Timings for nutrients with Aeroponic set up?

Toaor

New Member
Hi, I'm after some advice on the timing intervals using an Aeroponic set up with Canna Aqua nutrients.

Q: How often should I get the jets to spray solution on roots?

Also, I will be starting off with drip feed from top so again how long and how often to drip feed?

Your help is much appreciated people.

Best wishes,
Toaor
 
Hey Petflora, tried to reply by PM but can't until I get 50 points !

Thanks for the info I'd actually just read your data before posting question, I've had trouble finding timer controls to do seconds per minute per hour. I've just bought three digital timers with 20 programs per day across 7 days that have one minute timings.

Will post journal once I kick off, which should be next few days providing light arrives.

Best wishes,
Toaor
 
OK thanks PF, I'm looking at them now. I did see one which is USB controller but can't bloody find it again ow I'm actually looking for it.

Won't the fogger keep them damp enough in between drenchings?
 
Hey PF, how's you?

I was just doing some more research on timings and noticed on the Yaroots Producer 505 series it contradicts itself saying on one 15 minutes every 2 hours but on another 1 minute every 1 - 2 hours, so confusing.

I will try start with a 1 minute every hour and keep a close eye on them to see how moist they are, if not enough will up it.

As I said I'm hoping the fogger will at least keep them moist enough till the next spray feed.

Also I'm starting them off in Root Riot surrounded by clay pebbles so may top feed on the same timing as well so as the Root Riot cubes hold some moisture.

Will keep posting with progress, White Widow seeds went into Root Riot today for germination having had an over night water soak first.

Best wishes,
Toaor
 
Hey Toar. I visited the Yaroots site and saw The Producer 505. I checked the specs which says it is 20 cm deep (height). 20 cms / 2.54"/cm= is not even 8" deep. Also the plant wholes are too close to the sides (as well as too many) for growing plants. If your use is strictly for clones/seedlings it is ok.

This set up is not adaptable for HPA, ad not viable for growing plants >12" (~30cm plants) as the shallow base will be clogged with roots about the time you flip to flower. The only way to get nutrient here would be DWC, not fog, and I don't recommend typical DWC either, which the Yaroots is.

Unless you plan to use a commercial fogger that will not burn up fogging >400 ppm nutes, and have a separate rez, you will likely have heat issues, which can destroy the nutes and cause all kinds of root problems.

Please confine any questions to HPA systems
HTH
 
I have to agree with PF. The yaroots system is only good for clones and small/leafy vegetables. The res is too shallow.

Return those digi timers and get a good cycle timer. For an LPA system like this you can go 1 on / 5 off. If you can't afford the cycle timer then buy a cheap dial timer that has 15 min intervals and do 15 on / 30 off.

You mentioned a drip system, why? Since you are starting from seed just hand water until the tap root is poking out of the cube and you have some true leaves. THEN fill your system with nutrient solution and turn the pump on.
 
Update:

Still waiting for my digital timers so have set it up with 15 mins of spraying every 2 hours, they've now been running on that for the last 5 days and all appears to be fine. They're on to the thirds set of serrated leaves and about 10cms tall.

I'm also still waiting for the fogger to arrive but at present they certainly don't need it and are not drying out. However, as they get bigger I will need to feed more often I'm sure and the fogger shold at least keeps roots moist enough till next spray.

I've posted some pics on my journal "Self Growth Journal #1"

One thing I did forget to do was measure the pH after I mixed Canna Aqua A+B, it was around 7 as water and I went for the hard water mix of nutrients but did not retest and I don't have any ph Up and Down anyway, some of the leaves have a slight curl on them so I'm sure if this is due to pH, anmy advice appreciated.

Regards to all,
Toaor
 
Throughout this grow and my last, I have been focused on feed cycle times. I am now 2-3 weeks from harvest on this grow. It finally hit me that my open system (no accumulator to keep nutes under pressure) does not respond remotely the same to extremely short feed cycles. Over the last couple days I have increased feed to 15 seconds on and pause to 20 minutes, and longer pause is likely to follow. This will not be a set in stone number, as it has to do with the amount of heat your light radiates into the pod, as well as your plants tolerance for dryness.

hth
 
I am finding that 15 seconds is too long for young developing plants.

The roots on my 5 week old plants look like DWC roots- overcooked spaghetti. We want roots that are loaded with lateral roots that look like fish bones. You won't get them if the pod environment is constantly damp and wet. Roots need some dry time between feedings to process the nutes.

Once the plant is well into flower mode increasing the feed time 'might' be a good thing. I will soon see.

