First Grow! - Aerogarden Ultra With Mars Reflector 48 Using CK Dwarf Low Flyer

420, I know it's a bit wasteful but I look at a lot of things from a TVM (time value of money) standpoint. I'd rather burn a few seeds on this first go around and ensure successfull germination than do it one or two at a time and expend more time if I fail. Throw out a bigger net, you'll have a higher probability of snagging the fish! If this grow is a total failure, then I won't be able to start back up until we sell this house and buy our new (to us) one. If our timeline doesn't deviate we'll have realtors and buyers coming by in June, so time is of the essence. Gosh, I sure hope I get this right!

Aerovoir will go in tomorrow, going to tap a 1/4" hole up top and run that in with black airline. I've used black airline for everything to prevent light from entering the reservoir. I'll wrap the jug in black duct tape, as well, so algae won't have a chance! For the meantime, humidity in the room is 38% and temp is 82.
 
I don't doubt your going to be successful and I understand your point of view. I have no time limits and I have multiple plants in lots of different stages. I don't pay 60 dollars a gram around here like alot of people because my family sells. But 80 dollars a quarter every 8 or 9 days really kills the pocket book. But idk if both u and ur wife smoke. U said u only do at night.
 
60 per gram!!! My word! I pay 80 per quarter for quality goods, with delivery, but it's a good friend who goes back many many years. Usual prices here are 20 per gram, 100 to 120 for a quarter. The irony of all of this is that my guy has been dry for a month and a half, he called as soon as I finished all of my aerogarden work tonight. Of course it would happen like that. He doesn't know about my little project here, only you folks here on the forum will know of this. I check my IP when I start Tor each night and have geotags turned off on my pictures, so I should have a good bit of anonymity working on my side. I'll upload a pic of what the delivery looks like tomorrow to see how it stacks up.

Also, yes on the night smoke. It takes us about 6 weeks to go through a quarter.
 
Yeah. Just dried out here. Well it's not dry but dude got busted and no one wants to take the weight that just came out of a legal state. So no one has anything. I sampled some popcorn from my northern and I check the trichs with my scope. No where close to done. And honestly. Last stuff I bought wasn't worth it. Looked like someone grew it but never put a fan. Or idk wtf. All stem. I just bonged that northern lights popcorn. Sorry I'm a little chatty.
 
Used CK's germination method on the other 2 seeds floating in the bowl (they didn't sink after 14 hours) and put them into the papertowel on a plate, folded, and then soaked with the water from the bowl. I covered that with a paper plate to block out light. Now, I guess I just wait. At least I'll have something to smoke on at night until I can see some taproot from the paper towel/plate or some sprout from the ones in the aerogarden.
With the iceprobe being mounted from the bottom, I have to figure out a more long term solution for how to support the aerogarden. I've got it rigged up in temporary fashion now, as seen in the pictures, but am heading to the hardware store to get some paver bricks so that I can use those to support from sides and center of the base stand. Will get all of the bugs ironed out this afternoon. I'm also wishing that I had drilled another hole on the opposite of where the iceprobe is installed a spigot/draig plug for easier flush. Oh well, I'll save that for Aerogarden Grow 2.0.
 
Germination Update 1; 24 hours after planting 2 x Dwarf Low Flyer seeds into the Aerogarden Sponge, it's looking like business as usual. Chiller and controller are working to control reservoir temp, keeping it at 75F and shutting off or on when a 1 degree change in temp occurs. Air temp is 83F. RH at 32%. The sponges are moist, pump settings at this stage are 1 hour on, 11 hours off. Verified the temp that the probe reads with my TDS/Temp meter and they are both identical.
No signs of life on the paper towel side of things, but according to CK that's normal. I need to give it at least another day before expecting to see much.

Mod/Upgrade update; using paver stones, I have been able to life the aero garden up about 8 inches, which gives about 4 inches of clearance underneath the heatsink and fan that are attached to the iceprobe. Better airflow should make for safer operation.
 
An image provided by my friend ;-)
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Looks much more impressive under Macro (of course) but it was so sticky I could barely break it up without everything sticking to my fingers. The smell is - um - persistent. The ziploc that it was contained in, could not contain the smell at all. It's now sitting properly in glass. When I spoke to my friend, he gave me details on the grow (handled by his friend, locally). It's a haze strain grown indoors, in a gorilla tent, using soil, under HPS lighting. He didn't have any details on the nutrient line or anything. I didn't mention anything to him about my micro-grow that's underway. The smoke was like a ungloved punch to the head from Mike Tyson, as I prefer a more Indica dominant strain. My head was swimming all the way until I went to sleep. My wife loves the Sativa though, so, you know, happy wife and all.
 
