Rookie Aero Flo Grow Together

[aerokrafter]

-bogfan

Any pics of the roots? Is there any new brown on them? Man your tap numbers are big.

Are these representative of all the plants - is there a strain issue?

P def looks like dark spots on the leaves. The wilty look like that is normally a protest from the roots. If they remind you of the look of overwatering in dirt, its normally root zone issues in aero.

Let them go another day, if the brown is no longer gaining then change back to base nutes. All those "cleaner chems" aren't good for new growth.

Sorry you are having issues, we will get this straightened. One thing to put at the top of your wish list should be an RO unit - right now 25% of the ionically active stuff in your res is unknown. Obviously thats not the cause of root rot, but it would eliminate variables.

Hang in there my friend, I'll be checking in as often as possible.

-ganjal

Take a look at few of my data sheets from my grows and you can see how pH and ppm drift and how I deal with it. Thats why I show em.

I had some freebie dianfem critical+. I heard mixed reviews, planted them, and found some pretty plants that had low potentcy. Others had claimed to find good ones, however I did not out of their 5 pack.

Pumps and power are always a problem. Just go with the best you can and get a backup as soon as possible. Their failure rates are hard to predict. Maintainance - cleaning the filter regularly, along with complete cleanup at the end of the run is about the best you can do.


-Ak

 

[bogfan]

No strain problems, Its bogglegum. I have grown this same plant in dirt and in the aeroflo.

I have taken about 50 pics to try and show the root slime but I just cant get a good pic of it.

I know I probably put too much cleaner chems in the res but I dont want to change the rez until the brown goo is gone. And I am more than ready to change this rez out.

I have another 60 site add on kit, I am thinking of swapping every single part out. just have to clean the pump.

I guess its time I paid attention to rez temp too! Its just hard to believe when the plant tops are at 75 F.

They all looked fine when I moved them from the cloner to the aeroflo. The DM zone didnt seem to help them at all. Not arguing against the DM Zone, just an observation. Maybe the double dose of Zone helped but I did put in a pretty massive random dose of H2o2.

The roots dont seem to have the slime on them anymore, but I still dont have the good aero style roots that have come immediately in the past.

A couple of the plants have a few new roots on them but as a whole, they havent recovered.

I will get an RO system soon enough. Meantime, I am using drain water from AC and Dehumidifier to change the rez out this time. It tests at 12 ppm.

Thanks everyone.

 

[bogfan]

Somebody start a "How to get rid of pythium in an aeroflo" thread

 

[DetroitFarmer]

Somebody start a "How to get rid of pythium in an aeroflo" thread

Doesnt h2o2 kill pythium??

 

[aerokrafter]

-bogfan

Give it a day or so. This is prolly going to cost a week to get straight, but better to get problems out of the way before bloom.

I'm as anxious as you to see the res go back to base nutes!


Bloom Update Day 7

Unit:


Growth Tip:


Nice Development:


Data:


Everything is coming along nicely. I'll prolly start the first level trellis in a couple days. I'm keeping pruning to a minimum with this plant. GDP has productive lower branches, so I will prune 2 bottom branches per head at the most.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome.

-AK

 

[ganjalfthegreen]

Thanks for posting your data sheet(s)!

 

[Scottish Research]

Have you seen my design?

DM liquid light looks like it is just a highly soluble liquid humic acid. Seems kind of expensive to me. I'm just going to make my own.

What size bottle of Zone should I get? Thanks!

R.Fortune

 

[Scottish Research]

Those data sheets could probably just be placed in google documents so everyone that needs them can download and use them.


R.Fortune

 

[aerokrafter]

I recommend 1 liter bottles of everything, unless you are running multiple units. Nutes get old - and heat/cold cycles accelerate the problem.

Old Nutes = New Problems

-AK

 

[ganjalfthegreen]

Question regarding clogged sprayers and/or lines...

Does his occur often guys? I used a product called drip clean to keep salt buildups at bay while in soil an heard of guys with drip systems having great success with it as well. Has anyone used this product with this system?

AK - thanks for the info, I remember seeing heath's critical mass grow and always wanted to run it but have now decided to run Northern lights or white widow, something I know and trust.

Going to start building my two units here ASAP.

 

[aerokrafter]

Spray lines don't like critters or heavy particulates. I rarely have problems with my recipies. However they do need to be checked on a regular basis.



Notice the plant in the far right corner. It went in the same size as everyone else. The difference was the last hole in the line was plugged. The tap root got nutes, but it got no fine spray to make aero roots. I forgot to inspect the lines a couple days after planting.

I soak my spraylines at least 24 hours in bleach water at breakdown. They get power sprayed out before reuse.

-AK

 

[aerokrafter]

AK’s Clone/Veg Method

Since we have folks about to jump into the fray, I wanted to review my clone/veg method and put it all in one place.
　
Nutes:


　
These are the nutes I use. The Potash + helps with roots. I selected DM for their pH stability.

I use 48 site Turbo Kloners for most of the grunt work. This is the recipe I use:

In RO water
15 ml DM Grow A
15 ml DM Grow B
15 ml Potash Plus

This yields around 500 ppm and a pH of around 6.4.

