Old Hydro grower looking @ Aeroponics

[GreenJak]

Hi

Basically finally fed up with crap green going around so gonna grow my own again.

Now I used to grow a few plants with mates about 8 years ago we used Hydro setup. germinated seeds in rockwool then into pots that only had stones in them (plant still in rockwool) with sprinkler/drip system going down pots into reservoir where we let roots grow to. Once that happened stopped drip system and just fed reservoir nutrients and kept ph neutral 5.6-8.

Now the above method was quite messy and and we found ourselves constantly more than three times a day sorting ph.

Im really looking to go down Aeroponics route this time myself im only growing 1 plant at a time its just for me. Now just have a few questions I hope some of you can help with, really hoping stinkbud will comment too.

With Aeroponics can I still use rockwool and keep plant in rockwool? and grow plant to its entirety in the Aeroponic box?

We never had a problem with neighbours before in regards with smell when budding but its not the case nowadays where I live. Will a carbon filter get rid of the potent smell that literally fills your house and those next to you? Like if I walk in room where I plan to grow will I smell nothing?

Can I with Aeroponics also like what we did with hydro let roots grow all way into reservoir and then just feed plant from there in turn turning off sprinkler system? Or is it better to contiune timed sprinkle cycle?

Now in regards with nutrients I honestly cannot remember what we used, think it was custom thing from hydro shop we got out stuff from which is now closed.

I do remember using alot of Sodium Hydroxide though.

Help/advice greatly appreciated other input too if you feel I have missed anything.

Remember though this is just to grow 1 plant.

Regards

J

 

[MeJuana]

I would run the Aero NFT system by Stinkbud even for one plant. But instead of making a veg cabinet, I would do it all in one short flower rail. stinkbuddies.com and then join the forums..

Aero NFT is low pressure aero using what looks like tiny yard sprinklers. This isn't high pressure aero that creates a fog as that is more difficult to setup.

 

[GreenJak]

Thanks for reply.

I have seen a neat Aero system that im probably going to go for.

http://www.1-hydroponics.co.uk/hydroponic-systems.htm

although hydro one looks neat too. things sure have came along way since i last grew.

Can you or someone please confirm how well a carbon filter rids room/house of smell when budding please. As this is really the key point for me as if it does not then I cannot grow. and its a reasonable sum of cash to purchase one too.

 

[MeJuana]

That Hydrotron grow unit looks sick.


I am 100% sure that enough carbon activated filters would remove all smell. Designing your room with a negative pressure will seal the deal on that as well.

What do you mean negative pressure.., right? I built a room inside a bedroom, actually two room one for flower one for veg. All 3 compartments of the room are separate, so I have an extra space for my equipment. My aircooled lights suck the air from that extra space, a filter on the end of that keeps the smell gone. So around the flower and veg rooms I have negative pressure so no smell leaks can happen

Now there are some DIY Walmart cabon activated filters, using pencil cups, panty hose and activated carbon from Walmart. Put that with those little inline fans you can get from Home Depot for 30 bucks a pop and you can easily see a lot more filters for your money then before.

Question would be how many do you need for 1 plant. I dunno the answer, but I think you need just one if using negative pressure too. But I am way too new to be your only source of info on this.

 

[GreenJak]

This setup is going to be in a wardrobe.



A good space, could even do a split in it. but just sticking with 1 at a time. Have to stick with deal made with wife which does involve no smell whatsoever.

Thanks again for info will research more on carbon filter thing and register on stinkbuddies at some point too.

 

[Shrubs First]

You'll want to run the pH lower, around 5.5-6.0, nutrients will be better
available in a hydro system at that level.


And yes a carbon filter in a room with a negative pressure will eliminate all
odors.. As long as air is passively getting in the room, and never passively
escaping, you know all air leaving the room is scrubbed by the charcoal, and
will have no smell. Basically you want there to be a suction in to the room, rather
than a positive pressure which would push air out through cracks and spaces..

 

[GreenJak]

i should be able to sort that out. thanks alot for that Shrubs First.

 

[fatman7574]

You'll want to run the pH lower, around 5.5-6.0, nutrients will be better
available in a hydro system at that level.


And yes a carbon filter in a room with a negative pressure will eliminate all
odors.. As long as air is passively getting in the room, and never passively
escaping, you know all air leaving the room is scrubbed by the charcoal, and
will have no smell. Basically you want there to be a suction in to the room, rather
than a positive pressure which would push air out through cracks and spaces..

