I've officially started my first grow. YAY! Plant: 2x PPP fem seeds Equip: Closet = 8ft High x 2.5ft Wide x 4.5ft Deep Bucket = 1x 18 Gal Rubbermaid with 2x 6 inch net pots on lid. + Submersible pump leads to pvc manifold with 3x 360 sprayers. + Air pump with two air stones (one for each plant). Medium = Rockwool cubes in Hydroton balls. Lighting = 2x CFL @ 27 watt/1850 Lumens per plant for Veg. (Total= 2x CFL @ 42watt/2800 Lumens per plant for Flower. Fans = 2 PC fans plugged into old PC power Supply. (Jump green wire to any black wire on the main power to motherboard connector to fake the ON switch) So far I've pre-soaked the seeds for 8-12 hours in 7.0pH water (they sank to the bottom eventually) . Then I placed them in between 7.0pH soaked paper towels (4 layers on top 4 layers on bottom) and on a plate, then put that all inside a zipper freezer bag and closed it 75% the way while placing on top of my audio equip for residual heat. It's only been 5 hours since placing in soaked paper towels and I can see them sprouting. w00t! I will be placing them in prepped rockwool cubes today and probably in their new home (within rockwool surrounded by Hydroton). I will keep a mini greenhouse over them until they are ready for full light. I'm open to all suggestions and critiques, so please feel free to respond with anything that might help. Items I still need: Panda film to create buffer area (probably 1ft into the closet I'll make another "door" out of black/white panda film and zipper and lots of tape. I'm also going to be making a DIY carbon scrubber for the smell. I'm also working on making/modifying my own DIY aeroponic cycle timer for an ideal 30sec ON/ 30sec OFF with the spray and make it adjustable in the future. Thanks in advance to all the responses, and a big thinks goes out to the entire forum and the many tutorials, pics, and general wanting-ness to help each other.
The seeds sprouted quicker than I thought. I've taken the sprouting seeds from their paper towels and delicately placed them in pre-soaked (5.8 pH) rockwool. I then put some good water in the bottom of a container w/lid and placed the rockwool in there. I then put the container on top of my hot electronics and get a nice warm temp for my sprouting lovelies. Below you can see the pic with the water temp @ 81 and outside of 71. How's it looking from the point of an experienced grower?
i highly recommend getting a HID light, even just a 250w HPS will do better then what you have. also, with just two plants you may want to consider doing a ScroG, it will really increase your yeild. your system looks great. aero/deep water is great, but ive had more success with just aero. by combining them, you are completely missing the entire point of aeroponics. it looks like you have a bin under your system... if you make that your res and put the pump in there, and use your current tub as a root chamber, i bet youll get more vigorous plants. but ether way, if you get that HID (hps > mh) you will end up with some dank nug man
couple more suggestions... those dinky computer fans are not going to cut it, seriously. you really should get a bigger fan, osscalating is a big bonus, and mount or clamp it to the wall. sure, the fans are meant to stiffen up the stalks, but their MOST important job is to circulate air around the plants so the leaves get fresh air with c02 in it. a good way to look at it is to compare them to us. if we breathed in the same air over and over... it would be stale and insufficient because in a short time we would absorb all the oxygen out of the air, not to mention it kill you after a while. same with plants, except they need c02 instead of oxygen. your plants are going to be huge in 3-4 weeks, way bigger then what those computer fans can handle. also, what are your plans for ventilation? i dont see an exhaust fan anywhere...
