Can you vegg & flower using just an AeroGarden?

Let me just say how greatful I am that I found this site. I purchased an AG deluxe a little over a week ago, and my first issue was the roots growing upwards towards the lights. Reading several posts here, I see pretty much everyone else who has used an AG has had the same problem. I flipped them over and tucked the roots in, and the sprouts seem to be doing very good after about 5 days.

My question is, do anyone of you who use the AG add any additional nutrients or anything else to the water tank? Or if you use the provided nutrient tablets, how many do you use every two weeks?

Also, several post said that the AG is not sufficient for flowering, when some posts said it was. Will the plants flower using just the AG? obviously hps would be better, I just wanted to know if I'm wasting my time if I don't plan on using anything but the AG...

Thank alot for any help, winnn420

Hello winnn420. Since it's your 1st time out the gate, you won't be wasting your time. You'll be able to flower, you just won't get the nice, tight buds you'd see using HPS. But hey, you're doing it man! That's more than many can say. We all had to start somewhere before we could evolve. Best of luck and welcome to growing your own.

PS: Are you going to start journaling? jJ

I'll do my best to keep a journal. I've just been really busy the past few weeeks with limited time to get on the computer.

hey jJackson, I was wondering if you could maybe help me with a couple of questions I have. First off, I'm using bag seed, I planted 6 days ago in my AG without germinating.

all 7 pods have sprouts now but I don't know how long I should veg or when to start flowering. I've read several posts here saying to start flowering after only a week of veg but that seems very soon to me. Can you please clarify for me??

Also, should I keep the pump running 24/7 when I switch the lights to 12/12??

And lastly for now, what nutes do you recommend for veg & flowering??

Other then that, identifying males/females will be my next challenge...

what up bro put your lights on 24/7 for 2 weeks then cut back 12/12 and be patient they will grow...

Cool, thanks...do I leave the pump running 24hrs when the lights are running 12/12??

I have mine on herbs cycle and so far 1 week in budding lost 1 nice plant, I think it was because i didnt change the resv. I had a white powder substance growing around the root and it killed the plant. Get some more lights and u should be fine.

Winn just to give you a little knowledge. It does not really matter how long you veg really, its all about how much space you have. Flowering plants will double to triple in size, so basically you need to make sure you have room, also if you have the lights to penetrate.

Areogardens do not go incredibly high, so you are going to want to flower when they are smaller, so they you have adequate space. Also I did not think that A.G's could be set to a 12/12 setting?

Anyways I think you could do a grow in a A.G and it wouldnt be a waste of time. However you could have a much better grow if you just picked up like 2-3 cfl's from walmart for cheap, and used them as side lighting. Even just those 3 cfls will make your final harvest sooo much better.

Goodluck man, and I hope that everything goes well, ill keep a check up on your grow journal, so keep us posted = )


Growers <3

Hello Winnn. Looks like you're getting your questions answered. jackinthebox makes a great point about height being restricted under an AG, so you'll be wanting to switch to 12/12 pretty quick after you see intersecting branching.

I also think his idea of adding side lighting is important. Considering the small space, you will probably end up with a pretty thick canopy. Side lights will help develop more bud.

Regarding leaving the pump run.. AG's are missing bubbler action, so I am inclined to say to let it run, but that's just a guess. Hopefully you'll get some more advice on that one from folks more familiar with hydro and AG's in particular.

Nutes! There are soooo many options, it can be really confusing at first. I would say to keep your first grow as simple as possible. Start with nute products with just 1 bottle for grow and another 1 for bloom. (FloraNova is one brand).

Later, if you decide you're really going to do more grows, you can get nutes that you'll mix yourself to get the right ratios for the different stages of growing. Start by taking a look at this info from General Hydroponics. Whatever you use, start out half strength and build from there.

Good growing to you and do keep posting (don't forget some pics).

jJ

jackinthebox & jJackson,

I thank you guys very much for your input and responses to my questions. No, the AG doesn't have a 12/12 setting so I bought a figure 8 cord from radio shack which will let me plug all of my lights into my timer and leave the pump on the 24hr AG setting.

The reason I say all of my lights is I went out last night and got (4) cfl bulbs, (2) for veg and (2) for flower. The guy who told me which bulbs to get also said I should run all 4 of them together for best results...I hope this is correct because I have all of them running now. I uploaded some pics of what I built last night and I have to say I am very proud of myself. Please check it out and let me know of any changes I should make.

Oh and yes the AG only goes up 24 inches but if you look in my pics, the tracks that all of my lights are on are adjustable and much taller than the AG so they will move with the plants as they grow and I will simply mount the AG light to the wooden track when height becomes an issue.

Thanks again

nice set u[p what kind of watt cfl do u have?

dahlks54 said:

nice set u[p what kind of watt cfl do u have?

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Thank you...I believe 2 of them are 23watt and the other 2 are 47watt but I will check the specs when I get home

excellent setup! im new to the aerogarden too ( havent even started my grow in it yet ) but i plan on basing my setup close to yours. Hope all goes well, ill be sure to monitor your progress =D GL!

nicely done with the side lighting. watch temps tho..

yeah it's out in the open in my guest room so temp shouldn't be an issue. I try to keep it around 70-75.
Well I won $4500 last night playing online poker...WOO HOO!!! so I think I'm going to get a 400watt hps and maybe some more new goodies. I will keep everyone posted.

OK so I picked up up a 400watt HPS "Super Sun 2" light last night. My question is, when I start flowering, how close should I hang this light above the plants? Thanks

Wow very nice win!! Thats so exceiting, I think you should buy me one as well = )

A 400w HPS is a very nice size though. Is it air cooled? If not then I think around 12 inchs or so... maybe a bit closer like 10. Somewhere in that range, videoman posted a link about it somewhere, tried to find it but couldnt.

What website you play poker on anyways? I used to play but lost 50$ and decieded to just spare my losses and stop.

jackinthebox said:

Wow very nice win!! Thats so exceiting, I think you should buy me one as well = )

A 400w HPS is a very nice size though. Is it air cooled? If not then I think around 12 inchs or so... maybe a bit closer like 10. Somewhere in that range, videoman posted a link about it somewhere, tried to find it but couldnt.

What website you play poker on anyways? I used to play but lost 50$ and decieded to just spare my losses and stop.

Click to expand...

I won this one on Absolute Poker but I play a bunch of different sites. It couldn't have come at a better time either, there were so many things that I wanted to get for my set up and I really didn't have the extra cash to spend, well not an extra $1000 anyways.

My hps is the air cooled model and I went ahead and picked up the fan & duct work as well. So how far should it be from the plants since it is air cooled? The info that came with the light says around 3 feet. Is that correct?

I got the Flora Nova grow & bloom nutes, PH kit, airstone and a good timer also.

Right now all 7 of them are 11 days old and about 3-4 inches tall, Can I start flowering them now? I want to because I have some feminized White Widow seeds on the way and I want to get started with those as soon as possible so I'd like to get this bag seed experiment done.

Thanks

If its a 400w air cooled hps, you can get it much closer then 3 ft. Flora nutes are pretty legit, and ph kit is deffently going to help you.

Yeah you can start flowering now. Keep us updated = )