AK-47 Lowryder Autos in Aerogarden - First Grow - Pictures included!

Hi Everyone! Thanks for all of your help getting my system up and running! I'm starting this journal to keep track of things I do right and things I do wrong. Hopefully it turns out to be more right than wrong. The room i have the Aerogarden in is a walk in closet that is around 6'x4'. It also has an air vent in it hooked to my central air/heat.

General info about my grow:

Day 5
Aerogarden Ultra System
2 AK-47 Lowryder Feminized Auto Seeds (bought from Attitude)
I will be using distilled water throughout the grow
I am using General Hydroponics Micro, Grow, and Bloom Nutrients (I will be following the directions on the bottle for this grow)
I will be using a CalMg+ supplement since the distilled water has no minerals in it.
Normal Amazon bought PH and PPM Meter sticks (cheap ones)
Air stone with 15 gallon air pump installed in the Res
My Lights are three Max Grow lights provided by Aerogarden. I believe these are each 5000k. I figured that would be good enough for the seedling phase.

As of now the seedlings have just sprouted. The smaller of the two was growing the wrong way in the pod (I guess it isn't the brightest seedling). I turned it around and it is doing fine now. The inverted grow seems to have stunted it a little compared to the other one. I have a temp gauge in the water at all times, and it has been hovering around 74 degrees F. I have absolutely no nutrients or CalMg supplement in the water as of yet. I will likely be waiting until Day 10 to drain the system and add a light Nute diet including the CalMg. Lights are running 20/4.

Future additions:

Adding two CFL 6500K lights on either side with lamp heads. I will also be getting two CFL 2700k lights for the Flowering phase
Adding Mylar to the top of the system (to keep the temp down) and on the wall behind the system. I just realized that a car windshield sun blocker would be absolutely perfect for this. Nice and cheap at my local car wash as well!
Osolating (sp?) fan will be added as of this weekend

Please let me know if you have any thoughts on the system. Criticism is always helpful if it is constructive. Anything I should look out for? Anything that I should need?

Again Thank you to Sticky, Markl, and Mr. Natural for your help in getting this system together! Hopefully these girls grow like your girls are/have! kiss-ass

Here are a few pictures!

Nice start Rak...Good luck, I got a front row seat...sub'ed...

I'll be watching too, since we are doing the same grow! I'm only doing one though. I posted the greenhouse pics on my thread.

nice start, I see you're using FloraSeries too, have you seen this site http://www.genhydro.com/calculator/index.html? I started with. .45 gal settings and worked up. 0.05 every rez change until I reach my girls tipping point.

Newbt said:

nice start, I see you're using FloraSeries too, have you seen this site http://www.genhydro.com/calculator/index.html? I started with. .45 gal settings and worked up. 0.05 every rez change until I reach my girls tipping point.

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I had no clue they had a calculator like this. Did you start using nutes right away or wait until it was a seedling?

Great find!

I waited until the second week to use anything, I had a magnesium deficiency so I used calimagic for the rest of my second week then started using the whole set beginning of week 3.

Just a quick update. I siphoned out the remaining distilled water last night and added in nute/Calmg Distilled water. 1/4 teaspoon each micro/grow/bloom and 1tsp calmag. They both seem to be looking great this morning. They definitely grew 1/2" last night. I will post pictures later this evening when I get home from work.

I'll be adding the mylar and extra lamps tomorrow! I'm getting more and more excited everyday!

I just noticed that the pump for the Germination phase is set for 60 mins on and 660 off. Did you all run the same times? Seems low to me, but I guess the seedlings don't need to much water at the beginning. Thoughts?

I only run my pump for a half hour or so every time I top off the res. I just run the air stone 24-7

Okay I have an update for everyone. The plants themselves are growing and looking fine. One problem has me worried. The roots don't looks so good. Kind of have a brownish sludge on them. Just on the bigger plant. She still looks fine and is growing fine. I added the nutes a couple days ago, and I'm wondering if it could be the nutes that are doing this to the roots. I have attached some pictures. Please let me know what you think. I'm getting the mylar today to regulate the res temp better. I found it up to 80 the other day!

Thoughts? Res flush? Root rinse?

I've got no idea what causes that, but I can tell you that from day one my roots were and still are white in color. Have you changed the res water yet? When you do make sure you thouroughly clean the res itself at the same time. It could be some form of root rot. But maybe someone else will know. Just my 2 cents.

The FloraSeries will stain your roots and make them a light tan color. Are your roots slimy or just tan any odor?


Definitely gotta get those rez temps lower to stop any algae or root rot if your not using any H2O2 or root treatment like Dutch master gold zone or hygrozyme.

Thanks guys. Definitely slimy. No Oder yet. The plant itself is looking great. Keeping the temp down

RakThatPunk said:

Thanks guys. Definitely slimy. No Oder yet. The plant itself is looking great. Keeping the temp down

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Since your roots are small try rinsing them with ph'd water or distilled then clean your rez and lid, add 10ml H2O2(hydrogen peroxide 3%)food grade if available to a full rez and let your girl flush in there for 12-24hrs and check your roots to see if they are better then you can start back with the nutes.

Newbt said:

Since your roots are small try rinsing them with ph'd water or distilled then clean your rez and lid, add 10ml H2O2(hydrogen peroxide 3%)food grade if available to a full rez and let your girl flush in there for 12-24hrs and check your roots to see if they are better then you can start back with the nutes.

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I think i caught it all early I flushed the entire system. Cleaned everything out with super hot soapy water, and rinsed it again and again. Lets the plants sit in Distilled water for a few hours, and they are looking nice and white again. I revamped the AG as well. It looks like a cooler now! Installed a fan in the room and am keeping the lights higher as well. Water is at 57 degrees and room temp is at 77 degrees. We will see how long it lasts. I also have some PH down nuted distilled water in ice cube trays getting ready if needed. I think i dodged a bullet! Thanks for both of your insights! Take a loot at the roots and AG.

wow that's a great improvement from earlier. i like how you covered the entire ag.

Newbt said:

wow that's a great improvement from earlier. i like how you covered the entire ag.

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Big time improvement! Temp has been staying at around 64, which is much better than 74-80. The AG does look pretty cool all wrapped up

So far so good. I will update in the morning.

Quick update!

Plants look great! The roots are a bit brown again, but I'm pretty sure that is from the nutes. It can't be from algae growth since the temp has stayed below 70, and it has had absolutely no light inside the res.

I have been battling some PH issues. They keep shooting up quickly. They went from 5.5 when I flushed yesterday to 7.8 just a few minutes ago. I have them back under control as of now, and will be checking them later. Any ideas on how to keep them in check? This seems like a common issue for everyone while their plants are seedlings. Thoughts?

Thanks!

My PH was very erratic for a while too. I noticed at the same time that when the PH went up more times than not the PPM went down. From what people have told me, PH up and PPM down means she is feeding off the nutes. A normal and good thing.

Just wanted to update you guys. The roots were slimy and brownish again last night. The temps have been nice and low and the PH has been going up along with the PPM's. Not a good sign if you ask me. I flushed the res and put in some PH'd deer park spring water. The girls are looking good this morning. Temp is still nice and low. I ordered some food grade 3% H2O2 last night and it should be here tomorrow. The roots look like they almost have a fur on them I'm not liking it.

The plants themselves still look good. No leaf problems and still strong. I really think that I started the nutes to early and the res temp was to high. I will post some pictures tonight when I get home.