Aerogarden, 1st timer, bagseed

Hey all. 1st time grower here. This thread has been amazingly helpful in starting this whole process. I'm growing some random bag seed that I had laying around.

We're exactly 4 weeks from seed right now (1 week into flower). For lighting, I vegged with the aerogarden light and 2 42w full spectrum CFLs. For flowering, I've got the aerogarden light, 2 100w CFLs (found these at home depot...they are massive), and quite a few 42w CFLs. I haven't used all my lighting yet as they appear to be doing well with the aero-light, 1 100w CFL, and 3 42 watt CFLs. As you can see, the set up is pretty ghetto but there wasnt a whole lot of structure to work with in the closet so I had to get creative with how to hang the lights.

I've been using the Foxfarm nutes (Grow Big for veg, Big Bloom for flower). I've been a little lost in terms of what to do for the feeding schedule. I've basically been feeding them once each week during the resevoir change, about 1 tablespoon of nutes for the 1 gallon res. You might notice some dying/browning leaves at the bottom in the pics. Been like that since veg. Not sure if it's too few nutes, too many nutes, ph issues or what.

I am using an old school ph tester. Take the sample of water, add a couple of ph testing drops, and check the color which will match a color scheme on the lable of the bottle. Far from an exact measurement I know, but it's all i got for now. No TDS/PPM meter either.

With lights on, temps tend to stay in the high 70's (sometimes hitting mid 80's). With lights off, it tends to stay in low 70's. Humidity is consistent around 40%.

Got the airstone running 24/7. Same with a fan which is off-camera in these shots.

There's a total of 3 plants in there (no sex yet). 2 decent sized ones that have been growing good from the start, and 1 mutant little thing in the back thats had problems since veg. I was gonna take it out but it seemed to a make a bit of a comeback towards the end of veg (no good pics of it here. I'll get a better one).

Any comments, tips, or questions would be greatly appreciated as this is my 1st time and I'm sure I'm missing important info.

More pics of the set up and plants. Better shots of the damaged leafs. Any ideas as to what the cause of this would be?

I'm still waiting on Lowrider seeds to come in from Dr. Chronic. Ordered on 1/10 and still nothing (Northeast US). I figure this set up would be very good for a small autoflowering strain. These plants are just the "trial" ones so I can avoid screwing up any plants that I actually pay for.

Looks like N deficiency, been goin thru the same thing my brotha, good lucc

Thanks SICC. I'm changing the res today so I'll try upping the nutes and see if that helps.

I would just flush the rez, give them some PH'd water and let them chill for a couple days,

Okay. So, I took the advice and they've been chillin since Sunday with some good ole ph'd distilled water. It's 9 days into flower so I'm looking to see gender here. Anyone see anything indicating male/female in these pics? I know the pics suck. My camera has a wonderful zoom function...but with a crap focus function (SCREW YOU KODAK).

I also added 2 more 42w cfls and used a cardboard box lined with mylar to create more of an enclosure so that not so much light is being wasted in directions not facing the plant. Odor has been very mild to my surprise. A simple glade plugin has dwarfed the smell and then some (now it smells like I'm growing lavender for god's sakes). Growth appears to be normal and the CFLs are about 2-5 inches away from the plants.

As for the mutant 3rd plant which was so slow to grow and looked like something out of that Total Recall movie, it turns out that the original tomato seed was still in there. So if you ever asked yourself, "I wonder who would win in a fight...tomato or weed", rest assured that the tomato starts out tought but weed eventually kicks it's ass. It's growth was so stunted that I'm still probably gonna have to pull it at some point but I'm still waiting.

I've got nutes mixed with distilled water ready to go in tomorrow. The fox farm big bloom really creates a high ph. Takes a while to get the ph down. Not using Tiger Bloom as I heard that it wasn't really necessary. I'm now in the hunt for a PPM meter to hopefully solve the nutrient deficiency issues.

You will basically see balls if it is a boy, and white hairs like a V will appear, everything sounds good, im sure you will pass the problems, im still fightin mine but its all good

Added the nutes this afternoon. The yellowing-brown leaves on the bottom got a lot more yellow and brown. I'll givem a little bit but I'm sure I'll end up having to cut those dying leaves out to help concentrate the growth up to the top. I'm currently looking into getting a 150 hps for the flowering. Anyone know where to get a cheap one? I'm seeing price ranges from $80 to $150 which seems like a pretty wide range.

Give em a couple days, did you pre dissolve the tabs before adding? i know the strait tabs can burn them, i usually use a water bottle to fill the rez, and i crush up the tab and mix into the water i will be adding, and i swirl it around until its ready.

