aero help

[Dbd143]

I'm planning my aeroponic grow and am stuck on a few questions. I've scoured forums and am not seeing alot that can help me and my other threads on forums have gone unanswered is there anyone familiar with aero that can maybe message me so i can pick your brain it would be highly appreciated please and thank you

 

[johnnyrotten]

I know a little about it...have done some experiments...why not just ask the question here on the board instead of sending a pm...before long an aero expert will come along...

 

[Dbd143]

bc no one answers the threads lol figured a direct message back and forth would be more advantageous. But yeah im stuck on how to go about starting from seed into aero. dont know if i should use rockwool and risk trauma to the roots when i transplant into the collar or maybe use rapid rooters? ill be using gh nutes and needed to know how often i should change my res and hit it again and if i should run some clean water for a bit before adding the nutes. would 2" net pots be able to support a plant through flower. it will only be vegging for a few weeks in and out kinda thing bc if they can i can just make the lids both the same and move the whole tub into flower room instead of transplanting again idk just my ideas planning it out and shiiiit

 

[johnnyrotten]

start them in perlite...make sure you wash it thoroughly before use... it also washes off the roots easily when you're ready to transfer to the aero system...

change your res every two weeks and just add Hydrogen Peroxide to the solution to keep everything clean...

Do you have a chiller yet? you need to keep your water temps in the high 60's...

 

[Dbd143]

no but the unit will be kept either in a basement or ina room hooked up to ac.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

With summer coming unless it is just a learning experiment I would wait till fall if you do not have a chiller. JK

 

[Dbd143]

its my first grow and i have about 200 seeds ive saved to play with only about 20 are from a strain that i would want to grow out. i can get a chiller bc my items just changed and i dont have to get an air pump or stones anymore so i have a little money back into my budget for a chiller where would i go about getting one i have another 100 left in my budget thats extra at this point

 

[Dbd143]

where i live the basements are all underground and insulated its always cool in my basement even when its 100 outside its awesome lol

 

[MedicineFarm]

i run an aero system to grow food. an additional tip to help keep things running clean that i learned is to run lower ppms and change the res more often. imo with this type of constant flow of nutrient solution you are feeding more often so you can reduce the amount of fertilizer you need. this also will eliminate most of your chances of burning ur ladies.run that gh cal mag too, its higher in calcium and it is a good concentrate.

 

[mekannic]

bc no one answers the threads lol figured a direct message back and forth would be more advantageous. But yeah im stuck on how to go about starting from seed into aero. dont know if i should use rockwool and risk trauma to the roots when i transplant into the collar or maybe use rapid rooters? ill be using gh nutes and needed to know how often i should change my res and hit it again and if i should run some clean water for a bit before adding the nutes. would 2" net pots be able to support a plant through flower. it will only be vegging for a few weeks in and out kinda thing bc if they can i can just make the lids both the same and move the whole tub into flower room instead of transplanting again idk just my ideas planning it out and shiiiit View attachment 418508

i'm glad you posted and i'm glad you got some responses. not many aero growers i can find. i am trying it. i tried it for the first time experimenting last summer just taking cuttings to see if i could get them to root. it worked out great. so this year i am trying a whole grow. i started from seed paper towel method. i also first started in rockwool, then had luck with other seeds not dying (not pot) going directly into a 2" puck from the paper towel, so i tried a couple of pot seeds like that. none died. i first prepped the pucks, though, by prestretching them by opening them up and putting a pencil in and letting em set for a while, so as to keep them from crushing the little sprouts when i put em in the pucks.

i saw one question you never got answered, about a 2" pots supporting through flower. i am assuming you found your answer through experience since it's been so long? care to elaborate on your experience? i plan on moving from size to size as they grow, but getting too tangled in the pots to remove scares me. guess i can just leave the pot on and move up to the next puck and put the smaller pot inside the bigger one. i also have growstone, like hydroton only lighter, but i really don't want to use it. i want to be media free.

i built all my own aero buckets. i don't like the totes, i can't afford the ones that are strong enough to hold that much water. i use five gal buckets. i plan on searching for a mother or two and then taking clones, much easier than from seed to puck, with the added benefit of finding a good plant everybody likes and keeping it going.

let me know what your success rate was and any problems you encountered if you don't mind.

