White Widow and Hindu Kush grow with Amazon system

Hello.
With the White Widow coco grow finished and drying it is now time to start my next project.
This time I will grow using an aeroponics system called Nutriculture Amazon.
It will be a 16 plant SoG in my Darkroom 1*1m tent.
Hesi nutes
600W HPS in cooltube
280 kubic metre/hour exhaust fan sucking charcoal scrubbed air out.
2 fans moving the air around in the tent
Passive intake.

I have put 8 WW clones and 8 Hindu Kush clones in the system. The clones are not super strong and I know a few might not make it, I tried a new way to clone and it haven't gone perfect but we'll see how it goes.

The 16 plants are as of now in the system and under the HPS after having stood 2 weeks under a 125W LE.
They are getting low dose veg nutes and full dose rootcomplex for now until I see healthy roots.

Schematic pic of the Amazon system:
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...8/ff8e00c5.jpg

Picture from my tent:
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...8/DSCI0663.jpg

So here we are, new start.
I will use this grow as a learning experience and don't expect too much yet. The clones are not very strong and I am new to aeroponics but I have read up a lot and am in contact with some european growers using the same system so I hope the clones that develop healthy roots will make it through well.

Also another thing. I only had 2 Hindu Kush seeds and one of them showed sex a long time ago and was male. The one that is left I did a mother from but still 4 weeks later I am not 100% it is female so I am playing the odds here. It should be female but it is not confirmed yet.

I grow for the fun of it so I don't mind that much if I run into problem and just try to learn from it and hope I come out a better grower in the other end.

Welcome to my new log guys.

Puffzter

looks great so far. cant wate to see how this turns out.

This is gonna be a fun one for sure.
One of the biggest problems with handwatering as I did last grow was the extreme workload, sure only 5 plants but to haul water every 12-14 hours for 10 weeks (without a missed day ever) in a wheelchair was a bit tough.

There are other problems with this natrually like keeping pH on an even level it jumps around all the time and the biggest problem will be to keep the reservoar temperature low enough for healthy roots.
The Amazon system is very nice but it is made of black plastic which sucks a bit. I should buy some more mylar to cover it in.
I know many growers had problems with that and solved it with mylar or mounted cooling fans in the reservoar (or both).
Still, I can leave my home for a few days this time around. :D

Puffzter

Hey Puff nice to see you using aeroponics, if you have any questions Ill try to help you out, I actually throw ice in my reservoir now and then to keep the temperatures cool, that seems to work without the jerking the ph around too bad, also make sure no light is getting to your reservoir AT ALL, the smallest light leaks can lead to algae. Also as your roots get bigger you may want to lower reservoir level a little bit to give roots more room in the air, you dont want all the roots submerged all the time, u want them in air getting sprayed. Humidity may also be a problem because of your reservoir and the sprays going so watch for that. You system is black, that will block light really good from getting into your reservoir but it will probably get hot. Also make sure your water pump is secure so it doesnt slip away and cause your sprinklers to go dry, that happened to me before. Other then that, they say to flush your reservoir often, i flush mine every 2 weeks about, and I'll add fresh water and nutes. If the inside of your reservoir gets feels slippery anywhere then you might be developing algae, you may want to scrub out your reservoir every time you flush it.

I think youre going to love aeroponics, most important is keep an eye on your water, you want to monitor your res water frequently. Other then that get ready for rapid growth and super thriving plants.

Thanks man, appreciate it. :)

The roots can never reach the water by the way. The root chambre and the water reservoir are devided by a wall. The floor in the rootchambre drains into the reservoir at it's lowest point.
I've seen people using ice also and I will as well but that will be a way to get temps down if they are way too high as it is such a temporary fix. I'll modify my growroom or my system until I have a stable solution concerning that.
The waterpump is anchored to the floor of the reservoir chambre so it can never move. It is pressed down by the solid pipes.

I read quite a lot of Amazon logs and most of the guys have only actually changed the water once, when they shift to 12/12 or one time in the middle of bloom. I was thinking every 2-3 weeks or if I get into trouble.

No light leaks by the way, I held up the lid with the plants in it to the HPS and cant see a beam of light get through anywhere. :D

So far so good.

I'll be watching this log. There are a few benefits of doing hydro/aeroponics that I would like to take advantage of; but I'm worried about some things that a medium will take care of for you. Such as the temperature of the root area; natural buffering, and PH control.

I'm wary of hydro mostly because of the level of detail you have to pay attention to your resevoir. Granted probably checking the res once a day would be enough; but I'd be worried I'd screw something up.

In either case I'm going to stay tuned to see how well it turns out. If it looks like it's going well then I may bite the bullet. It would be nice to get rid of the cost of a substrate. In addition to being able to accurately tell how much your plants are eating (PPM in res) and the accelerated growth involved in hydro.

Subscribed. :thumbsup:

I added ice to my resrvoir almost a week ago and the water has been cool ever since. I think ill throw a bunch of ice in whenever it gets warm. And when it comes to hydro/aero, checking your water is really simple. If you think your gonna have problems all you have to do is add regular water. When you know what your doing and begin trusting yourself you can add nutes and all that.

Oh.
Well I'll try here as well later on then.
Now I first have the problem of a few plants not rooting properly while most grow roots at an insane rate.
I knew a few clones were weak but put them into the system anyway to see what happened.
If I don't see change very soon I'll make a few more clones to fill up the system with. I won't switch 12/12 until I have 16 solid plants to grow.

Puffzter

Ok, I made some clones the good old way to cover for the ones that don't seem to root. I went a bit experemential on the last clone and lost a few it seems.

7 White Widow clones, 4 Hindu Kush Clones and 2 Bonzai mothers:
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...8/DSCI0671.jpg

Amazon 8 WWs and 8 HKs:
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...8/DSCI0672.jpg

Inside Amazon:
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...8/DSCI0674.jpg

As soon as I have 16 good clones in the system rooted, healthy and about 8-10 inches tall I am switching to 12/12.

Puffzter