I'm not using the AG nutes. I went to FF pretty early and they're all liquid. I used the full tablespoon dose for the gallon rez this time. If they were hungry, that should keep them full i'm hopin. Pics in a few days (once I get a better camera than the crappy no focus kodak I have).

oh fa sho haha

They look okay today. There continues to be some curling downwards with the leaves. These guys were upright and growing quick the whole time during veg. Now, growth rate slowed considerably and the leaves have been drooping. Searched the forums for a diagnosis but it looks like it could be anything (heat stress, over nuting, under nuting, over watering...although i don't know how that happens in a hydro grow). You can see in the pics how they're just kinda hangin. No obvious signs of sex yet. Definately no balls so I'm hoping they're both ladies.

(Butters) said:

They look okay today. There continues to be some curling downwards with the leaves. These guys were upright and growing quick the whole time during veg. Now, growth rate slowed considerably and the leaves have been drooping. Searched the forums for a diagnosis but it looks like it could be anything (heat stress, over nuting, under nuting, over watering...although i don't know how that happens in a hydro grow). You can see in the pics how they're just kinda hangin. No obvious signs of sex yet. Definately no balls so I'm hoping they're both ladies.

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What is your ambient temp? if its over 80 your problem is most likely heat stress, I had the same problem earlier.

Leaf tips are curled up, plant is trying to conserve energy because its too hot to get water to the tips.

Does not look like a nutrient problem at all.

And overwatering is a form of heat/moisture stress.

Do you have an airstone in your setup? (dont remember too lazy to check)

Yeah. Airstone is in there. With the closet door closed, it does cross the 80 degree mark. I've been keeping the door open during the light time for the last week to keep the temp in the mid-70's. Maybe my cfls are too close? I'm definately giving the AG the cleaning of a lifetime this weekend. They just look sad to me. Hopefully a few tweeks will get them back on track.

(Butters) said:

Yeah. Airstone is in there. With the closet door closed, it does cross the 80 degree mark. I've been keeping the door open during the light time for the last week to keep the temp in the mid-70's. Maybe my cfls are too close? I'm definately giving the AG the cleaning of a lifetime this weekend. They just look sad to me. Hopefully a few tweeks will get them back on track.

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With that info, I'm 90% positive its heat stress.

Your CFLs aren't too close, its just straight up too warm in there.

The CFLs themselves raise the temp under them a few degrees, just not enough to burn the shit out of your plants like HID bulbs. So whatever your temp is, its a few degrees higher under the lights.

You should really try to get a fan if you can.

Leave the door open a little bit and let all of the air outside (cooler air hopefully) blow into the grow area and get sucked through that fan.

Air circulation is always a really good thing, and I bet your plants will perk up if it was a little cooler in there.



Confirmed heat/moisture stress. Solution was to drop temp about 5 degrees, plants were happy after that.

(Butters) said:

Yeah. Airstone is in there. With the closet door closed, it does cross the 80 degree mark. I've been keeping the door open during the light time for the last week to keep the temp in the mid-70's. Maybe my cfls are too close? I'm definately giving the AG the cleaning of a lifetime this weekend. They just look sad to me. Hopefully a few tweeks will get them back on track.

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what week of flowering are you in?

I'm on day 11 of flower. I forget what day that pic was though. The fan theory makes alot of sense. I was using a fan that was "eye level" with the AG. When I changed to flower, I had to restructure the closet a bit and now the AG is on the floor. I switched to a bigger, standing fan that I had to tilt just to aim it at the AG (barely at that). I've been trying to get a ground level fan but NO ONE is selling any here. It's still winter and cold as hell so no stores are selling fans!
I'm probably gonna have to bite the bullet and order one online. Thanks for the advice fellas. It's helpin.

(Butters) said:

Added the nutes this afternoon. The yellowing-brown leaves on the bottom got a lot more yellow and brown. I'll givem a little bit but I'm sure I'll end up having to cut those dying leaves out to help concentrate the growth up to the top. I'm currently looking into getting a 150 hps for the flowering. Anyone know where to get a cheap one? I'm seeing price ranges from $80 to $150 which seems like a pretty wide range.

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i got mine for 70 from my local hydroponics shop.
Giggidy Goo

lurkmaster said:

With that info, I'm 90% positive its heat stress.

Your CFLs aren't too close, its just straight up too warm in there.

The CFLs themselves raise the temp under them a few degrees, just not enough to burn the shit out of your plants like HID bulbs. So whatever your temp is, its a few degrees higher under the lights.

You should really try to get a fan if you can.

Leave the door open a little bit and let all of the air outside (cooler air hopefully) blow into the grow area and get sucked through that fan.

Air circulation is always a really good thing, and I bet your plants will perk up if it was a little cooler in there.

Confirmed heat/moisture stress. Solution was to drop temp about 5 degrees, plants were happy after that.

Click to expand...

Where did you get the Master Garden thing for the aerogarden? Imma need these for the next grow.

They came with my master gardener kit.