Germination Update 2: Taproot has appeared on the paper towel batch, so I'm going to get those placed into growing sponges and into the Aerogarden once the sponges get fully saturated in PH'd RO water.
On the two seeds that were placed directed into the aerogarden grow sponges, it appears that they are moving up higher in the sponge. I'm assuming that this is a sign that the taproot is already out on these and upward movement is a go! I should be able to confirm this tomorrow. Chiller and controller are working perfectly. I have it dialed in to .3 degree Celsius fluctuation of my control temp of 23.8C. Once I have sprouts and a set of leaves, I'll drop this down to 21C.
 
I'm going to go ahead and sign up for this grow. That's one cool ass aerogarden ultra.. I really dig that thing, I've got a smaller one in the kitchen doing herbs aswell, but that's a huge sucker. Probably good for weeks of vegetation I there... Awesome!
 
Thank you, please enjoy!
 
Germination Update 3: Seed casing on 2 of the babies is almost even with the surface of the grow sponge. The casing is split open and I can see the white shooting down further into the hole - so exciting! By tonight, I may have 2 little sprouts reaching up to see me. The other 2 appear to have moved up in level very slightly, hopefully they're just a little bit late to the party instead of not coming at all.

At this point would it be OK to start using a fractional dose of voodoo juice and B52?
 
Germination Update 4: Two have now broken the surface and one of those has opened up the first set of leaves. It still has about 1/2" to go before it gets above the light blocking shroud of the grow cup. The taproot on the one that's furthest along is already out of the grow sponge and about 2" of it is exposed and reaching for the reservoir. It came out of the sponge about halfway down, in my mind I thought it would tunnel all the way down instead of taking a lazy side exit. But, I guess the path of least resistance and all... The last seed that hasn't broken the surface yet is getting awfully close. I've attached two pictures of the ones that are furthest ahead at this point. I also have the Aerovoir set up and have attached a picture of that, to the right of the Aerogarden as well, to gravity feed water into the Aerogarden as the reservoir on the main system drops.

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CMJJMC2000 said:
Germination Update 3: Seed casing on 2 of the babies is almost even with the surface of the grow sponge. The casing is split open and I can see the white shooting down further into the hole - so exciting! By tonight, I may have 2 little sprouts reaching up to see me. The other 2 appear to have moved up in level very slightly, hopefully they're just a little bit late to the party instead of not coming at all.

At this point would it be OK to start using a fractional dose of voodoo juice and B52?
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I'd wait for a week before adding any significant dose. It won't harm your plant's roots if you do use them, but it won't be able to use the b52. But for voodoo, I'm not sure if it's wise of me to have done... But when I pre soaked my pots before germination I added a dose of voodoo juice. Thinking it would be beneficial, I'll only now later in my girls life.
 
I'll probably hold off on voodoo juice until roots hit water and 3rd set of leaves for the B-52. I kicked up the humidifier tonight and am hoping to be at the high 40% range tomorrow when I check. If I cant get the humidity up, I'm going to buy a tent.
 
Snidrajsed said:
I'd wait for a week before adding any significant dose. It won't harm your plant's roots if you do use them, but it won't be able to use the b52. But for voodoo, I'm not sure if it's wise of me to have done... But when I pre soaked my pots before germination I added a dose of voodoo juice. Thinking it would be beneficial, I'll only now later in my girls life.
Click to expand...

Snid beat me to it. Wait until they turn up before adding any nutrients. Typically a week or two from germ. When you do just add say maybe a quarter strength for the next week then bump it up from there. This was my process and yours may be different.

How's the temp in the res? 2-3 dwarf auto's in that small res based on the temp....I like the odds. In my opinion and trials temp was the biggest and hardest factor. Everything else you can adjust/control daily.
 
Two are now out, cotyledons spread wide and first set of leaves out. #3 is making a good effort to be above ground by tonight. Humidity has bumped up to 46% and I'm going to let it hang there for a while. I have the stock aerogarden LED's (30 true watts) about 8" above the seedlings. Is this an acceptable height or is it too low? I do have the humidity bubbles on top of all 3 right grow pods now, I don't think I'm supposed to remove those until the plant gets close to the top (3/4 of an inch to go on one and about 1 1/4" on the other that's above ground).
Renegade, Reservoir temps are set at 23.8C - 74.8F - currently because I didn't want to shock the seedlings with low temp water being run over the forming roots and stem structure. When is it OK to drop the reservoir temp down to 70F?
This chiller will have no problem taking the temp down into the 60's.
 
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