SpiderBall [First Time] Aerogarden Grow Journal

yeah how are things going?

Hey guys!! Thanks for checking in! I know I'm late on my weekly update. Some personal stuff came up here that is really taking my time now, however...

Thanks for posting here SICC, welcome!

So I did take pics and I do have an update....
Been so f-ing busy today...but I think it's ok to roll one up, and get my update done.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes guys!!!

Ok....update coming in a few min, along with a couple more questions....PLUS...I JUST had a problem....seems I blew my outlets or something?!??! This is the second time. 2 outets in my same room are no longer working, but the power in the rest of the house is fine....I'm fucking STRESSING.....
I wanna get the Forum opinion...considering having an electrician come in and check things...maybe replace those outlets....I dunno!!! >.<

Ok....BE RIGHT BACK WITH PICSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

6/18/10 - Middle of WEEK 8 (Still vegging….more info below)

**Lots of questions I have this week which I just have NOT had time to research **

Ok. So ya, actually it's almost end of week 8, HAH.
It's taking so long for me to flower because: (feel free to comment!)
#1 - I waited for my runt to catch up
#2 - I topped my girls way down around 1st/2nd nodes last week, so giving time for those to get big
#3 - lazy….I still need to go buy my flowering lights and also I feel like I should order the FoxFarm nuts for the flowering phase
#4 - Still want to set up a cloning deal so I can take the toppings I cut and put them to root somewhere else. I haven't done this…the toppings are still with the moms w/NO gel


OK…so regarding the TOPPING I did last week:

Choco1 - small
I'm not sure I cut this girl on the right spot. She seemed lopsided to begin with and when I topped I was guessing at what was the main stem. Well, I'll set up the pics of her so you can see that where I CUT…the 2 little branches now coming off where I cut are NOT THAT BIG. There's another stem that is SUPER thick and getting HUGE on this same girl, but I never topped that one. I'm thinking….that's the one I SHOULD have topped!!! >.<

Advice/opinions needed:
Did I infect top the wrong spot?
Should I top her again, correctly, and if so, then should 1 week of vegging that topped part be enough or more?

Choco2
Man, this girl is the BOMB. In my previous update, I illustrated where I THOUGHT the new nodes would come from and I think I was RIGHT ON with that. there are 4 HUGE stems coming out now. They are LARGE AND INCHARGE.
I really think this girl is MORE than ready to start flowering…yes?

OTHER DETAILS
NUTES - I've been making gallon jugs of water using 1.25 LARGE nuts which were provided with the AG. I think I'm going through about 3 batches of these set up gallons of water per week since about week 6-7.

Question: Fax Farm nuts, will the quantity and/or quality of my yield benefit by me getting this for Flowering? How will it compare if I keep using the AG nuts?

WATER - I'm going through about 3 gallons a week right now. BEen that way for about 2-2.5 weeks.
I top the water off each day I wake up and just before I go to bed. On Sundays, I'm still draining all the water out, letting the roots sit for about 20 min, then putting a FRESH pHbalanced/nutes dissolved batch of water.

Question: nothing

Lights: Ok, so I only have 3 extra CFL's aside from the HOOD set up right now.
Now, I know I need to add more, and I HAVE them, but this leads to my main concern….(PLEASE help anyone with some time?)

I'm concerned about the electricity and how I have things plugged.
Here's how I have it plugged now....

Surge Protector (SP) into the wall
-Pump/Airstone directly to SP
-AG watering system into SP (I think I can disconnect this now…however I have a little clone in there…)
-Little Fan
-TIMER

TIMER
-I have a 3 plug adapter plugged directly into the TIMER
3 PLUG ADAPTER
-1 Extension Chord which is had all 3 of my 100W equiv CFLs
-Figure 8 cord that goes to the AG hood

Ok….so that's how it's all plugged in.
Does that sound RIGHT? I'm paranoid of adding more CFL's to this…what should I do as I know I need to add more lights because the girls are huge now and I know I will need them for flowering time!!!

**ISSUE** - the above electrical set up was plugged into 1 socket on one wall for a few weeks. Well, it DIED. Didn't seem to affect any of the rest of the house. So, I just moved it to the next wall plug. A few weeks later (TODAY)….BAM, this one went out too. The rest of the house is still working.
If you see in my PICS, I am CHANGING the Surge Protector to a newer one I have. MAybe that's part of the problem??? I DUNNO?? I had to plug this NEW Surge protector to an extension chord which I'm now running to a plug out of this room -_-
I'm thinking if I can't get these plugs working by just resetting the breakers, then I might have BLOWN the plugs (they could be old) and I might need an electrician to come out and look at it?? I'll have to hide my plants and set up to my bedroom closet for the day if I do this…….

