Yellowing Tomato Seedlings...Help!

[Ellen]

Can I ask, FlaBear, why you wound up switching to bottled with this particular garden when you already had one doing well on the tap water? Was there something wrong with this one that prompted the change?

If you are really thinking it may be the warmth of the water I think both Peat and Gisette have suggested that you can even use a regular people thermometer for that. They are relatively inexpensive at the drugstores these days, even for the digital kind and that may help you to determine if it is the warmth of the water.

I am sorry you are having so many problems with your garden.   

[FlaBear]

Can I ask, FlaBear, why you wound up switching to bottled with this particular garden when you already had one doing well on the tap water? Was there something wrong with this one that prompted the change?

If you are really thinking it may be the warmth of the water I think both Peat and Gisette have suggested that you can even use a regular people thermometer for that. They are relatively inexpensive at the drugstores these days, even for the digital kind and that may help you to determine if it is the warmth of the water.

I am sorry you are having so many problems with your garden.   


[/quote


The garden that was in this unit before these tomatos, died the SAME way, these are dying now. I was TOLD by CLIFF, after he talked to me for like 25 mins on the phone, to switch to bottled water.  I wrote down everything he said to do.  BUT I am told I am wrong.  I was told by BILL at AG, that I am wrong, and that CLIFF said to switch to distilled water NOT bottled/spring water.  So I went to tap water instead, since I have a beautiful flowering/fruiting tomato garden already and they are in plain old tap water!.   I HAD distilled water in the petunia garden that was in this unit before the tomato garden,...and both gardens are dying the same way.  I was also told to scrub it out with bleach as directed in the cleaning instructions with each new seedkit. I hate bleach, and the garden was brand new, just out of the box for 2 weeks or so....but I did it.  Now these tomatos are yellow, and now 1 red tomato plant has died last night.  The darn temp does measure on a human thermometer.    Ok?   does that answer that question??

[Ellen]

OK, so let's try to help you then. What does the temp register on the human thermometer?

Also, since AG recommended using distilled I would go ahead and continue to do that as Peat suggested in a previous post.

Is the pump functioning properly? Are you getting water flowing to the roots?

[Peat]

Gisette has probably come up with the right answer.

If not, a few more things to try...

1. Keep using distilled water.
2. Have the nutrient tablets completely, or almost, dissolved?
3. Is there a lot of white tablet material in the bottom of your bowl?
4. Are the water pump channels blocked i.e. you don't have a very good flow of water over your sponge?
5. Is it happening to ALL of the plants or just one or two?
6. Do the roots, if you can see them yet, look white, healthy and fuzzy?
7. Is there a dank, musty smell from the water?
8. Is there any form of mold, or scum type stuff on the roots or in the water?
9. And, most important, check that water temperature properly to discount this problem.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head at the moment. Please check and come back to us with the answers.

We are all trying to help you here Flabear, have you checked all these which I took the time to post? You have not said?

Let's try and simplify things some more. I notice that you have 3 Classics, do ALL three have these problems or just this ONE. If it's just this one then your tap water is probably OK as the others are fine - agreed?

Right, assuming it's this one only then all my points above are valid - please go through them and check.

As you seem to think it's your warm water then, unless you check the temperature, you, and we, will never know...

[FlaBear]

Gisette has probably come up with the right answer.

If not, a few more things to try...

1. Keep using distilled water.
2. Have the nutrient tablets completely, or almost, dissolved?
3. Is there a lot of white tablet material in the bottom of your bowl?
4. Are the water pump channels blocked i.e. you don't have a very good flow of water over your sponge?
5. Is it happening to ALL of the plants or just one or two?
6. Do the roots, if you can see them yet, look white, healthy and fuzzy?
7. Is there a dank, musty smell from the water?
8. Is there any form of mold, or scum type stuff on the roots or in the water?
9. And, most important, check that water temperature properly to discount this problem.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head at the moment. Please check and come back to us with the answers.

We are all trying to help you here Flabear, have you checked all these which I took the time to post? You have not said?

Let's try and simplify things some more. I notice that you have 3 Classics, do ALL three have these problems or just this ONE. If it's just this one then your tap water is probably OK as the others are fine - agreed?

Right, assuming it's this one only then all my points above are valid - please go through them and check.

As you seem to think it's your warm water then, unless you check the temperature, you, and we, will never know...

Ok.  This is the second seedkit to die in this NEW unit. I was sent it from AeroGrow as a replacement. I measured the water temp...it is 92.2.....my tomatos have DIED! They turned all crispy and are dead and gone. I was told by Bill 2 days ago to thin them out, and they would green up. They turned crispy brown and died today.  It is a new unit, the pump works fine, the tablets are fine, the water is hot, no one will address that issue at AG. All Bill said was to thin them out, and take out 1 lightbulb to 'balance' the light,by switching it from one side to the other, until my new replacement bulb arrives.  Well, in the meantime, the tomatos have died.

