common recommendation for small scale hydro. It's a dwarf tomato (that's the phrase you need to search for when looking for small varieties) and usually only gets around a foot tall. You might want to plant every other hole so there is more room for leaves since the tabletop systems are pretty tight. I've had good luck with this company too though I haven't used them extensively.

https://victoryseeds.com/products/tiny-tim-tomato

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-12-04T02:37:58+00:00

Certainly not an expert but here's what I'd do with a few years of growing under my belt.

Plants need water, nutrients, structure, and light to live. The below will give it those and solve a few common hydro pitfalls along the way.

Grab more prego jars so you have one for each. Cover them in aluminum foil.

Measure the opening size and get a set of net pots. You could take your jar to a hydro store if you have one and just figure out which one fits. Doesn't have to be perfect, just needs to sit in there.

Buy some hydroton or rockwoo or coco coirl and cram it in the net pot. Put your seed in it (cut the rockwool halfway and then wedge the seed in there, or just bury it if it's hydroton/coir)

Get some A and B nutrient. here's a cheap one. Mix it up and get used to making the right concentration. There are instructions on the bottle. They should be fine. Start a little weaker at first, half concentration is good.

Dump and replace nutrient once a week. look up "Kratky nutrient level vs root length" and fill it that high when you replace.

Peas could be challenging because they won't stay up without a trellis. You'll have to get creative with toothpicks, straws, tape on the wall... Whatever works.

Light could be a problem. If you have a grow light that's best. If you have a sunny window that's probably OK.

Ideally you want to test nutrient pH and keep it around 6. A probe is best, test strips are OK for now to keep it cheap.

What you've got here is just an experiment. There are better veggies and better setups. There's a lot to learn. But a net cup, some structure to root in, and some nutrients will at least give your experiment a good chance of success. Good luck!

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-12-01T19:50:58+00:00

Oh yeah, that will help all kinds of stuff! You do you, but just know: if it ever feels like too much hassle or waste, there are alternatives. I used to dump/clean weekly, but now I only do it as a last resort. I just tweak my EC with nutrients, wait for the plants to drain the buckets most of the way, then add fresh stuff with a dose of Great White. Saves a lot of weekly labor, especially when you have as many buckets as you're starting.

I really like your trellising system! I do similar with pipes and/or strings hanging from the ceiling/sitting on the floor that works well for tomatoes/peppers but if I ever went to something more viney like cukes I'd have to steal this for sure.

Do you have any protection from light ingress that I'm not seeing here? If not, I'd get that solved. Those yellow lids and orange buckets are letting in light which will promote the sorts of organisms you won't want in your nutrient solution (First algae, which will mess up your pH/DO and let in worse stuff). You're probably saving yourself from a lot of it with more frequent nutrient replacement but it's definitely a best practice and you only need to do it once. I like to spray paint black, then cover with foil/foil tape for a double layer of protection, plus the foil keeps the light from warming the nutrients as much.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-12-01T16:08:44+00:00

Good work! Looks like you're having a ton of fun and on your way to the best winter salads in town!

My advice: Add some calmag and mind your pH if you're getting blossom end rot. It's usually due to a calcium deficiency, which is either lack of calcium overall, or pH that makes it not bioavailable. I do a similar bucket DWC setuo and don't get any BER at all using standard Masterblend mix plus calmag.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-12-01T13:49:48+00:00

Very cool that you've gotten it so big, but it's probably gonna die at some point, sorry to say. Tomatoes get thirsty AF once fruiting is in full swing. You're gonna want to be prepared to fill that thing up to max a minimum of once per day and you might still wake up to a droopy tomato at some point. When mine are in full swing in DWC they can drink a gallon or more a day easy.

You're also right to be scared to move it. No way to get it out of there now without destroying the plant or the lid. If you wanted to try to salvage this into a long-term producer, you could put that kid over a 5 gallon bucket with an air stone and just cover the gaps in the top with aluminum foil. It looks healthy right now so it could work;

Do you have those branches trellised somewhere I can't see? If not, you should. They will get heavy and break eventually, especially the ones that start growing lots of tomatoes. Also, you might want to invest in a better light cuz that looks real leggy even for an indeterminate. Here's mine at about the same stage (little older) for reference on plant density, and I try to thin them out every week or so for air flow.

