CFL 2 Autoflower Plant Aeroponic Grow W/ Pic/Vid

Hey Guys,

Ok I;ve posted a few times and got my answers now its time to begin the grow journal (my seeds are germinating now in paper towels in the closet)

Im using a frankensteined cardboard box,

1- 6 way swtich
1- 4" bubble stone
1 - 3.5 x 2' grow area
1 - Mylar Paper covering (inside of box)
1 - Air compressor (for Hydro)
1 - Plenty of light adapters
5 - 13w 6500k cfl Cools
1- 14w 5000k cfl cool
3 - 30w 2700k cfl warm
3 - 26w 6500k cool
2 - Intake/Exhaust fan, I ordered a 3rd Im not sure if I should use it for exhaust or intake?
lb - clay hydroton
2 - Mesh hydro pots
Fox Farm Grow Big and Big Bloom

I am growing trans siberian autoflower as well as lowryer #2 x Diesel autoflower

SHit those pics looks terrible. Let me put up some fresh ones and maybe even a video tomorrow. I really need the help guys even though im pretty confident, I have 3 fans, should I make 2 exhaust and 1 intake or 2 intake and 1 exhaust!?!

Paint over or cover the tank with something; Roots shouldn't get any light.

Thanks Zagon, I covered it with duct take, I hope that It'll be sufficient enough, I did wrap it a few times around.

View attachment 2996077View attachment 2996078View attachment 2996083View attachment 2996084

Ok Guys this is what I have going on so far, please let me know if I'm correct in this.

(FOR SOME REASON MY LOCAL SUPERMARKET ONLY HAD ZEBRA DUCT TAPE LOL)

I used the paper towel trick to germinate the seeds until the taproots were almost an 3/4 an inch long.
I then soaked rock wool pre cut cubes in water PH level 5.2.
I then Placed the seedling into the rockwool, taproot facing down, seed casing about an inch or less down from the top from where the light shines. USPS seems to be taking there sweet time with my hydro net pots, so I won't have them for a day or two, I rigged up some twist ties and duct tape to hold the plug in place (they are about half submerged in water underneath the cover, I really hope this is okay because its all I have to work with until my pots and Hydroton get here on Monday.
As of now I have about 40w of 6500k cool lighting above each rock wool plug 3" or so away. I added a 30w 2700k in the middle just to add lumen .

My problem is (and this may be because my temperature gauge is right near my lights, I cant seem to keep the temperature below 90, it stays at 90 unless I open the grow door, I have 3 fans currently working 2 80mm intakes and a 120mm exhaust on the top of the box, do I really need to add more exhaust/intake fans? I'm nowhere close to having all of the lghts for the grow in there, this is simply just for the seedlings, I have 3x more 30w 2700k Warm and 3x more 23w 6500k Cools that I'm planning on adding, I'm guessing that will bring the heat up even higher!

Another question I have is, when I get my planting pots and Hydroton, do I just place the pot in its hole, put the rock wool seedling inside on the bottom and then cover it with hydroton? Or should I put some hydroton in and THEN put the rockwool on and cover the remainder with Hydroton?

1 Last question

When it comes to light, I understand I need about 40w 6500k cool light for when each plant is a seedling and young, I have about 40w per plant 3" from the rock wool + a 30w 2700k warm for good measure (extra lumens). Is this ok to do?
When my plant matures enough to use the full light strength I will have overall 150w 6500k Cool light and 120w 2700k warm, I know 6500k is best for vegging and 150w is ok for two plants but I do have extra lighting I could add for lumens sake (such as a few of my 30w 2700k's, is this something that is okay to do as long as the majority of the lighting is 6500k cool and at least 150w for two plants?

The second part of the question

I realized that Attitude sent me a free Dinafem Super Kush Seed, and It seems to me that I'll have room in the box for the third plant. Since I only have 150w 6500k Cool would It be okay to add a third plant and add a few 30w 2700k warms making 270w overall for 3 plants 150w blue 120w red or should I just take the money and get a few more 6500ks to make 200w cool for 3 plants and maybe add one or two 30w warms?

I know its a bit confusing but I could really use the help, I want to make sure I do this to the best of my ability. The third Power Kush seed is germinating now but it should only be a few days behind the other two.

sorry guys those Pics didn't upload for some reason in the above post. here they are.

Just got my first sprout! Its forming leaves and its only been in the box for a day! Im not sure why but my other rockwool seed doesnt seem to be doing anything, although the seed that already sprouted had a longer taproot when I planted them, should I just leave the other one alone? Its been germinating 3 days and sprouted a tap root but It hasn't come to the surface plant wise yet.

You need to dro Temps to around 80F.
Some hydroton first, on the bottom, then the rockwool with seedling, then hydroton again.
Your light is ok for now, You will need bigger tent later on
Power kush is great plant.
Peace

Thanks man,

one of my seeds (Diesel Ryder) from the initial 2 seeds died because I kept messing with it, I germinated a new seed (Power Kush) using the paper towel trick and placed it in the rockwool/hydroton. I do have a sprout from the Ak47xlowryder#2, it germinated extremely fast and sprouted on the second day (3 days ago, since then it's just been spreading its leaves, it has all 4 now, I just gently put the rock wool into the hydro ton making sure the root isn't harmed and put it in place, its been doing fine, but there is no real upward growth anymore and there is 1 single 3 inch root coming out of the bottom, I hope it's just that the energy is being put into establishing a root system! Any sort of help is appreciated. My hydroton looks dry and I just flushed it fresh out of the mail about 2 hours before these pictures were taken, the rock wool is wet, I have the water level about 1 inch above the floor of the mesh cup until the roots really get established. DO I WATER THE HYDROTON AT ALL? I've been misting it every 6 hours or so, is it bad is the hydroton and rockwool get dry up top?

as long as the rockwool is wet its ok, be patient, You will see more growth in coming days. its all about patience now..

