Noob Grower using AeroGarden Custom Setup

[AGSteve]

Wow they look good .. so the aerogarden.... those things really do work eh ? ... you think I should buy one ? How much? looks great

lol yeah man i reckon you should buy one from me. from uk with shipping won't cost you too much hehe.

hi korvette how you doing bro. i broken some of your 'rules'. i've had to change my rez more times than i can remember, mostly down to my over enthusiam with my nutes and subsequently i am now doing ph checks every day and ph'ing my solution before putting it in the rez. i am also changing the rez every 3-4 days. i am using my non ag supplied nutes tho. i can't fault any of your advice tho man , just took my own path .

 

[korvette1977]

lol yeah man i reckon you should buy one from me. from uk with shipping won't cost you too much hehe.

hi korvette how you doing bro. i broken some of your 'rules'. i've had to change my rez more times than i can remember, mostly down to my over enthusiam with my nutes and subsequently i am now doing ph checks every day and ph'ing my solution before putting it in the rez. i am also changing the rez every 3-4 days. i am using my non ag supplied nutes tho. i can't fault any of your advice tho man , just took my own path .

Live and learn.... Its a real easy plant to grow .. the more you do to it the more problems you end up getting .. I leave mine alone . It seems to be better this way

 

[AGSteve]

Live and learn.... Its a real easy plant to grow .. the more you do to it the more problems you end up getting .. I leave mine alone . It seems to be better this way

i agree with you man, so did the dude in the hydro shop. all he said to me was, your tap water is fine, if you do have any signs of deficiency use some alg-a-mic, if you want to ph your solution get it yellow and don't worry if it goes up to blue. however he did say refresh the rez every week.

 

[korvette1977]

Ive never checked my Ph ...I only clean the res between use's . add an airstone and keep the water topped off, add 1 tablet every monday and thats that .. Raise the lights when needed

 

[AGSteve]

yeah i remember you saying from earlier but i had to from over nuting. the hydro guy said to do it every week because i was using optimum nutes (a brand in the uk). next ag grow (more than likely clones) will just get plain tap water and a gradual ag nute increase after rooting. but hey what the fuck do i know... i've never done clones... this is my first time from seed... hehe.

 

[korvette1977]

yeah i remember you saying from earlier but i had to from over nuting. the hydro guy said to do it every week because i was using optimum nutes (a brand in the uk). next ag grow (more than likely clones) will just get plain tap water and a gradual ag nute increase after rooting. but hey what the fuck do i know... i've never done clones... this is my first time from seed... hehe.

Practice makes perfect ....


Keep on practicing

 

[volcomi18]

at the most do A rez flush every 2 weeks. I used to do it every 2 weeks but now I just let them drink it all up a few days before it's nutrient time which for me is every 2 weeks. I use a general hydroponics ph tester and as long as it's between yellow-orangish to greenish- yellow I don't mess with it. Soon you will see why I flush that way when u have a root soup in ur rez.

 

[AGSteve]

at the most do A rez flush every 2 weeks. I used to do it every 2 weeks but now I just let them drink it all up a few days before it's nutrient time which for me is every 2 weeks. I use a general hydroponics ph tester and as long as it's between yellow-orangish to greenish- yellow I don't mess with it. Soon you will see why I flush that way when u have a root soup in ur rez.

bro, root soup is well on its way. i've been getting my ph yellow-green but it soon goes blue-blue, like after a day. changing rez so often doesn't seem to be doing the girls any harm. if anything they like it. i think because the water temp drops to a nice 19c but it soon rises to 26c after a few hours, so i let 'em drink up a couple of litres, drain the rez and refill.

 

[AGSteve]

hi folks

here are some pics from earlier today. these babies are going mad . i've raised the lights again yesterday and topped up the rez today with ph'd nutes today. i also trimmed off the other dodgy leaves from chives (3rd pic).

 

[volcomi18]

Hell yea Steve looking damn good. I got some new pics up u should check them out tell me what you think.

 

[AGSteve]

cheers bro. on my way now .

