Sativied
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I moved seedlings from a DWC pre veg box to an NFT-ish system (aeroflo-like, see https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/611163-tight-space-hydroponics-setup.html ) after they had sufficient roots (over 8" in length) and now they are starting to droop/hang a bit.
First day just the larger one, seemed to go fine except that temps in the rez rose to 84 degrees over night. Strangely it didn't effect the plant noticeably. Turned of light and removed a pump that heated things more than it was supposed to cool through a diy chiller, cooled the rez (fairly slowly with frozen bottles of water), and added the second seedling (the one on the left).
Second day, they both droop, while the rez temp is fairly stable at 64-68. Raised the tray a bit on the lower end. Added air pump to rez. The pump itself is next to the active air intake of my grow closet, which keeps the rez temp at 64.4 degrees, and ridiculously stable too. Drooping seemed to be a little less, but I had also sprayed some H&G Magic Green on them which may have contributed to that (so should not have done that to prevent the skewed view on it).
Third day (is last night), added the third plant (on the right in pic). Didn't start drooping as fast as the other small one, looks like it will eventually though if I don't solve the actual problem.

I wasn't planning on adding the air pump (two waterfalls...) but the drooping reminds me a lot of drowning plants on soil so I figured I should try and raise the DO. That's why I added the airpump + bubble stone, which has the major added benefit of keeping the rez cool.
PH is 5.6-6.2 (mostly 5.7-5.9), ppm is 600. I know the PPM is low, but already had nuteburn last week on the smaller ones so talking it slowly. Can/should I use more in an NFT than in DWC?
While designing my diy setup and reading up on similar systems I noticed someone flood the pipes by adding a dam to the end, basically raise the water level in the trays. Something I built in as an option in my system but rather not go there just yet.
Things I can try:
1. clean the rez, again. Just cleaned thoroughly days ago before adding the plants. Ran plantless for about a day. Reason to clean would be to exclude pollution (from whatever-- like it being new).
2. lower the pump throughput (it's roughly 360GPH at max now). Since they look drowned I feel the need to give less water but it honestly doesn't sound like the solution (maybe on the contrary)
3. Raise the temp... I need to measure the temp of the returning water to see what the roots actually get, if the sprayers cool it too, they might just have cold feet.
4. Put the pump on a timer, like shut it down for 10 min every two hours or so (pump is currently 24/7 as suggested by others)
Any suggestions/ideas? Or is it not uncommon for them to droop and slow down after moving from DWC to NFT. They went like Turbo in the DWC (TL lamps). I've had one very successful run on soil in my grow closet, during the colder-than-now winter months so I think the problem is with(in) the system and not the environment. They are currently under 400watt HPS (like usual for me during this stage).
I moved seedlings from a DWC pre veg box to an NFT-ish system (aeroflo-like, see https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/611163-tight-space-hydroponics-setup.html ) after they had sufficient roots (over 8" in length) and now they are starting to droop/hang a bit.
First day just the larger one, seemed to go fine except that temps in the rez rose to 84 degrees over night. Strangely it didn't effect the plant noticeably. Turned of light and removed a pump that heated things more than it was supposed to cool through a diy chiller, cooled the rez (fairly slowly with frozen bottles of water), and added the second seedling (the one on the left).
Second day, they both droop, while the rez temp is fairly stable at 64-68. Raised the tray a bit on the lower end. Added air pump to rez. The pump itself is next to the active air intake of my grow closet, which keeps the rez temp at 64.4 degrees, and ridiculously stable too. Drooping seemed to be a little less, but I had also sprayed some H&G Magic Green on them which may have contributed to that (so should not have done that to prevent the skewed view on it).
Third day (is last night), added the third plant (on the right in pic). Didn't start drooping as fast as the other small one, looks like it will eventually though if I don't solve the actual problem.

I wasn't planning on adding the air pump (two waterfalls...) but the drooping reminds me a lot of drowning plants on soil so I figured I should try and raise the DO. That's why I added the airpump + bubble stone, which has the major added benefit of keeping the rez cool.
PH is 5.6-6.2 (mostly 5.7-5.9), ppm is 600. I know the PPM is low, but already had nuteburn last week on the smaller ones so talking it slowly. Can/should I use more in an NFT than in DWC?
While designing my diy setup and reading up on similar systems I noticed someone flood the pipes by adding a dam to the end, basically raise the water level in the trays. Something I built in as an option in my system but rather not go there just yet.
Things I can try:
1. clean the rez, again. Just cleaned thoroughly days ago before adding the plants. Ran plantless for about a day. Reason to clean would be to exclude pollution (from whatever-- like it being new).
2. lower the pump throughput (it's roughly 360GPH at max now). Since they look drowned I feel the need to give less water but it honestly doesn't sound like the solution (maybe on the contrary)
3. Raise the temp... I need to measure the temp of the returning water to see what the roots actually get, if the sprayers cool it too, they might just have cold feet.
4. Put the pump on a timer, like shut it down for 10 min every two hours or so (pump is currently 24/7 as suggested by others)
Any suggestions/ideas? Or is it not uncommon for them to droop and slow down after moving from DWC to NFT. They went like Turbo in the DWC (TL lamps). I've had one very successful run on soil in my grow closet, during the colder-than-now winter months so I think the problem is with(in) the system and not the environment. They are currently under 400watt HPS (like usual for me during this stage).