I also noticed that my fan on the left side of the box is directly blowing over the rock wool, I live way up north so its a 65 degree breeze but the lights offset it a little bit, the top of the rock wool feels wet and almost cold to the touch (maybe this is why Im not getting sprouts on this side?). On the successful right side of the box where the sprout is there is a fan intake but it is about 3-4 inches above the rockwool and that rockwool seems to dry relatively quickly and is warm to the touch. I'm about to go to bed I think maybe I'll move the bottom left fan up passed the rock wool so it blows over it rather than right through/over it, the sprout would be in the path of a constant 65 degree breeze unless I move the fan up a little bit, is this ok?

Thanks for all your help zagon, no one else seems to have an opinion at this crucial time of the plants life lol thanks for hanging in there with me man!

Yup, You can move the fan a little. And be patient, my friend..

So I decided to continue abiding by the KISS rule for newbs and things have bee going great! My 2nd plant sprouted out of the ground and my first sprout is looking gorgeous (refer to photos). This is only about day 5 from breaking surface for the young plant, The roots are getting very long and Im wondering if my tub is big enough to support two plants. I'd love to be able to just leave them in the 2.5 gallon bucket (so I wouldn't have to make a bigger box over again this early in the game). do you think my 2.5 Gallon bucket is enough room for 2 Autoflowers?

Question:
2.5 Gallon bucket enough water/space for 2 autoflower plants? AEROPONIC SYSTEM
I think my mesh cups are only about 5 inches or something like that, is that OK since the reservoir is the actual spot the roots grow into?
I could only find the PH strips shown in my photo, it only goes down to 6.2PH does this color seem like its in the 5.2-.5.9 range? picture was taken 10 minutes after it was a very tiny bit more orange than the pale yellow but not by much.

here's a little update, Its day 8 for the large plant and about 6 days for the seedling sprout, it looks like its doing okay but im worried about the sprout, it doesnt seem to be doing any growing and its been almost a week, it is Power Kush Auto Ryder but the trans siberian is growing wonderfully!

I have 140w of light inside the box at this stage overall, 35w of it is 2700k just for extra lumens so about 105 overall watts of 6500k cool lights is this too much for such small plants? if so when do I start adding light, I understand they need 100w of light per plant, I have about 80w over the big plant (30w of it 2700k warm) and 65w above the little seedling (7w of 2700k warm). should I cut down on the light at this day 8 stage or should I keep it as is and then add more light until it gets double-triple that size?

Keep it as is, that siberian thing looks nicee.. Powerkush will start soon. Just add some lights later on, monitor temps at the plant level. How much vertical space do You have?

I have about 3.5 ft of vertical usable space!

So just an update, I'm going to continue posting on my grow journal just in case newbies are looking for information on something similar so they can see step by step how things are working out.

Started light Schedule 20/4 about 7 days ago and have been pretty much winging the FF grow big nutes (VERY LIGHTLY), I add about a table spoon of it to my res (3 gallons) every 5-6 days or so (flush after 2 weeks).

What week will I start to use big bloom and should I use it in combination with grow big until a certain week?

My smaller plant has a nice root ball but has been lagging behind its sister to the right, it seems to be growing moderately (slow compared to the right one). When am I suddenly just going to see a vegetative burst in these plants or will they pretty much grow this rate until week 5? Just looking for a little insight on if my smaller plant is going to be ok or if It seems to just be the strain? It seems to be about a week behind the larger one but in reality its only like 3 days younger, just seems odd!

Other than that I'm fine with humidity and the plants look very healthy but am struggling with keeping the temp below 90, it seems to be about 89-90 while i sleep (8 of the 20 hours i have lights on) when I am awake I leave the door cracked and the temp is stabilized at 80-85 or so (12 of the 20 hour light on period), is this a really bad thing? I do mist them every few hours but when I sleep I HAVE to close the door, its like outside in my room even if the grow door is cracked lol. (2 small intake fans, one in the middle, one on the bottom 1 large exhaust at the top)

Its 17 days for the large trans siberian x lowryder and about day 13 for the smaller power kush plant. I'm noticing my trans siberian is more of a short bushy type plant and I'm starting to think that the power kush is going to be a taller more branchy/lanky autoflower by the look of it. Again, I'm planning on building a real grow box and investing in the MH HPS light setups on my next grow, I just wanna make sure I can produce and cure decent nuggets before I go all out, I want to get all my mistakes and basics out of the way. These CFLs are generating way too much heat and being so close to the plant its just a pain in the balls.

So overall, should I even keep the smaller plant, or is my bigger plant just a really fast grower when it comes to genetics? Guessing Ill have to wait an extra ten days to cut down the left plant for harvest and I really don't want to risk fucking up my beauty of a plant on the right. that would break my heart lol, if its worth the risk and looks on point ill just keep her as well, cant say no to an extra z or so. Oh yeah and my room smells like nugs lol it's beautiful!

heres the pics lol forgot to add*View attachment 3012633View attachment 3012632View attachment 3012634View attachment 3012635