Dee's 1st Grow -- Aerogarden and Bagseed -- Learning the Ropes ((PICS))

Like the title says, I'm Dee and this is my first grow!

I've wanted to grow since I started smoking 15 years ago but never had the opportunity/space/knowledge. I smoke an ounce or two a month and never realized how expensive that can be until I quit selling a few years back. Anyhow, I came up on an Aerogarden for free recently and started Googling. Then I came upon this forum and started lurking. Big time. It took a lot of mystery out of the process and made me realize this is something I can do!

I decided to use the Aerogarden (despite it's limitations) for my test grow just to see if I can keep a plant healthy throughout it's stages and learn each step by doing it on a small scale. If this goes as planned I'll spring for a 250w HPS and a few buckets and start a perpetual harvest.

So for my first grow I have an Aerogarden hooked up to a light timer, 10 additional 23 watt CFL's (half 2700k and half 6500k), and a couple of bagseeds. I started the grow with Fox Farm nutes, but quickly realized the perils of growing organic in hydro and switched to Canna Aqua/H2O2. (( https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/409096-can-i-soak-h2o2-between.html))

I topped both plants at the second node (once they had their third set of leaves) to grow four main colas on each. I grew them with 18/6 light cycle to 3 weeks and then changed the light cycle to 12/12 (about 2 weeks ago).

The plants finally showed sex today. The biggest one (Crystal) is a girl for sure! Little Debra is a dude and is gonna get pulled tomorrow. Fuck. Oh well, more room for Crystal.

OK, I think I'm caught up now. I wasn't gonna journal at first, but it helps me organize my thoughts. Plus maybe I can help someone the way other journals and stickys helped me...

Here's pics of the inside of homemade box (PVC/Black 6mm poly/mylar). It's 3' X 3' X 2'. Also, here's a couple of shots of the girls early on.

Here they are at three weeks. Debra on right, Crystal on left.

Crystal's hairs and Debra's balls.

And the plants as of today. I'm gonna have to pull Debra tomorrow.

I'm rooting for crystal.

Nicely done, Dee, looks like you managed to keep them healthy, might wanna start a few more beans so you don't have to wait 4 months between harvests, you can always add that 250w later on!

Thanks guys. I feel kinda silly putting pictures of two little plants on the internet when there are so many TOP-NOTCH grows posted here. But we all gotta start somewhere and I just want to see if doing this regularly (and slightly bigger) could work for me. So I guess for now Crystal (pronounced Chris-TAHL because she's classy like that) is my guinea pig.

Oh, and does anyone have any suggestion for separating their roots? ((https://www.rollitup.org/aerogardeners/410926-have-pull-male-today-how.html#post5346851)) I need to hurry up and get Debra off the main stage before anyone notices her balls.

Dee, I wouldn't try to seperate the roots. I don't think it could be done without damaging Cristal's roots

it can be, just be very gentle and do it underwater. And it looks like youve definitely outgrown your aerogarden. Nice lookin plants though and +rep on the sexing!!

Well I separated them day before yesterday. ((https://www.rollitup.org/aerogardeners/410926-have-pull-male-today-how.html)) I was as gentle as I could be with Crystal. She seems to be enjoying the extra room.

I checked the res yesterday and found that my airstone had knocked a lot of Debra's remaining roots free so I did a res change to clean it out. I'll probably do one more today, so this time I filled with water and H2O2 alone so I don't waste a tank of nutes. So far so good, live and learn. I knew this might be a problem and in the future will grow in individual buckets giving me more control over my grow.

Here's a pic of Crystal I took during the res change yesterday.

