New Aerogarden GrowJounal **First Timer**

blackaricanboy

blackaricanboy

Well-Known Member
DaSlumpa said:
hey blackaricanboy, ur plants r nice and uve been helpful to me. i gota aerogarden classic (i ordered the deluxe but they sent me the wrong one). i wanted to ask u a couple questions.

what setting do u have ur AG on? (tomatos, salad greens... etc)

and do the settings change the light time? cuz once i start flowering i gotta go 12/12 but im thinkin unpluggin the system to control the lights myt afffect it. any ideas how i cud change to 12/12 without hurtin my plants? (easiest way apprciated)

thanx
Click to expand...

Great question man, honestly. im unplugging it and plugging it in every 12 hours, a timer would make things more convinient but doing it manually hasnt had any drawbacks either. the pump isint on unless the lights on.
 
DaSlumpa

DaSlumpa

Active Member
the pump doesnt need to run all day nd night? and what setting is best out of the tomato, salad greens, and the other ones?
 
jointchief

jointchief

Well-Known Member
With aero, its best to leave the pump on 24/7. Wow that thing looks stretched out as a mofo...use better light (more powerful).
 
grodrowithme

grodrowithme

Well-Known Member
why the areo garden you could have built a much more efficient setup imo no offense im just saying if your gonna do it dont torture it lol and do you only have 1 female plant left
 
blackaricanboy

blackaricanboy

Well-Known Member
Alright guys new pics coming tonight! tons of new white hairs and possibly what i think might be new bud growth. This is exciting :) i STILL havent topped the plant.. im praying that it stops growing because topping it now would only cause stress.. its about 3 feet tall now. For a mystery bud its got a really sweet candy like aroma to it.. kind of like licorice, but with a strong mj smell that you can only really smell once the lights are going.
 
Roseman

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
Bro,
you PMed me and invited me here for some advise. (you'd seen my pics)
I read every post.
I wish I had got here sooner.

You had some well ententioned friends giving you advise but I'm reasonably sure that a few of them have never grown a plant before. You was given advise by posters with less than 25 posts, and advise for SOIL growing too.
I know very little about the Aerogarden, but I know and have years experience with DWC growing. You've done an amazing job without the use of pH testing and ppm meters, really, an amazing job! :shock: First grows are a learning experience and everyone's 2nd grow always goes much better.

My advise would be, all in hind-sight now :
You should have run that air-pump all day, 24/7.
You should of had pH testing strips or the test tube types from a pool supply store, an Aquarium Dept, or Health Food Store , that are used for testing urine. Pre-Filtering your water helped alot with your pH and using pH balanced nutes also helped you.
At the beginning, you could have avoided some stretching by having the lights much closer.
You should of pinched or snipped the first tops, at around 7 days, and doubled your top buds.
You should of disolved those nute tabs in a blender with warm water, then introduced them into the tank. You had some nute-burn, from the roots being right next to a tab that got too strong a feeding.
Some additional LIGHT, SIDE - LIGHTS, even if small 26 watt CFLs would have helped a lot.
Males tend to grow faster and taller than females, and the runt you chopped early was probably a female. Wasn't your males the tallest fastest growing plants???
You could have tied fishing weights to the taller ones, and bent them over, to allow LIGHT in between them, or used masking tape to hold them bent over.
You could of saved that Hermie. It would of given you some buds, you could of cut the male flowers off.. (they;'d grow back fast tho, but one more bud is one more bud)
You was advised to TOP a FLOWERING plant, and most growers just never do that. You should top early sprouted growth on a baby plant, the first week or two or 3, in VEG but TOPPING a FLOWERING plant is not wise or necesary or productive.
I run a small oscilating fan 24/7, gently over my plants. Strenghtens stems.
I'd suggest you search every AEROGARDEN thread on this site, KNOWLEDGE is powerful. Seek the advise of EXPERIENCE. Welcome every opinion, but remember, opinions are opinions, and not necesarily facts.

I'd suggest that next grow,
you drain the tank at least once a week, instead of just replacing the water your plants drank. It exposes the roots to AIR and they love an oxegen bath. Even if you replace the same drained water back to save nutes, they will love it and grow faster.
I'd suggst that you read up and study on bending them over, pH, DWC, Light, lumens and kevins.

You might consider on your second grow, buying an 8 gallon tank, use the two airstones and air pump you already have, get more lights and learn DWC. You could start your seeds in the Aerogarden, then transfer them to the DWC tank.

The above is my humble opinion, and I am sure others might argue , they always do, but I applaud you for your success.:clap::clap::clap:
 
blackaricanboy

blackaricanboy

Well-Known Member
Thank you so so much for the feed back i do appreciate it :) - i want to apply some bending to my fem but im scared i may snap the stem it bends some toward the top and i did alot of research on bending techniques last night, I've been running an osci fan on them 24/7 during the 2nd half of veg and 2 times a week during flowering (read that it helps the plants focus energy on buds and not stems if you cut back) stems are wonderfully thick but not taking over the plant. Again, if i snap the stem trying to bend it (if even gradually) ill be blown. Do you think the plant is going to get much taller this far into flowering, or is it going to keep growing until i stop it from continueing.(sp)

Thanks again for the feed back i will defenitly apply that knowledge to the 2nd grow. Are the lights i have now going to be enough to finish the grow?? i have small bud growth and tons of white hairs so far..
 
Roseman

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
I have pics of my 42 inch tall plant bent over and tied over. I tie fishing weight to the ends. Yours are going to continue to grow.
 
blackaricanboy

blackaricanboy

Well-Known Member
Just to update folks, all is well with my 1 lady. Shes got alot of new bud growth, and im still working with the 2 cfls and aero hood. i ((Need)) to get more lights im just praying that i dont have a shit yeild because of my lack of lighting.. Budget is tight atm tho so making due with what i have :)

I ended up bending the plant, and letting one side of the suspended ag hood hang lower than the other to spread the light pretty evenly among 3/4ths of the plant. and i have the other 2 soft white cfls blasted on the slower bud growing sites.

Posting pics up tommorow, feed backs greatly appreciated
(Anyone know a good reliable source for some discount lights? also im interested in investing in some HPS lights but how does that fare with the electric bill?)
 
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