1st Grow ~ 250W ~ Aeroponics ~ SCROG ~ Stealth ~ Great White Shark

A quick update, its been about a week since I moved them into the aeroponic system. They are doing great! I am already seeing roots shoot down the bottom of the net pots.

They are still on 18/6 under a 200w CFL. Still haven't had a chance to install my 250w HPS yet. I am thinking of getting a hortilux bulb, but dunno if its worth the money. From what I've read they seem to be a good investment.

Still no nutes in the water... Is that okay? I was going to wait another week until I put in nutes.
PH : 6.5
Res Temp - 75
Air Temp Lights on - 85 Lights off - 70

Here are some pics, what do u think?

get your PH down and your res temp down...yer gonna have issues keeping your PH in check with a res temp that high...get your PH as close to 5.8 as you can...and you can start giving it about 1/8th strength nutes at this point

Hey massah thanks for the advice, on my way to go get some ph down. What are some ways I can keep my res temp down? I know the frozen water bottle trick, and expensive water coolers. But are there any other affordable ways of keeping res temps down?

Not really...gotta put it in a cold place...you could make your own water chiller with a minifridge if you feel in the DIY mood

Only one plant per net pot please. thank you.

^^ he speaks the truth! whatcha gonna do when the roots get all tangled up?

Dont worry just a temporary thing until I drill 2 small net pot holes for them. But 5 plants in one system will still have tangled roots even if they are in different net pots.

778budninja said:

Dont worry just a temporary thing until I drill 2 small net pot holes for them. But 5 plants in one system will still have tangled roots even if they are in different net pots.

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That is true, but you have to consider the core root zone of each plant. Tangling of the roots in the actual res is unavoidable and the plants can tolerate this, but jamming two core root zones into a single tiny grow basket will cause problems guaranteed. You have to ask yourself why you never seen experienced growers doing it.

Edit:
I dig your little tub spray system. It's pretty much a smaller version of mine. That's why I want to see you do well.

Subbed! Looking promising. *pulls up a chair*

BTW any specific reason you chose to go with organic nutes?

Very true, you never see 2 plants in one pot, none the less it's going to be a root jungle in there. I was wondering do the roots ever clog up the water pump? If so what do you do? I dont want to cut any of the roots away.
And to answer your question AWnox I chose organic because I hear it smokes cleaner, and I buy organic groceries might as well buy organic nutes lol.

I get cha. Just be careful with them and your setup. Make sure that the nutrients you have are meant for hydro or aeroponic systems, if not you run the risk of infection and bacterial buildup. Organic nutes don't often relate to hydroponic setup because they need to be broken down before they are consumed by the plant and this is usually more efficient in soil because of the presence of micro bacteria. Just be mindful of what your using and if they are "compatible" with your setup, also keep in mind that your yield will not be as much as with other nutrients but the taste and smell and quality will be superior; if you do it right of course. Anyway hope it helps man. Good luck.

Ya thanks for the concerns but I believe Botanicare is designed specifically for hydroponics, and the only other additive I use is General Organics which is also used for hydroponics. Plus I use H202 which apparently helps with infections and build ups (correct me if I'm wrong). And besides I think nutes is something you can change each grow. If it doesnt work out then at least other people will learn from my mistakes. And also I am not looking for maximum yield, I would rather have quality over quantity any day. But your right only time will tell on how this grow goes....

778budninja said:

Ya thanks for the concerns but I believe Botanicare is designed specifically for hydroponics, and the only other additive I use is General Organics which is also used for hydroponics. Plus I use H202 which apparently helps with infections and build ups (correct me if I'm wrong). And besides I think nutes is something you can change each grow. If it doesnt work out then at least other people will learn from my mistakes. And also I am not looking for maximum yield, I would rather have quality over quantity any day. But your right only time will tell on how this grow goes....

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It seems that you have it under control my friend. Good luck, we'll be here with ya watching.

Thanks man its my first grow, so I will probably make some rookie mistakes like freaking out and overreacting to certain situations..... I'm trying my best to just leave them alone, knowing that they are doing just fine, but I have the urge to check on them every hour lol.

So I was able to cut some more holes into the lid, and went by my local hydro shop and picked up some more net pots and some other fertilizers.

EDIT : I will no longer use H202 during my grow. I was trying to do some research on whether I can use organic nutes with H202, and it seems like H202 in a strong concentration will kill off most of the beneficial bacteria making buying organic nutes worthless. I will just use it after each grow and run a strong concentration throughout my system as a cleaning product.

