Aerogarden White Dwarf Grow

I have a grow journal going on this also. I'm at Day 30 today. This is my first grow, and the aerogarden has been fairly easy to use so far, following all of the advice here on RIU. The additionally lighting is helping give a thick growth. I don't see as much stretching as I've seen on other AG grows.

The only issue I'm running into is a little nute burn on the some of the lower leaves. I've been using GH nutes for the last two weeks. After following the instructions on the first flush, I'm using half of what the directions say to use on the last two.

Siggysmalls: My compliments, sir. It looks like you have a great grow going. Please tell me about your White Dwarf strain. I haven't kept up with the changes in cannabis genetics, especially for the last five years that I've grown my own with my Aerogarden. I know they have created some wonderful new strains. I've been growing from seeds I got out of a baggy years ago. I have two distinct strains; one short bushy strain with wide thick leaves and red stems and one taller, skinnier strain with thin leaves, but I have no idea what the hell they are. Both smoke well. Every couple of years I pollinate a couple of lower buds like Cervantes tells us to and that's what has kept me going.

I'm interested in what you young guys are doing today in your Aerogardens. Has your White Dwarf been engineered for small size and indoor hydroponics growth? With mine, I have to bend them over and weight them down at 23" and I'd like to work with something genetically engineered to be smaller/shorter but still medically potent.

A couple of years ago I saw a picture in a magazine of a strain that looked like a miniature Christmas tree or a pyramid of buds and it was only about 18 or 20 inches tall. No one I knew could tell me what it was. Do you have any idea?

I've only heard a little about your White Dwarf strain, but it's all been good. Would you be comfortable telling us your source? Every seed vendor I've consulted on the internet was reluctant to answer honest questions and their websites are followed by lines of complaints from customers who they've ripped off in one way or another.

I took to heart your concern about the nutes you're using. I know a number of people who have had the same problem. Yet it's a very popular brand. For what it's worth, with your permission, I'd like to make a couple of suggestions. I'm taking some hydro classes and our instructor has suggested using half strength nutes for the first two weeks and the last week.

When you run out of those nutes you might want to consider two things; reflectors instead of extra lighting, a progressive light schedule with your Aerogarden and trying the Technaflora's, "Recipe for Success." My local hydro store turned me on to Technaflora because I admitted I didn't know shit about hydroponics and Technaflora's nutes are very user friendly. All you have to have is a gallon jug of good water and know how to use a set of measuring spoons, a pH meter and pH up and pH down. You just have to be very pH conscious throughout the week. I've been using Technaflora now for about two years and I've had no regrets. My hydro instructor suggested I do the same half strength thing at the beginning and at the end but I haven't felt the need. I use it full strength, (As they recommend), from seeding to harvest in all their growth stage formulas. They're tailored to each individual growth stage and since I dump my nutes every week I haven't had to do any flushing. They even have a pre-harvest formula for the last week. You can buy a sample kit for about $30 and it lasts a long time in an Aerogarden. And if you're wondering if they pay me to be their fan? No, they don't. They just sell me good nutes that I'm very happy with.

Thanks for any info you can give me about your White Dwarfs and their specifications and I hope my nutes hints can help you on your next grow. HSA

Hi

Really like your grow - I'll be interested to see how those white dwarfs turn out. Going to subscribe after I post this.
I am trying something similar at the moment with Diesel Ryder and they got *way* taller than I expected them to get.

I'm on my first AG grow (used to grow in soil years ago) so I am no expert but here are some suggestions about the brown spots on the leaves:
1) do you check your PH? I have found it to change a lot in the aerogarden and I had to adjust it down quite a lot.
2) Is there any ventilation in your cab? You have a lot of lights in there - it might be a bit dry. You could try putting a saucer of water or a damp towel in there to increase the humidity.
3) What are your temperatures like? Again, you do have a lot of lights in there and I am surprised at the amount of heat the AG hood gives off!

Best of luck with it and looking forward to seeing how it goes!

Thanks HSA, appreciate the commentary. Got the seeds from attitude. They are a short (20-24") autoflower, and are proving to be perfect for the first time AG grow. Re: the smoke, I will have to let you know once they're harvested and cured. I haven't seen to many other grows posted on these, but some posts of people who have smoked it and said it's nice. They are supposed to be ready at 60 days from germ, so I'm about half way there.

Sorry, I can't solve the mystery of the Christmas tree buds. Sound like a fun grow for the holidays. Please keep us posted if you find anything.

Do you think reflectors will work as efficiently as the lighting? Has that been your experience? I'm almost positive the burn is from the nutes, because it didn't show up until day 16/17, 2-3 days after I started using. I've been keeping the ph almost perfect the past month, using filtered tap water. The standard tap water comes out at about 6.5, but filtered is right on the money. The GH nute mix with 1 gallon as been a little low, but a one time up keeps it stable for the rest of the week. Nutrients were the one area I skimped on the research for this one, so I appreciate your feedback. It sounds like you're really stepping up your game in that dept. I did 1/2 tsp for week four after 1 tsp each on week 3. For week 5, I halved everything for the "aggressive growth" cycle. I'll adjust accordingly on the next flush depending on how this week goes. If they continue to be the problem, I'll go with the Technaflora.

Today I'm trying to get all of the lights to sync on a 20-4 cycle. Up until now, it's been 24-0. Although the seed instructions say it's ok, I don't trust a 24-0 cycle throughout the grow. What's your thoughts here?

