Nonamebrand's Aerogarden - Auto Fem Dwarf Lowflyer - 2016

[CMJJMC2000]

Fear not! I ran into the exact same issue on my grow - primarily on 1 plant - and it all worked out fine. I ended up pinching almost all of the main fan leaves from the main stem until every node had grown out and the plant was 2ft tall. So, it could be a strain related issue where the main fans just go to pot quickly. If not, my best guess was a phosphorous lockout issue due to low PH. In Veg 5.8-6.2 seems to be a good range for nitrogen which is the primary veg phase nute.

Keep on doing what you're doing. If fresh growth is coming in green, then all should be fine.

 

[nonamebrand]

Fear not! I ran into the exact same issue on my grow - primarily on 1 plant - and it all worked out fine. I ended up pinching almost all of the main fan leaves from the main stem until every node had grown out and the plant was 2ft tall. So, it could be a strain related issue where the main fans just go to pot quickly. If not, my best guess was a phosphorous lockout issue due to low PH. In Veg 5.8-6.2 seems to be a good range for nitrogen which is the primary veg phase nute.

Keep on doing what you're doing. If fresh growth is coming in green, then all should be fine.

I hope so! I have re-read your journal daily. I feel that my PH was high for the first few weeks and yet we have run into what seems to be the same problem... Do you recall what your calmag dose was at around the 3-4 week mark? I've been doing 1/4-1/2 doses in my RO water; tomorrow I am tempted to do the recommended dose of 1 tsp per gallon; would bring my RO water from 3PPM to 240PPM. Thoughts?

We may have to have a grow challenge: Who can make it through 4 weeks with no spotting in the aerogarden with this strain! It would be nice to know if it is strain related...back to google

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 21/first flush and 3rd res refill.

This morning I ran 1tsp of Florakleen along with 1 gallon of RO water PH'd to 5.8 through the aerogarden for 1.5hrs. I then calibrated my PH meter which was out by .1. After which I did a full res change with a half dose of FoxFarms schedule and a full dose of CaliMagic:
1.5tsp of Big Bloom
1.5tsp of Grow Big
1 tsp of CaliMagic
Total PPMs: 870
PH UP: PH'd to 5.8

The PPMs seem quite high! Foxfarm calls for a PPM of 1260-1400 so 3/4 of their lowest recommendation. The full dose of calimagic pushed up the PPMs but I feel like my plants have been lacking in one if not both cal and mag due to using RO water. I will monitor the plants closely for nute burn or other changes; hopefully they are positive changes!

I clipped 3 leaves off of Lulu as they were pretty toast:

This allowed me to get a close up of the damage:

I took the res change as on opportunity to try and get some better pics. Here are the sisters Ruby and Lulu; Ruby has began referring to Lulu has her step sister and I believe she maybe stealing some of her food.

Ruby:

Roots:

Stem:

Lulu:

Roots:

Stems:

As you can see in the picture there was a bit of a temp drop last night (down to 68); it was unseasonably cold last night and I did adjust the fan; most likely the cause.

Fingers crossed that the nute/calmag dose isnt too high and that it encourages the slow down of leaf damage!

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 25 BOOM!

Well, the plants seemed to have LOVED their larger dose of nutes. I was slightly nervous waking up friday morning (Day 22) to check on the plants but nervousness turned to total surprise because Ruby had began to flower! I have also had to raise the lights again as ruby can't see to keep her leaves off of them. Lulu on the other hand still isn't showing signs of flowering but I'm sure she will soon. I gave Lulu a bit of a trim yesterday (2 leaves). And rather than growing tall Lulu is more bushy; unfortunately the lack of height means that the overhead lights are getting further from her, I do have a supplement 40watt cfl beside Lulu which maybe keeping her short but should be making up for the height of the other lights.

I noticed the leaves are still slowly showing signs of what I am guessing to be a calcium def; I added another quarter dose of calimagic yesterday. With the extra dose of Cal/mag and topping up the res each day PPMs today are at 550. The PH has been holding relatively steady actually dropping about .1 a day; being maintained between 5.7-5.9. Temps are between 68-81 and humidity has been between 38-57.

I topped up the ONA jar so the little jar is now full. It seems to be controlling the smell in the room connected to the grow room; but the smell maybe creeping into the room directly above it; which is regularly accessed by everyone in the house..... The roommate still hasn't noticed. Maybe I'll have some close friends over and see if they say anything. As I said before I am not too concerned about it being discovered and it's kind of a fun game lol.

And for the pictures!

Ruby getting so tall!

