Aerogarden Ultra Led Experiment Grow

I've seen other Aerogarden grow journals, but since Aerogarden has released their new Ultra model with an LED hood (with white, blue and red spectrums), I thought I would give it a try to see what happens, since I couldn't find any grow logs using this new lighting system.  Aerogarden claims 75% faster and fuller growth using this new LED hood.  Here are the details of the grow:
 
Grow Space:  Inside of an 8' x 4' grow tent.  One side has my regular HPS grow going, the other side has 2 Aerogardens, an Ultra LED and a regular ultra that has been modified for 3 CFL's.  We will only be focusing on the Ultra LED for this grow log.
 
Lighting:  Aerogarden Ultra's new full spectrum LED hood.  Manual override of lighting system timer adjusted to 18/6 light cycle.
 
Ventilation:  The grow tent has a 480cfm fan sucking air through the carbon filter to cleanse it, then pulled through a cool tube HPS (on the other grow in the same room, not near the Aerogarden), goes out the other side of the cool tube HPS, then out of the tent.  Passive intake is being used at the bottom of the grow tent.  a 10" oscillating fan is mounted in the top corner of the grow tent, blowing on the plants 24/7.
 
Strain:  Autoflower Lemon Haze feminized seed from Emerald Triangle Seeds, purchased through Attitude Seed Bank.  Since autoflowers stay shorter in height, the autoflower was chosen specifically for the aerogarden.
 
Germination:  Germinated in wet paper towel.  Tap root exposed after 24 hours.  Placed tap root down into Aerogarden grow sponge, which I had prepared by pushing a toothpick all the way through the sponge to create a hole for the taproot to reach the water easier.  48 hours after placing the seed in the grow sponge with taproot exposed, the plant was poking through the top, and roots had hit the water.
 
Pod Spacing:  Only one plant is grown in the Aerogarden, since it has a 1 gallon reservoir.  The roots from one single plant should fill up the entire reservoir.  The pod chosen was the center pod in the front row.  The other holes were covered with duct tape to ensure that light does not hit the roots in the reservoir.
 
Water System:  An air stone with aquarium pump was added in to the water reservoir in order to keep the water oxygenated.  
 
Specifics:
PH:  5.8
PPM:  Started at 0, after first 2 weeks I bumped it up to 600 with some diluted nutes.
Temperature:  71-78 in Aerogarden area (81 on other side of room under my HPS light for other grow)
 
Nutrients:  After two weeks, I gave them a half dose of Advanced Nutrients Micro-Grow-Bloom 3 part formula (half dose being figured as 1/2 tsp micro, 1/2 tsp grow, 1/2 tsp bloom per gallon of water).  I'm still learning the nutrient side of things... I've heard you can double the amount of bloom and not use grow at all.  I'm also not sure why I'm using bloom nutrients on a plant thats just about to go into veg, but seems to be normal from what I have read from others.  Please let me know if this is not correct.  Later on, once flowering, I have some "Big Bud" nutes that I plan on adding as well.
 
Additional Notes:  Since this is an autoflower, the size of the plant will remain fairly small.  Reduced yield is also expected due to the autoflower strain, and will not be taken into consideration as part of the Aerogardens success or failure, since it's the genetics that will keep the yield low on this grow.  It should also be noted that this Aerogarden grow is remaining in the same grow tent as my soil HPS grow.  Since the Aerogarden's plant is an Autoflower, I will be adjusting the light cycle to match my regular grow in the same tent, so when I switch to 12/12 flowering on my other grow, the Aerogarden lights will be at 12/12 as well.  This is only to the light does not affect my other grow.  The Aerogarden plant is an Autoflower, so the photo period will have no effect on putting the Aerogarden plant into flowering.
 
Changes from Stock Aerogarden Setup:  Very few changes were made, in order to test the effectiveness of the Aerogarden itself.  Here are the differences:
 
- Did not use included nutes.  Used my own (see above)
- Currently using 18/6 light cycle using manual override.  I will soon adjust it to 12/12 using manual override.  The plant we are growing is an autoflower strain, so adjusting the light cycle is only to not affect the other plants in the same grow room.  It has no bearing on the autoflower strain growing in the aerogarden.  Autoflowers will grow and flower the exact same at 24/0, 18/6 or 12/12.
- Aquarium Pump and air stone added, although these are both OEM from Aerogarden, so not really a variation.
- Other 6 unused holes covered in duct tape to prevent light from hitting the root system
- Aerogarden side reflectors and trullis system may be added later as the plant increases in size.
 
 
Details on Pics Below:  The first pics of the grow, listed below, are 14 days into their life cycle since the seed was germinated.

 

Ordered directly from the Aerogarden website when they had their 30% off sale a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see if the led hood works well or not

 

16 days from seed. Looking great. This lemon haze is really liking the LED lights. Maybe just the slightest hint of nute burn on the tip of one leaf. My ppm is a little higher then I'd normally have it. At this stage, should be around 500, but it's running at 732. I'll top of the reservoir with some plain water to bring it down to 500. Ph is a perfect 5.8 this morning

 

Wow, 18 days from seed and she's already got preflower pistols!  Flowering already, only 4 inches tall and on her 18th birthday (days that is, lol).  Light is still 18/6, but it's an autoflower, so it doesn't matter.

 

Day 25

 

31 days... this is the halfway point for this plant, as it's a 60 day seed to harvest lemon Haze autoflower. Today we reached the limit on the height of the Aerogarden hood, even though the autoflower lemon has shouldn't have gotten much taller than this. I could simply remove the hood and hang it overhead, but at that height my light penetration is going to be an issue. As you can see, I decided to tie down the tops instead. Looks like the LED's still cause some stretching. The White Widow autoflower next to it (using 3 CFL's instead of the LED hood) is two weeks behind her sister, but looks much bushier than the lemon haze did at the same stage (see pics above). I have a feeling the LED's are causing it to stretch. Any suggestions other than the tie down method? It's an autoflower, so I cant top, lst, or fim it... no time to recover. Here's a pic...

 

Results are in... pretty much what I expected with weak lights and an autoflower strain that doesn't produce much.  Would be interesting to see the difference with a photoperiod plant instead of an autoflower using the LED hood, but you would need to remove the hood and hang it overhead due to height restrictions.  Here are the results.  See the attached pics.
 
Strain:  60 Day Lemon Haze
Seed to Harvest:  50 Days!  (she finished 10 days ahead of schedule)
Dried Weight:  4 grams (barely over an 1/8th)
 
Conclusion:  If you have extra autoflower seeds laying around, you might as well pop them into the Aerogarden, since they won't produce much anyways.  Do not use this method as your primary source of cannabis, as it just won't produce enough.  This method is great if you just want something to tinker around with and want to try a few different kinds of strains on a small scale, especially if you already have the seeds.  Certainly not worth ordering autoflower seeds just for this though.  Even with the low height of the autoflower, I still had to tie down the main cola... it would have only outgrown the aerogarden by about 4-6 inches though if left alone.    Buds were nice and dense, with tons of crystals, dripping with resin.  Just not very large.  Very psycho active high, smooth taste, and hints of lemon and orange flavor.  Reminds me of the Lemon Skunk available at my local dispensary.  Great smoke, just didn't put on enough weight with the autoflower genes.  
 
Pics of final harvest: