In the first few weeks of new setup Looking for tweaks and advice.

Hey guys fairly new to growing here. I was wondering if anyone could add some input on things to help out my grow a bit. Here is my setup

2x 400 M.H. Bulbs set about 24 inches from my clones. They were just cut from the mother plant 3 weeks ago and transplanted into my aeroponics tub in 3" net pots a week ago. I have the aeroponics sprayers set to come on for a half hour then be off for 3 on a cycle. Also I set the sprayers to be completely off during the 6 hours of the 18/6 light cycle. In addition I have an air pump in the reservoir with 2 air stones to add oxygen to the nutrient solution and keep it from settling.

As far as nutrient solution I am running all GH. My mix is as follows. Using the Lucas formula I mix 2 tsp of micro nutes in 1 gallon of R/O water with a ph of 5.8 as well as 1 tsp of bloom nutes plus, 1/4 tsp of superthrive and 1 tsp of cal-mag and finally 2tsp of peroxide (3%). Obviously I mix the nutes 1 at a time starting with the micro nutes. Res. temps are sitting at about 68 degrees and the temp around the plant sit steady at about 74-77 depending on time of day. I have been spraying C02 but do not have a regulator yet and no real way to set and change humidity besides a bucket of water that I change out often. there is plenty of air coming in and I have a decent exhaust fan going out of the roof of the room.

Any input to help tweak my setup at minimal expense would be excellent. Thanks alot guys, IM pretty excited to get my first harvest under my belt.

patlpp said:

Don't you have it backwards for Lucas? It should be 1:2 ratio for micro/bloom. (original Lucas calls for 8ml/gal micro, 16ml/gal bloom) Also, why calmag? Lucas is loaded with it. That's the whole idea behind the 1:2 thing, to provide plenty of calmag without the need to supplement.

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Good call on that my mistake, I remixed the nutes the proper way... Still a rookie to be honest. I have been having so much trouble with my clones not growing roots further than the net pot. I had a dwc setup then decided to switch to aeroponics. my clones had some serious roots coming out of the rockwool when I transplanted them into the aero tub I built. The only thing that has me worried now is my timing on the sprayer (30 mins on 6 hours off) AND the fact that the rockwool isnt drying out before the next spray in 6 hours. Ive only had the system going for 2 days now so idk what kind of issues im going to run into.
Anyone else have any experience with clones rooted in rockwool then transplanted into 3" net pots with hydroton in an aeroponics tub? Im so worried they arent going to grow properly.

30 on 3 hrs off sounds dangerous. and you have not given a lot of info as to what they are in. i know now they are in wool in net pots but what is going to happen to the roots that grow out of the pot? that long without water will airprune them and you will not have the root system to support a healthy plant. i run my aero 80secs on 8mins off.

superstoner1 said:

30 on 3 hrs off sounds dangerous. and you have not given a lot of info as to what they are in. i know now they are in wool in net pots but what is going to happen to the roots that grow out of the pot? that long without water will airprune them and you will not have the root system to support a healthy plant. i run my aero 80secs on 8mins off.

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The clones were rooted in a humidity dome in rockwool for 10 days. I transplanted them in an 18 gallon tub in 3" netpots. I mixed up 2 gallons of nutrient solution in R/o water with a ph of 5.8. as far as the nutrient solution I went over that in my first post. I haven't been able to get the roots to grow through the pots into the tub yet, to warrant even worrying about air-prune which is why I have the timer set to come on so infrequently (30 mins on 6 hrs off) at the end of the 6 hours period right before the sprayers come back on again for another 30 mins I have checked the pots and the hydroton and there is still moisture in them. I think my major problem is the fact that the rockwool is getting soaked during the spray and its not drying out before the next time it is sprayed so the roots have no need to grow... Otherwise, they look very healthy on top and new growth everyday. I just don't know what to do to get my roots to grow through into the tub .


Also I have 2 airstones sitting in the 2 gallons of nute solution running 24/7 to keep the solution agitated and oxygenated.

with aero you want to tell the roots, "hey bitches, come down here" and let them follow the flow of the water as is is released. with that amount of off time the roots are not going to go looking. seriously, ive never heard of that long off in aero.

superstoner1 said:

with aero you want to tell the roots, "hey bitches, come down here" and let them follow the flow of the water as is is released. with that amount of off time the roots are not going to go looking. seriously, ive never heard of that long off in aero.

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Okay man well I just went out and switched some things around. Unfortunately the timer I have right now only lets me set it for 30 min increments so... I set the timer to turn the pump/sprayers on for a half hour then be off for 1 hour in a 24 hour cycle. Hopefully that will be good enough for a few weeks until I can get a legit aeroponics timer. Also I cut the stem going to my sprayers down 2 inches so there should'nt be as mush spray towards the top of the pots (hopefully causing my rockwool to get less drenched). What do you think about that? Also, thanks again for the convo, unfortunately because of where I live its hard to have someone to bounce ideas off of that knows what they are talking about.

at least get one of those 96 pin timers at lowes or walmart. that will give you 15 min increments.