First Grow! - Aerogarden Ultra With Mars Reflector 48 Using CK Dwarf Low Flyer

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 40 update: Unfortunate news, possibly. Realtors will start accessing our house this upcoming week. I will be present for all showings, and hopefully can barricade the office with enough boxes to keep anyone from being able to get into it - this will also make 2 x daily maintenance a pain in my ass, but so be it. I figure that while people are here, I will turn the fan/filter off. Our closing date isn't for a nearly 2 months, so I'll be very disappointed if I have to chop early. I figure both plants would yield 7 grams right now, maybe more, once dried. The buds are so premature, it would be crushing to have to end things early.

Morning temp was 72F with humidity at 48%. PH was 5.8. Temp tonight is 73F with humidity at 45%. PH is at 5.8 and PPM's are down to 450 - so almost a 500ppm drop from last night. The aerovoir auto top off jug - 1 gallon - was fully depleted when I looked tonight. 1 gallon of water and 500ppm's of nutes since last night!!! Unreal. I defoliated about 15 fan leaves and could probably take off another 20 or so and still have a full canopy up top. Plant #2 is almost 27" tall and growth seems to be stalling on it, finally. It is 2" from the lights now with no sign of burn.

Buds are filling in quickly and shooting even more pistils. My camera isn't ideal for the weird light spectrums in the tent, so sorry about the purple photos. The buds look about twice as full in real life as they do in the photos.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

I barricaded the office nicely with boxes and totes, the closet is now inaccessible to potential foot traffic unless they try very hard to move lots of stuff to get to it. The door is slightly cracked and fan was turned down to 1/3 power. There was a very very faint odor that I noticed, that some people might not, but I will move it up to 50% for my next test run. The noise was noticeable, so I turned on the bathroom fan and opened the door that connects it to the office so it drowned out the fan noise inside of the tent. Light leak is zero. I'm hoping that we don't get a lot of traffic here, I have to be given 24 hours notice so I can prepare a bit more than if there was no notice. Still, I'm pretty sketched out and I'm prepared to chop if I feel uncomfortable.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 41 update: 41 days above ground today, almost to the 6 week mark. Morning temp was 72F with 50% humidity, PH was at 5.8 - or so i thought. Temp tonight is 75F with humidity at 52%. PH read 5.8 still. I recalibrated the PH pen and it showed me a PH of 5.5. So, today was a partial nute block day due to the low PH. I defoliated about 20 fan leaves so clear up the bud sites for light light intake. All of the flower sites are starting to get sugar coated. I ran my finger across one of the smaller trichome coated leaves and it smells soooooo good, very very sticky as well. It's skunky and sweet, hope it tastes like it smells! I also cut back about 4 tiny popcorn sites that were on low parts of the stems/branches, they had grown back from where I trimmed last weekend. The Bud Ignitor must be working a bit too well!

Tomorrow I'll do a full reservoir water change. The auto top off jug is almost empty, so the plants pulled in almost a gallon of the 600ppm water from the top off jug today. The top of plant #2 is now 1" from the lights. I'm going to have to figure out a way to raise it higher. It's about 1 foot from the ceiling, but the mounting cables are long and in about 5" it will come within 1" of the fan housing. I'll figure that out tomorrow.

Also, I realized tonight that my main lights have been running for 24 hours a day since Sunday night. My power went out and before the generators could kick in, the power strip lost juice. The battery must be dead, because all of my settings were lost when it happened. Anyhow, i reprogrammed it but left the mode set to "on" instead of "auto". I hope that didn't have a negative effect on the plants bud growth. They're quite healthy, obviously, but not sure if 24 hour light is good, bad or neutral to the flowering cycle.

 

[Frenchy672]

ona gel!!! keep it in the hallway or in the bathroom if it's close to the closet...they are beautiful and makes complete sense to have a clean "fresh" smelling house for open houses
. you can do this, let them fill your soul with peace and happiness and remember the reward for waiting!

 

[Frenchy672]

candles or incense as well..

 

[Frenchy672]

also lock the room somehow and just tell people it's a closet [take a picture of it empty or something and post it on the door?] and them tell everyone it's locked is personals and valuables so they're safe from getting stolen...it's your house still, ya can do and show what you need or want shown not that I have much experience in this subject lol, but I feel that's common sense/hospitality rules.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 42 update; 6 weeks above ground! Morning temp 73F with humidity at 49% and PH at 6.0. I dropped it down to 5.7. Temp tonight is 75F with humidity at 41% - finally, the nasty weather has left and humidity should start creeping down into a better range. PH tonight is 5.9. I'm currently brewing some RO water for the reservoir and for the Aerovoir top off jug.

