Grand Doggy Purps - The Shakedown Run

-Bonzo

I made em. Solving weed problems has inspired me to create interesting solutions. Check the rest of this thread for some of the other fun things I've made. Prolly has something to do with the smoke!

Thanx for stoppin in.

-AK

woo hoo! i like fun things!

You have inspired me to keep my head up. Just got the AF 60 site and had some questions. I'm a HUGE fan of learning all I can before I fail. Thank you. Cutting the learning curve on this beast means everything to me.

Awesome stuff my man! I'm very interested in aero, did you make your system from hardware store diy parts or was it a bought put together system?

-downtoearth

Thanx for the kind words. Feel free to ask questions. My goal with this thread was to do a grow-a-long of a great plant - GDP, along with a one-stop comprehensive report on how to do it in aero. Q&A makes it much more fun and interesting than simply sitting and listening to some great and powerful Oz, bathering away from behind the curtain.

Looking before you leap is always fine advise. I hope you found enough to take the jump.

-Critter

The AeroFlo is a commercial unit from General Hydroponics. It is pretty easy to build your own. My first aero unit was built from plastic fence posts and worked pretty well. I then went to aerotubs that I later used as veggers.





I made the move to commercial units to simplify and standardize my grow.

Experiments and making stuff are the icing on the MedicalCake for me!

Thanx again for your questions and comments.

-AK

Reader Mailbag

Amongst the questions in pm's that I get, there were questions raised that I thought would be worth sharing here.

Why doesn't the spray holes in the lines match with net pots? How are the spray lines supposed to be set up?

The spray holes are supposed to line up to hit the opposite wall of the root chamber. This is how the fine mist is generated that makes aero go. It's best to have them shoot at a 45 degree angle - close to where the water line is. Whatever generates the most mist is the goal.

What are the numbers in the squares on your data sheet in the nutes section?


Those are my countdown to finish numbers. I use this to plan what is next for the unit. Everything I run takes 30 - 45 days to be ready from clipping. If the next thing going in takes 38 days to be ready from clipping, I know exactly when to take clones, to end up with the perfect size for the next run.

-AK

Disregard my PM AK. I plumb forgot about directing my questions here. How many gallons does the AeroFlo "actually" hold? I have the 60 site. I have noticed that you may be in for trouble if you fill the tubes all the way up as well as the res. and then unwittingly push the drain tubes all the way down lol. I haven't done it but I can see where somebody could.

How much can I expect the PPM or TDS to increase with the use of hydroton in the AeroFlo? I assume it will. Haven't loaded it up yet but will in a couple days time.

Also, how long are those dowel rods? How many did you use? And where did you get them? lol I went to Lowe's and they only have the 4' ones. Peace.

-downtoearth

The number of gallons varies depending on how far down the drain tubes are. With tubes up, its easy to gain 10 gallons. And yes, if the pump fails for any reason, they will overflow the res. Because you are in the 60 site, you will have to bump my numbers a little. Start with them and experiment to make your own set of rules.

Hydroton should be neutral. Make sure its rinsed and soaked before use. Out of the bag there is a lot of particulates that you do not want in the system.

The dowels are 4' long. I clip the tops of the verticle ones so the light doesn't snag em. Each root chamber will use 4 alltogether. With very heavy buds, the trellis is stabilized by running some across - boxing the structure in. With your longer chambers, you will need another 2', shouldn't be too hard to patch something together. It's like a tinkertoy - you can make it any way you please.

Best of Luck
-AK

Day 21 Bloom Update

Everyone is happy and strapped into position to rock.

Unit Shot:


To give you a better idea of the stretch:


Here's our shoot we are tracking:



We have finger sized bud formation, trichs running down the fans, and the pursecandy smell is coming in. Stretch will slow as the buds swell over the next week. Leaves are still perfect with no burn, curl, or claw. We are in the groove and ready to start making some bud.

-AK

flower time!

Locked and loaded!!!!


TpM

this will be a great one for sure aero!
its going to be one helluva frosty forest!

Reader Mailbag

Amongst the questions in pm's that I get, there were questions raised that I thought would be worth sharing here.

Why don't you use a cycle timer like other aero systems?

A cycle timer is generally used in aero systems to increase the virtual air flow to the roots by having "dry time", when the pump is turned off. By modulating the nutrient mist into pulses instead of a continious delivery, the plants can grow even faster.

There are three reasons why I don't use them:

The aeroflo is not totally aero - the root mass in the bottom of the root chambers turns it into a hybrid aero/DWC system. Those roots that stay in solution all the time don't like to be dried out.

When the pump goes off, the excess solution in the root chambers backs up into the reservoir, making a mess on the floor.