 

[GypsyBush]

Looking good...

Pretty soon your AG will be looking like Vette's....lol

You know, I changed my lights around and all, but if I had left the AG hood on, I would still not have raised the hood at all.... my tallest is still at 5 inches tall.... but 12 inches wide... lol

Cheers Mate...

Gypsy...

 

[AGSteve]

cheers gypsy. my hood is down the back of the tent providing rear lighting with the 2 125 blue enviros on top in a home made hood. if you already knew that, then apologies, just wasn't sure from what you posted. i don't think mine will get as tall as korvettes, i'm gonna start flowering, probably next weekend, so i can give them 8/9 weeks plus time to cure for christmas.

 

[AGSteve]

added nearly 1.5l with nutes and ph'd to about 4 just now. ph'd the rez after mixing and it's high 5/low 6. plants are really starting to stink. need to start thinking of exhaust and filter. the exhaust fan i have already isn't up to the job re air extraction, not enough cfm. with the tent zipped up the temps soon go past the acceptable high. at present the tent has just been left open 24/0.

 

[GypsyBush]

Hey Steve...

Yeah I knew your light was behind it, I was just saying that my plants are really short... that's all....

As for the lights and heat, I wonder if you could fit your CFLs inside of a cool tube and remove all the heat generated by the bulbs to the outside of your cab....

2 bulbs should fit inside of one tube... I just bought one that is 8"20cm inside diameter and 19"/49cm long.... when it gets here, I will post some pics....


Best of luck mate...

Oh... and do you know why your ph is so crazy....???
I wonder what is causing it to fluctuate so much so fast....

Cheers...

Gypsy...

 

[AGSteve]

hi gypsy

i'll look into a cool tube but i think with the cfls being end on with reduce the lumen to the plants. i would also need to make a new reflector probably unless it came with one. i have a fan on the homemade reflector and it does a grand job, just need to sort out a more powerful exhaust fan really. the one i have is about 2/3 the one on the reflector. i reckon if i get one that does 2 or 3 times the cfm i would be fine.

why is my ph so crazy? i don't think its 'that' crazy (it's manageable and i am using a liquid tester which leaves rather a large amount of subjectiveness as to the colour) but i don't have anything to compare to.

i am however very interested in your opinion, as always.

 

[GypsyBush]

Steve, a cool tube would fit in your cab horizontally...

You could put the bulbs in sequence (<< or >>), you can put them facing each other (><) or you can even put them facing away from each other (<>)... did that make any sense at all??????

You just have to make sure there is plenty of space around the bulbs for the airflow to carry the heat away...

If you buy a cool tube, chances are that it will come with a small internal reflector, and some even have an additional external, larger reflector that just clips in....

I did see the reflector you made and liked it very much.... but I guess there is still a lot of heat reaching the surfaces inside you cab...

A cool tube would isolate the cab from the heat, provided you have a strong enough fan to move the heat away ....

Is any of this making sense?

 

[GypsyBush]

why is my ph so crazy? i don't think its 'that' crazy

My bad... just re-read the post...

I thought you were ph'ing your water to 4 and after putting it in the res it would climb... and not stabilize....

I'll pay more attention next time... sorry....

Gypsy....

 

[AGSteve]

hehe, no ph just goes high fairly quick from what i've read. i did a low ph solution to top up so the resulting rez ph would be lowered. i did have some concerns about doing that but the plants seem to handle it ok now they are big. it's not something i would try tho until they were well established. when i added a concentrated amount of nutes (no ph'ing) i had problems with two of the plants but the third was fine. i am guessing tho that it didn't mix very well.

the enviros are about 12" long, lamp and ballast. so i think what you have suggested would fit. unless i got you wrong. i have a few ideas re the extraction but i think it is gonna require me purchasing what i believe will work and going from there. i need to check the size of these inline fans. i've seen much more powerful and cheaper ones than the hydro stores supply. they are probably noisier tho.

 

[AGSteve]

oh btw the fan removing hot air from the hood is not the extraction fan. just to clear that up if it was a cause of confusion.