And her stems and pistils

And little lulu:

showing some nice new growth

This thursday (res change 4) I will be adding Tiger Bloom to my nute mix skipping one week in the fox farm feeding schedule. Once my Journal is complete I will try to do an overview of the feeding schedule etc for easy access to the brass tacks info.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 26

Quick update Lulu has started to flower

Raised up the PH to 6.0 last night and it was down to 5.8-5.9 this morning. PPMs at 500. Temps and humidity remain the same.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 28 4th res change.

Changed the res today went with a 1/2 dose of nutes with a full doses of calimagic:
1 tsp Calimagic
1/2 tsp Tiger Bloom
1/2 tsp Grow Big
1.5 tsp Big Bloom
Total PPM 680
PH'd to 5.8

I must have been tired this morning as I mixed up a batch of nutes and used tablespoons instead of teaspoons; luckily I checked the PPMs which came in at 2200+; wasted some nutes but at least I didn't cook the plants!

Temps between 68-81, Humidity 47-60, Water Temps 68-73, PH 5.6-6.0 (they drop .1-.2 daily).

Pics:
Both plants side by side, I raised up the hood for a better pic. It's crazy same strain same res two very different looking plants.

Ruby:

A little light burn. The leaf tip was touching the light for hours...

Lulu:

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 28

Evening update. Family emergency; having a good friend look after the plants for 5 days. Instructions left for him: keep PH between 5.5-6.5 if its between don't adjust. Left a gallon jug of water with a 1/8 dose of calimagic and nutes PH'd to 5.8 so he can top up the res.

He hasn't had any plants himself so I hope he doesn't try anything drastic lol. I hate to have to tell someone about my room but drastic times call for drastic measures.

Hope my girls do well, but family comes first! Update when im back...

 

[Ferboldt]

I needed to go away too and didn't have anyone to ask for this kind of favor. I was away for like 10 days when I came back she was already flowering and about to die

But at the end she turned out fine.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 35 res change 5

I'm back and happy to report the plants are still alive and well...almost too well! While I was away the plants consumed over 1 gallon of water. Temps remained between 68-77 and humidity 47-60%. PH remained between 5.5-5.9 thanks to my friends filling the res and upping the PH when needed.

I have had to slightly rearrange the room as Ruby as grow to over 3ft!!! When I got home her top cola was right in the light and slightly burnt.... but not too bad I feel left alone it will make a recovery. I have shifted her highest reaching branch out from under the hood and placed my 40 watt cfl above it so it will continue to get light. I really hope the stretch is over as it will be a bit tough to rearrange again. Lulu is living up to her dwarf status but also appear to be producing minimal buds; her short status is robbing her of light but I am concentrating on Ruby as she has tons of sites.

I just finished refreshing the C02 mixture and am flushing the res with florakleen for 2 hours before putting in the fresh batch of nutes, which will be a 1/2 dose as per foxfarms feeding schedule with calimagic added:
1tsp calimagic
1.5 tsp bloom big
1 tsp tiger bloom

I'm guessing PPMs around 800 but won't know until I mix it. When I got home the res PPM was at 300; I had my friend adding PH'd water with a 1/8 dose to the res. This week I will be able to monitor PPMs and may add water at 1/4 dose or stick with the 1/8 all depending on readings.

The spotting on the leaves continues to make its way up the plants but very slowly; rather than try to clear this up I am just letting it be as the plants (mostly ruby) seem very healthy. Ruby just let go of her first set of "real" leaves.

Here are some pics:
Girls side by side. Once again I have to comment on how two plants from the same strain in the same res are so different.

Ruby:
Her top cola, that got a little burn

Overview pics (and my finger):

Little Lulu:

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Looking good, man! Keep it up! I'll be starting up a new thread here in the next week or so.

 

[nonamebrand]

Looking good, man! Keep it up! I'll be starting up a new thread here in the next week or so.

Thanks bud. I'll be watching your sig for the new journal link! I've already started thinking about my next grow. Will probably do another aerogarden but using a scrogg to hopefully control the plant height!

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 41 res change 6

I'm doing the res change a day early this week as I am once again going to be away for a few days. The wife is staying home and will be manning (womanning?) the plants. I've given her the same instructions to simply add water and keep PH between 5.5-6.5.

This morning I flushed the system with Florakleen for 1.5 hours; I'm not sure that this was needed but figured since the nutes are upped a bit it wouldn't hurt.

I refilled the res with 1/2 dose of fox farms nutes and a full dose of calimagic:
1 tsp Calimagic
2 tsp Big Bloom
1 tsp Grow Big
.5 tsp Tiger Bloom
PH 6.0
PPM 1000

This will be the dosage used for all res changes until the final week which will be a flush. The top up water is plain RO'd water with a dose ( 1 tsp) of Calimagic, PH'd to 6.1. I have set the initial PH and top up PH a little higher as the PH has been dropping .1-.2 daily.