I let the solution level go down a couple inches and then change out the nutes - normally around a week. DO NOT just top off. Spend the extra quarter and five minutes to change them out. Take a look at the pump and check the spray heads for clogs. This procedure helps stave off nutrient imbalances and nasty critters.

Don’t skimp on your clones. You can only get the best bud when you start with the healthiest clones.

Freshly Clipped Clones:



Notice that I checkerboard the sites - so we only need 24 clones. Since we are vegging in the cloner, the plants will need the space.
　
2 Weeks later:

　
　
You can see they have started to take off.
　
22 Days Old:

　

Roots:

　
-Cont-

 

[aerokrafter]

AK’s Clone/Veg Method - Part 2

Topping and Pruning

After the plants have gotten at least 6 inches high and have at least 5 internodes, its time to top them. I let these get a little big to even out the height of the eventual bloom canopy. They could have been topped a few days earlier. Our goal is to produce 2 headed plants.

Clone Before:


　
Clone After:


　
Now we let the new heads grow out for a week to ten days or so.

10 days later:

　
　
From the 24 plants, I select the best, most even 18 clones to go to bloom.

For this run, the total clone/veg time was 32 days. Strains range from 28 to 45 days to complete the process. I use 35 days as a rule of thumb for planning purposes with unknown strains.

And planning is key. The bloom unit data sheet has a countdown to finish(those numbers in squares you may have noticed) that lets me know the exact day I need to take clones, so that when the run is done, I have perfect sized clones for that unit ready to go. Bloom room space never lies fallow for more than a day or so.

We Hot Bunk in my Haus!

Cloner Row:



Hope this quick overview helps!

As always, your questions and comments are welcome.

-AK

 

[oldergrower]

Update

Update

Well, still in veg but close to bloom. Tallest around 14". All the ladies are happy and growing.

The ladies are really sucking down the nutes. Have upped ppm to 550 but still recording heavy nute drops. Staying at this level bloom coming soon.

 

[bogfan]

I would say that I am probably 24 hours away from complete disaster.

I changed back to the regular nutes this morning. There is no new brown growth and they are almost completely wilted. I have grown this strain in almost every imaginable situation with no problems.

Must not be my time.

Not sure whether my failure was caused by the cloner or the aeroflo, but I used the Zone in both and it didnt seem to help at all.

I am gonna say that probably I didnt clean as well as I should have at some step or I let the temps get too high without recognizing it. Either way, I dont see these plants pulling out of this one.

Probably start my next clones in rockwool next time. I have never seen the brown slime anywhere but in a cloner. It seems like the slime was in between where I had laid the roots on top of each other when circling them in the bottom of the pot, and it is near impossible to take pictures of.

Thanks Aerokrafter

Good luck to everyone

 

[aerokrafter]

-bogfan

I'm not sure where you got the goo. Even without pix of the goo, it sounds like you have done everything you could.

I'm not sure what in the cloner step could have caused it. I've had very high temps this summer with cloner temps peaking at 90 that came through fine. However that does not help you. We need to figure out the most likely issues that led to this.

High temps and contamination are the most likely culprits. Is there anything else you can think of?

What would you do different next time?

I'm sorry you have ran into these issues. At this point its a matter of what we can salvage from the situation, even if its only knowledge.

It stings when things don't work right, but that's why its growing, not gathering.

Lets see if we can put together a plan to fix the situation.

-AK

 

[DetroitFarmer]

Mine look GRRRRRREAT!!! Gnite

 

[aerokrafter]

Day 10 Bloom Update

Today we are going to prune and trellis the grow.


First we optimize the plant layout. The plants can't be moved after today.

Day 10 is about the last day that you can safely move plants around in the unit. I try to get the best "stadium" distribution in the unit. You can see that root development has completely encircled the netpot.

Roots:


Pruning

Since Gran Doggy Purps has productive lower branches, we are keeping pruning to a minimum. The goal of shoot pruning is to remove the parts we don’t want the plant investing energy on. We want tops, not popcorn. In this case we are shoot pruning to 5. In other words we are keeping the top 5 shoots and pruning the rest. We keep all quality fan leaves.

Before Prune:



After Prune:



Unit Post Prune Shot:



The prune has opened up the canopy. Our best shoots can now get the light and room to grow their best.

For maximum control we need our next tool.

-Cont-

 

[aerokrafter]

The Trellis


I plan a two tier trellis for this run. We will use the trellis to spread and even the canopy.

Trellis Block Pattern:



Notice which holes I put the dowels in. This pattern is used for the maximum spread of the canopy.

Twist Tie Loop:



I leave a lot of room for the stem to thicken. The plant will push out the flattened loop as much as it needs - while leaving us to control the top.

Trellis Tie:



I attach the plant to the trellis with 2 half hitch knots. This lets me slide and lock in place each top.

Trellis Complete:



Row Layout:



In this pic you can see the plants are tied to one side in each row. This pattern once again allows the largest spread and the most control.

Each head of each plant has its place in the sun. There are no leaves from other plants shading or poking. Each tip now has the maximum everything I can give it. We may prune again - Day 17 will be our target for final prune if needed.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome.

-AK

 

[aerokrafter]

-oldergrower

I hope you plan to flip those soon. They look great!

-AK