[aerokrafter]

I should clarify, the keeper that takes 3 weeks is not GDgP. It's my special cross of the old Bubba Kush to Sour Deisel. I'm sorry I wasn't very clear in that post. Using the process I'm doing, anything that sits in the cloner for more than 45 days total runs the risk of mold and other nasties, even with the best of care.

GDgP I would classify as a fast rooter, the exception in my case would still be in the 'normal' range.

-AK

[aerokrafter]

Day 33 Veg - Day 0 Bloom Update:

I had originally scheduled these for 36 days, but they were tall enough - 8" to 12", and a spot was open - so here we go!


Cloner at 33 days veg


Here's our clone recovered from the last hack job


And after the final veg prune



As you can see, we now have 2 growth tips, strong stalk, and good roots. They already smell sweet. Nicking those shoots off the stem, i actually drooled out of the corner of my mouth in anticipation from the aroma wafting its way to my nose.

Time to go to the show!

[aerokrafter]

Time for an aeroflo tip

I plan to add tips and trix for aeroflo users and point to this thread in the future for those seeking aerowisdom. I will identify tips up front so those that don't care can easily skip them.


The main reason the aeroflo system works so well is that it encourages 2 kinds of root growth - aero roots and water roots.

aero roots look like fine hairs or fuzz - and these roots allow the rapid uptake of nutrients from fine highly oxygenated water droplets. This is where the explosive growth from very low ppms comes from.

water roots are thicker and form matts in the nutrient solution. These are the kind of roots you get from DWC and NFT hydro methods.

A key to make sure you are taking advantage of this from day one is how you plant your clones.


You can see the roots go all around the edge of the cup and the end of the main root mass comes down 3" out the bottom of the cup.

The roots around the edge encourage aero roots to quickly grow a fringe completely around the cup, while the long tip swims in the nutrient flow ensuring plenty of moisture for heavy respiration.

There is a price to pay for all this hyper growth. Growing with aeroflos is like a 4D hyperscrog. It takes daily maintainance, plant knowledge, and data records to be successfull. Your memory is simply not good enough. One mistake and you can lose the whole grow in under 24 hours. You need documents and proceedures.

Here are my tracking documents:

Cover Page



You can see the footprint of the unit so every hole can be keyed if needed. All starting info is gleened from the last run to ratchet the ladies into maximum performance.

Data Pages


Notice that each page is 2 weeks long - so 70 days is 5 sheets. I set these up in advance with reccommended res change times, countdown to next clone cut timing, and any special things anticipated for the run.

Filled out


Here is GDP's cover sheet. As data sheets get filled out I'll post them, so you can see the decisions I made to events as they occured.

This booklet filled out becomes the starting point for the next run of the strain.

Good Data is the best recipe for great weed!


Back to our scheduled GDP grow.

-AK

[aerokrafter]

Day 0 Bloom



I realize this looks like a run of Charlie Brown Christmas Trees at the moment. As you will see, it takes a firm hand with the ladies to keep them from going out of control in aero.

As always, your questions and comments are welcome.

-AK

[aerokrafter]

AeroFlo Tips n Trix Warning!


Drain Tubes and Spray Lines

During setup these two things can make or break the run.


Drain Tubes:

Unless you are rooting clones in the unit, you want the drain tubes all the way down, all the time. In fact I ripped out the zip tie 'handles' to push them even lower. The more pooled nutes on the bottom of the root chamber, the more inhibited the growth. I put thin blocks under the footers of the unit to ensure the angle of the return flow leaves a quarter inch at most on the bottom.





Spray Lines:

These are the weakest link the system, and require the most attention. If you over tighten them, they break. Get a couple extras and throw em on the shelf - you will thank me at 4 am when you hear something that sounds like a knuckle pop, and look at the unrepairable $8 spray line in your hand that could kill your grow in 12 hours.

They can clog up and are difficult to clean. A thin layer of brown algal plaque accumulates over time inside the spray tubes, and there really isn't much you can do about it. Avoid adding organic particulates and any micro beneficials. The AeroFlo is a perfect brewing machine, and with all the extra oxygen, everything goes crazy.

I love black strap molasses and organic teas from dirt daze. In fact I still only use those in the mom room. So in a bold early experiment, I added 75 ml to a run that was about half done. Opening up the next day, it appeared that elves had eaten all of santas cookies, and helpfully shat them out around the base of each plant. A brown foaming ooze was erupting out of every netpot. It added a sweet earthy smell to the room that could only be described as keebler elf shit. Needless to say it took days to clean up, and the plants lost at least a week of developement.

The lines are hard to get clean. I have a long plastic underbed storge unit(thanx Casa dePot!), where all spray lines soak in lightly bleached water for 48 hours before power spraying them out. Even so, you must frequently check that they are spraying properly.



This a pic of my Sour Bubba Kush at 17 days bloom. Notice how one of these is not like the others? In the lower right hand corner you can see what looks like a runt. The clones were all the same size going in. The difference was that the last hole in the spray line got clogged and went unoticed for the first 4 days. The taproot was still submerged in solution, but the plant didn't get the fine spray that makes aero go. In fact its a pretty good example of the performance difference between aero and nft type methods. It was sprayin when I planted, I just got lazy and didn't do my normal 24 hour post assembly inspection.

My loss, and hopefully your gain!

-AK

[ojd]

amazingly detailed bro
we love it

keep up the great show

peace

[ThePizzaMan]

wanna see these gDP's in bloom sucka!!!!

[aerokrafter]

-Pizza Man

Just building anticipation! I better pull it off!


-ojd

Thanx for the kind words. I hope you don't mind all the methodology in this thread. I debated putting this in the hydro forum, but I hope to draw people to this forum from elsewhere in the future - to show what can be done with your gear. I only want to get this detailed on how-to's once. I figured if I'm going to share my hard won secrets, it may as well benefit the folks who produced the plant that inspired me to get out of my bunker in the first place.

-AK

[aerokrafter]

Day 7 Update




They have recovered from the move to bloom. The first 7 days are all about establishing roots and a little tip growth.



Here is one shoot. Everything looks good with nice new growth and no tip burn on the leaves. Tip burn has been a historic problem with all aero systems. Some have postulated K problems as being the source of trouble, but as you will see, it is possible to go through the entire run with minimal tip burn.

We will be tracking this individual shoot throughout the run.





Now here is where the action is. You can see the roots have almost fully colonized the bottom rim. The long side root barbules are begining to develope the small hairs that will turbo boost plant growth throughout the remainder of the run.


AeroFlo Tip:

Day 10 is about the last day you can mess with moving the netpots. I reccommend checking your clone layout in the unit - making sure the placement of plants is giving you a nice amplitheater or bowl shape by height. Pulling out or moving plants beyond this time runs the risk of root damage. We have spent considerable time and energy to get those extra fragile roots. Yanking on em and stuffing them back in is asking for trouble.

As always your questions and comments are welcome.

-AK

[wizoo]

great reporting so far aerokrafter & good to see you here in the csg forums
thanks a lot for your detailed explanations m8! very helpful indeed.


one thing i'd like to ask about your data pages, specifically your nute regimens:
since there are columns named A and B on those pages... any words on your favorite nutes (experience) for use with aero systems ? which series(A/B) or manufacturer do you prefer and rely on nowadays?
i've read canna aqua is still THE shit when it comes to aero because its quiet stable with ph and also Ec, no ?

would love to hear which regimen you rely on.

thanks in advance!