The top bud that got burnt by the light seems to be making a solid recovery and new hairs are sprouting from it. Here is a pic of the high reaching buds on Ruby:

I took a few photos of the roots today, the difference between Ruby and Lulu is obvious both above and below ground:
Ruby:

Middle:

Lulu:

Here are two overall pictures of the setup. I gave the high reaching branch its own 40 watt cfl:

A picture of a couple of many of Ruby's buds. Notice the crystal forming on the leaves:

And Lulu... This is her main bud and my only hope for her.

Both plants have dropped a few leaves. Ruby has dropped 3-4 total and Lulu who is much smaller has dropped at least double that.

Hopefully only 3 weeks from harvest

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 46:

The plants are looking good even though it appears to be snowing in their grow room! I'm impressed by the mass formation of trichomes on the buds and surrounding leaves. Mostly on Ruby but Lulu's top bud have trichomes beginning to form; she seems to be close to a week or more behind Ruby. Lulu had a bit of a growth spurt this past week, although not near what Ruby did.

Temps remain steady 70-79. Room humidity is between 52-68 which I feel is a little high, I'm hoping the outside humidity begins to drop and there for the rooms should too. The plants have drank a full gallon of water in 5 days. I have been topping up with RO'd water with a full dose of calimagic; so I 've added about 250ppm. The original PPM at res change was 1000 it now sits around 690 sooo with my basic math they have consumes 560ppm's worth of nutes or approx 110 per day. I am now topping up the res with straight RO water to see how the ppms drop and PH is affected.

This brings me to my slight concern of PH dropping. The PH has been dropping in what seems to be a rapid manner of .06 per hour or .6 every 10 hours. Which means I am adjusting the PH 3 times a day floating it between 5.5-6.5. I know a large part of this is due to the small res (1 gallon) but feel that maybe the PPMs/nute dose is too high? The plants or at least ruby seem to be healthy and the buds growing so at this point I'm not going to change anything and will give them the same dose on res change thursday.

Now for some pics:
Ruby:
Top:

Here's the very top which suffered from a slight burn but has recovered and is showing new pistils:

Close up of a lower bud:

Pick of her multiple bud sites, I've counted 16 solid sites and am probably overly optimistic but think ruby could produce on ounce on her own:

And Lulu's main site; I don't take many pics of Lulu because one she's not impressive and two she's on an awkward spot to take pics:

Still aiming for a June 16 (day 63) harvest and picked up some trimmers and boveda 62 humidity packs. I think Lulu might not be quite ready by then and depending on circumstances I might try to leave her a bit longer.

A note on the odor: I can't recommend ONA for anyone who needs some serious stealth but for people like me who don't need guaranteed protection it can do the trick for small grows. I'm doing two small plants and they smell in the room obviously and in adjoining rooms. A few friends have come and gone from the adjoining rooms without any detection and more humorously the roommate is still clueless but myself the wife and friend who know the room exists can pick up the odor and I believe anyone who has a nose for grows would notice it as well. If my grow wasn't personal and legal I might be paranoid and have ordered a filter by now.

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 48 res change 7

I'm currently flushing the system for 2 hours with 1.5tsp of florakleen/1 gal of ph'd water. The reason I chose to flush the system is due to the rapid PH drops. I've mixed up my batch of fox farm nutes at 1/2 dose:

2tsp Big bloom
1tsp Big grow
.5tsp Tiger Bloom
1 gal. RO water
PH'd to 6.0

I went with only a half dose of calimagic (1/2tsp). This week I will be topping up with the same mixture of the initial nute dose. I should be able to better monitor the PPM's this way which come in at 700-750. If the PPM's remain between 650-800 I will continue to add this mixture. If the PPMs go up I'll dilute the top up water; if PPMs go down I will consider adding more nutes.

I calibrated my PH pen today as I do each week and it was bang on this week, last week it was only out by .1. Considering I only paid 10-15 bucks for it I'm becoming more impressed with it.

I feel like I should be getting a loupe or another intense magnifier so I can see the trichome colors; I may order one today.

Topped up the C02 machine today and its bubbling away like mad; I shouldn't have to top it up again. I have read mixed reviews on supplementing with C02 in the later stages of flowering but feel I can't really go wrong as the amount of c02 produced by my machine must be rather low.

Temps are steady 70-75 water temp is about the same. The humidity so between 49-69. I have been opening the grow room door through out the day in order to try and keep the humidity lower; this works but half the house smells like a grow room for an hour or so after doing this....

Any way here are a few pics of the bud production:
Lulu:

Ruby:

15 days until the planned harvest think the ladies will be ready?

