New Grower Dark Devil Auto in Aerogarden with 600w LED. Need help!!!

[steelcap956]

I don't do regular hydro, altho' hempy is a form of hydro.....If your plants are under a week old or so you shouldn't have to add anything as far as I know.....In next couple of days you may consider adding 1/4 strength nutes and watch your plants response. If you have more questions or for more info.....post on Live Stoner Gossip....there are usually folks there that can help or know someone who can. Please try that.........plus it is a good way to meet the people who can help

10-4

 

[Mike20132]

@hesgone13 asked me to peek in here.

Just about a year in to growing autos in an aerogarden, and so far my experience has been pretty positive. If you are planning on holding off on feeding nutes for the first week, and you are using distilled/RO water, you'll definitely want to add some calcium until you start adding nutes.

Is your tap water well or city water? If city water, is it treated with chlorine or chloramine? If you take a PPM reading of your tap water, what is the value? I ask these questions because I am starting to realize that unless you water is treated with chloramine, or is very high in mineral content, distilled and RO water looks like a waste of time. Most of my current grow is with well-water that I run once through a brita-type filter.

Here are some pics from about a week ago.

This Kush is at about 9 weeks, and hasn't started flowering yet. Might hack it down if it doesn't start soon. That said, the growth is pretty healthy.

The strawberry nuggets was in week 10 for this pic. I have high hopes for this one.

If you are using the nutes that came with the aerogarden, throw them away and get some Mega Crop. I would suggest also getting their Sweet Candy and Bud Explosion. They come dry, so storing is a breeze, but you'll want a scale that can measure in miligrams, and a bunch of plastic weigh-boats. This stuff absorbs moisture from the air pretty quickly. If you measure it out on the scale surface, it might liquify before you can add it to the water. With the plastic weigh-boats, this is not a problem. The nutes are probably even cheaper than the aerogarden stuff, and it tailor made for the needs of cannabis plants.

Keep the lights pretty far away when they are seedlings. Once the get a few sets of leaves, keep them about two feet above the top of the plants. If you hold your hand near the top of the plant, and the light makes your hand hot, it will also make the plant hot.. raise it a little more and test again.

Drain and fill the tank completely once a week. No exceptions. Otherwise you will get unused nutrients building up in the tank if you just keep topping it off. I use a length of plastic tubing to siphon out the old nutes. Between flushes, try to keep the tank topped off as often as you can.

Also invest in a bottle oh Hydroguard. With res temperatures that high you run the risk of bad bacteria taking hold and rotting the roots. Hydroguard eliminates that problem. Add about 2ml for each gallon, and I add it to every batch of nutes I mix.

We have very similar setups, and I think I might be able to help you maximize your investment. I made a hell of a lot of mistakes over the first year, and I wish I had known then what I know now.

Lastly, if you are flushing your tank once a week, and are using the recommended amount of nutes (the plants will tell you when they need more/less nutes, so you'll make adjustments based on what you see, not what a chart tells you), I wouldn't bother with monitoring the PPM. pH is MUCH more important. When you can afford it, get a good meter like an Apera PH-20. Worth every penny.

Anyway, shoot me a message if you like.

 

[steelcap956]

@hesgone13 asked me to peek in here.

Just about a year in to growing autos in an aerogarden, and so far my experience has been pretty positive. If you are planning on holding off on feeding nutes for the first week, and you are using distilled/RO water, you'll definitely want to add some calcium until you start adding nutes.

Is your tap water well or city water? If city water, is it treated with chlorine or chloramine? If you take a PPM reading of your tap water, what is the value? I ask these questions because I am starting to realize that unless you water is treated with chloramine, or is very high in mineral content, distilled and RO water looks like a waste of time. Most of my current grow is with well-water that I run once through a brita-type filter.

Here are some pics from about a week ago.

This Kush is at about 9 weeks, and hasn't started flowering yet. Might hack it down if it doesn't start soon. That said, the growth is pretty healthy.
View attachment 962857

The strawberry nuggets was in week 10 for this pic. I have high hopes for this one.

View attachment 962859

View attachment 962860

View attachment 962861

If you are using the nutes that came with the aerogarden, throw them away and get some Mega Crop. I would suggest also getting their Sweet Candy and Bud Explosion. They come dry, so storing is a breeze, but you'll want a scale that can measure in miligrams, and a bunch of plastic weigh-boats. This stuff absorbs moisture from the air pretty quickly. If you measure it out on the scale surface, it might liquify before you can add it to the water. With the plastic weigh-boats, this is not a problem. The nutes are probably even cheaper than the aerogarden stuff, and it tailor made for the needs of cannabis plants.

Keep the lights pretty far away when they are seedlings. Once the get a few sets of leaves, keep them about two feet above the top of the plants. If you hold your hand near the top of the plant, and the light makes your hand hot, it will also make the plant hot.. raise it a little more and test again.

Drain and fill the tank completely once a week. No exceptions. Otherwise you will get unused nutrients building up in the tank if you just keep topping it off. I use a length of plastic tubing to siphon out the old nutes. Between flushes, try to keep the tank topped off as often as you can.

Also invest in a bottle oh Hydroguard. With res temperatures that high you run the risk of bad bacteria taking hold and rotting the roots. Hydroguard eliminates that problem. Add about 2ml for each gallon, and I add it to every batch of nutes I mix.

We have very similar setups, and I think I might be able to help you maximize your investment. I made a hell of a lot of mistakes over the first year, and I wish I had known then what I know now.

Lastly, if you are flushing your tank once a week, and are using the recommended amount of nutes (the plants will tell you when they need more/less nutes, so you'll make adjustments based on what you see, not what a chart tells you), I wouldn't bother with monitoring the PPM. pH is MUCH more important. When you can afford it, get a good meter like an Apera PH-20. Worth every penny.

Anyway, shoot me a message if you like.

Ppm 295. pH 5.6. Rez temp 75-78!

 

[steelcap956]

Made this reflector/grow thing with duck tape,sun reflector cardboard,3 pc fans, an automotive light dimmer switch and a DC adapter. Got it on a timer at off every 4 hours because I don't trust the cardboard. It was supposed to be a mock up only but it came out decent I'm using for now.

 

[hesgone13]

I'm glad Mike 20132 came in to help you.......he is a good dude and very up on hydro stuff. Listen to him and if you need help don't be afraid to ask!
Also, consider picking up a bottle of Cal-Mag solution.......make sure you get a type with as low as possible nitrogen content......it's the first number in fertilizer content.....get some with no more than 2 and preferably 1 as the nitro number, like 1-0-0 and follow the directions on the bottle. As with all nutes, start small and work up on the dosage..........remember it's easy to add more.....not so easy to remove it!!