Aero maens with roots in air. The most efficient growing methos is areo. Aero assures maximum DO is lawys deliver to your roots. It also assures yourroots are never in low DO water or zero DO water so root rot is almost never a problem as it commonly is with NTF, DWC and especisally small tube aero. These sytems neraly alwys have roots in contactwiyh or or in low tozerro DO water so root rot is a very common problem.

A simple and very effective aeroponic system for one plants is made with two 32 gallon plastic trash cans. Set one on a table or some thing so it is about half again higher than the other can. The highest can is the can that holds the plant. The tall trash can pretty much assures that all or nearly all of the roots stay entirely suspended in air. Install a drain from the bottom of the top can to the side of the second can. In the lid of the first can cut a hole to hold a net pot. This net pot should have a neoprene disk for its lid. This disk has a slot and a hole in it so as to hold the rooted plant until enough roots grow so as to firmly attach the plant to the basket.

With a small system such as this if economics was a large concern I would just use a submersible pump and three or four common low pressure spray heads set into the side of the barrel or through the top through the lid. Realize though that you will be pumping water to the heighest part of the tubing feeding the sprayers. this maens being selective as to the pump you buy. Normally I recommend medium pressurepumps as theyge reatly improve the sprayed droplets sixe. With the typical piumps used by most growers the sprayers put out streams of water more than a spray of droplets as is preferred.

The lower cans water levels should be kept at the height of the pipe draining water from the higher can. It is OK to use a storage cotaners for the lower can as it is shorter.

The smaller the area a carbon filter must maintain the odor within the more effective it is.

 

[GreenJak]

im aware of how an aeroponic system works fatman i will be going with a pre-made system not got time set up manually. I know the pump is a factor from reading stinkybud thread(s) so will probably go for stinkybud recommendation.

I plan on running the pump on a timer i've read lots on how much time on and off but again i'll probably go with stinkybud method 1 min on and 5 off. The guy knows his stuff so who am I to question.


thanks again for all info/help. has definitely been given go ahead and eased wifes reservations, finally .

cheers

 

[fatman7574]

im aware of how an aeroponic system works fatman i will be going with a pre-made system not got time set up manually. I know the pump is a factor from reading stinkybud thread(s) so will probably go for stinkybud recommendation.

I plan on running the pump on a timer i've read lots on how much time on and off but again i'll probably go with stinkybud method 1 min on and 5 off. The guy knows his stuff so who am I to question.


thanks again for all info/help. has definitely been given go ahead and eased wifes reservations, finally .

cheers

Yeah stinkbuds grow system. Give us all abreak and forget his sytem. Actually spray be more like 1 second to five seconds per minute for an aero system depending on the quality of your spray or mist. Y The closer your spray is to 50 microns the shorter the spray duration needs to be and the less often the spray need be applied.

Stink buds system is grossly over rated. Some would say "it works well enough," but that really just means no where near the best or not even really good. The cloner aspect of his system is good, but the rest is only fair to middling at best. Small tube aero or small tube or narrow tray NTF is not a good system for mj grows as MJ plants have large root masses. Water does not move well or quickly through a large root mass. Unless there is a large amount of high velocity flow (IE Heath's vertical grow) to pick up and seperate the roots so that they are suspended in the water so that the roots are in contact with water still contain DO then it is just a half ass system at best.

Roots laying in the bottom of a tube with water occasionally being sprayed on them are not well oxygenated. The roots end up most often starting to rot just after the beginning of the budding stage due to the root mass being in contact with water having a zero DO due to the fact that most of the water flows over the roots, only a small portion flows through the full root mass so generally the middle to the bottom of the large root masses are wetted only by very low to zero DO water. This is due to the DO being stripped from the water as it slowly moves through the roots mass therforethe entireroot mass is not receiving water with DO.

NTF is a system for plants with small root masses. It was designed for growing lettuce. You know.those clear plasic containers soldin stores that stil have the roots attached. Theliit roots nmass. That is what NTF was designed for and works well with. Fast growing crops with LITTLE root masses. A quality NTF system has a wide flat bottom not a small bottom like stink buds. The roots are spread out across a wide trough of say 10" to 12" so that the root mass is only 3/8 inch thick or less as oxygen diffuses typically only about 10 mm into a root mass. 10 mm is approx 0.4 inches.