 

[mauiinfinity]

I love your planning!!!!!!! its the funniest part of building your own system You will want to start a round of seeds in rockwool sex them... Then take a few clones off once you know its female put them in the aeroponic cloner... after you have roots you will be able to take the best one and make it your mother... I just use a 5 gallon bucket DWC for mine with 4bulb t5 light and change your water weekly.... This process will take a bit but worth it.. OR you could just get a clone from a friend or club....... I am fairly new here but I have been playing around with aeroponics for about 4 yrs now..... I am currently running an DIY aeroponic cloner which is what you should use to clone off your mother. I can give you links on how to build one for about 20-25 bucks... My veg is aeroponic/ DWC 5 gallon buckets and my bloom is High pressure root injection aeroponic/EBB&Flow all is custom built... If you have any questions message/pm me I will do my best to answer your questions about your system! I will be starting a thread on my system soon so I can share this with otheres here! It is massive growth almost as much as aquaponics but more than any other platform I have seen or tried....

 

[mekannic]

looking forward to the new thread.

and what you said is about exactly my plan. no clubs or friends here. all hush hush. i got four 5gal aerobuckets already. i build another every so often. i wish i could sell them, i love making them. i don't even hardly have to measure my pvc i am so familiar with it. that one goofy ass design prolly ain't very good, looks novel because all the 22.5 elbows but in hind sight it was stupid and expensive and overly complicated but i was just playing around. wish i had a bunch of extra dollars, harbor freight has a couple of decent pumps on sale right now.

i got an 8'x16' area i'm working on for a grow room, and i thought about dividing it in half, then realized i need more room for flowering because i'm only gonna have one or two mommys. so i am prolly gonna go 1/3 for veg room and 2/3 flower. about.

i'm guessing you let a mom grow out to a certain point, all the while taking clones from her for the flower room and then when she starts to kinda overgrow, you take a clone from her for the new mom and flower the old mom? i can't wait.

i'm sure once that new thread gets going, and i hope it gets a foothold and takes off, i will be a regular customer over there.

i got into aero wanting to do tomatoes inside one winter.

 

[mauiinfinity]

Sweet Mekannic! It is alot of fun building the pvc build for the buckets! I remember playing around with the angles and what not till I found a perfect fit for the bucket! Defenitly get rid of that rock wool and use collars there cheap and much much cleaner ;) The nice part about what ur building right now is that it will easily convert over to the system that I have built down the road when ur ready and have a bit more money to upgrade your system. Or keep it the way it is! if it works why change it.... your ratio sounds about right... 2/3 for flowering room... then you might want to look into tents for your veg and mother/clone... I had a 9X20 room and I seperated it 2/3 bloom and 1/3 veg ran it that way for a while then realized how cheap and efficient tents were for smaller stuff like your veg and mother/clone........ I picked up a 5X5 grow tent for $148 bucks for my veg and a 2X4 for my mother/clone for $100 bucks... anyway my 2 cents of course theres a million ways to do things... If you already got a plan and the materials than bust it out! I am doing some upgrading this week to my system so once its back up and going I will start the thread so you can see where you can go with this and why I am doing it this way vs regular aeroponics! ;) Glad to have you on board with the forum and the farmers here! We all help eachother grow and grow!

 

[mekannic]

got two more pumps today at harbor freight. they were out of stock on the one that was on sale for $9.99 so i talked the manager into selling me to of the next size up, on sale for $14.99 for the $9.99 price. SWEET!! got three pumps to put together now. and i think i'm gonna notch the bucket for the cord instead of running it through one of the pucks. easier to change nutes. easier to pick up the whole lid and move it to another bucket.

i got four plants started in my pantry while i am finishing my grow room (can't wait for that, a few more days damnit), they are only about two inches tall, and when open the door it already smells. Awesome. gotta get this room finished so i can move them and get all set up in there.

now i don't know what i want to do. scrog, sog, lst. i don't think i want to grow huge plants like scrog. i think i would rather so some sort of sog type thing. i don't know yet. you said you been doing aero for years, what do you suggest?

and yes, at some point i may want to adapt my system, idk yet. got a pic of yours that shows what you mean?