I'm not sold too much on the HID or HPS lights. I know they will give me a huge yield, but I've seen some great yields from CFLs only and I'm only looking for personal stock plus a little extra. Plus the up front money for CFLs are more economical and I feel it will help me regulate the temps without having a huge hot light to worry about. I will however be doing a ScroG. I'll be building my own screen or I'll find something to upcycle into a screen. I'm even thinking of topping one, or both plants to get some two main colas from each plant to follow the screen in seperate directions. We'll see how that goes. Your ideas about combining both bins is a good one and something I've given a little thought to. I was in the middle of working on the current setup, when a friend of mine and I figured it would be better to go all Aero and have another bin underneath like you mentioned. I'm not going to modify anything this time around, but it's probably going to happen before the next grow. You're right, I will be getting an osculating fan as soon as I can. I'm all about reduce, reuse, recycle, upcycle so I'll probably pick one up on Craigslist, or thrift store, heck people throw them out in their allies around here. The computer fans are mostly for when they are little, and I wanted a project to work on. I don't have a solid plan for ventilation just yet. I'm not too concerned with smell because of where this is located, but I'm also not too big on buying one of those squirrel fans to export all the air. I think with my poly barrier and zipper I'll be able to have export and import ports for air circulation, and then I can just leave the closet door open every now and then. Whatever I do I'm aware of the need of fresh air (co2) needed and will be working towards an automated setup if I can.
Update: These babies are looking great! They are breaking their shell today. Temps of water dipped to 70 at night, but they are back up to 81-85 during the day. See the close up pic below.
nice. you can get by with cfls, but you will definitely need more then 2, unless your ok with only an 1/8 ounce per plant. as for the HID, you can pick up a 250w hps for under 100 theses days, and thats all you would need for two plants. they provide so much more light, witch in turn means bigger buds and plants, and most importantly much more resin glands get produced. you have such an efficient system, why not take advantage of its potential? good call on the bigger fan. leaving the door open will certainly give you enough fresh air, but remember, it WILL make your entire property STANK like fresh growing ganja! haha as long as thats chill... by the way, i also grow organic aeroponic, we are far in between! but you will love the results, provided you give the plants what they need to be all they can be!
It's true I might end up getting more light bulbs in the flowering stage to help evenly spread the light around, but for now I'm good. I'm keeping an eye out for HPS setups on Craigslist, but will only get if the price is right and I have the money at the time. I like the idea of Aeroponics (faster growth and less obstruction of root growth) and I went this hybrid route so I have less of a chance of messing things up and a smaller investment for the first time. I thought I remember reading someone mention that the top part of the roots are the main oxygen intakes and the bottoms (tips) are the main nutrient intakes. So I figured this setup would work well. Does anyone else agree on this?
thats true. top 1/3 of the roots are concentrated on getting O2. those airstones are also puping plenty of 02 into your root zone. how big do you plan to grow them out?
Glad to hear I wasn't mistaken on that root and oxygen thing. I'm not sure how big I'll actually grow them out. I'm mostly wondering about how much root growth there will be cuz I don't want them to be overcrowded and suffer. Should I start flowering when the roots are 1/3 the container, or is there no such formula? I'm not too worried about how much yield I get as I am to just how I can get through this problem free all the way to a successful harvest. Then I want to step it up to most efficient yield per avail space and equip. Then the world! Oh, wait. Do roots have different growing profiles from strain to strain? Thanks a bunch.
Haha You will have no problem with root crowding. thats the last thing you need to worry about. just make sure your root chamber is completely light proof, or you will get all kinds of problems. flower when the plants are 1/3 to 1/2 as tall as you want them in the end. if you are doing a scrog, flower when your screen is half full. the plants will grow the most durring the first 2-3 weeks of flowering, keep that in mind!
Ah, the no root crowding is good to hear. The numbers you gave sound good to me, thanks for the tips. It is now noted and will be remembered.
Update: They are spreading their leaves and lookin' good. So much can happen in one day. I already can't wait until flowering just to see them grow a lot in one day. One of my babies is having a little tough time breaking off the shell. I figured it wouldn't hurt if I helped take the shell off so the leaves can do their thing. The other just dropped the shell like a bad habit yesterday. Should I change the water daily to keep things a bit fresh in there? I have the fear of over watering too, so I'm trying to keep the rockwool damp, but with plenty of air inside. The picture doesn't show it, but I keep a mini greenhouse over them for now to increase humidity.
