My first (hopefully successful) Aerogarden Grow!

Whats up guys, I have been following most of the Aerogarden threads for a while now and decided to start using the Aerogarden myself. I bought the FoxFarm hydroponics trio for about 40 bux and some White Widow seeds from Dr. Chronic. The seeds and nutes arrived at relatively the same time and I immediately started planting the seeds. They have now germinated and I'm just waiting for them to sprout....I'll post some pic's so you know what type of environment i'm going to be growing in....I would really appreciate any advice and Constructive criticism is welcomed.....I'm a little unsure of one thing and that is the amount of the foxfarm nutes i'm supposed to be introducing into the resevoir.....I was at first told not to add any nutrients to the resevoir for the first week of development....But i decided to just put a little of the Grow Big in there any way...maybe half a teaspoon....So if anyone who has personal experience could provide me with some useful information on this matter it would be greatly appreciated! Thanx guys...I'll get back to you when I get some sprouts!! Here are the pix....
Peace

damn the aerogarden is cutty

buninader said:

damn the aerogarden is cutty

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cutty?

Good luck...keep us posted.

My advice; get a hps light. The aerogarden light is not strong enough to do what you are expecting it to do. You will shortly find your plant stretching for light and you will be sorely disapointed with your yield. Plus, you didn't exactly pick a low growing strain like Big Bud or Low Rider. WW Can get up to 4 ft or taller.

I have 2 extra full spectrum cfl's 95 watts a piece, I also have a 200watt hps bulb as well, I will introduce this light during the flowering stage.....I have a pretty good amount of space as far as height goes....just not much width...Oh and Mr intricate thanx for the advice and do you think i should go ahead and introduce the hps light now? Because I have those 2 extra cfl's on each side of the AG......

The stems on my sprouts are a purplish green color....is this a sign of a healthy sprout or a sign of phosphorous defficiency?

Hey Xtc,

I just started with the AG myself 2 weeks ago. Granted my plants are not very big but they do have 2 nodes and are REALLY getting bushy with no stretching. We may be able to bounce ideas off of each other during this time.
I rooted for 4 days then used Grow big HYDRO and big bloom 1/4 strength for both. With in 2 days of planting I went from seed roots to first leaves. Since then I have been asking ALOT of questions about lighting. The Aerogarden just does not have the intensity and spectrum that is going to be needed for flowering. BUT....it will be plenty for the time being in the veg state. You can buy a 6' figure eight extension cord from radio shack for about $5 and a small chain with some clamps and two small hooks....I used and old dog chain we had and it worked well. With this you can set your AG hood about 1 inch away from your plants. This will also help when your plants reach past the hood limit if it is a big strain.

OK so now they HPS light. I was searching on Craigslist for keywords HPS, Growlights, Hydroponics, Hydroponic....The search engine there is picky and leaving the "s" off of hydroponics actually pulled 3 more listings....they had them there for ALOT cheaper than you can find online....but you are also risking buying something that may not work so pay attention.

Well the best part was while calling around asking people about their lighting systems, I came across a guy who OWNED a hydro store and has a ton of extra stuff for cheap. He can also get nutes and at cost +10%...so needless to say I know where im getting future lights and NUTES!
So after talking to the guy for about an hour I got a TON of info on hydro. This guy was awesome talking about the difference between using a 200 w HPS and a 600 w HPS was going to be a 1lb yield of tomatoes and a 4oz yield of tomatoes.
In other words he was wise to what I was doing and was more than willing to help me in my novice adventures. He also said that the difference between buying a 600w and 200w would be made up within my first trip to the "market" to sell my "tomatoes".
One other thing he said that made since was...using Fox Farm nutes are great, they do a great job with hydro and will do exactly what you are expecting them to do if used correctly....BUT...using synthetic brands like General or DutchMaster hydro nutes will give the plants EXACTALLY what they need without any extras....Once again science has surpassed nature. True you will not be getting "organic" harvest, but seriously if I had a choice, id go for the yield.

Well bud its time to wrap up this novel. I was just excited about my new knowledge and I thought I would share. If you are interested in ordering nutes or lighting let me know.

