First time Aeroflow 60 user need all the help I can get!!!

Help me out I just started growing for the first time 40 plants I am a rookie I need all the help I can get . One of the plants leafs started wilting and tuening colors his this normal/o.k. if not can I fix.I Will Answer any ? you have to resolve any issues I have along the way. Wish me luck

your a first time grower growing 40 grown plants?

Ah, GH's AeroFlo. Does your system have the round or square tubes? What is your nutrient TDS, pH, and temperature? What nutes are you using?

We'll help.

Well i grow aero and use my homebuit system made very similar so Id comment but wanna see the answers to the earlier questions and more pics.In the aero system I have found your worst 2 enemies will be clogged misters and res water temps getting 2 warm.Keep that res water around 65degrees F or issues will abound. Keep room about 80 or issues shows up.Never use dry nutes in these systems and never add molasses.I personally use Fox Farm nutes.But will wait for more info

what he said...

Also those kinda look like the very bottom single leaves... those die off anyway.

If the tops looked like that I would have a different answer.

Yeah I am growing 40 plants I was going to do 60 but some plants died in the rapid rooter system.My AF has square tubes the P.H. is about 6.5 the temp is About 73 deg in the res 75 in the room. I use Ionic Nutes Can't tell TDS. I use a pair of T8 flouresent lights 4 bulbs in total I know almost nothing about growing I learned from a video on google video and information on the internet but now that I am growing I need live real time feedback from the pros and trust me you guys are the creme of the crop all of my questions will go through this thread for your expert advice plus I am broke now I spent all my money on the setup like I said before I need your help to succeed I will upload any pics you need and answer any question to the best of my ability. thank you -holla Back i'm trying to get high and Find Nemo

Looking good so far, maybe a little stretched. Do you have more light to go on them? At least a 600 watt HPS will be needed, preferably a 1000 or 2.

With these GH set ups you don't really need to veg for more than just a few days, as soon as mine show root I throw them right into 12/12.

Another problem I might see you having is just too many plants in there, after the roots take off they really fill the tubes up, and eventually the res too. I put only 3 plants per tube and 2 tubes per res and fear that the drain holes will clog, hasn't happened yet though.

Also with 60 plants on one 40 gallon res they are going to empty that res everyday when they get big.

The growth in these things is very explosive if done right.

I threw these clones in as soon as they showed roots through the rock wool, the first is one week of 12/12, the second is 2 weeks of 12/12, and the third is about 3 and a half weeks into 12/12 - as you can see they seriously explode with growth.

The ones I have at 5 weeks drink about 6 gallons a day, I'll take pictures of them later when the lights are on.

Cool pics, I knew I'd find the pro's on here. I just have the the 2 (2) T8 lights out of money can't afford the 600 watt hps or any other. I run the system for 5 hrs. a day and the plants get light for 18 hrs a day starting yesterday down from 24 hrs.a day they have been in the system for 2 days Do you have any early advice I really know very little about this but I am very dedicated. The cups that I put the plants in have a brown moss looking liner that I presume keeps the small coco balls and roots from comming out of the cup I don't know much about the nutes it's called Ionic and it's three parts Grow, Bloom and boost I used like 3.3 cups of the grow liquid nute. Is bloom next in the cycle or is boost? How long from now do I switch to the next nute? When do I Switch the lights to 12on/12off. Do I change the water if so I assume how often, do I add water as the plants absorb the water if so do I add nutes with the water. Will my lights work ok (trying too keep my energy bill low). The water pump leaked a little at first not anymore

Hey Micheal how do you get the big pics on your post mine are alway thumbnails and yours are huge

Photobucket

You want the roots to come out of the cups, all the way down the drain and into the res. Those coco cups are fine, personally I don't use them, I just stick the clones into some rockwool cubes, drop them to the bottom of the web pot and fill with hydroton. The roots will go through those cups no problem - I used them once and they worked good, I see no difference without them though.

Keep the water level in the tubes high, like half a centimer over the bottom of the webpot sitting in the water. Soon as the roots are like sticking out 3 inches or so - drop the water level to about 1 and half inches deep, or a centimer or so from the bottom of the webpots - shouldn't have to adjust that for the rest of the grow if you do that.

What size pump do you have? How many GPH is it? You could go ahead and leave the water pump on 24/7, I only turn mine off when I change the res.

Those nutes are probably just fine, I haven't ever tried them so I don't know - I just use foxfarm, it's cheap and easy to get. You need to get a TDS tester or some kind of PPM wand and something to check PH. Some PH up and PH down are handy too.

Just feed them slowly - like 800 PPM at first and ramp it up to maybe 1100 to 1200 PPM. Late in flowering I like to try and push it up as high as I can get away with right before I flush them. I have hit 1900 PPM and had stable PH and plants show no stress, just depends on the strain I guess.

If the PPM goes up, add more water, change res every 7 to 14 days, you should be able to tell when it's ready to be changed by how nasty it starts to look at the bottom.

I'll post some good pics to show you the roots and all what I mean here later on tonight.

If you have good roots showing you could go ahead and go 12/12 anytime, they will keep growing.

Here are some pics about what I meant

I zip tie the pots down also, they have a tendency to push themselves up when the get some monster roots.

Looks like you need to drop the plants down lower in the cups too.

I also just lay the tubes across the top of my res instead of using the racks - makes a smaller footprint on the floor, but if your res lid holes are already drilled it doesn't matter.

Also an air pump, like from a fish tank with an airstone, drop one of those down inside your resevoir.

Here is what I meant by zip tieing the pots down so they don't push out.



This is what I meant about the tubes filling up with roots.





tubes ontop of res to reduce space



roots in res



and last - a show off shot, 5 weeks 1 day into 12/12

How far apart are your plants?

About 10 inches

Thats the basic setup I bilt and have a complete grow journel in the journel section on the last grow I did in it. I built mine for under $150.You need to keep the ph at 5.8 in these no more then 6 and tds and ph and ppm are very important you have to monitor it daily as it will fluxuate quickly.Res temp is also very important keep it at 65 F in the res so it hits the roots at about 68-70 or infection, algae and bacteria grow fast.Good luck

I like the zip starps I was looking for a good way to help hold them down and you have it nice job. Your square tubes hold lot more water then mine as mine flows and drains like a quick stream and my roots are always intertwinned in giant 10 foot long root mats.Once the go in thiers no coming out

Got any good pics fletch? Very interested in seeing.

Looked for you journal - gotta link?

this is the best way to grow I think, super results.

very nice kelso

This is 1 of my biggest plants they have been in the AF for 4 days. How long from now do I switch from 18/6 to 12/12?

I cant believe your growing 40 HYDROPONIC plant for your first time. You could have saved your money instead of getting such a huge system and got better lights. YOU NEED MORE LIGHT.

awsome setup man, Im building the same thing. but for real now u need good lighting. this is going to be my first time growing too, pick up all my soil and bucket, had some spill so i said f*uck this mess im going aero. Is much harder but when u have a passion to do somthing u tend to do it right. Do so reading get some equipment find a chart and go ffrom there.