So when I went to the shop to pick up a bottle of Botanicares Aquashield, he recommended that I should look at Hygrozyme. It was a bit more money but from I have read on a bunch of forums is that it is worth every penny. If you are not sure what hygrozyme is check this link (https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/64654-hygrozyme.html)

So started nutes today with 1/8 the strength : Pureblend Grow, Liquid Karma, Silica Blast, Bio Root, and hygrozyme.
PPM: 80
PH: 5.5 ~ 5.8

Hope everyone had a good Halloween.
I ended up going away for the weekend, which meant I had to leave my plants by themselves for 4 days. Before I left I made sure the PH was at 5.5 and the PPM was at 140. And I triple checked all the timers to make sure that they were set properly and off I went. Left on the Friday came back on the Mon.
And when I came back all my plants were doing just fine, the PH had dropped to 5.3 the water level was close to the same. So I guess my system is set up properly.

Another good sign was the amount of root growth there was. I can see a bunch of roots shooting down from the bottom of the net pots. Still am too lazy to install the 250W. Especially after the weekend I had...... But seems they are doing alright with the 200w CFL, so maybe until the end of this week.

Here are some pics, the very first one is doing the best out of the five.... oddly enough its the one that has been in its own net pot since the beginning.... It has like 10 roots shooting down the net pot already.

Looking great man. Keep it up! One thing to note though when you start using the 250W you will notice how faster they grow, just try and keep them not too close to the seedlings. What I did was place the lights at around 24 inches the first day then each day take them down a few inches until one week later they are at 12 inches from the tops of the plants. I used the 250W from the moment they were placed in the waterfarm and she grew up nice and strong and fast, at 2 weeks she had about 4 nodes already. In any case your doing good with those cfl's but if you really wanna see your baby take off switch to the HID light, she will thank you for it. Good work though man, props.

Thanks man, ya I heard you shouldn't put the 250's too close to the tops of the plants. But I am very limited for any height at all.... I have maybe 3 feet to work with. I do however have a cool tube attached to a 140cfm SP fan, which should help with the temp.

Anyways, when I got up to install the 250 I woke up to a horrible sight.... 3 out of the 5 plants leaves had gone yellow . Right away I thought it was due to PH or over feeding, maybe a nute block. But PH and PPM were good. But when I looked at the plants the rockwool was completely dry.....
So I checked on the pump, and what do you know the preset timer was reset.... So they went without water for about 16 hours. Luckily they didnt completely dry out. And I was able to fix the problem in time. (Rookie Mistake #1)

Here are some pics.... You can see how dry the rockwool is in the pictures. I took these right when I turned on the pump.
Hopefully the HPS will rejuvenate these babies back. Its set up 24" away right now. I am leaving the cool tube unattached, so I can see how high the temp goes.

Ha! That same thing happen to me!!! xD I had set the timer for 6:30 pm and I accidentally set it for 6:30 am , the first day at 18/6 she went almost 12 hours with no lights! You learn as you go bro.

Don't worry about the light, specially if it has a cool tube, at 24'' she's not gonna hurt your seedling. I had mine at 24'' for the first days then lower as she got stronger and finally at 12'' ever since; I had a 6'' fan directly hitting the light (no cool tube just the bare bulb) and my temps never went above 85. The ideal temp varies from strain to strain I believe, for example my Kalashnikova loves it a bit hotter than most strains I've seen around, at 81-85 degrees during the day she grows the best, at night she likes it cool from 70-75 degrees. Best advice I could give you is see how she responds to the temps, make a journal of your own and right down how much she grew and at what height you had the lights and get to know your strain, it's very good practice to also do this with your nutrient and reservoir changes, keep your own log. That's one of the main differences between hydro or aero and soil grows; you have more control over your grow but at the same time you have more to worry about, a real double edged sword.

It is also good that you started her on the 250W early because this way you'll keep her short and bushy, considering your height restrictions this should serve very well for your setup. It's actually very good that you bought yours with a cool tube because once they start to flower having only 3 feet to work with that light will get very close to those tops. Bare that in mind when thinking about flowering, my Kalashnikova has been growing at least an inch every day since I put her to flower, she's on day 5 today and she at least 5 inches taller than when she was vegging.

In any case your doing good man, keep it up and keep us posted.

Thanks Awnox, ya I am definitely leaving the light at where it is. It is just under 24" from the tops of the plants. With the cooltube and CFL light going the temp still goes up to the high 80's even low 90's. It really doesn't seem to be bothering the plants that much because they are doing great....(with some exceptions)

the 2 plants I had transplanted into their own net pots are struggling..... their leaves were all yellow. They are starting to show some new growth so they will recover very slowly though.

The other 3 especially the one that I have left alone since the beginning is flourishing.
Their roots are reaching the water already. Its almost time to top the one that is doing the best. Probably will once a few more nodes show.

Here are some pics.