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

[Renegade69]

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!

I would recommend not using "ona gel". Most SME'S would agree. It leaves a very bad taste on your bud. Even when placed outside the area. Ask around....

 

[Renegade69]

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.

Exactly.... Your house your rules.... Just post for others to stay out.

 

[Gonzfather]

Why have I heard 5.8 is good for soil? I'm having similar difficulties as this but I'm phing all my nutes and water to 5.8... should I be doing 6.5?

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[Frenchy672]

I would recommend not using "ona gel". Most SME'S would agree. It leaves a very bad taste on your bud. Even when placed outside the area. Ask around....

for a quick fix and for something with a strong scent, put it at the front door so thats first thing they smell + it sticks in the it nose for awhile. if your box is air tight and the blocks are kept far enough away for a short while, I see no harm done. I've read about not keeping them in the same room, that's just kinda silly to me but not everyone else. and if you're only using them for 7 10 days I doubt it has a hard effect on budz. not disagreeing that leaving them too close, too long, it will get all funky....mine as well spray your budz with your favorite febreeze

 

[CMJJMC2000]

CBMEdz, thanks! I'm really not exactly sure how far into flower I am. I didn't count myself as being in "flower" until I saw pistils start to emerge from the preflowers, so I could be further along, I'm really not sure to be honest. I just know that the buds aren't ready for chopping yet, so onwards we go!

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Why have I heard 5.8 is good for soil? I'm having similar difficulties as this but I'm phing all my nutes and water to 5.8... should I be doing 6.5?

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That's a good question. I haven't done any research into soil grows for cannabis, however, I am very familiar with soil grows for a lot of other plants. The PH of the water for your feed/water solution is really dependent upon the PH of the soil. If you have a very basic soil composition, then dropping PH on your water/feed solution might help to provide a "middle of the road" balance that certain plants need. Are you in soil or water based medium?

 

[Renegade69]

Why have I heard 5.8 is good for soil? I'm having similar difficulties as this but I'm phing all my nutes and water to 5.8... should I be doing 6.5?

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

Gonzfather...

That chart that CMJ posted is accurate. Not sure who and why anyone would tell you different. Not sure where I got the chart from (could have been the interwebs...LOL) but the soil guys would be able to confirm. Not being a soil guy (yet) I would have taken the advise of the chart.

Regards...

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 48 Update; 48 days above ground and should be in week 4 of flower now. Morning temp was 74F with humidity at 41%. PH was 6.0 and I dropped to 5.8 - should have dropped lower. Temp tonight was 79F with humidity at 42%. Plants are taking in about 2/3 gallon of water each day, but not much in nutes today. PPM was only down by 100. I thought that this phase of flowering burned up a lot of nutes. If I'm right, then maybe there's something causing a lockout? PH is in the sweet spot (5.8 to 6.0) for flowering. I'm getting so impatient waiting for these buds to fatten up, I wish I could fast forward through this stage and hit harvest. I need to order a macro lens for my phone so I can check out the trichomes and add another dimension to the daily pics. I think I'll get on that tonight!

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Bit of a mid-day update for this beautiful spring Friday. I ordered the macro lens and also a SECOND Mars Hydro Reflector Series 48 unit. This will bring my TRUE (actual draw from the outlet) wattage for lighting in the tent for these two dwarf girls up to about 260 watts of canopy penetrating LED power. I'm hoping that the extra wattage will really supercharge the late stages of flowering where the calyx's swell with resin and the buds fatten up. It arrives tomorrow.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 49 update; 7 weeks above ground! I've almost made it. Morning temp was 72F with humidity at 43%. PH was 5.8 and I left it as-is. Temp tonight is 77F with humidity at 38%. PH was 5.8 and the gallon top off jug was bone dry so I filled that back up with 5.7PH RO water, 8ppm. PPM's are at 780, so about another 100ppm of intake today.

Buds are "fattening" up in weight but the size isn't coming as quickly as I would have thought. The resin production is extremely impressive for what the stated THC content of these plants is. All of the bud sites on plant #2 are very much sugar coated, with the inner areas showing larger globs instead of just small crystals. Pistils are still light on nearly all bud sites.

The extra light that's showing up tomorrow ought to help kick everything into overdrive for the last bit of flowering. The extra light coverage alone to the outer bud sites will make it worth the purchase. Essentially, each plant will have its own Mars Hydro Reflector 48 unit. This will hopefully make for some fat dwarves!

Reservoir temp has been staying between 71 and 72 during the daytime, since I'm having to close the closet door while at work. At night it drops back to about 68-69. Without the chiller, I'm sure my reservoir would be running about 2 degrees higher than ambient air temps since the pump for the drip system is constantly running in there. So, without the chiller I imagine the reservoir temps would be hitting 80 every day - perfect temp for algae + bacteria to ruin a grow. The "pain in the ass" factor for installing the chiller was quite minimal. Once I got the bulkhead sealed watertight, it was pretty simple. If anyone is planning on using an Aerogarden for anything other than growing out clones, I would say that the chiller is quite essential.

I'm getting very excited for the impending harvest date, and even more excited to break everything down and start planning out my second grow. I'll be doing a single non-dwarf plant on the next go around. I have about 6 or 7 strains on hand to choose from and am working on narrowing down my selection. Not to mention, it would be great to win some Crop King seeds through the grow journal contest. I mean, this *is* the only Dwarf Low Flyer grow journal that exists on the internet ::wink wink::


In all seriousness though, I'd love to test out some more of their autoflowering strains. I'm so impressed with the ease of germination, rapid growth and desire to thrive that these plants have exhibited thus far. For a first timer, it's been a real treat to work with this strain. Perfect for dipping your toes into the hobby before taking the plunge into the more exotic strains that they offer. The next time I order from Crop King it will certainly include some Revolver and the CBDream. Have a great weekend, folks!

