Aerogarden v3.0

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Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
I ordered the unit ,it should arrive soon. I ordered it online so I could return it in 30 days if I am dissatisfied, and make the monthly payments instead of paying for it all at once.

I plan on putting it in a small storage cupboard (so my herbivore cat doesnt' decide to munch on my little ones) that sits above our closet in the bedroom.

I'll take some pics of the cabinet where I plan on putting it. I'm pretty much a nooob when it comes to this stuff, as i've only ever grown from seed to smoke once before..and I think I picked most of it before it was ready (hard to resist taking a nugget here and there when you are out of personal smokage).

I have a question tho...I don't reallyl want to use the "tablets" that come with the unit..since I'm not sure at all what is in them, and I noticed on Tek's page that there was some crazy yellow spots and whatnot. Tek, if you read this, can you tell me what you did to get the spots to clear up ?

I'm assuming that the tablets just go directly in the water and get 'time released'. I do not think there is any special chamber or reservior that only the tablets go into.

I know that the plants like different nutrients when they are in different parts of their growth, but i'm not sure exactly what.

So , my question is...aside from Miracle-Gro...what is a good type of nutrient solution to use with this system ? I need something simple like miracle-gro...but something that is less...I dunno..."chemical"...is there such a thing ?
 
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Teknique70

Well-Known Member
Ok buddy you are exactly right...

I believe the the nute tablets I used for the first 4 weeks were either too strong or not strong enough causing the yellowing...

Buy the complete fox farm line heres the link

FoxFarm Soil & Fertilizer Company

Heres another good one

http://foxfarmfertilizer.com/HydroSystems_FF_Feed.pdf (you need adobe acrobat reader)

As soon as i started using these products I have noticed amazing results, i only wish I started out with these nutes...

And they are all organic, pure and natural :)

Good luck buddy
Peace
-Tek
 
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Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
Wooot! Got the unit today, got it all set up and plugged a seed into each of the foam cups. I probably should have germinated them all first...but oh well. If at least 3 of the 7 seeds I put in sprouts, i'll be happy..and if 1 of those 3 turns out to be female, i'll still be happy.
 
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Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
Teknique70 said:
Did you make sure to take out the original seeds ?

Goodluck

They should sprout in 3 days

Peace
-Tek
Click to expand...
hehe, yea...:) Although, mine came with the "Gourmet Herb" seed kit. Some of the seeds were just about microscopic..so I had to scrape away alot of the foam around where the seeds were, hehe.

If I get a few sprigs of mint or basil along with the bud, that might be interesting, at least I can have some fresh herbs while i'm waiting....
 
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Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
So, I checked them all today...and to my astonishment...all 7 of the seeds appear to be germinated and sprouting (I figured i'd get at least a few seeds that didn't germinate). Tomorrow or the next day they should acutally be showing their first set of leaves. :mrgreen:
 
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blackcat

Active Member
Are you planning on trying to grow with the unit as is or will you modify it? Is it possible to grow decent stuff without modifying the system? I am thinking of getting one of these myself but I am worried that this system is not right for my crops.
 
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Teknique70

Well-Known Member
Good job merciless, my quickest sprout was like 2.5 days... WHat kind of seeds r u using?

Cat, my next grow I'm going to flower at 2 weeks from sprout, using foxfarm nutes...This time(my very first grow) I waited till just over 4 weeks (plant age from sprout) to flower and now I've got 2 giants they are now 8 weeks old....I havent measured I should Im sure ill be surprised but im saying the one is at least 3' tall prob more....ill get back to ya with the real height but OMG.... Flower early with this thing....Oh somthing else im going to try and do my next grow is to start with the lighting hood closer than it allows. doing this by suspending the hood somehow....This will keep the plants smaller....But At a 2 week start flowering..... one might still have to figure out a way to extend the lighting hood to a higher hieght somehow...maybe not

Sorry for jabbering
Peace
-Tek
 
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blackcat

Active Member
Teknique70, thanks for the reply. Still debating on whether I should buy one now or wait and see how things work out for everyone who is trying it out here. Looking forward to seeing how things go for you, thanks again for the help.
 
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Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
blackcat said:
I found this article on growing your weed like a bonzai. It is very interesting and I am sure the technique can be applied to the aerogarden.

link: Planet Ganja.com - Learn how to grow Marijuana
Click to expand...

