stem growth in aerogarden is very weak

Hi all. This is my second go-round with the Aerogarden. I tried to grow some seeds two months ago, but finally realized that I was not getting anything, cuz I did not germinate the seeds properly. I used the paper towel method on some seeds I bought over the internet, and got almost all of them to sprout this time.

I planted seven seeds in the Aerogarden. I know that the great poster Tek recommended planting only one, but I gotta make sure I get some females, cuz I live in a country where getting buds is next to impossible.

About half of them were growing great, while the others were much slower to grow leaves. Actually, I accidentally broke the root off one of them as I was transferring the sprouts into the Aerogarden pods, but luckily, it survived and is growing nice lush green leaves now, albeit from a very very late start.

My problem is that the stems are so weak, that they look like they are about to tip over under the weight of the new leaves. I even had to tie a string around the lamp hood with the lower part of the loop propping up one of the plants by a branch.

I read on this board that a lack of oxygen to the roots could be the problem as well as not enough air circulation to exercise the stems into standing firm. I took care of both problems yesterday by directing a rotating fan with a timer in the study where I keep the Aerogarden, and by plugging in a standard air pump which I bought from a store which sells fish tanks.

If this does not work, what should I do?

I uploaded a few pics, hoping that some experienced posters could show me the error of my ways. Thanks a lot, and kudo's to all the great teachers here. You have allowed me to discover a new hobby in my old age.

Hi Hman!
Glad to see your babies!

I must point out that I am no expert, in fact, some members will flat out tell you I don't know anything...

Anyway, the way I see the AG, which is very different than most, is that it is the perfect miniature set-up.

Full size plants (in my opinion) outgrow both the lights and the reservoir.

One option is to do what I am doing...

I supplemented the lights and I am using the AG for flowering very small clones.

See which is your best female (hopefully, when the time comes, you will have a choice), and transfer her to a bigger, but similar system, and grow her clones in the AG.

Again, this is all just my opinion, just throwing it out there... I am by no means telling you what to do.

As for your garden...

The bubbles will help, I love bubbles, I think they are beneficial on many levels... O2 in the water, "misting effect", homogeneous mix of solutions, cooling the water, improving root strength, and I am sure I could rationalize a few more...

ALL THIS IS THEORY, MY THEORY AT THAT, AND I DON'T EVEN CLAIM TO BE RIGHT...

As for your stems being soft...

What water are you using? Tap water?
Do you check your Ph? Do you have a tester?
Do you know the temperature of the water?
Are you using just water or are you mixing any nutrients?

Adjusting the Ph should help a lot! (in my opinion, it is very important).
The temperature is also very important. Not only to keep it cool, but also constant. Putting ice in the tank when the water is warm will stress you plants.

Try to keep your plants environment as stable as possible.

Again, all this stuff is just what I think...
I am sorry if I seem apologetic, I am just trying to avoid a situation that happened... I threw something out there and the Dude thought I was telling him what to do...

Anyway, best of luck!!!
Keep us posted...

Gypsy...

Gypsy,
thanks for the quick reply. In case I didn't make it clear before, I have never grown anything anywhere anytime for any reason. I respect anyone's opinion who has used the Aerogarden, because I am here to learn. I am too much of newbie to get the cloning stage with a second AG. First of all, I would have to wait for everything to come by overseas shipment to my part of the world, and I would like like to taste some success with just one AG to start. But I like the theory and will definitely invest in some more equipment if I can see some results with this grow. But for now, I plan on vegetating and flowering in the same AG from seed to buds.

I am using tap water right now, and the pH is around 5.5-6.0. I only check every 4 days or so right now. I am using the AG nutrients right now, but only put in 1/4 to 1/2 dosage (one of those plastic square pouches they come in along with the AG). Then I change the water every week with fresh room temperature tap water, and add nutrients again. I also bought some liquid fertilizer which they sell in my country, but have not tried them yet, because I have no idea what they could do for my babies.

Also, I have raised the lamp hood only one notch from its lowest setting (which I did a few days ago), because the tallest plants were within 1" of the lights. But it's been 3 1/2 weeks since I planted my successful sprouts this time; shouldn't they be a lot bigger? I mean, I think it's only around 6" or so for the tallest (they only use centimeter rulers here). I read that you should start the flowering stage at 4 weeks (which will be in a few days for me), but they don't seem quite big enough (or thick enough) to do that yet.

Any thoughts?