Clones - will my little toppings still root even without the gel? I just stuck one into the AG where there was a free slot…and I put another one just in a glass cup with a LITTLE bit of water in it. I change that water once each day.
I obviously have not done what I need to do for clones, but will my poor effort still result in rooted clones?
My issue right now is I think if I set up a proper little cloning thing, I will need to do it somewhere else where I can run lights 24/7. I don't have that at the moment and might be a couple more weeks before I can get that space set up. So I'm like…ok, if I can at least keep these toppings alive like this, I'll have them when I'm ready to set them up properly.
What will happen if I keep them how they are now and I start flowering the mature girls?
My plan for clones is to set something up like what Roseman had in his big long grow post. So pretty much, I need to go though his 6 space set up and get everything I need including the space to do it in.



OK!!!! IF YOU GOT THIS FAR, THANK YOU!
I know I talk a lot, but I want to spew out EVERYTHING the best I can regarding what I'm doing and thinking….
I figure it raises my chances of getting help from the pro's as well as documenting my lessons learned on my first grow!
I just wish I had more time but some life things are really in need of my time and attention…..
BUT, I'm doing the best I can and so far, I'm SUPER SUPER happy with where I'm at and how pretty these girls are.

THANK you guys AGAIN for checking on my grow. The support is appreciated more than I can say!!!

THANKS!!!!!

Oh, also, I raised the AG hood up like 2 times now and I still have the lights at 18/6!!

Nice set up brother,try pin up the electrics off the floor seeing as you have carpet down.safety first man. Good luck and peace.

Advice/opinions needed:
Did I infect top the wrong spot?
Should I top her again, correctly, and if so, then should 1 week of vegging that topped part be enough or more?

Looks like you did it right to me, she should be fine.
Question: Fax Farm nuts, will the quantity and/or quality of my yield benefit by me getting this for Flowering? How will it compare if I keep using the AG nuts?

The fox farm is better, but the AG tabs are just fine. But obviously the better nutes will give you better results.

**ISSUE** - the above electrical set up was plugged into 1 socket on one wall for a few weeks. Well, it DIED. Didn't seem to affect any of the rest of the house. So, I just moved it to the next wall plug. A few weeks later (TODAY)&#8230;.BAM, this one went out too. The rest of the house is still working.
If you see in my PICS, I am CHANGING the Surge Protector to a newer one I have. MAybe that's part of the problem??? I DUNNO?? I had to plug this NEW Surge protector to an extension chord which I'm now running to a plug out of this room -_-
I'm thinking if I can't get these plugs working by just resetting the breakers, then I might have BLOWN the plugs (they could be old) and I might need an electrician to come out and look at it?? I'll have to hide my plants and set up to my bedroom closet for the day if I do this&#8230;&#8230;.

Thats weird, I've seen set ups with more stuff plugged in with no problems. Might be something with your plugs. You can unplug the AG, once you have the air stone going you dont really need the AG pump going.

Clones - will my little toppings still root even without the gel? I just stuck one into the AG where there was a free slot&#8230;and I put another one just in a glass cup with a LITTLE bit of water in it. I change that water once each day.
I obviously have not done what I need to do for clones, but will my poor effort still result in rooted clones?

they can root that way, but its gonna take some time.

Spider, damn good to hear from you....thought we lost ya.....I waited for someone with more experence than me to try to help.... Like Sicc, good man solid advise....You might hit up FOX also.....


They look great, even the clones green as hell, nice work dude...and on AG nutes ....

Their probably gonna get tall prepare for it, its coming...The longer you wait the taller they get....Hope this is helpfull



**Lots of questions I have this week which I just have NOT had time to research **

Ok. So ya, actually it's almost end of week 8, HAH.
It's taking so long for me to flower because: (feel free to comment!)
#1 - I waited for my runt to catch up
#2 - I topped my girls way down around 1st/2nd nodes last week, so giving time for those to get big
#3 - lazy….I still need to go buy my flowering lights and also I feel like I should order the FoxFarm nuts for the flowering phase
#4 - Still want to set up a cloning deal so I can take the toppings I cut and put them to root somewhere else. I haven't done this…the toppings are still with the moms w/NO gel


OK…so regarding the TOPPING I did last week:

Choco1 - small
I'm not sure I cut this girl on the right spot. She seemed lopsided to begin with and when I topped I was guessing at what was the main stem. Well, I'll set up the pics of her so you can see that where I CUT…the 2 little branches now coming off where I cut are NOT THAT BIG. There's another stem that is SUPER thick and getting HUGE on this same girl, but I never topped that one. I'm thinking….that's the one I SHOULD have topped!!! >.<

Yep....