I have JUST put in my LAST petunia seedkit into THIS unit.   I RINSED it out.  I am not bleaching it out again. The sponges were wet with the tomatos and are already wet with the new sponges in it. It is running perfectly. It is NEW. I checked everything. It just has hot water and has now lost me 2 seedkits/gardens!  That hAS to be the reason for all teh problems...right???    I have raised the lighthood on this petunia garden by 2 notches to hopefully lower the water temp.  I have no idea why it is so hot.  I have emailed Bill and Cliff about this, and now am waiting for any reply.  I did what Bill said to do, and my tomatos died in 2 days!

I have also gone back to plain old tap water. I have a huge beautiful tomato garden, flowering and fruiting and DARK green on tap water.  So this bottled/distilled/purified water is out of THIS petunia garden.  I have another petunia garden that I planted the same day as my now dead tomato garden, and it is growing fine of SPRING/bottled water!   But it is going back to tap water from now on, when it needs to have water added.  I put in fertilizer when the lights tell me to.  I dont over feed,  I dont underfeed,  it is like the lights cooked and bleached out the 2 gardens in THIS new unit, that had my tomatos in it. And had petunis in it before the tomatos.  IF this garden dies...I am getting rid of this NEW unit.  I would like AG to take it back and send me a new one.  This one they can have back and figure out why it heats up the water. THAT has to be why the tomatos died.

The roots never got out of the sponges, they were that small. So they never got to even hang in the air or water. The waterflow into the sponges is perfect, strong, and now with the petunia garden, I have triple checked that the flow is still good and as I said, I have raised the lights, in hopes that it will cool off the water.

I also hope that they will sprout with the lights so high up.  BUT I have to try something.  OK..have I addressed everything?
I thank you for the opinions and help.  I am so so upset now, that I have lost a second garden in a NEW UNIT!!  I am out 3 seedkits in total now.  It took months to get the petunia kits,...it is NEVER in stock,....I still cant get an answer from AG about the replacement sponges,.....it has been nearly a month since I asked Cliff that question,  still no answer.    I love my gardens so much.  I have NEVER lost so many gardens in my life...or since I got my AeroGrow units.  And this hot water is beyond me.  I do not know why it is doing that.  It is in air condtioning and not in any direct light.  The OLD unit I had in the SAME spot, did great!!!  But it kept blowing up lightbulbs!  I mean exploding in my face and just out of the blue,...BOOM!  So AG replaced it with this unit.

Well now I have a 'killing unit'.    IF this one kills this petunia garden...just like the last 2 gardens...I will give up...and I would like to get a new unit, or a refund for the $150 I originally spent.  And I will keep just the 2 that work fine.  So I am waiting for replies from AG...and if anyone has more ideas    Feel free to post some.  I am at my limit on this unit.  It is N E W.   And has killed 2 gardens so far.  I am out 2 seedkits,...and if this petunia kit dies...that it 3. Thats $60+ out the window!!   I don't have that kind of money to waste.  I am sorry...I am 'poor'!  Can anone tell I am going nuts?   I did everything I was told...and I wrote it DOWN as CLIFF told it to me on the phone. But I am a lowly customer, so I cant argue with him or Bill.  So I am waiting for a new lightbulb to put in this petunia garden. I have 1 new bulb and put back in the 6 month old bulb, raised up the lighthood to TRY and lower the water temp.  And I am feeding it petunia starer food. It was planted just 2 hours ago.  It runs fine.  But it is heating up the water, THAT has to be the reason I have lost 2 gardens so far.

IF Cliff reads this...or Bill...I wrote to you tonight, told you all about this, and I am now working on my 3rd garden. HELP!!!!!     Take this one back and send me another one??  Maybe it is not working right.  My other 2 that I bought and got for Christmas are working FINE.   This one is a lemon.  I need seedkits and a new unit. Take this one back!   I am not an idiot. I know how to grow gardens. I can read the kits instructions...I know how to grow beautiful petunias and tomatos and lettuces!!!  even a Salsa kit!!  I have done it many times.  I have been a gardener for over 30yrs!...and I LOVE my Aerogrow gardens.  BUT this one is killing my gardens...and ME!       HELP PLEASE!!! 

[Peat]

I remember a similar post back in August, the person here was also querying his water temperature - he measured his at 92^oF, slightly less than yours. His plants were growing OK at this temperature, unfortunately he never came back so say if they continued to grow.

My water temperature varies, I have seen it at 90^oF, but in my case it is not constantly this high - yours is the highest that has been posted.

This is now getting to be a mystery, I understand your frustration. As you have discounted everything else then perhaps that does leave us with your water as the culprit? I guess the only way of solving this is for someone from AeroGrow to say if these extreme temperatures are actually damaging to your plants.

So, the only causes...

Lights - something wrong with the tolerances on them, giving out too much heat?
The electrical base - have a check with the bowl off, does it feel much hotter than your other ones? Probably very unlikely but worth a check.
The water pump - faulty and overheating? Although it works, due to a problem it could be heating up you water - If I had to choose I would go for this. It's directly in the water and has the most influence.