My PPM's haven't been worth mentioning for the last 2 days because I've been filling the Aerovoir top off jug with 700ppm nute water. I wanted for it be like a constant IV drip of nute fluids to replace what was being taken in by the plants. Since it's been pulling in almost the entire gallon from the top off jug each day, I'm hoping to supercharge the growth while I can.

I raised the lights up about 2 more inches, and without relocating the fan/filter that's as far as they're going until the next grow. I now have about 3" between plant #1 and the main LED's (Mars Hydro Reflector 48). I've also been raising up the stock aerogarden hood which is providing lighting to the rear of the plant, mounted to the wall of the tent.

Tops of the bud sites are getting frosty, I love it! I'm working on putting filling the office with more moving boxes. We have about 8 weeks until we close on our new house, so I guess this is helping to get the ball rolling on the packing-up front. I'm going to put a subtle air freshener in the office, nothing obnoxious or overpowering, and see how that goes. This room will be so full of boxes that nobody will have any interest in attempting to look around.

Bud growth continues to be impressive every day, with the empty spots at the top 6" of the bud sites disappearing very quickly. If I can hold off on chopping until the 16th or 17th, I really think that this will be an impressive haul. My goal this whole time has been to have the bud chopped and dried for 4/20. I know this leaves zero time for curing, but I really want to sample a little bit of this on 4/20, even if it's just a popcorn bud.

 

[Stinky Snid]

Looking great CMJ, man do they ever grow fast. I remember just little sprouts tucked into their little discs. And now... Booyah!

Good luck with showings, KIG Cheers

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Looking great CMJ, man do they ever grow fast. I remember just little sprouts tucked into their little discs. And now... Booyah!

Good luck with showings, KIG Cheers

Thanks, man! It's been a quick journey, all things considered. Having these daily pics to reference will be cool once all is wrapped up on this.

On a side note, I forgot to put in root pics from the reservoir water change. Roots are filling up the entire bottom 2" of the reservoir at the lowest spot. At the highest spots, they're high enough to touch the grow cups.

Check out those tap roots!

 

[CMJJMC2000]

A little mid day update pic here. I dropped the Aerogarden 3 inches by setting the paver bricks that elevate it on their sides. The chiller that protrudes from the bottom right of it requires about 4" of elevation off of the ground in order to provide clearance and airflow. After this grow, I'll probably make a C shaped mold and pour some concrete into that to make a more custom fit "mount" for the aerogarden to sit on. The chiller would recess into the empty space of the "C" shape.

Besides moving the plant further from the light, since plant #1 was still stretching, it also allows me to get better overhead pics!

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 44 update; I went back and re-read my journal today, I'm actually on day 44 above ground, not day 43. So, a day older - woohoo! Temp this morning was 70F with humidity at 51%. PH was at 5.9 and I left it as-is. Temp tonight is 78F with humidity at 41%. PH was at 6.1 so I dropped it down to 5.8. Top off jug is about halfway full, so it pulled in a half gallon today. PPM's are at 625, so almost 400ppm of intake since last night.

With the Aerogarden being lower to the ground now, there's only about 1/2" of clearance between the cooling fan on the chiller and the top of the tub that the aerogarden and paver bricks sit on. I noticed that the chiller is hanging at 71.6F instead of 69F. I've placed my circulation fan on the ground now so that it will blow air underneath the Aerogarden and hopefully bring some cooler air towards the cooling fins on the chiller.

Bud growth today continues to be impressive, with more sugarcoating on the leaves - especially on plant #2. I really like having the light a bit higher up, it's getting a lot more light to the outer bud sites and I'm sure the plants will appreciate that.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 45 update: 45 days above ground and in 3rd week of flower. Temp this morning was 71F with humidity at 46%. Temp tonight is 75F with humidity at 41%. PH tonight is 5.9 and I'm going to leave it as-is. Nute intake today has been low - only pulled in about 100ppm today. I did some major defoliating last night to open up the bud sites and trim off about 90% of the fan leaves that were blocking off light from other bud sites. Plant #1 looks naked, Plant #2 looks like it's budding out! Pretty nice to be able to see the actual fruits now.

I came home at lunch today to test something out. I closed the door to the closet completely and wanted to see what temps would climb to after 5 hours. I also plugged in an air freshener. With the closet door closed and all of the boxes in place, I couldn't hear a thing. In fact, my computer sounded louder than any other noise in the room. When I got home the air freshener had removed any trace of plant smell in the room. The temp inside of the grow tent with the closet door closed was 79F. I had the AC in the house set to 73F, and the AC outlet spits out right into my tents open intake port. Good to go! I don't believe I'll be needing to chop early now.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 46 update; 46 days above ground and in the 3rd week of flower. Morning temp was 71F with humidity at 46%. PH was at 6.0 and I adjusted it down to 5.8. I left the closet door closed all day today and it did fine. Temp when I got home was 79F with humidity at 41%. PH was at 5.9 and PPM's had only gone down by 100.