Advice/opinions needed:
Did I infect top the wrong spot?
Should I top her again, correctly, and if so, then should 1 week of vegging that topped part be enough or more?

Nope looks good to me....Very nice....but definitely you're call to top more...4 to 5 days is enough....




Choco2
Man, this girl is the BOMB. In my previous update, I illustrated where I THOUGHT the new nodes would come from and I think I was RIGHT ON with that. there are 4 HUGE stems coming out now. They are LARGE AND INCHARGE.
I really think this girl is MORE than ready to start flowering…yes?


Yes...the Ag's hood lights are full spectrum they will work...more is better...

OTHER DETAILS
NUTES - I've been making gallon jugs of water using 1.25 LARGE nuts which were provided with the AG. I think I'm going through about 3 batches of these set up gallons of water per week since about week 6-7.

Question: Fax Farm nuts, will the quantity and/or quality of my yield benefit by me getting this for Flowering? How will it compare if I keep using the AG nuts?

WATER - I'm going through about 3 gallons a week right now. BEen that way for about 2-2.5 weeks.
I top the water off each day I wake up and just before I go to bed. On Sundays, I'm still draining all the water out, letting the roots sit for about 20 min, then putting a FRESH pHbalanced/nutes dissolved batch of water.

Question: nothing

Lights: Ok, so I only have 3 extra CFL's aside from the HOOD set up right now.
Now, I know I need to add more, and I HAVE them, but this leads to my main concern….(PLEASE help anyone with some time?)

I'm concerned about the electricity and how I have things plugged.
Here's how I have it plugged now....

Surge Protector (SP) into the wall
-Pump/Airstone directly to SP
-AG watering system into SP (I think I can disconnect this now…however I have a little clone in there…)
-Little Fan
-TIMER

TIMER
-I have a 3 plug adapter plugged directly into the TIMER
3 PLUG ADAPTER
-1 Extension Chord which is had all 3 of my 100W equiv CFLs
-Figure 8 cord that goes to the AG hood

Ok….so that's how it's all plugged in.
Does that sound RIGHT? I'm paranoid of adding more CFL's to this…what should I do as I know I need to add more lights because the girls are huge now and I know I will need them for flowering time!!!

**ISSUE** - the above electrical set up was plugged into 1 socket on one wall for a few weeks. Well, it DIED. Didn't seem to affect any of the rest of the house. So, I just moved it to the next wall plug. A few weeks later (TODAY)….BAM, this one went out too. The rest of the house is still working.
If you see in my PICS, I am CHANGING the Surge Protector to a newer one I have. MAybe that's part of the problem??? I DUNNO?? I had to plug this NEW Surge protector to an extension chord which I'm now running to a plug out of this room -_-
I'm thinking if I can't get these plugs working by just resetting the breakers, then I might have BLOWN the plugs (they could be old) and I might need an electrician to come out and look at it?? I'll have to hide my plants and set up to my bedroom closet for the day if I do this…….


I have a lot more going than that and no problems on a 30amp breaker...What size is the breaker switch? Looks like the same timer I have too...you might remove the wall plate and take a look hopefully just a loose wire...wish i had more...sorry

Ya!!!!

Dirtydaztrundell...
Thank you so much dude....DONE! I velcroed the surge protector to the wall were I can't trip on it and it's away from the water.
The velcro is quite strong, however I saw the the surge protector had a hole on the bottom where I think I can screw it into the wall. So I'll do that tomorrow prolly as today we're spending the day with my wife's dad...
Thank you though. yes...SAFETY FIRST!!!

SICC,
I have to say, I'm honored to have you on my grow now!!! THANK YOU x 100trillionmillion, lol
I will be ordering the FoxFarm Nutes TODAY then.
The clones I was asking about cause it's like...can I keep being lazy about them and keep them alive? LOL
I'm not too worried about how fast I can get them to root....I just can't bring myself to THROW them away
When I order the foxfarm nutes, I'm gonna try to order everything I need to set the clones up in their own little bubbleponics thing...
On, the Electricity....yes. I spoke to my wife and sounds like I can get my experienced cousin to come out and probably just replace the plugs. I'm thinking that was the problem. I can't see 3 CFL's and the AG hood overloading my breaker box....
So, IF I top that one female I was asking about again....it would mainly be to get a HUGE clone....giving me 3 nice clones.