 

[Heraldo]

Sorry for stating the obvious, but you're killing it. Don't worry about the size, those nugs still have a lot of bulking up to do.
Good weekend to you and your girls too.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Sorry for stating the obvious, but you're killing it. Don't worry about the size, those nugs still have a lot of bulking up to do.
Good weekend to you and your girls too.

Thanks for the kind words. The stem on yours is getting FAT! Looks like it's shaping up to deliver some quality goods to you, as well.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

The second Mars Hydro Reflector 48 arrived this morning and I got it rigged up so they're side by side. It's about 7" above plant #2 and about 3" above plant #1. The entirety of both plants are now sitting in the sweet spot of the light coverage. Ready to see some supercharged resin production and bud swelling.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Drained reservoir and refilled with 1/2 strength doses of the following........Sensi Bloom A+B, Bud Candy, B52, Bud Factor X, Overdrive, Rhino Skin and a 1/4 dose of Sensi Cal Mag Xtra. PH'd it all to 5.7 to allow for some drift. PPM's are coming in right at 800. I think I messed up on my last reservoir swap because I added Big Bud AND Overdrive, I wasn't supposed to do that according to what I've ready. Anyhow, onwards with root pics! They're a much whiter color in real life, I have to stick my camera all the way in the reservoir to avoid the purple/red coloration that the overhead lights put out.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 50 update; Morning temp was 72F with humidity at 41%. PH was at 5.8 and I let it ride. Temp tonight is 77F with humidity at 38%. PH was at 5.9 and I dropped it down to 5.8.

As I mentioned earlier, I already did a drain & fill on the reservoir and decided to go with a milder dose of nutes, bringing the total PPM in the reservoir to 800 at the time of the change. It's now sitting at 740ppm, so between where it was this morning and where it is tonight it pulled in about 120ppm since last night. I've read in a few other journals and nute schedules that with autoflowers, PPM will decrease in the later stages of flowering. The daily intake during the "stretch" in early flowering was unreal, there were days where the plants would pull in 500PPM in 24 hours along with at least a half gallon of water.

I've gotten such good practice with this plant. Sitting with the plants and observing/studying each of the branches/leafs/flowers has really gotten me a lot of information/feedback from the plant that may be missed if you're just trying to make quick work of the plant maintenance. What they say about "listening" to your plants is very true. Having the hard data for PH, temp, RH and PPM's along with the feedback from the plant (and pictures) is really allowing me to analyze the entire grow and figure out rooms for improvement on my next project.

There are now 2 x Mars Hydro Reflector 48's hung in the tent. I re-measured and the light on the left is 8" from plant #2 and the light on the right is 3.5" from plant #1. The plants appear very happy and the entirety of both plants are right in the sweet spot of the lights. I really wish I had done this a few weeks ago.

 

[Stinky Snid]

Great addition CMJ That's exactly why I chose to have dual 48x5 reflectors instead of one 96x5, you can raise or lower according to its plant. They basically perfectly cover one plants area with its footprint. They're great for small grow setups. Anyways getting pretty far along now. Looking good still, keep up the fine work and...

KiG Brother Cheers

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 51 update; 51 days above ground and somewhere in the 4th week of flowering. Morning temp was 74F with humidity at 40%. PH was 5.8 and I left it as-is. Reservoir was down to about 1/4. I checked a little bit after lunch and the reservoir was bone dry. Temp tonight is 77F with humidity at 38%. PH was at 6.0 so I dropped it back to 5.8. PPM's are down to 390 - so the plants are hungry again! 340ppm of intake today. I love seeing the PPM drop quickly like that.

Calyx's are swelling up very nicely. I took some pics along the main stem of plant #1 (can't get close enough on #2, the plant has too many side colas to get in there) and they look like they're going to burst.

The buds themselves are swelling up nicely. Open areas along the main stems are quickly closing up. Plant #1 looks like it's main cola will bring about a 9" nugget. Plant #2 should produce at least 6 nuggets that are 6" long - there's even a very fat twin cola growing on the rear side of plant #2.



For those that are new to the journal, I wanted to provide additional pics of the setup - specifically, where the chiller is mounted and how the aerogarden is mounted onto pavers to provide clearance for the chiller. I also grabbed pics of the fan and the Aerovoir 1 gallon auto top off jug.

My macro lens arrived today (along with a wide and fisheye lens) and I've put it to good use. I'm going to need to bring in a warm white overhead light - going to use a hanging shop light - in order to get good enough light for nice and clear pictures. The trichomes on plant #2 are looking nice and clouding up, while the trichomes on plant #1 are more on the clear side. Some pistils are starting to turn orange but the majority are still a nice milky white/yellow. I wouldn't be surprised if plant #2 is ready to come down by next weekend or, possibly, sooner.

And here's the rest of the daily shots of the girls........

 

[Renegade69]

Give them buds a gentle squeeze with thumb and finger....now smell your fingers....LOL.

Smell that....it's the smell of success.

Great job grasshopper....LOL.

Chopping up my latest run and settling back into the shadows. Got a Roush Stage 3 on my mind.

Till the next one....

Regards......

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Give them buds a gentle squeeze with thumb and finger....now smell your fingers....LOL.

Smell that....it's the smell of success.

Great job grasshopper....LOL.

Chopping up my latest run and settling back into the shadows. Got a Roush Stage 3 on my mind.

Till the next one....

Regards......

Thanks for all of your assistance, Renegade! I just sold off my fun/track car about a month ago, you'll like the Stage 3 - supercharged and factory warranty is a nice thing to have.

 

[Ferboldt]

Amazing job!!! Are you also gonna write a smoke report?