aero/fog LED grow table

[oldmac]

That's the business side of a Theroreme Innovation SmartLamp Pro-Bloom. I've been using a pair of them for over a year now. In this setup they are on a light rail, moving a few feet over the tray.

When you say "regular fogger" are you referring to a pond fogger? Pond foggers do work, but have a couple of limitations, they run hot and will increase rez temps if used in that way. Plus the fog tends to stay on top of the water and only builds a few inches above the water on it's own, so some sort of fan assit is required.

Here's a couple pics of grow tray clean up. Easy clean for sure.:thumbsup:

[Rubberbubbler]

Thats a nice healthy root mat. They look grate.:thumbsup:

[Prodaytrader]

very nice indeed

[oldmac]

That is the garbage to be thrown out. Real easy clean up. But pretty nice root mat.

I've been busy with my partner trying to square away things in the HPS/container side of our grow. Plus we need to clean up some sloppy work on our control panel here and automated switch over for the frapa fogger.

The next run, we are going to put the cuttings directly into the aero/fog grow tray and start that way, so we don't have the wilt off problem we had with this run. But this last time around we did do some experiments; like leaving some dead plants, with dead roots to see if root rot would spread...it would not, turning off both aero and fog to see if roots would dry out too much after an hour or so... they did not, etc etc. I like experiments that simulate or stimulate problems at this stage, when it won't hurt as much as being into a production mode.

Stay tuned, I am going to start this up again soon.

[Prodaytrader]

Looking at your root mat makes me think of an idea I had which I will run past you. In my next design I was thinking I would make my root basin about 2 feet in depth that would be for fog only, no misters or sprayers. About every 10 inches I was thinking I might run a layer of chicken wire or something similar so that the roots could create layers and can grow horizontally instead of just vertically until they hit the floor like yours did. Do you think I would just clog up my fog zone with roots or do you think the fog could still flow around as needed even with two or three layers of roots in the basin?

One other idea came to me which I now run past you too. I want to stay away from misters in my next design. I attempted once already and failed in the high pressure misters area. So my other thought was that perhaps I could strategically lay in some pools of water in the basin so that the roots could tap a more consistent water supply then what my fogger can provide. I haven't seen a design that I really like yet, but various ideas pop in my mind on how to do something like this. I could put a shallow tray of water just under the roots and drop it lower every few days. I could put tiny fountains in the basin or maybe some sort of NFT method. The idea here would be that since I cant get the water droplets small enough to use with fog I probably better just leave misters out of my fog zone all together. I noticed that when I used fog and low pressure misters the droplets tended to butcher my fog roots. My thought process was that if I used pools of water instead, then perhaps they wouldn't damage all the roots. Any roots that make contact with a pool of water would slowly become a tap root I suspect, but it wouldn't be a shock to the plants. I find that low pressure misters require a heavier root then what fog encourages. I am aware that however I do the supplemental watering that i will need to circulate it. So whenever I say pool of water I am simply thinking of some sort of water supply that doesn't impact the roots as badly as misters do.

Another thought comes to mind. Maybe I could get a mat of water permeable material that my roots could come to rest on in the basin. A mat would allow me to start higher in the basin during the grow cycle and lower it as the roots grow longer.

My Goal: figure out a way to get water to the roots while not beating them up with water droplets and being able to use fog once again. Recall that I have a 3 head Aero Mist which tends to produce dry fog. And like you I want to grow from start to finish in one system, so clones will have trouble getting to water early on. Know what I mean Vern?

[headshake]

can't wait to see what's next OM!

i knew that you were using Pro-blooms, i guess i just didn't know what the business end looked like!

i think the fogger that i have is not even for ponds. i think it's made for crafts or some crap like that. i'll look at the specs and get back to you.

i think i seed a little project in the future. thanks for pushing the envelope!


-shake

[oldmac]

A bump so some people can see the start of "fogfognugen".

[oldmac]

I guess I could update a bit of info here.

2nd tray went in so fogfognugen is complete. We purchased 2 more TI ProBlooms for use over the second tray, also on the same light rail.
BTW, LEDs on a light rail help alot with penertration, there is a constant changeing of the "angle of attack" from the lights. Plus it is kinda hypnotic watching the damn lights move back and forth, constant changing shadows.

Most recently this summer we built another 2 trays so now there are 2 fogfognugens, and they are stacked on top of each other. We started using 2- 1000watt HPS lights on the second one, and I can confirm that 2-TIs totaling 660 watts can and does outperform 1000 watts (really 1040 watts w/digi ballast) of HPS. So saved 380 watts but got a tastier product. We recently changed the HPS for PSMH, using 3000k bulbs thru most of flower then using a 10,000k bulb for last 7-10 days. This has worked out better then the HPS and finish and taste is like the TIs. Only thing I did not like with the HID lights was the need to air cool the hoods, but with out that the AC was working too hard. This is BTW a sealed room.

As always I'm willing to answer any questions that anyone has, on or OT.
OM

[MimbresValley]

great reading mac!

[khyberkitsune]

This is a neat system. What is the expected yield from a table of how many plants?