Then I can flower the 2 I have, and then flower the 3 clones as soon as they're ready....
The interesting thing is, the one topping that I have in the glass cup....that's the topping that I fucking BUTCHERED earlier....missing all it's fan leaves n shit...
So it'll be interesting to see how that one comes out compared to the others...

Thank you again for your time helping me!!

Mr. Natural....no man....I'm still here bro!!
Awe....shucks..... ^_^ (BLUSH)
Ok so ya....if I top that one girl again, it'll mainly be to get a 3rd, BIG ass clone off it. Maybe get lucky with new nodes?!?!
I dunno....I just might....cause I won't flower till I get my new nutes in? Plus the lights?
4-5 days of waiting for her to recover isn't much.....gonna think about it a bit....but most likely will....

I will be adding more lights too. I can totally see right now that there are parts of the plants that are not getting as much light as I'd like them too.
Especially for flowering. I think you're right though, the 2 plugs are probably just bad. I've actually already had to switch out 3 plugs in this house from them being old and fucked up......that's GOT to be the problem. I'm not sure the size of my breaker box....but I think my total amps are 100. My house is about 30 years old. I was recently talking to an electrician about upgrading it to be 200 amps.



Hey, again, thank you guys.
Mr. Natural, I think maybe it was you who said it on your grow, about this being more fun than you expect and you expect alot???
Well....I have to agree 100%%%%%%%
I seriously wish I had more time to spend with the plants and getting the clones going.
I usually work till the wee hours of the morning and I CHERISH the time spent sitting in front of my plant, with my sunglasses on, high as a kite....fondeling the leaves....or just looking at them, listening to music...knowing I grew them and knowing that they will give back to me in a few weeks time...
I don't mind taking so long this first grow as I think it's all well time spent building my foundation of knowledge!!! I think I can always see myself having at least the 6 plants I can legally have....it's freaking SICK. Oh....but...after these....I wanna have 3 Sativa and 3 indica!

THANKS, PEACE and HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!

SpiderBall said:

The clones I was asking about cause it's like...can I keep being lazy about them and keep them alive? LOL

Click to expand...

lol yeah you can, but like i said its just gonna take longer so you just gotta wait it out.

[QUOTE="SICC";4305451]lol yeah you can, but like i said its just gonna take longer so you just gotta wait it out.[/QUOTE]

Sicc, so ok on the clones (I have this same info in my next update which I'll post now...)
The one in the AG just sprouted roots! They look like they're poking THROUGH the Moss.

The clone in the cup of water, no roots but it looks like they want to come out...

well, fuck it check out the update cause I mention that I started flowering today.

Curious if I'm gonna fuck these up, or the one with litte roots will still get on track even with the flowering lighting and light schedule...

Thanks homes!!

6/27/10 - Start of WEEK 10 since Germination (FLOWERING - BEGIN!!!)

Yo yo!!!

Ok….so I decided to start flowering today!
I went out and bought some 100w equiv Soft White CFLS.
I bought 4 for now. I might get 2-4 more during the week cause I expect these sluts to grow big!!
I changed the timer to now be at 12/12. So tonight, the lights will come on around 8am instead of the 3am they used to come on. They might only get 10 hours of darkness cause I think I set the lights to go OFF a bit earlier too…
But tomorrow they will get the perfect 12/12.

So, I got rid of that little tiny desk fan I had, and I bought this bigger one and mounted it up over the door way (see pics)

I also fastened down the surge protector a bit better to the wall using zip ties in addition to the already there velcro. I had to use Zip ties to also put more pressure on the Timer plugged into the Surge Protector because it was very easily coming out. They all seem pretty secure now.

I have NOT gotten my new nuts yet -_-
I just ordered them today....
But I didn't want to wait for the flowering to start. I keep lagging and they look BIG ENOUGH!!! So I was like…fuck it….FLOWER and I'll have the FoxFarm nuts here by mid week I'm sure. I'll start adding them then....

THE COLNES...
OK, so I'm not sure what I should be doing here.
The Clone in the AG has SPROUTED ROOTS!!!
They're coming out of the sides of the moss…not hit the water yet.
I'm guessing this little clone could have used a bit more time verging, but fuck it…
I guess we see what happens? The clone in the cup of water, has not sprouted roots yet.
The one in the cup, I'm gonna move it out of the room and put it under a 24/7 daylight CFL for now…
I don't really want to remove the one that is IN the AG since her roots are coming out now.
Any ideas on what to expect from the one in the AG?

