Aeroponics - Who's using it now?

[Farmer Rich]

Hey All,

Been a while since I started a thread so here goes..

I switched to aeroponics earlier in the year and finally feel like I'm getting it dialed in on a more consistent basis. I'd like to get a thread going to talk about what has been working and what didn't. From an experience level, I'm into cultivation for about 2.5 years now and relatively anal about doing things accurately when it comes to mixing nutrients and water.

My approach to aero is fairly simple; I used the HT article and grow on another board claiming to produce 1 pound every 3 weeks for the basis of my design.. Where I take exception is the dude who wrote the HT article (same guy on the thread too, I believe) claimed he was hitting the plants at 3000 ppm!! Totally unnecessary and a waste of nutrients.

Process is basic: Mom -> Cuts -> Clone Bucket -> 3" Net Pot (or to a new mom in dirt) -> Veg System -> Flower System -> Harvest. Repeat Often.

Regenerate your mothers when needed.

Keep some plants in dirt/soilless mix until you get really good at growing using areoponics, because when something goes south, it can happen fast.

Nutes - I like them on the weaker side and generally use the following:

Clone Bucket - 400 ppm bloom, ph 6.0 - 6.3, keep water at 75 deg. spray 24x7, will get me great roots in 2 weeks.

Veg Sys: 500 - 700 ppm, ph 5.5 - 5.8
Flower Sys: 600 - 900 ppm, ph 5.5 - 5.8

I swap reservoirs every 4-6 days.

I know a lot of people out there like to "super crop" and do a shit load of plants, flowering them quickly. Not my thing. I like vegging for 3-5 weeks dependent on how healthy the roots on the cuts are. This has changed my schedule a bit, where I try to do a harvest monthly, either 1 or 2 systems (each having 6 plants).. Believe me, when it's working right with no issues this will produce quite a bit.

Here's a few pics.. The bud shot is from a plant in soilless mix that kept me in bud after loosing a system to root rot during hot weather.

Farmer Rich Reviewed by Farmer Rich on 11-23-2009. Aeroponics - Who's using it now? Hey All, Been a while since I started a thread so here goes.. I switched to aeroponics earlier in the year and finally feel like I'm getting it dialed in on a more consistent basis. I'd like to get a thread going to talk about what has been working and what didn't. From an experience level, I'm into cultivation for about 2.5 years now and relatively anal about doing things accurately when it comes to mixing nutrients and water. My approach to aero is fairly simple; I used the HT Rating: 5

[DreadedHermie]

I'm in. :thumbsup:

Always wanted to try this.

[martyrprojekt]

I just want to be honest...Aeroponics intimidates me! Maybe this is my outdoor guerilla grower in me that wants to hold onto using some kind of grow medium. But, is the yield really worth all of the trouble?

I see their being tons of problems with root rot...bugs...plant rot, etc? It seems like over-complicating a process which should be clean, concise and simple.

Just like the guy from HT using 3000ppm for his grow. Simply overcomplicating the entire grow process. And, it seems like Aero guys are always dialing in their systems.

I would love to try a 5 gallon bucket DWC. But, I need to do tons more research. Any suggestions or directions for a DWC anyone wants to share? :thumbsup:

[Farmer Rich]

As far as dialing in systems.. I\'ve simplified it. When I first started I was measuring/tweaking the ph of the reservoir daily and being generally nervous like a noob just starting our and loving their plants way too much and screwing with them constantly. Now, I simply prepare a new reservoir, move it into the system and leave it alone 4-6 days.

One of the major factors in aeroponics is the temperature of your reservoir, once it starts to climb above 68 degrees, you\'ve created the perfect environment for pythium (aka root rot). With cooler weather here, this is not a problem now. Once summer returns, I\'m hoping to have incorporated a 1/10 hp reservoir chiller on each system. A bit expensive at $350 or so a piece, but effective.

I\'ve been doing some side-by-side yield comparison between aeroponics and plants in soilless mix. Nothing super scientific but in my situation, I get similar amounts, typically a solid 2 oz per plant dried. So on a 6 plant system, 12 oz plus enough trash for about 1/2 oz of great bubble hash. Keep in mind, this is with NO CO2.. This big difference is the buds coming from the aeroponic systems are always much more dense than those not.