Wow, great article! It was perfect for me..I am going ot go with method "2" ....which is more in line with my original planning/thinking:
  1. grow the plant out for about 3-4 weeks
  2. then top it and trim it pretty good down to about 4"-5"
Hopefully it will look something like this at this stage:

  • I'll give it a few days to recover from the pruning, and then I'll start flowering
hopefullly the plant will be something like this once it is a week or two into flowering:


Hopefully , it will work out simillar to this! Wish me luck...I hope I get my camera going soon....
 
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blackcat

Active Member
Yes, this article has convinced me to order one next week. I am going to try the same method you are Teknique because I think it is the easiest and best way to do it for the aerogarden. I am going to keep the aerogarden as is and just try to grow it short and stumpy like a bonzai.
 
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Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
The only thing to keep in mind is that the article/FAQ is written around the idea of keeping the "mother" plant small in order to take trimmings over a long period of time, which is not reallly my intention. However, it *should*work fine for growing small banazi like buds....
 
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blackcat

Active Member
How much smaller do you think they would be than a normal sized plant? In your opinion do you think it would be worth the effort? Thanks for the help.
 
M

Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
blackcat said:
How much smaller do you think they would be than a normal sized plant? In your opinion do you think it would be worth the effort? Thanks for the help.
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Well for me, it's worth the effort. Probably what I will do for the next go -around is to invest in a 250w HPS light..and use the Aerogarden for the veg part, and then remove the lighting hood completely and use the 250w HPS for flowering. However, once I go through at least one trial run with this thing, i'll have a better idea for what to expect and what the best methods to use are for the Aerogarden.
 
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Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
Ok, so..I had to do some things and thought I would share the experience with the other Aerogarden adventurers.

Like Tek, I had some issues with the main taproot not really knowing where to grow..and it ended up curling around inside the little cups (although the plant doesn't seem to care).

So, what I did was
  1. remove the cup
  2. very carefully push the foam up (from the bottom ) and out of the cup..being careful not to damage the sprout in the process..
  3. Carefully extract the actual sprout and entire root and place it on a wet paper towel..
  4. use the small end of a chopstick (or something simillar) to punch a hole all the way through the bottom of the foam (not too big..just big enough to feed the root through).
  5. Gently pick up the sprout and feed the root through the foam and out the hole in the bottom that you created with the chopstick, and leaving enough of the stem/top as desired coming out of the top (kind of like threading a needle here).
I did this, and it worked great and solved the issue, and it's amazing to see how fast the actual root grows! I find myself checking like every few hours...i'm obsessed. I think the reason that they had the seeds "glued" into the foam was to cause the root to grow down ...i.e. - the glue gave just enough resistance (like a seedling pushing it's way up through some dirt)..to cause the root to grow down through the foam instead of curl around. Anyway, that's my theory and my little tip...
 
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Teknique70

Well-Known Member
Good idea.... Somthing I did in the begining was to actualy slice the foam cylinder in half(from top to bottom) although I only did this as to half of the foam cylinders as an experiment....I only had one sprout that couldnt puncture through and had its roots curled.

Poking a hole worked for you after the fact.....but for others and for myself next time I think slicing it down thorugh the middle would work best...

Peace good luck

Look for my newest update thread I'm four weeks into flowering plants are 8 weeks old and the one plant is looking Grrrreat!.... Ive got some awesome pics!

Peace good luck
-Tek
 
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Merciless_One

Well-Known Member
Teknique70 said:
Good idea.... Somthing I did in the begining was to actualy slice the foam cylinder in half(from top to bottom) although I only did this as to half of the foam cylinders as an experiment....I only had one sprout that couldnt puncture through and had its roots curled.

Poking a hole worked for you after the fact.....but for others and for myself next time I think slicing it down thorugh the middle would work best...

Peace good luck

Look for my newest update thread I'm four weeks into flowering plants are 8 weeks old and the one plant is looking Grrrreat!.... Ive got some awesome pics!

Peace good luck
-Tek
Click to expand...
Yea, next time i'm going to germinate them all in a paper towel, and then put them in the foam facing root-down once they are sprouted in the paper towel, in addition to slicing the foam down a bit more, and poking a little hole in the center to place the sprout in.

I can't wait to see the pics!
I might have to use my cell phone camera to take a pic on my end, since my digital camera seems to not work anymore.
but regardless...i'll post some pics once I get back from my turkey day trip...
 
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