[btw, Gypsy, I see in your avatar that you got some nuts and bolts somewhere. I had the same setup in my forearm but when I went to the hospital years later to get the screws removed, they didn't have the right size tools to remove my foreign-made screws. They told me on the operating table right before general anesthesia, so I just got up and walked out of OR. Some of the nurses' jaws dropped because they didnt' know the situation and told me later that in 20 years, they had never seen anyone get up off the operating table and just stroll out!]

THAT is a crazy story!!!

I am just starting to heal up... long road...

Read about flowering...there are many thoughts on this...

Mine is to wait until the plant is mature, instead of forcing it to flower early...
I think the plant has to be ready more than just how many weeks since germination... To wait usually means BIG plants...

That is why I choose to flower clones, I am switching mine at 4 inches high... and they are as old as Mom, so they are ready...

You just gotta do a little research... cloning is easy ... really...no need for another AG...

Well, Good Luck to you...

Gypsy...

Gypsy, when you say you're switching at 4" high, does that mean after you plant your clones, you give them time to root under a vegetating 18/6 light schedule until they are 4", at which time you switch to flowering 12/12 light mode? Sorry about the asinine questions, but not only am I newb, but I'm also a little too old to be hip to the vocabulary used here. I get a little lost sometimes reading through the threads!

peace

The way I do it is...

I cut a "branch" off of a healthy plant.
I slit the end and stick it in the foam insert (AG or home made), put it in the AG and wait for it to root.
How tall the plant is depends on how tall I cut the "brach".

As soon as I see roots, 3 days this time, I switch from the Vegetative stage 24 light/0 dark to the Flowering stage 12/12.

I have seen plants triple in size (all directions) when flowering, so I may end up with 15"/38cm high plants with just a few buds.

You can clone from the plants you have now, onto a tupperware with an airstone...

cut a circle on the lid for the foam...make sure some part of the foam (an extension, beyond the stem of the plant [you need this because this set up does not have the pump the AG has]) touches the water to wick and keep the sponge moist.... tape the lid and bottom (not together) so the light doesn't get to the roots... leave it parked next to your AG... you should see roots in a few days... no nutrients... just Ph'd water...

Once they take root, you can force flower them (they are the same age as the mother) to identify sex... Label from which plants you took each clone... that way you can find your females...

then you keep the one or two best looking Females and fill your AG with clones from them...

The mothers, can now have their tupperware set up... but they will require to be kept in the Veg. stage.. in a separate "light enviroment"....

By now, they are mature and you just clip and flower... Keep it mini....

But hey, that is just me....
I am trying to stock myself with minimal space...
Eventually I will have 2 to 4 AG's 2 weeks apart, all in flowering...

I hope this was helpful...
I ramble sometimes...
There are pictures of my cuttings in the first page of my garden...

Well, which ever way you go, I wish you ALL THE BEST!!!

Gypsy...

You can ramble all like you like. I'll try this after my plants get a little bigger, but I'm gonna have to find some different lighting setup for the tupperware set. Like I said, I was just gonna vegetate and flower all from one AG unit, until I can convince myself I can do this. I assume that the two setups need to be sufficiently far from each other so that the 18/6 lights don't disturb the plants which need to be on 12/12 flower mode.

Also, I won't know the sex of the plants until I start to flower, so I guess I'll have to just cut a branch off a few plants to start cloning, so that I can pinpoint which ones are definitely females. and then further cuttings will only come from the ones that are female.

OK, this is getting stimulating now.

Thanks for your time and advice, Gypsy. I look forward to touching base with you and other pro's after I make some more progress.

peace

hman230 said:

I assume that the two setups need to be sufficiently far from each other so that the 18/6 lights don't disturb the plants which need to be on 12/12 flower mode.

peace

Click to expand...

Well, you can keep the tupperware next to the AG until you see roots, then, just stick it in a dark cabinet (box) for 12 hours at a time... (don't forget to bring the airsotne with...)

Then, once you get your female clones in the AG, you can actually put one on Soil and keep it as a house plant/mother...

Just an idea...

Best of Luck!!!

Gypsy...

