Anyone know what's going on here?

[friguy]

Thanks Diana I looked at your thread and I agree, it probably is the same problem. I haven't been able to get it over 57 on the floor still. I think the only option for me is to add lights, as I don't have room for a heater in my closet. I have 8 26 watt cfl's in there. Is there anyway of measudeing the heat output from a bulb. From college I remember that one watt = 3.413 btuh of heat. Is that the same for cfl's? If so I would have aprox. 709 btuh of heat on them now. I was thinking about adding 6 or 8 46 watt cfl's which if my math is right would add between 941 and 1255 btuh of heat. Does anyone know if this is correct?

 

[DirtyDiana]

I am still new to this so my next suggestion might not be very sanitary. But what about putting a blanket under the pots? I thought about doing that, and all I could think of was the charlie brown christmas story and the little tree had a blanket wrapped around it lol. As far as the bulbs and heat heck if I know. But I do know that adding any cfls is going to do some kind of difference. Hopefully someone gets back to you soon with good info!

 

[Bake&Sleep]

ph is high,,,, it should be between 5.5 and 6.5 for soil it should be around 6.3

 

[DirtyDiana]

friguy, i just had a guy respond to my thread saying putting something under them to keep the chill away from the roots will help.

 

[friguy]

And so you know, I am in Chicago and our temps have been way below normal. My basement temps were getting down to probably below 60, and I cant even imagine what the temps were ON the concrete floor.

Diana I got my temps over 60 deg on the floor for the first time I think ever. Was holding steady in the room about 78 all this time I just didn't realise how cold it was on the floor. I think I am gonna put a layer of insulation under my catch pan this week and see if that helps. Of course it is gonna be warmer this week so it will be hard to tell how much I am doing and how much the surrondings are making a diff. Thanks

 

[Shwagbag]

This could also be a PH problem caused by overwatering coupled with cooler medium temps or a bunch of things. Check your run off PH and if necessary top dress with some fast acting lime it is a better product to use for ph adjustment in soil. I've used other ph products but they just don't cut it in soil. Also your R/O water should not have a higher ph, something is wrong.

Will cooler medium temps cause a lower PH?

 

[friguy]

Will cooler medium temps cause a lower PH?

I don't know but I would be interrested to know the answer to that. Thanks

 

[DirtyDiana]

Diana I got my temps over 60 deg on the floor for the first time I think ever. Was holding steady in the room about 78 all this time I just didn't realise how cold it was on the floor. I think I am gonna put a layer of insulation under my catch pan this week and see if that helps. Of course it is gonna be warmer this week so it will be hard to tell how much I am doing and how much the surrondings are making a diff. Thanks

Im glad you got to raise the temps a bit on the floor. During my reading on my issues I did see that cooler medium affects the ph, but I do not recall how. I will see if I can find it again, I have been keeping notes on everything, and I will post it here. Let me know how it goes for you with the warmer temps and after using a layer of insulation. I dont know about where you are at, but here the temps are warming up but then going back down to cold cold digits, so maybe the warmer temps will give you a chance to get your plan started and see if it holds if the temps drop again.

 

[friguy]

Diana sorry I haven't got back to you on this. Here are a couple more pics. The temps have been much warmer the last week and I think that was my problem. I insulated the floor today and next week is suppose to be colder here. A couple hundred miles south of you probably. My floor temps were in the mid 50's, now they are staying mid 60's. Look how big the stalk is! And as you see the plants aren't hardley a foot tall. Thanks for your input.