My starter system uses a cycle timer whose lowest setting is 30 seconds (needs to be replaced). 4 plants in there are 5 weeks old; their roots were growing much to long and spaghetti-like instead of developing lateral roots. This forced me to move them to my main system, which meant having to move my one flowering female who is 2-3 weeks from harvest into the back up system.

It's been 2 days and she seems no worse for wear, but her roots were well established, so she may be better able to handle the longer feed cycle this late in her life.

hth
 
Hi,

If I may resurrect this old post, there was a lot of great and valuable information flowing that I am in need of and was hoping to turn the gears once more to see what happens. PetFlora, I am very interested in what your findings were regarding feed times. i was also hell bent on getting into fogging until this thread. The main gist of my fog studies suggest that getting the nute solution to vapor droplets of 5 microns or smaller was key to the success of the fogponic system, but the added burdens of heat generation and strained PPM levels tells me that it aint worth all the trouble.

Also, possibly an unrelated question. I built an Aero bucket from an 18 gallon Rubbermaid tote. It will have 4 - 5" netpot sites with clay pebbles. The sprayer heads are located roughly 4" below the bottoms of the net cups. I have 12 sprayers on the manifold, each rated for 25 PSI (don't know if that matters). My question is what size pump would I need to effectively get a decent spray from each sprayer?
Aero-Top_Drip-DWC.PNG
 
You want a cycle timer that will do 1-minute on, 4-minutes off. Don't get the kind with knobs because you will eventually hit them and fuck everything up. No knobs, no fuck-ups.
timer14.jpg
 
Hello, sorry for yet another resurrection but I am in the middle of my first DIY aeroponic grow (true HPA) and hope to get some information.

I have been playing with cycle feeding times a bit throughout the grow but I am now in the 3rd week of flower and want to be more careful and wonder where I should be on my timing? If I inspect the roots periodically, I can't help but to feel I have transitioned away from where I want to be (observed water droplets on the roots) in terms of being too wet to get the aeroponic benefits I am targeting.

After reading this and other threads, it sounds like we want to aim to just keep the roots moist, not dripping so anyone have some fresh input on cycle times during flower?

Since this is my first grow, I have been documenting everything but there is so much uncertainty I keep second guessing myself. I have observed that it appears that the plant grows fine with an aggressive cycle time (also tested this by manually flushing with a long cycle time) and believe to really unlock the power of aeroponics I need to find the right balance for the cycle times and now I have questions about how to find ways to center in on the right zone for optimal growth.
 
Hello, sorry for yet another resurrection but I am in the middle of my first DIY aeroponic grow (true HPA) and hope to get some information.

I have been playing with cycle feeding times a bit throughout the grow but I am now in the 3rd week of flower and want to be more careful and wonder where I should be on my timing? If I inspect the roots periodically, I can't help but to feel I have transitioned away from where I want to be (observed water droplets on the roots) in terms of being too wet to get the aeroponic benefits I am targeting.

After reading this and other threads, it sounds like we want to aim to just keep the roots moist, not dripping so anyone have some fresh input on cycle times during flower?

Since this is my first grow, I have been documenting everything but there is so much uncertainty I keep second guessing myself. I have observed that it appears that the plant grows fine with an aggressive cycle time (also tested this by manually flushing with a long cycle time) and believe to really unlock the power of aeroponics I need to find the right balance for the cycle times and now I have questions about how to find ways to center in on the right zone for optimal growth.
I have grown with 4 min off 2 sec on for my solenoid valve in flower.
Currently in early veg on my 2nd HPA grow, check my journal if you havent, you might learn something.
 
I have looked at it, thanks. You have a great setup, love your work. I think my problem is I tend to over complicate things and wish there were more people out there with similar setups so we can compare notes so I am happy to have stumbled in here.

My cycle times have been around 5 sec on and 5 min off for most of my grow (a little more aggressive in the beginning). When I look at my roots, I can see pooled up droplets and thought that may be a sign of too much moisture? My roots structures look very different than most of the pictures on the net which led me to question my configuration. With this being my first indoor grow, let alone adding some of the unique characteristics of aero, I find my mind can be my worst enemy at times.

One area where I seem to have some variation with others is where I point my nozzles. I never had them pointing directly towards my roots; I always kept them pointing down so that only the fine mist reflects up towards the roots. I had no real guidance so I believe this led to a slow start but I appreciated the challenge of the new tech.

I probably should create a journal myself and share it but this was my first run and since there were so many components to test and dial in, I started with one single seed. After reading your other journal, it looks like a miracle it is still alive? My setup is more of a "pocket grow" consisting of a small 3x3 tent with one plant for my initial run.

Since this thread is about cycle times, I will try to stay on topic so I will try to post up some pics of my roots at various times throughout the grow so we can have a good discussion about it. Will post them today...
 
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