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Those buds look great, way to represent the Aerogarden! Can't wait to see the harvest of these. How is the smell?

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 54 above ground/9 days until harvest!

Figured it was time for a quick update. The plants are doing their thing, buds are looking more dense and filling in the extra space; it is hard to say how they will turn out as this is my first grow. Based on the numerous bags I've picked up through out my life they should be some solid looking buds.

The major PH swings drops have stabilized slightly and I'm back to adjusting it .2-.3 3 times a day (5.8-6.1). I have no idea what was causing the swings and can't think of anything that would have stabilized them. I'm guessing it was simply a stage of the plants life. I have been adding RO'd water or the nute mix with every top up depending on PPM's doing this I have held the res to 700-800PPM consistently. Temps are 71-75 water temp 71-73 and Humidity 52-68.

Those buds look great, way to represent the Aerogarden! Can't wait to see the harvest of these. How is the smell?

Aww yes the smell. It is there and in other parts of the house lol. A nice sweet aroma fills the grow room and leeks into the adjoining room. I have been temped to open my 2nd jar of ONA and feel like it would do an OK job of covering the odor for this home stretch but figure I will save it for next grow. The roommate is still clueless I feel like she has simply adapted to the smell through the grow or she should have her nose tested! For my next grow I will be doing a single Auto AK-47 which is supposed to be high odor as well; in the long term I believe I will need to invest in a tent and filter. The only issue is I really don't have anywhere to set a tent up.

My jewelers loupe should have arrived in the mail yesterday which it didn't but I'm sure it will be here soon and I'll try to take some pics through it and give a trichome update. For now here are a few pics:

Top tower of bud:

Two buds riding into the sunset:

The three headed monster:

Cheers

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Nice! Looks great. Sure is a leafy strain, isn't it?

 

[nonamebrand]

Day 56 the beginning of the end

Today marks day one of flushing and the last week before harvest. Today I emptied the res and refilled it with RO water and 1tsp of Florakleen. I did not want to add anything else and was happy that the PH came in at an acceptable 6.5; I've read varying reports on the importance of PH water or the lack of importance when flushing. After refilling the res the PPMs read at 38; I'm guessing as nutrients are flushed out from the system these PPMs should go up.

Here's my plan for the flush:
Day 1-2 - 1 tsp Florakleen and RO water
Day 3-4 - RO water
Day 5-6 - 1.5 tsp Florkleen and RO water
Day 7 - RO water and total darkness
Day 8 - Chop chop!

I have also removed my DIY C02 machine as I have read that supplementing C02 should be stopped/limited in the final stages; once again there are conflicting reports. Another debated topic is the darkness before chopping, some people go a full week some say lights on until the end so figured I'd give it 24hrs.

One thing I have learned through this grow is that it's hard to learn about growing online as everyone seems to have their own opinions/experiences. I would encourage anyone reading this to log your own experiences (or make a journal) so that you can review and learn first hand.

I took three pictures today showing the difference between Ruby and Lulu. Lulu is half the height of her sister Ruby who towers in at 3ft. Lulu never really had a chance with a bit of a rough start compared to Ruby, she never caught up. It seems as though Lulu took a seat, started making popcorn (buds) and sat back and watched the Ruby show. I think Lulu will mostly if not completely be used to make butter. In the future I will most likely do one plant per res so I can tend to their individual needs.

Side by side:

Lulu's top bud. Still immature and probably will remain that way when harvested. Notice the torched leaves, the lower leaves look much better on her. I really didn't pay much attention to Lulu as I focused mainly on Ruby so this could be nute burn or another def; not really sure.

And on the other end ruby's top bud. Over 50% of the hairs have changed orange/brown and based on this she should be prime to pick in a week. Still waiting on my magnifier, was supposed to be here monday, kind of mad but I guess I could have ordered it 8 weeks ago...

 

[Nismo12]

I'm a little late to this one but it looks like it turned out pretty well for ya. I thought the dwarf was supposed to be short...3' is tall in my mind. Lol

But as for darkness before harvest, we do 48 hours. The buds swell up and get full of resin and frosty yummy goodness.

 

[nonamebrand]

I'm a little late to this one but it looks like it turned out pretty well for ya. I thought the dwarf was supposed to be short...3' is tall in my mind. Lol

But as for darkness before harvest, we do 48 hours. The buds swell up and get full of resin and frosty yummy goodness.

Three feet is tall "She will stay under 2 feet and will flower automatically at 12 to 18 hours of light per day." quote about the dwarf lowflyer strain and the reason why I went with it but I managed to adjust and am happy with the taller plants production.

I'll turn the lights out a bit sooner so it should be dark for 36-48hrs thanks for the input!