God Bud L.E.D. AeroFlo36 Grow

I'm trying to get the pics up now but I'm also trying to play catch up in the education department so any help would be appreciated. I have a plethora questions in the Hydroponics section.

My Rapid Rooters are pretty soaks and I'm considering dumping out the 1/8-1/4 inch of water that's left in the tray so they dry out. Otherwise I've heard root rot can occur.

Also another big problem was my water reading last night. I don't understand the uS reading. My pH is slightly high at 6.34 and the ppm was 240 when it called for 200.

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The AeroFlo, Carbon Filter, Fan, Tent

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2 of the 4 UFOs setup close together to be used for seedlings, Intake Duct coming from floor vent, and CO2 bucket's tube there on the right.

More pics coming !

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THE LIGHTS!

RapidRooter plugs claim to only hold the 'right amount of water' ... while that sounds dubious, it may be true ... I've been running them for 2-3 years now, and they all seem to germinate fine, whether 'water-soaked', or just 'damp' ... just keep your water an inch or so beneath the plugs, don't let them ever dry out, and you should be OK ... happy gardening :jointsmile:

an inch or so from the top?

The tray I was given has the bottom of the RRs resting only 1/8-1/3 inch away from the bottom of the reservoir tray. Should the RRs be touching the water? Please explain, thanks for the help!

Hi SunLake,

In regard to the water level question with the rapid rooters.. keep a bit of water in the tray just below the bottom of the rapid rooters. And get a heat mat with a thermostat.. you've already made a significant investment, so do it correctly.

As far as you're overall plan.. I'd recommend you consider the following:

1. Germ 8 seeds maximum from the 36 you have. Save the rest.
2. Grow these at least 2 months in soil-less mix, I prefer t-5 panels for veg. But you're tent and the LED system will work great. You also need to set up an alternate light area to keep these going as mothers. If you're detailed on which plant made which clone, you can keep the best plants dependent on the quality of your first harvest.

Once your initial plants are ready to provide cuttings..

3. Get a clone bucket or something similar that supports at least 36 clones (based on your aeroponic system size)
4. Make cuts.. root them in the clone bucket
5. Once you have roots, move them to the aeroponic system
6. In the aero, stay conservative on your nute levels. since they're being applied directly to the roots, 600-800 ppm, 5.6 ph, works very well during both veg and flower.
7. Veg them for a couple of weeks, keep an eye on how big they are because they'll stretch quite a bit during flower.
8. Flip the lights to 12/12 and let them do their thing.



FYI - I completely swap reservoirs on my aero systems every 4 days.. keeps everyone really happy. Also, not sure what temperature conditions you have, but you need to keep the reservoir 68 degrees or below to eliminate any risks with root rot.

Bottom line.. it sounded like you may need to move a little slower on your project and you'll have more success.

Peace

Farmer Rich

I've improvised with an electric blanket which is keeping the bottom of the tray nice and warm!

So that water shouldn't actually be touching the Rapid Rooter? It should be below it to work sort of as a boiler to keep the humidity up?

Thanks for the suggestion Rich but I'm proceeding with all 36, and when I go to do my mother I will need two more tents and more equipment. I'm just going to do one grow all the way through for quality. At this point I'd love to get SOG going but it's just not within my resources.

I was worried that pH may have drifted up so I tested again today and it did, 6.8. I discarded the water and have a made a new solution with water steady at 5.5, no bloom this time. The ppm had drifted up to 280 as well! I'm currently trying to try the Rapid Rooters out so I can add some of the new water, I've taken the lid off to lower the humidity and put a Heater/Fan blowing on the tops of the RRs. The Electric blanket is working perfect and is keeping the tray at roughly 75-76 degrees.

Does anyone think I risked "damaging" maybe even a couple of germinating seeds with this slightly high ppm and pH? If so does anyone also thinks its worth putting a little fresh water on them now?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SunLake

Does anyone think I risked "damaging" maybe even a couple of germinating seeds with this slightly high ppm and pH?

Nope. Seen a lot germ in 740ppm / 7.6 pH.

If so does anyone also thinks its worth putting a little fresh water on them now?

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Fresh water shouldn't hurt anything. It'll raise your pH back up, if you care about that. As long as your RR's suitably moist, you shouldn't need it.

Relax a little. It's a weed. You are gonna "love it to death."

October 31st, 2009

Bought 11 5-Gallon buckets to collect my RO water.

Cleaned all buckets, and some grow chambers on the AeroFlo with 1 Tsp bleach per gallon.

Noticed about 19 of the 38 seeds have fully germinated.

Sprayed all RRs with some 5.5 pH water, no nutes.

Gave them approx 3 hours of light under 2 UFOs at approx 6 inches.


November 1st, 2009

Removed Humidity Dome, some leaves are collecting large water droplets

Cleaned remaining grow chambers and reservoir
19 out of 38 are doing well. They have about an 1.25 inch and growth.

2 are going to need help.

17 out of 38 haven't popped out yet and I'm starting to worry if I need to did some more room around the hole in the Rapid Rooter or just let them be.

Also still need to know the answer to what Image Reaper told me as to keeping the water an inch below the Rapid Rooter. Does anyone thing I should have some water on say the bottom 1/3 or 1/4 of the rapid rooter?

I'm going to post pictures soon and investigate further the conditions of the ones that need help. Does anyone have experience with seeds getting "stuck" in the Rapid Rooters.

I'm going to mix a light nute mix with 1.5 ml bloom 1.5 micro and 1.5 gro and spray that on just the ones that have germinated. Does anyone think it would burn the seeds that haven't sprouted yet?

Also I need to consider giving them light now, as some of them have leaves already. Should I wait until all 4 main leaves have sprouted out? Do they need light yet?

Thanks, I know a great deal of noob questions but I learn quickly.