Aero is the growing of a plant with its roots suspended in air. Having a 1/2 inch or an inch of roots in the air with the rest laying in the bottom of a small tube hardly rates it being called a NTF/Aero system.

But what would I know I am just a college professor and researcher who has been growing mj indoors for over 35 years that is paid very well for designing hydroponic systems, water treatment plants, waste water treatment plants, fish hatcheries and many other biological and chemical process systems. I spend a huge amount of time correcting others systems that do not work well. In the forums I supply for information and corection advice for free. Considering the whiny responces I get at times I really wonder why I bother.

 

[GreenJak]

easy man im certainly not doubting your credibility over anyone, nor whining. I've just had a good read of stinkbuds threads.

So it would be ok to have roots go down to reservoir of water and feed them that way and oxygenate with sodium hydroxide as I did with hydro? while also maintaining spray for top part of roots?

As much as an aero system seems pretty good i may just go back to what i know and get hydro.

 

[fatman7574]

easy man im certainly not doubting your credibility over anyone, nor whining. I've just had a good read of stinkbuds threads.

So it would be ok to have roots go down to reservoir of water and feed them that way and oxygenate with sodium hydroxide as I did with hydro? while also maintaining spray for top part of roots?

As much as an aero system seems pretty good i may just go back to what i know and get hydro.

I would definitely recommend simple inert hydro such as ebb and flow over stink buds small tube NTF/aero system. I would stay awys from rock wool though as it is cvery easy to overwater rock wool. actually it is very coomon for most growerrs to over water rock wool. Over water rock wool provides very poor root oxygentation. An ebb and flow using, rounded gravel, hydroton or even something like bio balls is much easier to run and much less prone to problems than NTF, AERO in small tubes or DWC systems.

I think you must mean hydrogen operoxide to oxygenate not sodium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide is an extremely strong base. Drain cleaners are made out of sodium hydroxide, Plumbers also use it to kill tree roots in sewer pipes and to breakdown grease in septic tanks. It is sometimes used in very, very small quantities to raise water pH but not regular as plants typically do not tolerate much sodium. The pron blem with roots haging in water is that again DO (dissolved oxygen) does not diffuse well.

With a thick hanging mass of roots the inner mass of the roots receive less and less DO as the plants get larger and the root mass grows. Eventually the inner roots get too little DO and they start rotting. This spread quickly to the other roots. This can be avoided with keeping enoufgh water circulating in the reservoirs but few accomplish this as they use small pumps or small air stones. There are a few growers who use large volumes of water flow through their DWc reservoirs and even few pay the cost of using high velovity flows through their reservoirs. Those that do get very good results and they do not experience root rot problems. There plants in general have much closer internode spacing so they are shorter and bushier than a standar DWC. They are the exception though. Their systems are far better than the average DWC system. I do not think there are any such growers in this forum however.

 

[MeJuana]

fatman it isn't like you think if you lift the netcup the water is not there. I have empty holes in my system now, from males I pulled. It is true some water is retained if my pumps are off my flower plants have a higher survival rate than the veg plants which are suspended in air.

What it really comes to is pictures of buds from this system, compared to pictures of buds from yours. No 140+ iq necessary, there are hundreds of pictures from Stinkbud and members available with the beer bottle test. I respect almost everything I see you say, but this one I need a picture. Otherwise, I paid so little to have my system, it is 100% perpetual and easy as baking a cake, just a little longer. But bigger buds are bigger buds, I love buds, show me da money bro

 

[fatman7574]

I am a drug felon. I do not post photos. As far as veg plants suspended in air that says very little as that is too little information to mean much. If you can find some holes in the logic I posted or can show how in some way I wrote something in error please write away. A properly constructed aero system where all roots are in air and misted or spayed with small droplets of water instead of part (usually the majority) of the roots laying in the bottom of small tubes in a thick layer wiil always out perform plants in a small tube NTF with highly stacked roots unless there is a large volume of water flowing through the tubes at a high velocity. What your system entails, I have no idea. I do know that a small amount of water flowing through a large mass of roots does not supply adequate enough DO for an exceptional grow. Lots of people settle for "well enough." There are peope though who want better or the best. It is those that I chiefly am concerned with supplying information. There are mot re than enough people saharing their "wisdom" in regard to v average and poor systems. I do not give directions or give applause to such systems in this forum. I provide the information to those wanting better thanjust "w ell enough" even if that maens those that are content to settle for less sometime feel like their toes are stepped on. If others feel they are being unfairly judged that is their problem as I am not posting in this forum to make friends or make money selling half truths and sad equipment like nearly all MJ growing systems sold by retailers.