I just finished draining and filling the res with nutes and H2O2. There weren't as many floaters as last time, and I'm pretty sure I've got 98% of Debra's roots out of the mix. For those of you who haven't read my other threads, I started this grow with Fox Farms trio and promptly switched to Canna and H2O2 when I realized I was starting to get root rot. Things were just starting to get under control when I had to chop Debra, so I'm really trying to keep a close eye on things. Crystal's roots don't look any worse and the affected areas are almost gone, but the new growth isn't filling in as quickly as I hoped. Well nothing is slimy or stinky, so I'll remain calm unless things worsen. Here's a side view of her I took tonight. The damage to the front leaves (at the bottom of the pic) is due to me leaving the box open and turning my back on my damn cat for about 2 minutes. She put holes in three of them, and ate four fingers off another leaf which I cut off.


And a pic of the main stems to show where I topped for four colas per the Uncle Ben thread.



And a couple of pics showing where she's starting to bud. She's been in 12/12 for about 2 1/2 weeks now.

Is she underdeveloped for having been flowering for 2 1/2 weeks? I noticed the root issue a day or two after I flipped her to 12/12 and I'm not sure if between the rot the nutrient switch and the shock of having H2O2 added to the mix I might have set her back. I only vegged her for three weeks because I wanted to keep her short, so she's maybe 5 1/2 weeks now. She showed preflowers after 1 1/2 weeks.

Patience, young grasshopper...lol...Unless you know the exact genetics of the plant, it's hard to tell if she's underdeveloped. I'd say no, just give it time and things will work themselves out. Just keep doing what you're doing, and she'll treat you well.

Metasynth said:

Patience, young grasshopper...lol...Unless you know the exact genetics of the plant, it's hard to tell if she's underdeveloped. I'd say no, just give it time and things will work themselves out. Just keep doing what you're doing, and she'll treat you well.

Click to expand...

Thanks dude! There was an explosion of new growth/flower overnight, and the old broad looked pretty damn good this morning. It's exciting to see all the changes!

I broke a CFL last night. I thought I was going to die or even worse. Everybody woke up this morning with all their arms and legs intact so I guess we'll be okay.

Here's some pics from this morning. Her roots are looking healthy, and no signs of browning so I guess I got all the loose roots out from the male I pulled. So far so good!

Lookin awesome!
I actually just found myself in the same exact situation =D someones unwanted/unused holiday gift just stumbled onto my lap! Looks like you are getting to nice size plants despite the garden.
once my seedlings get a lil bigger I'm gonna put a 6500K bulb and a 5000K cfl, I also had much more germination then i thought from my sheiisty bag seeds so I am already concocting a second aerotank for them, for obvious roooot conflicts =o
Good Luck with Crystal keep the pics comin!

cherrylimebot said:

Lookin awesome!
I actually just found myself in the same exact situation =D someones unwanted/unused holiday gift just stumbled onto my lap! Looks like you are getting to nice size plants despite the garden.
once my seedlings get a lil bigger I'm gonna put a 6500K bulb and a 5000K cfl, I also had much more germination then i thought from my sheiisty bag seeds so I am already concocting a second aerotank for them, for obvious roooot conflicts =o
Good Luck with Crystal keep the pics comin!

Click to expand...

Thanks dude! From now on it's one plant per bucket for me. That root separating bit was sketchy at best, I'm lucky it tuned out alright.

So a quick update...

Crystal is almost twice the width of the aerogarden now, so it's time to let her grow 100% vertically. I'm going to need to remove/extend the hood tomorrow or the next day. There's not a lot of room left. Odor control also became an issue out of nowhere. She is smelling strong today! It's time to take care of that, which means another trip to Home Depot. I remember the good-ol-days when we just went there to make bongs.

I upgraded my air pump from a 10 to a 40 gallon, and added another 6" airstone. It looks like a jacuzzi in there and she is loving it!

I have also been adding 2 tsp of H2O2 to the res each day. There are no further signs of rot, and there is new growth everywhere. Next res change I'll add a stronger initial dose of H2O2 and add the additional every other day instead. I'll also try to get up some before/after pictures of the roots.

Ph is stable, hairs are popping up everywhere, and things are good.

Brilliant thread, lovin the 4 colas.
wish i had done it now. Next time, i suppose.
How old are they now?

im interested in seeing how that aerogarden works.. very nice lookin setup man im subbed