I'm also a newbie using the Aerogarden. From my own experience,,,,
The plants are stretching because they weren't close enough to the light source. The Aerogarden bulbs do not get that hot, so you can have your plants within a 1/2" to an inch away. I haven't actually tried growing in the Aerogardens pods, I just use it as a light source. Once I had my seeds cracked, I plaved them in potting soil in peat cups, and put them on the Aerogarden base.
But most importantly, you can set the timer for the light! Pressing and holding the light button sets the time you want it on. Repeat the process at night for when you want it to shut off. This is a great unit to start seedlings indoors. I ordered a T-5 four foot, four bulb system for when these seedlings get too big,,,which is now!!!!

Wino,
thanks for the tip. I just had to raise the lamp hood again last night, because the tallest plant began to touch the base where the bulb screws in. I'll be liberal from now on with letting the plants come close to the lights. Pressing and holding the light button does let you set the time for the lights to go off. But then it turns on again after 6 hours, but at least you can have it go off at night, so the plants can sleep in peace in the dark.

At first, I had the lights going off at 10:00 am and then turning on again in the evening. This meant that when the lights turned off, the plants were still getting a little bit of natural sunlight peeping into my study room during the daytime. Then I got scared when I read somewhere in this forum that too much light can turn your plants into all males. I don't want a sausage party in my garden! So I re-set the lights to go off at night time.

I think the AG is is great for guys like me who do not have green thumb, but need to learn self-sustenance. Do you have any pics of your too-big-for-their-britches seedlings if they're still in the AG? Also, how old did they get before they got big enough to require a move to your four-bulb system?

I germinate the seeds using the paper towel method, and when the sprout pops out a good amount I transfer to a AG seedpod thing... I did this with 3 seeds and they never sprouted, gave up on them and am starting one more (lowryder2 Hindu Kush), but it's been two+ days and it hasn't sprouted. 1st grow btw.

What am I doing wrong? I think the root is drying out or something...so after sufficient germination all that is requried is to carefully place the seed in a pod and set to, say, Tomato?

you should have the fan on them all the time to where the plants are swaying in the breeze. This will make for big strong stalks. You should also be clipping the top set of leaves after the 3rd notch or so, where you've clipped it 2 will grow back keeping the plant short and stocky vs tall and skinny. You run out of room on the Aergarden pretty quick.

Aerogrowerguy,
I realize now that I should have had a fan on from the beginning. But in an earlier thread on the AG, I read how someone was able to grow from seed to bud with no tweaking other than feeding nutrients and adjusting lights. I got enamored with the idea of growing in my AG with no hassle. After I was able to grow sprouts into the 4th week (as of today), I realized from another thread that an air stone and fan could have helped me immensely as far as having a stronger stem.

I added an airstone and a fan a few days ago, and I believe the growth has gotten better and faster. The problem is that the top parts of the larger plants seem to be thicker in the stem than the lower parts, so of course, I come back from work tonight, and my biggest plant has completely wilted over to one side with the leaves hanging down. My heart sank when I saw this but I quickly stuck a white straw in its pod and tied the stem to it to prop it back up. You can see this in the pictures I attached.

Since I'm on my 4th week of vegetation, and the leaves on half of my seven seedlings are getting kinda big, I guess I should start flowering, but is it okay to start flowering when my plants are so weak at the base of their stems that they might keel over again?

I'm also near the top notch on my AG lamp hood, so I can't let them grow that much bigger. I wish my plants were short and bushy instead of tall and scrawny. I'm hoping my next grow will go better, but I can't give up on this one. I'm thinking I should transfer my biggest plants into a separate flowering setup and buy some powerful 400 watt HPS lights (that is, if I can find them in my country) for a maximum flowering stage where I let the plants get as big as they want (hey, it's so dry around here, I gotta make each grow count).

Problem is, I don't know how to set one up. Gypsy, I'll try your idea about clones. But still gotta get some lights.

By looking at my pictures, do you think I should start flowering now (I bought that radio shack figure 8 cord and appliance timer by overseas mail)? Or wait until the stems thicken up more? Appreciate any thoughts as usual.

Mtrip, were you adding nutrients when you were waiting for sprouts in the AG? I read here that you should wait 7-10 days before feeding the seedlings. Just give them correctly pH'ed water. That should help.

Hi!
Time for some more of Gypsy's delusions...
I am going to ditch all the disclaimers... you read them before...

This is what I THINK i know...

In your situation, not wanting to waste any effort, I would build a bucket system for each of your plants...

You say you are already at the top notch on the lights... Your plants MAY triple in size during flowering... You are already out of room...

I suppose you can start tying everything down, but they may break if you try too hard...