Anyone know about how long before I start seeing roots coming out of the rockwool? I'm debating when exactly to take them out of their current container and into their permanent home inside the hydroton. I want to make sure the sprayers under the net pots can get the roots when I put them in. I suppose I could still place the rockwool into the hydroton and just keep pouring water on every so often/when they look too dry.
Curiosity got the better of me and I had to look at the roots, so I took a picture (see closeup below). I hope it wasn't too traumatizing for them. One still has some funky leaves, but it'll probably be fine. We named them today ... the good one is Victoria (those are her roots closeup) and the funky one is Gloria. The days just don't go by fast enough. Stupid internet fostering my expectancy of instant gratification with everything. At least I can look at other pics here and feel some satisfaction.
Can you help? First thing is I've got fluctuating pH going (5.9-6.9) and I don't like it. I'll be replacing the water with all fresh 7.0pH water today (I used most fresh/RO water, but also some tap @ 8.0 the first time) and 1/4 strength nutes and see if that helps. I also used Apple Cider Vinegar to help lower the pH to the 5.5-5.9 I'm looking for. Does anyone else have some Apple Cider Vinegar experiences? I used it because it is acidic, raw, and food grade and I've heard people use vinegar before. Could this cause pH flucuation due to the ACV breaking down and not keeping the pH low/acidic anymore? My rez seems like it is getting too warm (77-80) as well. I was thinking of creating an exhaust port out the top and a small fan to blow air out. Or should I use the frozen bottled water in the rez to cool it down? I've covered the lid with foil to reflect light back and hopefully help with temps, but it doesn't seem to do much. I think I'll need to cover the entire rez chamber in opaqueness to keep out light thus creating heat and the rez/root area should be dark anyway. I thought the blue rubbermaid was opaque enough. Of course black duct tape is easy and dark, but wont it help in collecting and keeping the heat inside? So should I use white tape/white opaque material instead? The plants are doing OK, but I don't think they are thriving like they should. I'm also wondering if my 6" net pots are too big to start them in and just having the aeroponic spray wet the hydroton from below isn't enough. No roots are out of the net yet, but they are out of the rockwool. Although each time I look at the root area the hydroton seems moist/have wet look so I think there is enough water getting to the roots. Either way a couple times a day I'll pour some of their water over the top for a hand feeding just in case. I'll have pictures ready later today for visuals.
The plants and I are still alive, so that's good. Victoria (the non twisted one) seems to have Nute burn (can anyone confirm this for me). I've got 1/4 strength nutes in the water. Her roots look good and healthy so I'm happy about that. Her roots shot out of the net pot (6 inch) about 3 days ago and are gaining length and hairs. Gloria (the twisted one) is just started poking her roots out of the net pot last night. She seems a little wilty (over water?) but I'm not too concerned right now. Is it possible to overwater in my Aero/DWC setup? Once the roots reach the rez water is it possible to underwater? I keep the spraying going all night and throughout the day I turn it on and off manually for a little variance. The water at the bottom has 2 big air stones in it to help with oxygen. I'm still using Apple Cider Vinegar (5% acidity) to lower/keep a good pH about 3 times a day. 5.5-6.2 sometimes it reaches 7.0. Is this fluctuation terribly bad? I don't have the cash yet to buy pH down, but I'm thinking I will in the next week. Is it my n00b impatience or are these growing a little slower than they should?
I suppose, in theory, if you don't have enough dissolved oxygen in your reservoir that your plants will drown, just like they do if you overwater in soil. But usually you see other symptoms first, like nute lock out, slow growth, etc. It's not possible to underwater, unless you let your reservoir get too low.
Thanks for the info. I think my DO levels should be good with two big airstones (always on) under water, and about 6 inches of air from net pot to water level. But I think I'm seeing nute lock out and slow growth now. I'm thinking of adding an exhaust port with fan and intake port with filter on the lid of this setup. This would allow fresh air into the roots and take out the hot air that builds in there. Does that seem reasonable? Thanks in advance.