I'm topping off the water every day. They drink about 1/2 a gallon if not more a day.
I keep making batches of water using 1.5 of the Large AG nuts in the water....

Question: When the FoxFarm comes in, do I continue to use the AG nuts while adding the Fox Farm for a slow transition off the AG nuts? or can I just stop using the AG nuts all together once the Fox Farm comes in?

Ok, super busy tonight with work so I'm not gonna do my PIC diagrams this time
But I hope you enjoy the pics!!!

Oh and when I removed the DayLight CFLs, I marked with with a sharpie to show how long they've been used and to remind me they are Day Light CFLS. I laid them all out and took a pic to remind me to do that again next time.

IT SMELLS LIKE FRESH VEGGIES IN HERE!!!!!

Feel free to comment or ask any questions!

Damn nice bush



how many watts will you have for flowering?
+REP!

Yo dude, Thanks!!!! Hell ya ^_^
means alot coming from "the" SICC

Ok so I actually was thinking today while at work...
I changed the Day Light CFLs out, but I did not change the lights in the AG hood.
Is that ok? If not, what should I be doing?

Ok so about the Flowering CFLs. There are 4 right now
Looks like they are:
400 watt EQUIV (92 Watt Actual)
1600 Lumens each (so that's 6400 lumens total)
PLUS the AG hood....
Does that sound right?

Man...SHIt. I got home just now from work and it was hot as fuck in the closet. It was 88 in the closet. That's the hottest it's been in there, but I think today was also the hottest day....
I checked the weather and it says it was 86 today....scary because I think it could go up into the high 90's as we get further into Summer.
Any opinion on heat? Should I consider setting up some sort of AC or should I add ventilation to the closet? I would just worry about any light getting to it during the dark hours.

Ok man, thanks so much for the reply and for the props. After this grow, I need a short gap in growing time because some of my family will be staying here cause of a wedding, but I FULLY INTEND to get this AND a bubbleponics going...I've already started buying all the shit ))))

OK! stressful day =====

PEACE!!!

SpiderBall said:

Yo dude, Thanks!!!! Hell ya ^_^
means alot coming from "the" SICC

Ok so I actually was thinking today while at work...
I changed the Day Light CFLs out, but I did not change the lights in the AG hood.
Is that ok? If not, what should I be doing?

Click to expand...

Thats fine, the AG lights are full spectrum.

SpiderBall said:

Ok so about the Flowering CFLs. There are 4 right now
Looks like they are:
400 watt EQUIV (92 Watt Actual)
1600 Lumens each (so that's 6400 lumens total)
PLUS the AG hood....
Does that sound right?

Click to expand...

369 watts are coming from the the 92 watt CFL's, so that's plenty, then the AG lights on top should take it to or close to 400 watts

SpiderBall said:

Man...SHIt. I got home just now from work and it was hot as fuck in the closet. It was 88 in the closet. That's the hottest it's been in there, but I think today was also the hottest day....
I checked the weather and it says it was 86 today....scary because I think it could go up into the high 90's as we get further into Summer.
Any opinion on heat? Should I consider setting up some sort of AC or should I add ventilation to the closet? I would just worry about any light getting to it during the dark hours.

Click to expand...

Any kind of ventilation will work, if anything you can always change the light cycle so its only on at night.

Ok so I hope this isn't too bad for the plant, but I don't want it getting so hot in the closet during the day.
I just changed the timer to be lights out all day....

This means the lights will be on all night tonight. So it'll get extended hours of light tonight......just for one night....then the lights go out at 8am, FULLY DARK in the CLOSET, then back on at 8pm when it's cooler....

In my opinion, that's safety first......

I hope it's not gonna be totally bad....

Just one night!!!

haha cool man. seems I posed this just as you posted too...

Ya dude, I changed the schedule just now.
Should be much better, it's not too hot right now.
The closet is 82 right now with the door open.

Thanks SICC!

WOW lookin good Spider !!

Thanks Mr.Natural!! ^_^

About to upload some pics from yesterday...

ah those are going to be huge! too huge, in my opinion.
I think the key to success with the aerogarden is to prune them down to like 8 inches then switch them to 12/12.

I'll be looking forward to seeing how your's work out, but that's a ton of plant for the lil aerogarden.