Nonamebrand's Aerogarden - Auto Fem Dwarf Lowflyer - 2016

[CMJJMC2000]

Once those first 2 or 3 sets of leaves come in, it's like the plant hits lightspeed. Keep up the good work and let me know if any other questions come up!

 

[ibrokeit]

Sweet! I have an aero garden as well and have only nursed 2 seedlings back to health and moved them to a homemade unit. That machine works great. Good luck on the grow!!!

 

[nonamebrand]

Hey I'm here too as a AeroGarden grower.

Very exciting grow, will be folowwing you.

Check also my grow journal. Maybe nothing good but many mistaked to learn from

AK48 Feminized From Nirvana - Hydroponics Under LED & CFL

Thanks Ferboldt, I'll give it a read. The 420mag community is great and users like you inspired me to start this journal.

Once those first 2 or 3 sets of leaves come in, it's like the plant hits lightspeed. Keep up the good work and let me know if any other questions come up!

I have minimal growing experience of any kind but being able to see the daily progress in these plants is a blast! Appreciate the help so far and I'm doing my best to follow your journal as closely as I can; I showed my wife the Mars Hydro light and my bday is just around the corner, hopefully I don't get socks

UPDATE DAY 4 above ground:
Not a lot to report today but I did end up turning the plants after inspecting the roots I figure I'd be safe. Temps 73-82 Humidity 35-45; the wet paper towel and water bowl seem to be helping.

Ruby is looking long; I wish I could lower the lights more but am confident she'll be happy with how close she is soon. After spinning her 180 degrees she has straightened right up.

Lulu is doing her thing and seems to be roughly a day behind Ruby on her leaves and is much shorter.

I am going to add another 1/8 dose of Foxfarm Big Bloom and Grow Big today along with balancing the PH. The plan for now is to do a 1/4 dose with my weekly reservoir change on Thursday, the following week do a 1/2 dose and then upping to a 3/4 dose the next week and continuing with a 3/4 dose while monitoring PPMs for the rest of the grow (all based on foxfarms schedule). I will have to skip/combine a few weeks of the foxfarm schedule as its for a 12 week grow where I expect this to be a 9-10 week grow. This plan is based on what I've read online with regards to people using fox farm nutes in an aerogarden; people using 1/4 doses run into deficiencies where people using the full dose end up with nute burn.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 5:

Not much to report today. Added another 1/8 dose of nutes and balanced PH yesterday; I'm still using General Hydroponics PH kit so PH is anywhere between 5.5 and 6. I'm hoping my digital monitor shows up soon; my calibrating solutions have already arrived.

I mixed up my C02 solution yesterday:

2 cups sugar
1 TSP dry active yeast
1 TSP baking soda

C02 bubbles are seen at a steady rate, I'm expecting to replace this mixture around every 10 days but will have to wait and see.

Ruby - seems to have stopped stretching; hopefully she will start putting more energy into her leaves.

Lulu - She's almost caught up to Ruby, they are very close in height.

 

[Frenchy672]

awesome idea on the CO2. looking good, when the seeds curl like that durring germanating it's usually so they can try to scrape off the seed and embryos. let her always get straight at least by herself. if she still has helmets or embryos that's another game. but I'm glad they're all looking healthy, good vibes.

 

[nonamebrand]

awesome idea on the CO2. looking good, when the seeds curl like that durring germanating it's usually so they can try to scrape off the seed and embryos. let her always get straight at least by herself. if she still has helmets or embryos that's another game. but I'm glad they're all looking healthy, good vibes.

The hardest part so far with this grow is being patient and just letting the plants do their thing. Thanks for the input and the vibes!

Day 6 (above ground):

Not a lot to report, the leaves are growing and the second set are coming in as well. Tomorrow is my first reservoir change; I finally get to do something ha! Lulu (on the left) seems to copycat her sister and was leaning towards the center of the Aerogarden so I checked the roots and decided it was safe to spin her; this worked well to straighten out Ruby. The roots are expanding and I don't think I will try to turn the plants in the future.

My grow space is tight/awkward to work in but I decided to try a couple different pics to give a different view of the plants.

Hoping today helps to raise awareness and helps governments around the world make more intelligent decisions with regards to our wonderful plants and their many uses.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 7:

First reservoir change. First off the hand pump worked great to drain the res! I premixed the water with the nutrients .75 TSP of Big Bloom and .5 TSP of grow big. This is 1/4 of the recommended dose as per Week 1 of Fox Farm's feeding schedule. I then balanced the PH with PH down to around 6; still no digital PH meter, hopefully here early next week. I made the mixture in a 4L "milk" jug and was able to pour it into the res with the help of a small funnel.