First off Unique I would really like to thank you for the information you have provided me with....I'm going to go ahead and drill some holes on the top of the shield to hang it up....I live in Austin so i'm gonna go ahead and check out craigs list to see what kind of deals I can get....I am also going to order an airstone...How far are you into the grow 2 weeks?? So far all 4 of the seeds I planted have sprouted and look pretty healthy, the stems are sort of a greenish purple color, I really hope i get at least 1 female! I went ahead and added a little bit of the Grow Big and Big Bloom but just a tiny amount...And ya hopefully we can bounce some ideas to one another once we get into it a little more. My lights are set to 18/6 and I still need a fan to circulate the air. I'm really excited about this, I hope it goes well for you and I..Oh and what strain are growing?? Can't wait to see the bud shots! Keep in touch and thanx again!
Peace

Man dont order the air stones online....just go to petco and pick up a pump and airstone and tubbing for about $10-$15.
I am growing a few different strains, most Kush but 2 are from some fun stuff i picked up in Arizona....gotta love the cheap Mexican bud!
Man now i think i shouldnt have told you about the craigslist thing.....im pretty close to you in Texas, now i have compitition on a cheap HPS system!

I would post pics here man but i already feel like ive said too much. Dont want to add incrimination with pics! Call me paraniod but i like to play it safe.Hit me up with a PM and we can hook up on MSN....maybe pass some pics that way.

These are my plants now after about a week and a half..

Hi Guy(s),

I'm using the Aero Pro100 and about a week behind you. Your plants look awesome!!!! Im so jealous

It has been 3 days and I have three up and with the leaves just about to lose their muzzle.

The advice with the airstones was taken and did exactly the same thing. I did find out that Petco warrantys a certain pump for a lifetime. Works for me!!!

Can't wait to learn more. I'm using Fox Farm, but every picture of General Hydro looks amazing in the Aerogarden.

Hi all, I have been looking at this forum for ages now and got loads of info so thanks all, I have an Areo Pro on order now and cant wait to get started and now looking to get the correct nutes on order, I see that alot of the reactions on here with growing with the areo seems to be only good for the vegging stage although some seem to have been sucessfully grown from seed to weed with good results, my question is i found a poot lamp and being a complete noob it looks big and also maybe 600w i intend to grow in a closet and im thinking that this poot lamp maybe way to big and dangerous for my needs possibley a fire hazard as with most people on here im only looking to get enough for personal use and not to burn myself and the neighbours down, so luckily found this lamp and thought that maybe this will help my plant as people have recommended adding lights to there grow. my question is this my grow area is 3ftx3ft and maybe 7ft tall if i sitck this poot lamp in there in that space will i burn to hell? or would it be wiser to invest in a couple of cfl's that most people seem to have done bearing in mind im skint! many thanks

I don't know about the lights yet, but there are many around here that do. The pro100 rocks. It makes up for what the first version doesn't have, however, the lights are great for other plants.

My Son brought home a little cup of Strawberries from his teacher. I had almost killed them, (forgot to water because they are just in a cup) added fox farm neuts and then put them up under the Aerogrow...they are alive and amazing now. He is a happy boy. =) My husbands house plants in the window were looking pretty poor and I added Fox Farm and they are so happy and even blooming now. Within 2 days it was evident that the Fox Farm neuts made a huge difference. That was soil.

I have read thousands of posts and done a lot of research. The one thing I know for sure is that Fox Farm is great and General Hydroponics neuts have produced some of the nicest plants I have ever seen.

Good Luck, keep us posted!!

excellent thanks if i wasn't 100% thinking of the fox farm nutes i am now!

With the Aerogarden, go low and easy with the neuts. I'm not sure why, but it is happier with under the perscribed amounts on the bottles.

Good Luck, keep us posted with pics!!!!

GIRLS
GIRLS
GIRLS
GIRLS

Yes! Go very light on the nutes the plants seem to love it this way and they are already putting out that good smell! Here is an update on how my plants are doing..........I wish the best to all of you growers out there!

Hey Xtc, is that a clone in the back? I was wondering how easy cloning would be in the aerogarden.

vespa17 said:

Hey Xtc, is that a clone in the back? I was wondering how easy cloning would be in the aerogarden.

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No it isn't a clone, but i've heard it was fairly easy to clone in the aerogarden...many people have had success with it. But that is just a seedling that had a little trouble with development, the root broke in half....

keep updating if you dont m ind i just bought my fiance an aero garden pro for xmas and we were thinking we could use it for clones and maybe veg and then move them into a another larger aeroponic sea of green i would like to see how the veg works form that thing it seems like its not gonna be strong enough i figured it would be good for clones or something thanks for the post so far homie