Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The plants I have coming up tend to be long and thin stemmed. Some fall over and die before they get very big. What would the reason be?

I have bananas buried in the growbeds and have dosed the system with iron whenever I see leaves with yellow streaks.

My tank is 400 gallons with fifty fish averaging 5 inches (goldfish and tilapia). The system has been going for about two months with about half of the gravel transferred from a system I had been running for about nine months.

Does a system mature over time in terms of having a growing supply of trace minerals or is it the fish load alone that supplies the plant growth?

My grow lights are about 3.5 feet from the plants. Is this too high?

Thanks for your help.

Lack of light

And possibly "reaching" for the light.... lower them about 50%.... just make sure that they're not so close as to burn them though...

+1 for lacking light.
How many watts are you running?
400watts 6-10"adjustable so I'm told.

The lights are metal halide(?) 400 watt bulbs. I am using two. Each covers s 3 foot by 6 foot growbed. I had them at that height to make sure the light covered the bed. I'll lower them and see the result.

Thanks.

Hi Rand:

We can talk about lighting more on Sunday but I was growing some stuff under a single 400W MH lamp and it was OK, but I had foil-lined styrofoam boards around the beds to help keep light from leaking out before hitting the plants. Even after that the tomato and basil plants were a bit tall and lean. Lettuce was OK though.

You might acquire some of my indoor lighting stuff this weekend if you're interested. I have a couple fluorescent work lights with aquarium bulbs that I haven't yet used, and the 400W light, as well as some of the foam board.

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Hey Dave,

That's great. I look forward to seeing your set up and will buy whatever you want to get rid of.

I have put foil backed insulation around the growbeds and that surely does bounce some of the light back to the plants.

I'll call you Sunday once I have a clear idea of my arrival time.

Rand

+1 on the light thing.
Tall scrawny seedlings is usually lack of light, they are reaching for it so bring it a little closer.

Weak skinny stems can sometimes also be due to nutrient deficiency. Potassium is really important for many things with plants and I have used murate of potash (potassium chloride) when I couldn't get my hands on maxicrop or or other seaweed fertilizer.

Another thing you can do to help seedlings develop strong stems is have a fan moving a bit of air in the room or even just touch the seedlings a bit each day so they get a little movement to strengthen up.

Thanks TCLynx, that's a great idea (the fan).