That's it really, there is nothing else that can cause the temperature of your AG to go this high. Your have said the environment is not the problem so that leads us back to the AG.

We need a definitive answer from AG, can 92.2^oF kill plants in the AG?

If it can't, what's wrong with your system? I am now out of ideas.

[Ellen]

I was wondering about the power source (electrical outlet) as opposed to maybe the unit itself. FlaBear, you stated that you had two other gardens in this same location blow bulbs and the water is overheating in this one. Have you thought about trying another location and a different plug to see if that calms things down? Peat, chime in please if that doesn't make sense.

[Peat]

I'm unsure how your houses are wired up in the U.S. Ellen - I think you are saying that one may, possibly, be giving out too much power or be faulty? Blowing bulbs and damaging the AG?

Over here, all our sockets are paralleled off - therefore one could not give out more than another; they all give the same. I would think that you have a similar system, but I could not say for definite.

It's well worth trying though.

[Ellen]

Yes, that was exactly what I was saying Peat. You got it dead on. I am just saying that if this particular location is where all of the problems are occurring then it makes sense to me that it might be the socket and not the gardens. I'm unsure as to how we are wired here Peat, but it made sense to me to try to move it to another socket to see if the problem corrects itself. If it does, you may want to call in an electrician to look into the socket FlaBear.

[nascar81054]

Different electic companies, old wiring and several different other things can cause surges in power thats why I use a surge protector.

FlaBear do you have  a lot of power surges, I have had them blow light bulbs before.  If you do try using a surge protector.

[llamalass]

Couldn't you still have a short in the wiring that could cause a problem? 

[Ellen]

That's kinda where I was going with that llamalass. It just seems that if all three gardens had problems with that particular socket, there is possibly something wrong with the socket.

[nascar81054]

Couldn't you still have a short in the wiring that could cause a problem? 

If you do get it fixed ASAP that can cause a fire.  I used to be a Fireman can't be to careful.

[FlaBear]

I remember a similar post back in August, the person here was also querying his water temperature - he measured his at 92^oF, slightly less than yours. His plants were growing OK at this temperature, unfortunately he never came back so say if they continued to grow.

My water temperature varies, I have seen it at 90^oF, but in my case it is not constantly this high - yours is the highest that has been posted.

This is now getting to be a mystery, I understand your frustration. As you have discounted everything else then perhaps that does leave us with your water as the culprit? I guess the only way of solving this is for someone from AeroGrow to say if these extreme temperatures are actually damaging to your plants.

So, the only causes...

Lights - something wrong with the tolerances on them, giving out too much heat?
The electrical base - have a check with the bowl off, does it feel much hotter than your other ones? Probably very unlikely but worth a check.
The water pump - faulty and overheating? Although it works, due to a problem it could be heating up you water - If I had to choose I would go for this. It's directly in the water and has the most influence.

That's it really, there is nothing else that can cause the temperature of your AG to go this high. Your have said the environment is not the problem so that leads us back to the AG.

We need a definitive answer from AG, can 92.2^oF kill plants in the AG?

If it can't, what's wrong with your system? I am now out of ideas.

I am waiting to hear from AG IF the pump could be heating it up. BUT the water today is around 84 now, with the lioghts up 2 notches. So...I have cooled it down ,but it is less light for seeds to sprout.

[FlaBear]

I was wondering about the power source (electrical outlet) as opposed to maybe the unit itself. FlaBear, you stated that you had two other gardens in this same location blow bulbs and the water is overheating in this one. Have you thought about trying another location and a different plug to see if that calms things down? Peat, chime in please if that doesn't make sense.

The other GARDEN that blew up bulbs was in a different location, when it was blowing up bulbs. This NEW unit is in a new place and a bulb just blew out, like it was old or something, I got a new bulb in the mail today. I am putting it in now.

[nascar81054]

Well let us know if this takes care of it.

[llamalass]

Even though it is frustrating, I hope you won't give up. The good in having more than one Aerogarden is that you know they can be successful.
I am really sorry for your problems.

[FlaBear]

Even though it is frustrating, I hope you won't give up. The good in having more than one Aerogarden is that you know they can be successful.
I am really sorry for your problems.

The bad is it is costing me a small fortune in seedkits, and I still have NO garden for that area of my home, and IF these petunias DO grow, it MIGHT make it in time for the holidays...if not to soon!  Then I will have no flowers for Christmas! And I am sure they will run out of the petunia seedkits again for months on end, like before, and won't replace the 2 seedkits that have now died in this unit.

The new lightbulb is in and it is heating up the water. I lowered it to see if it would heat it up, and it did....but now it is at the 3rd notch and it is at the seed stage. So I have no idea if they will even sprout!  Are you listening Cliff...Bill?  Your hints killed my tomatos...'thin them out and switch the 'good bulb' back and forth between the light sockets, and they will green right up'....well they died right up!  Next idea?