hello all - just a couple of thoughts on Aerogarden growing. I have been growing in the aerogarden for about 2 years now and always have at least 2 plants growing.
I would suggest not using the AG nutes at all. They have way too much salt and it is hard to keep your EC down after about a month. I did it once and won't do it again. I use Technaflora recipe for success but any good nutes will work.
I now exclusively use the AG Deluxe as it has the 3 built in lights and can get the plants up to a decent size before you need supplemental lighting.
I also use feminised autoflowering plants only. I have not had a seed fail to germinate in 2 years. My favorite so far is EasyRyder. Just my opinion. It is about 20" tall, bushy, with excellent yield for its size.
You also don't really need to do any magic on germinating them either. If you use the master gardener sponges it is really easy. I just slit the top for the seed, use 1/2 strength grow nutes for first two weeks and then just switch to full strength grow for 2 more weeks and then switch to flowering formula for the duration.
I just remove the AG light after about 3 weeks and use the 1000w MH light with an Agrosun cooler bulb. The light gets me plenty for both of my AG's and my small vegetable garden. One of the pictures has the light off of one unit and still on the other one.
You really do need to change the water or the ph will go out of sight.
With 2 plants they use the entire resovoir every day for the last couple of weeks so you need to keep an eye one it.
I cloned some but it is really more trouble than it is worth given a 60-75 day cycle anyway and the yield for clones is a good bit less.
The pump can be a problem as was noted. The airstones help minimize the problem. I have grown nice crops with and without airstones. You have to keep an eye on the pump if you go without airtstones as the roots can clog them. if your pump stops the exposed roots will die.
I just like the AG because you can go from seed to harvest in the same hole in the same unit.
I have included a couple of pictures here. The one with the 2 plants is LowRyder2 on the left and EasyRyder on the right. The 2 other pictures are of the same EasyRyder plant near harvest time. The bud on the main cola is over 8 inches long witha diameter of 6 inches.
These are just my experiences with the AG. It definitely took some trial and error to get it right. May some of you can benefit from my mistakes. As I said these are just my personal experiences.