I decided to brew up fresh water for the reservoir. I think they're hunting for a certain nutrient and once it's been eliminated from the reservoir, the other stuff is slow to be taken up by the plant - or it's flat out ignored. So, I brewed up 3/4 strength doses of......
Sensi Bloom A+B, B-52, Big Bud, Bud Candy, Overdrive (new addition for this week!), Bud Factor X AND a 1/2 dose of Sensi Cal Mag Xtra

So, PPM in the reservoir is now at 1360. Hitting a new high on nute levels, hopefully they will suck it down and boost up these buds. Plant #2 is filling in very quickly. Honestly, it looks like it's a week ahead of plant #1.

The stretching on plant #1 has finally stopped, it's at 29" from the top of the grow sponge to the highest tip of bud at the top. Plant #2 is at 24". The defoliation was a good call, I think. Much more light is getting to the bud sites and their small leaves that feed each node of bud growth. The look is much cleaner, in my opinion, and is giving me a good idea of what harvest might look like. The pistils on plant #2 are changing colors. They're no longer clearing white, more of a white now with yellowish tinges of color. Thrichomes are coming in all of the tiny fan leaves and the buds. The smell is AMAZING. I can't wait to have a taste of this in a few weeks.

 

[CBMedzNewb]

Something about seeing a happy plant at the root level... so damn cool. Really glad you included this in your pictures.. Steals the show in my opinion. More of the same as they continue to mature would be appreciated.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Something about seeing a happy plant at the root level... so damn cool. Really glad you included this in your pictures.. Steals the show in my opinion. More of the same as they continue to mature would be appreciated.

Thanks for checking out my grow! I'm glad the root pictures have been of value. It's been just as interesting for me to see the growth below ground as above ground. It's been difficult to get good pictures of the root system lately because of the Trellis that was put on - it puts a lot of stress on the main stem to tilt the top tray back for root pics. However, I am committed to getting root pics twice a week when I do water changes. I look at them every day and give them a touch to check for slimy/sticky areas. So far, no issues! I think the chiller has made a huge difference in keeping the plant happy and keeping environmental stress to a minimum.

 

[nonamebrand]

Just caught up on your journal and it is very much appreciated; looks like you're doing great work! I was wondering how you go about draining the water from your res in order to refill it?

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Just caught up on your journal and it is very much appreciated; looks like you're doing great work! I was wondering how you go about draining the water from your res in order to refill it?

Thanks, man! Glad to know the journal has been of help to you. I drain the reservoir using a hand pump with an inlet hose and an outlet hose. I originally rigged up one of my aquarium pumps to do the work for me, but the suction was too strong and I was worried about roots going in and getting chopped up in the impeller. The hand pump allows for the user to control the flow - which is important when the reservoir is chock full of roots. I refill it via the fill area on the front right of the aerogarden unit. There was a plastic bar underneath the fill spout that said "fill to here" and I dremeled off the bulk of that so that I can insert my PH and PPM pens in there.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 47 update: 47 days above ground and I believe this is the last day of week 3 of flowering. Tomorrow will mark the first day of week 4 of flowering, very exciting stuff for a first timer like me! Temp this morning was 71F with humidity at 44%. PH was 6.0 and I dropped down to 5.8. Temp tonight was 77F with a full day of the door being closed in the closet. I did make a bit of an error this morning when I did my maintenance - I forgot to turn the "bloom" switch on, so my main LED's were only working at about 2/3 power today which sucks. PH tonight was 6.1 and I dropped it down to 5.8.

The aerovoir unit - 1 gallon gravity fed auto top off - was bone dry when I got home. I refilled that with 7PPM RO water PH'd to 5.6 in hope that the lower PH water entering the system will help to counteract the upward PH drift in the main reservoir as nutes get absorbed. I've had decent luck with trying to calculate the right level to PH the top off jug to in order to minimize drift. I really want to keep it in that 5.8-6.0 sweet spot for this flowering cycle.

PPM was down to 1030, so about 330PPM of intake today. Which I'm pretty pleased with considering the prior day was only 100ppm. To say that these plants are tolerant of wide PPM swings is an understatement. I'm really quite surprised with how much I'm able to push the limits from a nute standpoint. They just keep taking whatever I throw at them. Big props to Crop King for their creation of this forgiving plant.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

BTW - the taproot on plant #1 (right side) is 3/4 of an inch thick. It's as thick as my thumb!

 

[CBMedzNewb]

Gee.. you could knit a sweater from those roots. Thanks for the new pics. Look to be doing exceptional above as well for 3 weeks of flower?