Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom 1.0

Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

CMJJMC2000 said:
Right on! Which one did you go with?

My first grow was with Dwarf Low Flyer (pass on that strain, if you haven't already) but I have some Kera Dwarf Auto seeds and would be willing to run that strain in the future - would probably do 2 dwarfs per Aerogarden. Which dwarf strains are you planning on growing?
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I got an 8 pot system as it was going cheap. Had underestimated how large and noisy the system was though so still trying to decide what to do with it.....it's so big I reckon I just have to fill it with five plants and give it a 600W to itself rather than just try it with one or two plants while I have other stuff going on round about it.

The dwarf strain I'm growing is Dr Feelgood from ShortStuff Seeds. I like the smoke and want to be able to compare results between NFT, aeroponics and fogponics so I'm growing a bunch of them to try stuff out on. Got a couple of bigger (well taller anyway) strains on the go too :passitleft:
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Wow, that sounds big! For the noises, check how your pumps are situated. In this hobby - and also reefing - high pressure/high volume pumps can create some nasty acoustics from bad pointing points.

I haven't heard of that strain, but will check it out! Good luck with your system and feel free to post me a reminder if you get a journal up on that grow!
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Productive day today trimming back some of bigger branches on the lower areas.......


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Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

I took a few snips of the Critical+ Auto and checked them out under the microscope. I've got pieces with 100% cloudy and others with about 90% cloudy and 10% amber. So, she'll be getting a chop, as well. I'll pull her top buds tomorrow, as well and let the lower age for a few more days.


The Med Gom 1.0 is about 60% harvested. I'm not looking forward to the trim work on the lower areas, I'm thinking about just pulling the fan leaves and picking up some dry ice to make hash from the remaining buds. They're so sugar coated, I think this may be a viable solution to save me some labor. I've got about a pea sized ball of scissor hash from the trimwork so far.
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Impressive work, still can't believe you're getting those results in the Aerogardens! I kinda want to buy one just to mess around with for fun, I had one a few years ago that I tossed and I regret it, that was before I'd even considered this sort of application for it!


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Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Just a quick update - the Critical+ Auto is still in flush mode but I went ahead and chopped 4 tops from her today. The buds are nice, dense and very aromatic. Not quite as bushed out as the Med Gom, but much longer. Much better bud to lead ratio on the Critical+, you can tell she's made for smoking - which the Med Gom is a great smoke she oozes resin and would be a great plant to grow for extraction purposes.


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Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Well, the Med Gom is about 75% or more chopped. Here is what's left of her.............


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Critical+ Auto only had the top 4 bud sites chopped at canopy level. So, I've got a LOT of work left to do with her as the week progresses.


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And the entire system, what's left of both plants..........



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This has been my first time chopping the plant down over the course of multiple days like this. I have been surprised with how well the plants have tolerated the stress. Lower bud development has continued after the tops came down on Med Gom. She's really just a fraction of what she was when I first started chopped but is in phenomenal health. It's allowed me to hold off chopping on the areas that don't have any amber trichomes yet.


I've also busted out my hanging mesh drying shelves for the smaller buds off of Med Gom. I'm thinking that the first buds that were cut will be ready for jars tomorrow.
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Well, the Med Gom 1.0 definitely impressed on this grow. Last grow, I filled up 1 quart jar to the brim. So far, I've filled up 1 to the brim with *primo* main cola buds. Another jar has been filled with about 50% main cola buds and 50% 1.5-2" buds. I've still got about 1 more jars worth drying + what's waiting to be cut on the plant. I'll scale it all out this week, but I do believe that it has exceeded 2 zip dry, based on what I know these jars can hold. She has *just* started to fade on the remaining sections that haven't been cut, so I'll let her sit until tomorrow.

Critical+ Auto is fading quickly, most leaves are now yellow and curling upwards. I'm going to chop as much of her as I can tonight without getting sloppy on the trimming. I'll grab some pics tonight and post later. Busy evening ahead!
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Med Gom 1.0 has been fully harvested and is now just one big stick in the Aerogarden (looks a bit like a Harry Potter wand).



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All buds that were left that were less than an 1.5" have been put into the hash pile - and it was a lot - there's probably 40+ popcorn buds in my sugar leaf box.