Ruby:

Lulu:

I did the res change this morning and just took another look at the plants and I swear they are bigger already; hopefully enjoying the nutes. Temps are holding steady at 81 during lights on and dropping no lower than 73 when the lights are out. The humidity seems to stay around 38-40% which is low but seems sufficient.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 8 - Bit of a temp flux last night as I left the fan on low - got up to 86; which is odd as I believe this happened when the lights were off. Not a big deal and I'll continue to monitor.

Checked the PH today and it appeared to have gone up slightly. I adjusted it down a bit lower than I have in the past; I'm pretty sure I have had it a little higher on the spectrum so far and figured it only seems to go up so might as well aim a bit lower on the spectrum. I am finding it hard to gauge the liquid test but am confident I have remained between 5.5-6.5 thus far.

Here's a pic of the PH test. The colors are affected by the camera and the computer but it should be relative between the test and the scale? I'm a numbers guy not colors...

Ruby - my first and favorite (don't tell Lulu) is looking good and her 2nd set is well on their way.

Lulu - is showing progress on her second set.

I did some research yesterday (and every other day) and have read varying reports on how many watts per plant to use. As mentioned I am using 5 X 26W CFL's = 130W. I have read places that you want 100-150W (or more) per plant. I am obviously on the low end when it comes to lighting and except the fact that my final yields will most likely be small but I will try to make the most of it. Next grow I may go with one plant to compare yields as it sounds like I could have one plant produce similar quantities as 2 with my current set up.

 

[Frenchy672]

I have the same pH indicator drops and I find it damn impossible since it doesn't have a 5.5, to actually use it properly for DWC application....idfk what they were thinking unless the pH of 5 covered the whole range of 5-5.9 which is still silliness...I found a pH pen is definitely going to be a necessity...

 

[Frenchy672]

and you're at 6 which is purrrfect. I tried adding like 4-6 drops of pH down to distilled [pH of 6] water....it threw it down to 4 [according to the drops] for about 4 hours until it got mixed in and then shows nothing but pH 5....although I think it'd take more than 4 drops to drop it 2 points, but then again with distilled [little to no ppm] makes sense I suppose, still doesn't change that the indicator fluid is hard to use. need to find one that has the availability to read closer [more dialed in] pH readings...the strips from China online I'm sure work the same.

 

[Ferboldt]

Very nice grow. I like to see your babies growing fast. I've never used cal mag before but today I ordered and will be using in the future.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 11 above ground.

Both plants have grown significantly over the past few days! The PH level in the res seems to be rather stable around 6 but maybe rising slightly; an adjustment maybe needed one more time before res change. Temps have stabilized between 73-82 which I'm happy with; in order to do this I have had to leave the fan on high which I feel is a bit much for the plants at this stage but hopefully it just makes them stronger in the long run.

I found a 40 watt cfl at the local hardware store for <$10 and figured what the heck and added it to the setup. This brings my total cfl actual watts to 170. Sorry for the sideways pic.

Ruby:

Lulu:

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 12

The C02 generator is still going strong with a very slight slow down in production. I'm not sure how well it's working but the plants seems happy and for the low cost any benefit will most likely be well worth it. I added another 1/8 dose of big bloom and grow big today as well as a 1/4 dose of cal/mag; in doing so I slightly dropped the PH level which is still right around 6.

Progress pics:
Ruby:

and another angle

Lulu:

The stems are slowly getting stronger but are still being push around by the fan.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 14 above ground and 2nd res change.

I changed the water in the res today and stuck with a quarter dose (1/2 tsp grow big and 3/4tsp big bloom and 1/4tsp calmag) because last night I noticed some yellowing and other spots on the first set of real leaves.

Here's what I'm seeing:
Ruby: Sorry for the poor pic; but the tip is slightly orange/yellow only on 2 of the leaves.

Lulu:

I'm not really sure of what maybe causing this but possibly nute burn or a def of some kind? I was tempted to flush the plants but figured it didnt look bad and I would just monitor them for now. Any suggestions or input are more than welcome!

I PH'd the RO water/nute mix to around 6; my digital testers still haven't arrived; I'm beginning to think they got lost along the way

The plants seem to be healthy and growing well other than the pics above. The roots are dancing through out the res and I had to be diligent not to damage them when pumping the water out. Temps 74-82 and humidity 34-45.

Overall pics:

Ruby:

Lulu: You can see the "tip" and other spots in this pic too.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 15 above ground; This should mark around 25% of the way to harvest!

Everything is looking good. Temps, humidity and PH are holding steady. The tips and spotting on the plants seems to have stabilized/nothing new; I will continue to monitor it but feel that rather than guessing I'm better off to keep on keep'n on unless things get much worse.