Thanks Kitty,

I'll keep posting pics here and my grow journal under the same title. Much more pics over there. I saw your pics on the DR, they are pretty tall. Maybe it's just the strain??? This is my first grow, so I can't say for sure.

Thanks on the suggestions.

1) Been checking almost every day. I have found the same before using the nutes, but that has kept them pretty stable.
2) A little ventilation in the cab, but not much. The humidity has been between 40% and 50%. From what I've been reading, that range produces the same/better yield than 70%+, and is less of a concern for mold, etc. If you still think I should increase a bit, please let me know.
3) These are growing in the basement where it's very cool (usually around 65F), and the temp has been stable at 72-73 in cab (IKEA special by the way).

I'll keep you posted!

Siggysmalls: thanks for your reply.

1. If the reflectors are properly positioned you can get buds all the way down to the planting deck of the Aerogarden. And you can do this with no more electricity than you were given by God and the Aerogarden. It works on the physics principle of the refraction of light. A lot of it gets wasted so you simply re-direct it down to the parts of your plants that are usually left in the shadows. Look at Aerogarden's store page at their website, now they're selling Mylar curtains for their gardens.

2. I agree that the leaf burn sounds like a nutes problem. This is what I don't like about some of the other nutes I've tried. We're not growing lettuce and cannabis obviously has some very different nutritional requirements. I don't like this business of having to grow by guess and by praying to God.

3. Two of the three hydro instructors we've had were against 24 hour lighting. Their sentiments were that: "Plants, like us, need rest. They grow in the light and recuperate in the dark." You might want to try our instructor's idea of a progressive light change starting with: 20 hours on and 4 hours off and reducing the light by one hour each week which automatically increases the dark by one hour. It's a slower and more gentle growing method. To my surprise, I was the only one in the class who admitted having tried it and it worked great for me. I guess I was the unintended test case. Now they all say they're going to try it, and it's so simple. At around 14 hours of light and 10 hours of dark my ladies started flowering on their own without any change in nutes. Technaflora's flowering recipe is evidently very gentle because when I did change their nutes to the flowering formula there was no noticeable shock and they really started to flower beautifully. I can't tell you if it was the nutes or the progressive lighting schedule or the combination of the two, but after the second successful crop it's going to be hard to get me to go back to the conventional way of growing.

These were taken on Sunday night. Everything is looking good, but still some nute burn.

Taken today. I'm out of room on AG hood, with a little bit of burn on the top of the tall plant, so I'm trying to figure out a way to still use it without ordering the extension.

The good thing is that there are buds popping up all over each plant. Hoping to get a good yield.

It's a little crazy how much they have grown in two weeks. On day 21, they were each about 3" tall. Now one is 14" and the other is 8".

I'm going to stick with the GH nutes for this grow, but will probably switch on the next run.

Posting more pics Monday. Lefty is flowering already. Does anyone know how big the buds on AF's get? Peace and Hair Grease.

Alright, alright. Sorry for the delay getting some updates on the board. My camera was MIA this past week.

The girls are looking really nice now. I think Lefty is almost ready to harvest. I'm not expecting the greatest yield out of these, but the smell is amazing, and after two months, I'm anxious to burn it.

Thats definitly not "allmost ready for harvest", i think you still have 4 weeks to go.

I wish I had 4 more weeks. I'm going to be away for two weeks starting next Friday, so I either cut them, or let them sit for two weeks and risk losing them.

It's my first grow, and I'd rather have a little bit then none, and get some experience with the the drying and curing.

Here are some more pics taken yesterday...

hey, awesome grow. Im just starting my white dwarf and by the looks of you pictures they're alot taller than i thought they would be, what height is your tallest plant? cheers

Zoffee, the tallest plant was 21" (the one on the left). The other was about 18" when cut. I cut them down at day 64. After drying, and curing for the last two weeks, I have about 2/3 of an ounce. Most of this was from the left plant as the right one was not really ready. The smell is pervasive, very sweet, and the smoke is nice. I smoked it for the first time this past Friday night. As far as potency goes, it's on the low side, but a very enjoyable high.

I'll post some pictures of the cut and dried goods tomorrow. peace.

Thanks, really appreciate the info, my AG mini only extends to like 16" so might decrease the lighting times and see if it stunts the height a bit. Otherwise i'll do a bit of remodeling , The way your describing the smoke sounds like the perfect weed for me, a nice mellow high. Looking forward to further pictures and hopefully be posting some of my own soon.

Enjoy your smoke.

These were taken on 6/1. I'll be starting round 2 soon. Be well, and thanks to everyone who stopped by to check out the grow and offered help.

you should invest in some HPS lighting for your next grow

Very interested in doing so. Any recommendations on a system to go with? I'd also like to get upgrade from the aerogarden. The base really isn't big enough for more than a plant. It got really tight with two.

Siggy, when your plants started getting too tall for the built-in Aerogarden light hood extension arm, how did you keep the hood extended up further? At what point did you decide the Aerogarden hood wasn't of much use anymore?

Goodeye,

Check out the attached pic. I took scotch sticky hooks (don't know exactly what they're called - got them at Staples) and gorilla glued them to the top of the hood, then I suspended them with string/thin rope on the hanger rack that came with the closet.

The AG hood was always useful, I just agree with gophernutz (haha) that HPS lighting is the sensible upgrade.

I am in day 3 of my second grow. Only one plant this time. I should get better growth and yield. That 1.5 gal res. gets crowded pretty quickly.