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The fully cured and jarred Massive Midget is in the left 2 jars (a 2 quart jar of buds and a 1 quart jar of premium cola buds) and the now curing jars of Med Gom 1.0 can be seen in the right 2 jars (a 2 quart jar of buds and also a 1 quart jar of premium cola buds). I still have a lot of bud to add into the 2 quart Med Gom bud jar, definitely enough to fill it to the brim. Also, scissor hash for Med Gom is on the left and scissor hash for the Critical+ is on the right.





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Everything on the top drying rack is Med Gom 1.0. The 2nd rack is Critical+ Auto smaller buds. The 3rd rack is stems that need calyx's clipped of at nodes for my hash pile.




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Everything on my drying hanger is Critical+ Auto. The buds hanging closest to center will most likely get jarred up tonight.



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I still have about 50% of the Critical+ left to trim. Depending on how much gets jarred, I may just clip the rest lightly and toss into the hash pile. This grow yielded far more bud that I expected - or that I can smoke over the next 3-4 months until I resume activity :-)
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

CMJJMC2000 said:
Wow, that sounds big! For the noises, check how your pumps are situated. In this hobby - and also reefing - high pressure/high volume pumps can create some nasty acoustics from bad pointing points.

I haven't heard of that strain, but will check it out! Good luck with your system and feel free to post me a reminder if you get a journal up on that grow!
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Will do buddy, just tagged a few harvest pics onto the end of my last journal if you want to see a Dr Feelgood(Kushtie - Dark Devil - Candy Kush & Himalaya Orange Diesel - Autos In NFT).

The aeroponics pump is a bit noisier than what I've been using for NFT but it was more the noise of the water hitting the plastic walls and then dripping back down into the res that surprised me. Apparently they are quieter when full of roots but I think I'll try to dampen it with shiny bubble wrap and insulation boards anyway.
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Harvest is officially complete. Only thing left to do is take care of the root balls. I'll have some pics up later once I tidy everything up. It's always sad to break down the tent, but I look forward to refining my setup on the next grow!

I have a few new strains to test out on the next grow. I'll be working with Dinafem's Industrial Plant CBD auto strain on the next grow. I'll also be doing either Fastbud's Pineapple Express auto or Fastbud's Fastberry (improved blueberry) auto. I may just grab a 3rd Aerogarden and chiller and do all 3 or try my hand at soil.

I'm also adding into my seed bank the following - Vision Northern Lights auto x5, Fast Buds Girl Scout Cookies auto x3, Samsara Ultra Violet Auto x 3 and some random freebie Dinafem strains.
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Congrats on the harvest and hope you enjoy the smoke:goodjob:

I've done that harvesting in stages thing when I couldn't get a mate with scissor skills round but it made it a bit of a pain getting a final weight for each plant as I have a tendency to dig in as soon as it's dry enough for smoking:lot-o-toke:

Look forward to seeing more strains on your next run. Never tried any of those breeders so will be interesting to see them go in hydro.
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Kushtie said:
Congrats on the harvest and hope you enjoy the smoke:goodjob:

I've done that harvesting in stages thing when I couldn't get a mate with scissor skills round but it made it a bit of a pain getting a final weight for each plant as I have a tendency to dig in as soon as it's dry enough for smoking:lot-o-toke:

Look forward to seeing more strains on your next run. Never tried any of those breeders so will be interesting to see them go in hydro.
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Thank you! I haven't sampled any, as I'm still sitting on an enormous pile of the Massive Midget (sativa heavy pheno) and enough left over Med Gom to last me 2-3 weeks. The trim work is very labor intensive - and since I'm the only one doing it, I found that I enjoyed taking my time with it this go around. Unless it's a tiny piece of popcorn bud, I trim meticulously and clip every single baby-fan leaf that I can right at the stem. I probably have 10 hours of solid labor in on trimming up these 2 plants.

The critical+ smells so sweet, I think that's going to be an excellent smoke!
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Almost everything jarred up now. 2 on the left are Massive Midget, 2 in the center are Critical+ Auto and the 2 on the right are Med Gom 1.0. Each strain has a jar for big primo buds and a jar of smaller nuggets.


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Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

I've recently acquired an AeroGarden ULTRA and want to use it for my first attempt at growing.

Your setup looks AMAZING and I want to replicate it as best I can (within my budget). I still have a lot to read about the growing process but I've gone through your 3 guides and wanted to get started on acquiring the necessary components. Unfortunately I'm limited to whats available on Amazon Canada or that ships from Amazon.com to Canada or that I can buy at a local store.

