Aerogarden Newbie Grow

OK, I finally decided to start my own thread. I am a complete noob to growing but I have an Aerogarden that's been going for 20 days now. I started with 7 mixed bag-seeds. I have NO IDEA what strain they are since I usually just collect seeds whenever I find them in a bag. A lot of them are from Mexico, some from California, and from Oregon. Anyway, I dropped the seeds in the pods and fired it up on July 26th.

I am growing for personal use, and I don't smoke a ton, so my main goal was CHEAP. The AG cost me basically $20 for shipping so far, and I have another 2+ weeks to decide if it is worth keeping, then I pay $40 a month for 3 months. I managed to scrounge up some upgrades: I found an old aquarium air-pump at the Goodwill for like $3, and got an airstone for $2. I had an old fan, and also an 18" flouro tube lamp that I stuck in there as well. Finally I rigged up an old triple bulb lamp with CFLs I pulled from other sockets in the house. They are only 13watts, but I already had them, so they did not cost me anything. I am using the AG nutes, but only one tablet per gallon, and I am using distilled water because I am on a well with lots of minerals in the water. Finally I found a wire from an old camcorder that fit the light hood perfectly! A $4 timer from Goodwill along with a three-way plug, and my light are now on 18/6 with an adjustable timer.

Out of 7 seeds in the AG, 6 have sprouted, one was a dud. I also stuck all the actual herb seeds (basil & mint, etc) in a soil pot along with one extra bag seed I had. That one is sprouting too, and so are the herbs that came with the AG, which will make my wife happy if they grow.

So I have 7 little ones, but so far two are stunted. They still are under the little plastic cups from the AG, and are not growing much. I may off them if they don't die of natural causes, but I will see how long the little buggers can hold on.

By far my best plant is the "Italian Basil". She started leaning from the get go, but this may actually work out well since she is low and SUPER BUSHY, she had better be a GIRL! Next to her is "Parsley", she is growing and filling in nicely. Finally I have "Dill" and "purple basil" that are looking healthy, though growing more slowly than the other two. I am hoping for at least one female, but we shall see.

First of all, I know that the setup I have is hella ghetto, and that I should be using better nutes and stronger lights, but I have what I have, and for this grow that is probably as good as it is gonna get.

I am hoping someone can give me advice on when to flower. I have heard that you should flower early in the AG, how do I know when to flower?

More pics of Purple basil and dill

OK, so it's been two days and the growth is insane! I can actually see new leaves on Italian Basil a few hours after the last time I looked!

I think there are about 4 sets of leaves on both her and Parsley, the last sets have 7 points. I haven't gotten any responses on this thread, which kinda sux. I need some advice on when to start flowering. I am thinking maybe a week at the most??

Anyway, here are more pics.

You should wait at least 3 weeks before flower. These are from seed. Shit, usually I advise people to wait 6-8 weeks from seed, to allow the plant to mature properly.

You've asked for advice but ignore it when you get it. A one gallon container simply IS NOT big enough for seven plants from seed. It wouldn't even be big enough for 7 clones on sog.

Here's some good advice. Use your aerogarden for just one plant. It only has a one gallon container. More plants do not equal more bud, particularly when they are all squeezed into a 1 gallon container.

You've got to be shitting me!! Two days and this is what your babies look like????? I've got to be misreading this. this sounds too good to be true.

So I think my posts may have been a little confusing. I started from seed on July 26, so it has now been like 23 days.

When I said "it's been two days" on my last post, I meant it had been two days since the previous post.

Anyway, Skunkushybrid, I am definately not ignoring any advice. I am well aware that I can't grow 7 plants in the AG. Right now I have 6, but two of them are still so tiny that they are rapidly being blocked from the light by the others. That leaves 4 plants that are doing pretty well, only 2 of which are really taking over.

I started from some mixed bag seeds, so I had no idea what I was going to get, or even if the seeds were still viable, since many of them were at least 3 or 4 years old. The reason I put seeds in all 7 pods was simply that I had no idea if any of them would even sprout. Now that I have some sprouts, I still don't know if I have males or females. Obviously I don't want to waste all this effort and time planting one seed that either never sprouts, or turns out to be a male. So I am playing the odds, hoping that I will end up with one healthy viable female plant.

So, it's about 3+ weeks since seed, I have 2 plants with 5 sets of leaves, one with 4 sets, and one with 3 sets. The other two still have their little single blade leaves only, and aren't really doing anything.

My question is: When can I start flowing to determine sex on them, and how long until they show their gonads?

Best case scenario, and all of them are female, I will still only keep one or maybe two at most in the AG. The rest will either be sacrificed, or maybe stuck in soil just for the hell of it. (With any luck they may become mothers to the next AG grow.)

I am just growing for myself, and figure that one ounce will last me close to two months, so if I can get 1.5-2 ounces every few months I will keep myself in constant supply.

Here are the girls, 28 days from seed. The browned leaves are from the light, They are growing so fast that even though I checked the space from the light in the morning, by that night the biggest fan leaf had grown right into one of my CFLs. I removed the burnt leaf after I took the pic.

So, I am going to move them to a homemade system modeled after the AG this weekend. I've decided that the AG is just too small for all these plants, and so I am sending it back before the end of my 36 day free trial. I figure that I can build my own similar, but larger setup using parts I already have, and only spend a small fraction of the $150 the AG costs, plus I will be able to fit all my babies.

My only real concern is getting the roots untangled. I am definately going to have to cut the roots a little to get them out of the AG. Does anyone know if this is going to be a big issue?

Consider that each plant might be worth $1,000 or more when it reaches maturity. Got patience?

potpimp said:

Consider that each plant might be worth $1,000 or more when it reaches maturity. Got patience?

