Cant figure out what's wrong? Assess my pics pls?

Hey everyone!

I have been lurking the forums for a while and this is my first go at this. This is my first tray I am testing pepper plants and kale out on (as I don't want to kill off my expensive ladies) but now have 2 dwarf low flyers started.

Here is my setup:

Lighting: 2 x 100w CBX3070 Cree Cobs on an 18/6 (I think I need 2 more os lighting I feel should be more
Ebb flow running only hydroton in 5" net cups
Nutrients, GH Biothrive grow (was running at full strength at 4tsp/g) and now this week changed to 3tsp/G GH Biothrive bloom /w Plantacillin bennies, added 3TBsp Epsom salts (as i'm not running CaMag) and Calgary hard water is at 180-220ppm.
PH held consistently around 5.9-6.4 (daily), 45L (11g) water temp at 69 consistent

***Room Temp. avg 63, humidity is 45 avg. ** I Know this is not optimal at all, but in a basement crawlspace and *trying to fight fixing this right now. This is leading to slow growth i know, but please let me know if this is my major issue*

Problem: Growth is slow which i suspect is because of the environment, but new leafes are malformed.



I have a feeling the stunting hurt things and the environment isn't helping, but loopking for advice as I can't nail it down and I don't want to lose my new dwarfs! (1 pic attached, one in line for some reason). Thanks for bearing with me on my first time posting.

If you have any advice as to the slow growth/malformed leaves, it would be much appreciated!

Are you sure that stuffs for hydro systems? If its for hydro its usually semi transparent or clear. If its for dirt its usually black or brown opaque.

You bet. It's by General Hydroponics and it has instructions for hydro systems. It's the nonsynthetic/organic line to the floragrow and flora bloom.. assuming you are talking about the nutes..

boron lockout due to low ph maybe. if youre below 6 at all boron is locked out and new growth will twist up on itself.

on second thought that doesnt look like the issue. I see a number of things that are concerning from leaf finish to spots, but im not familiar with your plants at all so i cant give much meaningful advice other than to improve the quality of your grow space.

Superhappyfuntime said:

You bet. It's by General Hydroponics and it has instructions for hydro systems. It's the nonsynthetic/organic line to the floragrow and flora bloom.. assuming you are talking about the nutes..

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Ok, i know you cant pull the plants out, but can you see the roots at all? Like the color of the roots. Theres something really wrong there cause ive grown peppers indoor and they didnt look like that. My jalepeno plant was six feet wide almost. Fuck you could always takem out and toss em in a dwc bucket with an airstone.

Or you could try going full synthetic instead. Flush the system for a day or two and refill with full synthetic nutes. Thats the easiest way to hydro.

Thanks for the advice guys. No I can easily pull them out and back in.. the roots are all bright white and are thick and not small and hair-like, like the Kale is.

They all came from Coco starter plugs, then soil mini pots, then hydro.

I originally started them on a 24hr cycle with no air movement until I researched more and changed it when they had a node or two up. Could that account for it?

I can try the synthetic nutes. I prefer to stay organic but if it's a struggle, I'd rather take the easier route....

Peppers are notoriously light, finicky feeders. It may take a few grows to tweak the feeding program in hydro.

Alexander Supertramp said:

Peppers are notoriously light, finicky feeders. It may take a few grows to tweak the feeding program in hydro.

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I hate growing peppers besides jalepenos. The internet makes em look soooo easy. Stupid internet. I just harvested some indoor beans and turnips, and a few radishes. So far outdoor wins

Alienwidow said:

I hate growing peppers besides jalepenos. The internet makes em look soooo easy. Stupid internet. I just harvested some indoor beans and turnips, and a few radishes. So far outdoor wins

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I started growing super hots outdoors about 6 or 7 years ago. The first 3 years was a lot of trial and error. I now have things pretty tuned in and and have harvested great crops the last few years. I ended up with 4.5 gallons of dried peppers this year.

Alexander Supertramp said:

I started growing super hots outdoors about 6 or 7 years ago. The first 3 years was a lot of trial and error. I now have things pretty tuned in and and have harvested great crops the last few years. I ended up with 4.5 gallons of dried peppers this year.

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Are you taking on protestors with all that pepper spray?