I am sorry If you feel you and stinkbud are being unfairly exposed/treated.

 

[MeJuana]

Hey fatman I knew that about the picture thing but forgot, sorry bro. Listen I know you're right, your way is best. I guess if you can only grow one plant, I would do it that way. The huge chamber is very appealing. I am not sure I have the money to grow the way you suggest though.

 

[fatman7574]

Go to a home Depot store if there are any near you. Look in the back of the store by the kitchen cabinet section. In that area you should see plastic (polypropolene <real flexible> and FRP <thicker and less flexible>) panels in sizes 4' by 8' and 4' by 10'. Pick up the edge of the sheets and notice they can be rolled into large tubes either length wise or side ways. With a 2 inch over lap held together with some plastic or stamless steel rivets t you cam make tubes of either one that are 8 foot long and 7.65 inches in diameter. If you push in on the sides you can deform the tubes into a tube 6" wide and 19.5 inches tall. Squeeze it more and you can have a tube 4 inches wide and 22.75 inches tall. Now roll the tube side ways. With a 2" overlap you can form a tube approx 11 inches in diameter. This can become a tube 6 inchs wide and 40.5 inches tall. The thin easy to bend plastic costs about $14 per sheet. The thicker harder to bend thicker plastic costs about $16 per sheet. Now which systems tubes are going to keep the rrots up in the air rather than laying in water where they are poorly oxygenated. The tall tubes or 3 to 4 four inch pipe/gutters/dowm spouts or typical reservoirs. A $13 dollar 22.75 inch tall tube 8 foot long is a good cheap healthy tube. Think of an almost 50" tall tube 4 foot long. Now not mant y roots are going to hit bottom in those tube. The thicker plastic requires you use a heat gun or a blow drier to heat it for getting the small radius bends The more flexible paltic beng ds easily, bu as it is so flexible a few rivets tieing the side by side tubes shoul also be used. To keep the tubes squueezed down to the width t you want just make a plywwod trough or wood frame with the inside dimension of your sideby side tubes, Such as 24 inches wig de etc. Cut a few cross braces on the top to hold the tubes down and kkep the trough or frame work fron =m spreading at the top. Cut holes with a hole saw for your your net pots. Does that give you any ideas yet. Works wonderful with a medium pressure pump using misters or even standard sprayers. The misters give you mot re hair roots therefore shorter, bushier, quicker maturing and budding plants as the intenodal spacing is greatly reduced.

alternative: make a frame work out of 3/4 inch PVC pipe and fittings that is say 3"' foot wide and 3 foot long by 30 inches tall. 2 inches down from the two parellel sides run a cross piece. Every six inches starting 3 inches from the out side of one side run two 1/2 inch diameter pipes between each cross piece as close as the fittings will allow. The alternative to this is just make the pipes 3/4 inches in diameter and 1/2 lower and just run four pieps evenly spaced and put a piece of plastic flourescent lighting grid on top of the pipes. Now set this frame work into a square set of four 12 inch wide board or pieces of plywood. (this was acy tually the original aero s design produced by a university research team under a NASA reserach grant. Line this with plastic and this is your reservoir and drain pan. String your spray heads about the pipes or shelf running 6 inches apart. Point a few upward and the rest downward and sidewards. Throw a sheet of pblack plastivc over everything and make sure it hangs all the way into the reservoir. Cut an X everywhere you want to set a net pot through the plasi tic onto the pipes or grid shelf.

 

[MeJuana]

Thank you very much sir...

 

[GreenJak]

@ fatman yeah was hydrogen peroxide for oxygen and was sodium for ph.

@Mejuana cheers man simple setup probably right route to go down this will enable me to get 2 carbon filters, just wanna be safe.

well thanks for help i think i have everything i need to know to get my started. also this is a Q my wife asked me last night.

Can we grow tomatoes, peppers, strawberries in same space as marijuana plant?

 

[fatman7574]

Same space or same growing system using the same nutes?

 

[GreenJak]

Same space or same growing system using the same nutes?

same space. would have same system but different nutes i'd imagine so all would be in their own hydro system