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MIGHT being the operative word. Last guy that grew in the aerogarden with the lights they provide ended up with a Quarter oz per plant. What's that equate to in dollars, around $60?

How much are those aerogardens these days?

what size are the net pots in your AG?

The AG "net-pots" are so tiny that I hesitate to call them net pots. They are about 2.5 inches deep and 1.5 inches across. I could barely get one finger in them to pull out the original seeds. They are sort of cone-shaped, and have a little cylindrical foam core which is split down the center. Inside the foam the original herb seeds were "glued" or stuck with some kind of adhesive. I popped out the foam and scraped out the little herb seeds in order to replace them with seeds of my own.

Now that my girls are getting bigger, I can see that the stem is going to start getting cramped in the tiny "pot". Also, the small 1 gallon resevoir of the AG is rapidly filling with roots. My one biggest plant's roots literally take up about 1/3 or the resevoir, and the plant itself is still only about 6 inches tall. In fact, I still have the light hood on the lowest notch, and probably have another week before I will need to raise it one notch. I did pinch the tops of my plants to reduce vertical growth, but the thing was already super-bushy anyway, so much that it's blocking light from the three other plants closest to it.

$150 plus $20 shipping and handling. I've seen them cheaper on eBay, but I opted for the new one because it had a 36-day free trial.

I have never grown, so this was a learning experience. Now at day 29, I am in the process of building my own system based on the AG design. I am doing this ultra-low budget, using parts I already have, and buying as little as possible for as cheap as I can. I found my aquarium air-pump that I'm already using in the AG for $2 or something at Goodwill. I actually would have kept the AG, except I can't justify paying $170 for a system that will probably only grow one plant to harvest. After looking at the AG, it is basically a 1 gallon reservoir with a very small pump that drips water onto the 7 pots. The included lights are just 100watt CFLs. I already have supplemental lights (3 CFLs and an 18-inch flouro tube.)

I figure I can buy a rubbermade tub with a much larger capacity for $5. I already have a pump from an old table fountain thingy, so all I need is tubing and some $0.31 net-pots, which will be maybe another $5. in total. Then add 2 100watt CFLs that are $7 at Home Depot, and I've built my own AG for less than $20! Plus, I will have a larger reservoir, so a better chance of growing more plants in about the same space.

The most expensive thing is going to be buying the nutrients. So far I am not having any problems using the AG provided nutrient tablets, I originally started off using just one tab, instead of the recommended 2. I have since upped that to 1.5 tablets per gallon with no ill-effects, in fact, growth rate increased with more nutes. When I go to the local Hydro store this weekend to get my net pots, I will check out some nutrients and see about pricing. I have already checked eBay, and figure I can get a whole line of Fox-Farm nutrients for about $35-$40, enough to last me several grow cycles, then again I may just keep using the AG nutes and maybe supplement with a $10 bottle of Big-bloom or something for this grow.

The main purpose of this grow was that I couldn't really afford the $40 a week I was spending buying stuff, so I thought maybe I could grow it my self and save $$$. Just based on what I have read on some posts on this site, I don't think it will be a problem to get 1-2 oz. out of my finished system, which would cost me $300-$600 on the street. Not too bad if I can get away with spending less than $100 for everything and keep myself with a steady supply of smoke between grows.

nongreenthumb said:

How much are those aerogardens these days?

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I know a guy that has just patented an aeroponics growing system. very pricey, about £2,000 for a decent system.

The nozzles in his system have self cleaning needles that clean them as they spray the nutes, something like that anyway. You also get a massive compressed air chamber. He gave me a pamphlet, I'll have to go and dig it out.

Here it is.

It comes in 3 boxes, part assembled. Great, if you've got the dough.

Looks like a great system, but what's that like $3000US for a 13 plant setup? Too rich for my blood! I suppose if I was growing commercially it may be worthwhile, but the whole point of me growing was that I couldn't afford to buy 1/8 oz. per week anymore.

The other thing with the Aerogarden is that there's nothing "aero" about it except for the name. It is really a top-drip hydroponic system. Still, at $150 a pop you could buy 20 of them for the price of that one true Aeroponic system. (why you'd want 20 Aerogardens is a whole different matter)

This being my first grow I am glad I started with the AG, even though I am sending it back before the end of my 36-day trial. I learned a lot, and found out just how easy growing can be, plus I think it is a lot of fun too!

I'm taking what I have learned and making my own top-drip hydro system based on the AG. It will be cheaper, and have the capacity to grow a lot more plants than the AG. Once I start putting it together I will get some pics up.

Skunk: You seem to be the biggest expert looking at this thread, can you give me any advice on getting my plants out of the AG with how tangled the roots are? It seems like if a clone can start growing without any roots at all, then a little root damage should not kill a healthy plant, but maybe there is a technique or something you would know better than me.

skunkushybrid said:

Here it is.

It comes in 3 boxes, part assembled. Great, if you've got the dough.

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Yes you should be fine. Gardeners cut roots all the time. Bonsai growers do it regularly to keep the plants small.

I answered in the other aero thread. Your plants will be fine.

I'm no expert by the way. I've never grown aero, but I have had several successful DWC grows, and this system reminds me of it a lot.

$200 ebay. don't get one.they blow

for the original aerogarden 150 bucks and free shipping.

i got mine for 75 bucks brand in the classifieds.

wanted to ask about the AG. i have been growing with stock supplies for about a month and have one plant that is about to flower i think. i have had it at the strawberry setting, and was wondering what i should set it to to induce flowering? i accidently started the lamp on the 2nd setting, so it's long and tall. i'll try to get a pic up soon. just looking for some advice to salvage my frankenstein plant!