I'm planning to just start with a single plant in the Aero Ultra, I have some Jack Herer autoflower seeds, which I'm not sure are ideal for this grow but hoping to give them a shot anyways.

So far on the list of things to order I have:

1x MarsHydro 2' 3'' x2' 3'' x5' 3'' Reflective Mylar Hydroponic Grow Tent (is that the size you're using? I couldn't find any mention of which size you bought in your first guide)
1x MarsHdyro Reflector48 or possibly 1x Mars II 400 (is that overkill for about double the price)
1x Hydrofarm Air Pump 2 Outlets 3W 7.8L/min
2x Hydrofarm AS4RD 4-Inch Active Aqua Round Air Stone
1x AcuRite 00613B Indoor Humidity Monitor
1x Risepro PH-991 Temperature / PH Monitor


I'm trying to do this on a limited budget, so with that in mind would you be able to suggest any modifications or additions that I need to have a complete system?

Can you tell me what filter / fan system you used, I can't find the specific details of that searching through your guide.

The iceprobe seems to be pretty big expense, and drilling the AG to mod it in seems intimidating, is there some lower budget way to control the temperatures that I can get by with?

Other than the modifications for the iceprobe, were there any other modifications you made to the AG that you would highly recommend?

Should I get all the nutes you listed in your first guide, is there anything else you've since added or decided not to use? And could you recommend a resource to learn the optimal schedule for giving the specific nutes you used?

I know this is a TON of questions but you did everything so perfectly so really hoping I can get off to a good start from your tons of hard work and learning.

Thanks SO much for your guides they have totally inspired me and I can't wait to get growing and post a first grow journal on here! I'm not expecting to have a setup quite as amazing as yours or the same results, but even if I can get halfway there I would be thrilled.
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

I can't edit my previous post, but after another day of research and the realization it will just cost too much for me, I've decided to stick with herbs for my AG Ultra and do a soil grow for now. I hope to switch to a hydro grow one day though.
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Hello, your grows are all awesome! Thanks for doing these journals, they are great guides for noobs like me! I'm currently growing a dwarf low flyer it's at 34 days old. I've read through your DLF journal prob about 5 times lol. I have a few questions if you don't mind me asking. First would you recommend letting the DLF go past the 8 week mark? Second should I harvest all at once or in stages as it keeps developing? Thanks for any input it's hard to find any info on this strain!

Here's a pic of my DLF at 34 days today.. Topped and LSTd
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Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

AFnOOb420 said:
Hello, your grows are all awesome! Thanks for doing these journals, they are great guides for noobs like me! I'm currently growing a dwarf low flyer it's at 34 days old. I've read through your DLF journal prob about 5 times lol. I have a few questions if you don't mind me asking. First would you recommend letting the DLF go past the 8 week mark? Second should I harvest all at once or in stages as it keeps developing? Thanks for any input it's hard to find any info on this strain!

Here's a pic of my DLF at 34 days today.. Topped and LSTd
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Definitely let you plant take the time needed to reach full maturity - if you're in soil you could end up pushing past the 8 week mark. Keep an eye on your buds and use a magnifier to check the maturity and color of the trichomes - they will always tell you when to chop!

Good luck!
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

For a bit of final resolution, I finished the last part of this project today - making dry ice hash. I used none of my trimmings, they're still in the freezer. To make a long story short, I'm not a big fan of the Critical+ Auto when smoked. The taste isn't particularly great and it is a bit harsh despite a nearly 3-month long cure. It smells great, but the smell doesn't translate to taste when smoked. So, I took both jars of it - about 1.5zip at this point - and made dry ice hash using 75,160 and 220 micron filter bags. The end result is quite nice. The biggest ball - from the 160 micron bag - is the size of a ping pong ball. The pure blonde ball - 75 micron - is the size of a marble, as is the greener 220 micron ball.


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I'll be starting up a new grow journal in about 2 weeks - the strains will be Dinafem's Industrial Plant CBD, Pineapple Express Auto and Fastberry - both from Fast Buds.
 
Re: Chilled Aerogardens & Mars Hydro Reflector - 3rd Grow - Critical+ Auto & Med Gom

Oh God... I told you I wouldn't miss the grow and I most definitely did. Great work CMJ, those buds look dynamite man. Looks like a decent haul too, Apologies for missing all the action. Aerogarden gets a A+ from the Stinky one, they're great little apparatuses. Reps incoming brother, thanks for sharing.

KiG :green_heart:cheers
 
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