My lights are still at the first notch, and all week I wished I could lower them... (which I could have if I took the light off the AG and just hung it over it, not worth the trouble)...

I say, clone from the ones you have, flower the clones, find you Females, get rid of the males, transplant your Mother(s) to a bucket Hydro or Soil... and fill your AG with little clones....

Don't wait too long or you may never get the roots out of the AG hopper without breaking the plastic around it... You may already be there...

Now, if you are going to keep them there as they are, you are going to need way more lights... and also raise the hood some more by hanging it...

Hope this helps...

But remember ... I THINK I'm right, but I KNOW I could be wrong...

Later...

Gypsy...

mtrip said:

i germinate the seeds using the paper towel method, and when the sprout pops out a good amount i transfer to a ag seedpod thing... I did this with 3 seeds and they never sprouted, gave up on them and am starting one more (lowryder2 hindu kush), but it's been two+ days and it hasn't sprouted. 1st grow btw.

What am i doing wrong? I think the root is drying out or something...so after sufficient germination all that is requried is to carefully place the seed in a pod and set to, say, tomato?

Click to expand...

jus chill out they will come!! Put dat shit on salad greenz to man 24/7 watering !i'm on a week n 5 days and geting ready to feed my babbyz im going to buy the tomato plant nuitz i heard they work da best said alote out there!

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to get this going if it takes me the rest of my life.

Gypsy, since the bigger plants are so much bigger than the smaller ones, I thought I'd just move the bigger ones to a separate tupperware make-shift and try to buy some HPS lights for them so they can flower in peace (that is, if their stems can survive their own weights). Of course, I still have to find some HPS lights; I'm going out to the store this morning to check out. Of course, I'll keep them company with an airstone, fan and nutes. and to put the big ones into 12/12 mode.

I think the trickier part will be find the best way to support those foam pods which the seedlings are in, while at the same time giving the stems enough freedom grow. Obviously, just taping them in won't work.

Mtrip, I was able to grow some sprouts my second time around, but I think I was still only able to sprout about 3/4 of my seeds, while the others were just duds. Try germinating more seeds so you can play a numbers game.

glad to see alot of positive AG growers.I read the thread and yall hae some interesting concepts.i have grown multiple times in the AG so i just about got his thing wipped.I use canna nutes and general hydroponics.
And yes you will need more light.cfl's are the best for the AG.There just arent enough Lumens put out from that hood alone.i use the 150w. replacement bulbs 42w (2700) lumens.Check your Ph regularly.i check mine daily.
I am open for questions....

Purpdaddy,
thanks for the advice. I attached some pictures to show you where I am so far.

The first picture is how my plants look at 4 weeks and counting.

The second picture is a close up of the healthiest looking leaves.

The third picture is a look at the stem of the tallest plant, which unfortunately is also the weakest at the base of the stem. The stem is much thicker towards the top (probably due to my adding an airstone and a fan at such a late stage finally). I inserted a tiny white drinking straw into the pod and the tied the stem loosely to it with a plastic tie. It seems to do the job for right now and I recommend this for anyone with the same problem.

The fourth picture is what I noticed to be different shades of colors on my stems. It's all green, but the area where the nodes are are a darker green than the branches and other parts of the stem. Not too clear from this picture, but is this normal?

I agree with you that you need more lights than what the AG provides. After reading through some more posts, I realize that I'm not gonna be satisfied with the 2-7 grams of yield which you should expect per plant. So, to dramatically increase this expected yield, I'm gonna screw off the lamp hood and fix extra lights above the plants. I had a hard time finding grow lights in my country, and the 40 pound weight of most commercial HPS lighting systems (400 watt) means that I'm gonna be paying a fortune in shipping costs, in addition to the $200-$300 cost of the lighting equipment. I think most of this weight is from the ballast which you need to regulate the electricity currents into this thing. Am I correct?

But I found a small store which sold 400 watt HPS (around $19) and ballast (around $17 along with a hood ($9). But the guy there told me that if I get the 250 watt HPS, then I wouldn't need a ballast. I bought the 250 watt bulb, but it's written in German (I don't live in Germany). It says it's "Mercury tungsten blended lamp" on one side though and is called an "HWL" light.

I attached a picture of the bulb and the label. Is this the right type of light? I really wanted to get the HPS light, because I read that that is what is best for flowering.

yor plants are stretched ... you can try lowering the stem into the res som .. I'd go to the 1st set of leaves ..
this is day 21 for these plants from seed