New Grower Seedsman - Speed Bud Auto Fem

[jingo]

I know! Such a relief. My first grow did not start off nearly as well. I way overfed them. Also, at the time the concept of replacing some of the nute solution every week or so eluded me. This strain isn't known for massive yields, but its supposed to finish pretty quickly. Time will tell.

No signs of life from the Diesel I started a few days ago. If that pops I will be in hog heaven.

I'm done deep water culture in the past with photo period strains and I can't imagine doing it on my second Autoflower grow. So I tip my hat to you on that

 

[Mike20132]

I'm done deep water culture in the past with photo period strains and I can't imagine doing it on my second Autoflower grow. So I tip my hat to you on that

I guess you could say that I just didn't know any better. Only knew one other grower before I started, and while she was not getting much from her efforts, they were successful. She was growing in three stock Aerogarden Ultimate LED units. So I figured if I started off going down that road, I could consult with her as I learned more on my own as well.

As it turned out, the only thing similar between my setup and hers is the aerogarden tank and internal re-circulation pump. That and I added a huge airstone to mine.

Long after the first seeds sprouted, I realized that a one gallon res is probably not going to cut it for one plant, let alone two.

The obvious downside is the buffering capacity in that sized tank. The water chemistry is prone to get out of control very quickly. And it did. Often.

To make a too-often-already-retold story short, i wound up with two living plants at the end, with one of them yielding 500g wet, and the other never actually making it to flower. It was a real rush near the end, when I was adding the full capacity of the res once per day just by feeding alone.

I hope it was not a fluke, since I am now committed to two plants with two aerogardens.

 

[Mike20132]

Also, 500 dollars worth of two one-gallon buckets with a re-circulation pump. Ah, well. It does work, I guess.

 

[jingo]

Also, 500 dollars worth of two one-gallon buckets with a re-circulation pump. Ah, well. It does work, I guess.

The only piece of equipment any of us ever keeps from what we start off with is a light if we get lucky and buy a good one. I've replaced everything I bought over the years. But that's one of the costs of experience that you just can't factor in.

 

[Mike20132]

The only piece of equipment any of us ever keeps from what we start off with is a light if we get lucky and buy a good one. I've replaced everything I bought over the years. But that's one of the costs of experience that you just can't factor in.

Agreed. It's an ongoing learning experience. I did have the fortune of getting a decent light at the start - clearly the difference at the end of the day.

To be honest, though, if I am getting what I need from these two little tanks, I don't really mind the flurry of activity to keep up on things for the last few weeks.

Like I said, unless this grow goes south, I have to conclude that for my needs it works, even if I spent wayyyyyy more than I should have.

Of course, if I do some wholesale rebuild, those tanks will be the first to go.

 

[bad dragon bzzz]

i will soon be on my 5th light

 

[Mike20132]

i will soon be on my 5th light

Quite a run of bad luck there. Sorry to hear it. I hope mine holds out, they are godawful expensive.

 

[bad dragon bzzz]

that could be where i went wrong i went cheap,but averaged out over the 5 odd years i been growing not really so bad.
but i been saving up and my next light will be or should be quaility.
keep er lit.

 

[Mike20132]

Quick update...

Before today, I had no way to regulate the humidity in the grow tent, but that wasn't an issue on my last grow as ambient was between 30 and 50, and to me that was good enough. (Yes, I know better now)

The ambient RH here has been below 15% now for nearly a week (since germination, actually) and now that I've removed the cover off the seedling, the humidity was just way too low.

So I picked up a Honeywell model HEV620B. Its evaporative, and I am only using distilled water, so the sponge should stay relatively clean for a long time. The cool part is that I can set it to a particular target RH, and I will be damned if it hasn't stayed +/- 1 percentage point of the setting. Right now it's going through a lot of water, and I think that is due mainly to the tent exhaust fan compelling the humidifier to also pump up the moisture content in the rest of the room. Hopefully that settles down - or the ambient RH gets back to normal soon.

I guess the point of this post is to heap praise on the stability of the RH level based solely on this things built in hygrometer. This while the tent is exhausting into a room with a 12% RH. I even adjusted the speed of the exhaust fan, and after any adjustment, the humidity always settles back to a nice steady level. Even at the highest speed I see myself using with the fan.

It's not small, vertically, at about 25 inches, but the 9x10 inch horizontal footprint is actually pretty manageable, all things considered. Oh, and you can refill it by just pouring water into the open-top tank on the front.

I have to say I am impressed.

Now after a few weeks of using this thing, it's time for the "cons."

There is a wicking sponge/filter that is the heart of the unit. The first filter lasted just over a week. These things are $15 a piece at their cheapest. In its defense, it's been going through a lot of filtered water (I was going to use distilled, but i could not produce water fast enough to keep up with it) to keep a tent at 50%RH in a surrounding room of <20%. I wasn't planning on this costing $60 a month to operate. We'll see how it is once the summer humidity sets in, but so far I am considering tossing this and getting an ultrasonic model. Was hoping to avoid misting calcium deposits all over the inside of the tent, though.

 

[jingo]

I'm still using one of those old-fashioned humidifiers. I keep a bucket next to mine and I dunk that sponge in the bucket because they stopped working after a while or at least they stop working very well and then I can get more time out of each sponge. But yeah, I'm in the same boat as you I think I'm going to get a big ultrasonic model once I can.