FF's journey into The Third Dimension

[ProGroWannabe]

That fog is TOO FRIGGIN COOL fast forward!!! I love that pic!

Btw..glad ta see ya decided to go with the buckets ;)

 

[FastForward]

Day 15 since germination

EC1.2
pH5.8

All seems good - plants are starting to grow much more quickly now with good rootmass forming. pH is quite stable, so I'm delighted...

3D3, the aero one, is loving life - am really impressed by the roots - they're whiter and more lateral than the DWC ones. Also nice and easy to maintain - no airstone, no airline.

So far so good...just need my plants in the other tent to finish up in the next 7-10 days so I can repot these into bigger 10l buckets and then flick to 12/12...

 

[ProGroWannabe]

NIIIIIIIICE! I'm guessing those roots are gonna really blow up in the next week or so.

How does the fogger work? Is there a small amount of nute solution in the bottom of the bucket for it to "feed off of" or what? What I mean to say is, where does the fogger get it's nutes from?

 

[FastForward]

How does the fogger work? Is there a small amount of nute solution in the bottom of the bucket for it to "feed off of" or what? What I mean to say is, where does the fogger get it's nutes from?

It's a £15 ultrasonic pond fogger/mister - you should be able to get them at any electrical component store (or online easily)....obviously don't get the ones with built in LEDs!

The fogger has a sensor stem that raises up about 1cm - the water level needs to be about 1cm above that point to create decent mist...that's it...it just gets immersed at a certain depth. You can get floats for them to keep them at the right depth in a deeper tank, or just sit it on something.

I've seen people use them to create an aero addition to a dwc/nft type setup by fogging a separate chamber and then allowing it to flow over the roots. If this experiment goes well I'm going to try it full cycle....so far it's kicking the DWC ass tbh!!

 

[Tolpan]

:rock:rock I'm really impressed by your work FF!

Just put some Sublime on and rolling a joint, ah two joints for ya Bro:cool!

Tolpan

 

[mr. chunky nugz]

nice to see this coming along strong! i didnt know these finished so early!

 

[FastForward]

Here's what it looks like:

The circular plate is the ultrasonic mister part and has a life of about 2000 hours, but is replaceable for only a couple of quid/bucks - but using it for 30s every four hours is 3 minutes a day total (6 x 30s) should last a fair few crops before needing replacing...(my maths is too shit to work it out!!! but it's lots...!)

The nutramist system uses three of these I think, but for 800 quid :)

If this keeps on going as well as it seems to be, I'm going to grow everything using misters until the weather gets too hot - and even then it feels like this will be a lot more tolerant of nute temp increases than DWC might do in the summer....we'll see....still early days but very encouraging, especially to a nub like me.

 

[ProGroWannabe]

Awesome FF! Thanks for all the info on these. I didn't have the foggiest idea(pun intended) how they worked. This is gonna be verrrry interesting whether it works out or not. But it sure looks like it's gonna work right now.

 

[FastForward]

I wasn't going to update for a week or so, but I opened up 3D2 to have a quick check on the pH (still para!) and was amazed to see the growth.

Sorry that 3D2's photo is blurry...but compare to yesterday - that's a LOAD of growth. I hope that one's a girl :)

Also, 3D1's roots are a bit brown, so I added H2O2.

The star of the show is still 3D3 - almost pristine white and loads of it!

Very very impressed....and the pH has hardly budged....it's at 5.8....EC has risen to 1.4 but I figured they could use it a little stronger. Will add some water tomorrow.

 

[ProGroWannabe]

Alright FF.....with growth like that, your gonna have to update more than once a week :D!

 

[FastForward]

Alright FF.....with growth like that, your gonna have to update more than once a week :D!

You're not kidding....deja vu....opened up 3D2 and there's like 2" of growth there since yesterday so I had to take photos :)

But for sheer quality rootage, 3D3/aero is still winning....they're just whiter and lovelier....

3D2's roots are much smaller and brown tipped than the others. Might just be a genetic thing. I hope this one's the male and the other two are girls :)

 

[FastForward]

Day 24 since germination

EC1.4-1.6
pH5.5-5.8

Things are getting interesting. Roots are going brown and each of these plants have very different growth patterns. This is definitely an experiment I should have done with clones.

3D2 (DWC) has the best growth, in terms of sheer volume.

3D3 (Aero) has the thickest roots

3D1 (DWC) has stunted growth in the roots for some reason (see photos).

I've added H202 to all of them to try to clean up the roots. It's because my root zone/nute temps are 22-24c which is too warm but I'm having a hard time lowering them without freezing my own ass to pieces. Will add Dutchmaster Zone to the next nute change.

Also, 3D3 (aero) was looking N deficient with yellow leaves so I upped the EC from 1.4 to 1.6 and they look to be greening up again.

I've taken cuts from all of them, some really small cuts that I'm not sure aren't too small to root - but we'll see. If the roots don't perk up shortly, or if the plants look to be suffering too badly I'll pot them up into coco.

3D2 is definitely without doubt the best of the 3, a strong, vigorous grower that isn't picky about nutes and has great root development. I hope it's a girl.

One last thing....pH has been swinging up since I changed out the nutes. Am hoping they'll settle back down again but they don't seem to be....which is weird because it was solid before. Only thing that has changed is the EC.

 

[Donk Frog]

Great grow ff....I have a dwc/drip system the roots on my started out nice like yours, but went brown in some spots too....I thought it was the fungas gnats, but I killed them off....what rate are you applying you H2O2?...I might do the same:nerd

 

[FastForward]

Officially it's meant to be 5ml per 10l, but I've got about 3l in each bucket...so I'm pouring in a little bit....no idea how much...about a teaspoon maybe....doing it every day or so atm.

 

[hererisssh]

They're looking good FF, growth rate will pickup exponentially now. :yes

 

[Notoriousskunk]

so FF i was satisfied that dwc kicks ass but after seeing the fogger in there it looks like its kicking the dwc arse , do you think i would be better off with the aeroponic or the dwc?

where you get the fogger from? i am having trouble finding buckets like dat where you get yours?

Peace
N$

 

[FastForward]

You should be able to find buckets anywhere...I got mine on eBay. Fogger is from Maplins.

The jury is still out on the fogger v DWC stuff - mainly because this isn't a good test because they're not clones, and also because I can't keep the temps down to keep the roots in tidy condition.

Go with DWC...it's a well loved, well proven method...if the aero stuff turns out really well then try it out?

 

[Notoriousskunk]

You should be able to find buckets anywhere...I got mine on eBay. Fogger is from Maplins.

The jury is still out on the fogger v DWC stuff - mainly because this isn't a good test because they're not clones, and also because I can't keep the temps down to keep the roots in tidy condition.

Go with DWC...it's a well loved, well proven method...if the aero stuff turns out really well then try it out?

back to dwc then cheers mate may make a mini aero box 4 5 lowryders dow lol, wat you think?

 

[FastForward]

back to dwc then cheers mate may make a mini aero box 4 5 lowryders dow lol, wat you think?

Just jump in and try a few different things....that's what I'm doing....everyone has an opinion but only you can work out what works for you.... my plan is to try everything, leave the fuckups behind and move forwards with the stuff that worked :)

 

[hazyfontazy]

brown roots is not good ,its the start of rootrot ,u need an enzyme product and lower the temps ,,should pick up then :yes