Here are some pics, as I have said before it's tough to get decent pics because of the cramped grow space and due to how close the lights are to the plants in the Aerogarden; the light are still at the lowest setting now around 4 inches from the plants.

Ruby:

Lulu:

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 15 afternoon quick note:

I received my Digital PH monitor and PPM meters; finally! My res came in at 6.4 PH after calibrating my pen. I adjusted my PH using diluted PH down so it now reads 5.8. I did a test with my GH liquid PH test after the adjustment and the test looked orange or close to the 5.0 color. This caused me some concern with either the PH meter or the Liquid meter; having the calibration fluid and re checking the Pen I decided to roll with it. If the pen is accurate then I have probably been running my res high 6.3-6.8 range. I am hoping the "spotting" and "tip" problems are resolved and were due to high PH levels. The PPM meter is reading 240-250PPM which I believe should be a good spot at this stage in the plants growth.

New toys new things to learn! I will probably not be making an update until next week (mon/tues); hoping for some good things over the weekend. I'll try and post a pic with my next entry of the GH Liquid PH/PH Pen for comparison.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 18 above ground:

I have monitored the PH level closely over the weekend and have maintained it between 5.7-6.0. It seems to go up about .2 in a 24hr period. The plants are growing nicely and the small room they are in is starting to get a nice aroma; which cant be noticed outside the room/closet. The room temp has been holding steady between 74-82, the humidity has been slightly higher between 37-47. I also added a water thermometer which fluctuates between 72 and 76, I think that's ok?

I have a couple jars of ONA Pro Gel which will be my only odor control; I have a roommate who is unaware of the plants and will be a good test for if the smell becomes suspect. I have yet to put the ONA out and feel that when I do the roomy might wonder why; excuse will be smelly sports equipment. I know that the roommate won't care about the plants and actually like the fact that they should be the first to discover the plants if at all.

Now on to the plants progress. The yellow/brownish spots have spread on the first two sets of leaves and the 3rd set is showing very slight effects. I feel like this should be under control and the new grow seems strong and unaffected. As mentioned before I believe the plants were subjected to high PH levels due to my inaccuracy with the liquid test kit(see pic below). The stems have thickened up significantly and Ruby is with about 1.5 inches of the lights; the heat from the lights is minimal and I won't move the lights up until they almost touch; might be as early as tomorrow.

And pics (everyone loves pictures; even my poor quality ones right?):

Here's a pic of the liquid PH according to the color I'd guess a 5.1-5.2 where the meter after calibration read 5.8.

Next up Ruby:

Here is a picture of the leaf damage:

Overall:

And Stem; crazy how its blown up.

And Little Lulu who has taken a bit more of a beating, which isnt surprising as she seems to be the weaker plant:
Damage:

Overall:

 

[Stinky Snid]

Ya those Ph testers are pretty vague huh... Trust in the pen, lol... I hated those tester set, it's worse than the litmus paper stuff. It's either yellow for 5.0 or yellow for 5.5, the a bit difference for the plants there... Good plan on the Ph Pen, it's much easier and more accurate.

KiG cheers

 

[Frenchy672]

I had the same troubles you did/do. the pH solution will show 5 from 5.0-5.9 so it's kinda impossible to know for hydro unless you start at 5 and let it drift to 6? that's the only way that would really ever work. pH pen fills in the blanks nicely

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 20!

Temps between 70-79 humidity 40-54 water temp 72-76 PH 5.7-5.9. The spots have made their way to the third set of leaves although it doesn't look bad yet... The first and second set of leave are looking pretty bad especially on Lulu; the plants are still holding onto them; I've given them a very light "tug" to see if they are letting go.

Tomorrow I will do a 2 hour flush with florakleen along with a full res change. I'm thinking of doing a half dose of nutes which would put my PPMs around 5-600. I'm having a hard time determining what the spots are cause by cal def? P def? Nute burn? I figure I'll try the higher dose and see how they react; hopefully it's a def and they are able to get enough with the higher dose.

I reloaded the C02 machine, it was producing a bubble about every 4-5 seconds, once refilled it produces a bubble ever 1-1.5 seconds. I also added a small jar of ONA Pro Gel outside of the room. I don't think the outside room was really starting to smell; maybe slightly but figured I'd introduce the ONA slowly so the roommate doesn't notice a huge change of odor. The gel has a chemical/industrial smell so I am hoping it can be somewhat contained to the small room while containing the plant smell.

Pics:

ONA Gel Jar:

Ruby:

And one of Lulu:

These two should probably start to flower in 7-10 days so I hope after res change tomorrow the spotting issues subside.....