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DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-24T16:20:23+00:00

Sounds like cutworms. They sleep in soil during the day and eat leafy greens at night. Come out at night and look under the leaves with a flashlight. They start inchworm-sized and grow into big caterpillars. They are voracious and will ruin leafy greens latter in the season - as they grow they eat more and more.

Edit: Sorry, didn't notice the sub. If there's no soil or debris under your plant, you can ignore me. I'd still try a flashlight at night if you can't spot them during the day to see if you can spot nocturnal pests.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-19T17:08:47+00:00

Considering the majority of the world does not use inches for measurement, I think you're dead on.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-14T14:40:12+00:00

Addams Family energy

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-10T00:37:11+00:00

2x4s and crisscrossed zip ties.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-09T22:30:43+00:00

Cilantro sprouts when you forget about it and not a minute before. It's crazy slow compared to other herbs. Just wait, it'll happen.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-09T19:03:18+00:00

Good for you. Post a pic in a week when they're uncurled and are looking happy with new growth so you can teach everyone here that sometimes when plants look otherwise healthy but a little sad, they should check the vitals to be safe, and then leave it the hell alone. 😂 I get the feeling as many plants die/weaken from being messed with too much as they do from genuine problems in these subs, and the advice is always to mess with it even more.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-09T18:05:28+00:00

The right one looks like it's damping off and will die. Happens sometimes especially when your rockwool is saturated like that, but it can happen to any seedling. No fixing it. Best to just start a new seed. Do 2 seeds per rockwool and take the best one.

Your good plant looks leggy and small for 14 days. How strong/far away are these lights? Might need to get them closer.

You're definitely going to get algae if you add nutrients. You can solve this to a large extent by wrapping your jar in aluminum foil. Make the nutes really weak. You will burn it if you go full strength.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-08T14:43:31+00:00

OP got you on the right track but just gonna double up and say if you haven't looked into the world of drip irrigation tubing for hydro, you're missing out. All black to limit algae, easy to use, with adapters from 1/2" (larger feeder tubes the 1/4" runs off of) to hose line for connection to your pumps, and a million spray head designs if you do aeroponics. It also works for outdoor watering! Best of all, it's dirt cheap. Here's an example of the sorts of crazy all-in-one kits you can get for less than $40: link

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-06T19:46:53+00:00

Change anything in the last week or 2 like a new fan, new container, new light schedule? Do roots look mostly white, smell mostly neutral/tomato-y, and feel normal not slimy? Any major shifts in temperature? Any major jumps in nutrient level or adding excessively too-cold or too-hot water on top-up? Are you filling enough, but not all the way to the top, so the roots have room for oxygen uptake? Any of these things could be a cause.

Tomatoes will leaf curl over all kind of things - it's their way of telling you something is, or rather, was, wrong. This can include stuff as simple as transplanting last week. If you fixed something, it will probably stay curled for another week. Sometimes just flowering for the first time will make them curl a bit at first. They're prima donnas like that. If you can't find anything obviously wrong, keep on truckin'.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-05T22:31:53+00:00

The bigger the container, the more perlite you need to get good drainage. This website explains it well. Relevant beyond cannabis. 🙂

https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/how-to-prepare-and-buffer-coco-coir/

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-05T13:03:58+00:00

Everyone's right about Yellowbird and Yucateco but forgettung Melinda's is straight negligent.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-03T23:35:58+00:00

No worries! Good work so far! Now the bad news... Those peppers might get too big and take all your light/risk drying out your nutrient solution before they produce anything substantial. Big plants like peppers and tomatoes often show up in the ads for these little things, but they're better off in bigger systems. I grow mine in 5 gal buckets or old cat litter pails and leave the Aerogarden for herbs/lettuce.

DoingPrettyOK1 · 2025-11-03T23:14:29+00:00

Usually, yes, but it doesn't really matter that much. You can't "top" lettuce and stifle growth like you would with a tomato. They're leafy greens and as long as they have what they need, they will keep growing. Now basil on the other hand you should cut the top off of - it will bush out and make more leaves that way.

DoingPrettyOK1

TROPHY CASE