Peace,

Farmer Rich

[Prodaytrader]

I'm concerned my res is too hot. How in the world do you get temps below 68 degrees without adding in a bunch of high tech water chillers. I do have an old radiator from a water cooled pc that might work for me. Think that would work?

[Farmer Rich]

Hey PDT,

So how would you plumb in this radiator you have and pump water through it? You\\\'d also likely have to move air over the radiator to make it work too.

A high maintenance approach would be to maybe use 1 qt plastic freezer jars filled with water and frozen. They\\\'re fairly inexpensive, I considered adding about 4-6 to a single reservoir but never really tested it.

Also, what\\\'s the high temperature in your room with the lights on? Mine is currently in the mid 70s with AC. In the worst of summer, it stays in the upper 70\\\'s to low 80\\\'s, which is where the problems begin to occur.

The chiller units I\\\'m looking at are from echo and can handle up to 100 gallons, and would cost around $400 per system. In addition to the cooler, you have to buy an additional submersible pump for each reservoir. I figure with 10-12 gallons of liquid, they should be efficient. You should also consider each chiller would generate a bit of heat on its own. I\\\'m think I\\\'m going to prototype a new system that provides a platform on wheels under the entire system that would hold the reservoir and chiller. This would also allow me to start plants in veg and then move the entire unit to the flower room; this would eliminate the step of moving the rooted plants between systems.

Peace,

Farmer rich

[oldmac]

Hello Farmer Rich,

As I said before, somewhere else, this is a very nice build. Nice set up, very simple which almost makes it elegent.:thumbsup:

I'm currently setting up a aero/fog grow tray, and have been foolin around with aero for the past 18 months. I would like to point out that even tho my system is probably more complicated, it does do away with most of the problems that have been raised here.

1) root rot; by using ultrasonic fog I have eliminated all pathogens and nasties from the root zone. Ultrasonic fog is not just sterile, it will sterilize the root zone for you. No green alge, no brown slime... no nothing. (root rot can only survive in a 1/4" zone around the stem and neoprene collar)

2) resivior temps; I do aero/fog to waste, there is no temp build up since nutrients/water are in 5 gal jugs and the temp is whatever the jug is. Plus without recirculating anything you eliminate changes in Ph and PPM and if you do have unwanted crap start to grow it won't be spread thru the rez.

Many advatages to going aero, at least that's the way I see it.

[Farmer Rich]

Hey Oldmac,

Thanks for the props! I like what you\\\'re doing too, and I hope you won\\\'t be posting the results but a description might be ok. The one thing I\\\'ve been wondering about on a fog system is how do chem salts affect it? 5 microns is tiny. What\'s also very cool in your system is the small containers that feed it, quick easy changes are nice, also flexible. How often do you expect to have to change a 5 gallon container?

Peace,

Farmer Rich

[Prodaytrader]

that is the thing about foggers, the salts try and build up. I also found that hydroton clay likes to build up on the disks as well. With the fogger that I have you just wipe the disks off with your finger at least once a week. Other then that they keep pretty clean most of the time. The other trick is to use low salt nutrients that are 100% water soluble. The salts don't tend to build as badly.

I finally added in my radiator. It lowered temps a few degrees but nothing fantastic. I'll have to take a picture of it as this was one of the few implementations that actually worked like I imagined. I am semi-actively cooling the radiator but I could do better. For now I am hoping the temps wont be an issue. They get to about 80 in the res but I know at the misters they have to be much cooler.

[oldmac]

Hey Oldmac,

Thanks for the props! I like what you\\\'re doing too, and I hope you won\\\'t be posting the results but a description might be ok. The one thing I\\\'ve been wondering about on a fog system is how do chem salts affect it? 5 microns is tiny. What\'s also very cool in your system is the small containers that feed it, quick easy changes are nice, also flexible. How often do you expect to have to change a 5 gallon container?

Peace,

Farmer Rich

A 5 gallon jug lasts 4 days, the bulk of which is used by the aero side. The fogger uses 1/2 liter per 1 hour run time. Since the fogger runs 10 mins per 1/2 hour, it does not use very much.

Ultrasonic foggers are sensitive to the salts in nutrients and do crude up. But some nutrients seem to run cleaner then others. Plus I have a built in cleaning cycle for the fogger, it is on a 24hr cycle but during the dark period it switches over from running off the nutrient jug to a direct RO water feed thru the use of a couple of soleniod valves.