The pumps in these machines don't last very long being turned on and off all the time. In fact I have yet to see a Bluestone make it for more than a year and half, just in continious mode. If a pump fails, you have about 12 hours before serious damage is done to the plants. Another good reason to have a backup on the shelf. The generic replacement pumps last longer, but you need to have "fun with fittings" to make them work.


Whatever happened to the super charger experiment?

In trying to find more air flow - and thus more growth, I did some experiments several years ago. The most promising were "super chargers". Small fans blowing filtered air into the root chambers seemed like a good idea.

A side by side test was in order.

Materials:


In test:


The reality was that the blowers blew the mist onto the roots where it crystalized and encased them in tubes of deposited nutes. It looked like the crystal caves in there with colored sparkled stalagtites covering the netpots and roots. As you can imagine, this did a pretty good job of killing off the roots I was trying to enhance.

When you experiment - Failure is always an option!

But it was cool looking!


Your questions and comments are welcome.

-AK

aerokrafter

amazing thread bro with excellent detail and info and definately sticky worthy

were very happy to have you running our strain

peace

Seems like a lot of work just to get buds that are as good as your organics, and to save 5 days of flowering. What is the difference in GPW of your aero vs dirt grows?

This strain looks bomb and you seem to have a handle on what your doing, so I am along for the ride to see how this pans out.

-ojd

I'm truely honored with the sticky. I'll do my best to keep the thread worthy of it.


-shmalphy

Yes, the methods I'm using are about as far away from KISS as you can get. The truth is, that by my best estimate, you could get about 75% of the quality and quantity of an average aero run with a maxxed out dirt/organic run in the same space/wattage.

Just like in racing, pushing past 1 GPW takes a lot of 'horsepower' to make incremental gains. The amount of attention required to consistently perform in the 1.5 zone is a lot more than just another additive or a couple more steps. Breaking 2.0 requires even more so. I will attempt to go past 2.2 in a run scheduled to start this month.

The reasons for aero are much more than GPW:

With my method, I only produce top shelf. There are no 'bottom buds' - only the best tops.

I grow for buzz first. GPW is important, but I'd rather have a zip of GDP than a pound of some commercial bigbud cross.

Consistency - Having a great run is a beautiful thing, but repeating it is another. There is more science in aero - it requires it.

No waste - The only thing to dispose of is veg material that can be composted. Not having to deal with dirt piles or dead root cubes is huge. And you use only a third of the nutes!


'course the cons aren't that great:

Failure is a much greater option.

Once something goes wrong, its very hard to recover.

It's like having cows that MUST be milked every day.


Like everything, it comes down to a personal decision of what you are willing to do to get the results you want. For me, it has always been a relentless pursuit of the very best. I'm not interested in needlessly complicating things, but KISS will only get you so far.

Aero is not for everyone - in fact I'm sure most of the 'peanut gallery' will never attempt it. My hope for this thread is that everyone can take something useful and apply it to their situation - even if its "I'm never gonna do what this crazy guy does".

I really appreciate the question. At this point, after seeing what it takes to max out a grow, readers certainly appreciate it as well.

Best of Luck!

-AK

shmalphy said:

Seems like a lot of work just to get buds that are as good as your organics, and to save 5 days of flowering. What is the difference in GPW of your aero vs dirt grows?

This strain looks bomb and you seem to have a handle on what your doing, so I am along for the ride to see how this pans out.

Click to expand...

It's really all about control.


R.Fortune

That makes sense, but I would add that just like with aero, organics have to be fine tuned to reach their true potential. I would say that if you recycled your soil you would get most of, if not all of the the missing 25% yield/quality difference, and see the benefit of running a "no waste system" at the same time with greater stability and far less maintenance.

/just my 2 cents

Day 28 Bloom Update

The stretch has slowed and the buds are swelling. Trich coverage is accelerating and smells are getting more intense.

Unit shot:


Shoot shot:


Uneven Canopy:


Data Sheet:


As you can see from the data sheet, the plants are feeding well and looking good. However we do have a problem. The date for stretch stop came three days earlier than in the test run. In addition, I started the bloom run a few days early. The result is that my canopy is taking a little long in evening out. The difference between tallest and shortest is about a foot, and the overall grow is 4" shorter than I expected.

This IS the shakedown down run - the goal is to verify and determine all of these growing parameters in a plants first full run. So this is not a failure, just better information for the next run.

However it is somewhat dissapointing in that I hoped to bring in a 2.5 - 3 pound harvest for y'all in this show, but without a perfect canopy, I have revised my goal to 2.0 pounds - right around 1 GPW. This branchy pheno of GDP will never be a monstrous yeilder, but 2lbs/1K of uber top shelf is certainly respectable.

The best news is that a hint of lurking death smell has started to infuse the sweet candy smell. It has become the most rubbed plant in the bloom room - beating out the sweet sandalwood fuel aroma of sour bubba kush.

As always, your questions and comments are appreciated.

-AK