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

[420forsure]

I honestly think you might out do the guy from YouTube. Always heard hydro has bigger plants.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

I honestly think you might out do the guy from YouTube. Always heard hydro has bigger plants.

That would be wild. I hope they don't get more than 2 feet or I'll have to shift to the other side of the closet for more clearance. There's a shelf currently about 3 feet above the top of the aerogarden and the lights are suspended 6" below that. So, LED's are a bit more than 2 feet away and still no real stretching going on. I've been eyeballing a 24 x 48 x 60 grow tent for the last few days, from Apollo Horticulture. I do plan on buying it soon, along with a 4" fan and filter combo. The more I think about it, the think that freaks me out the most about growing in my house is the smell. I can think of nothing more horrifying than coming home to be able to smell these girls from outside of the house. I think I'd be compelled to blend and flush them out of paranoia that a neighbor caught a whiff!

 

[Succit]

My dwarfs will be here next week! Imma put um in dirt

 

[420forsure]

Iv only ever used dirt. And to be honest. The only real big difference going with a tent and filter is the fan noise. I can heard it. But people who come over never seem to hear it at all.

 

[Heraldo]

The more I think about it, the think that freaks me out the most about growing in my house is the smell. I can think of nothing more horrifying than coming home to be able to smell these girls from outside of the house. I think I'd be compelled to blend and flush them out of paranoia that a neighbor caught a whiff!

Don't be too much of a cheapskate about hiding the smell. One time I bought a little tub of "odor neutralizer" and it just filled my house with this "this guy is obviously trying to hide something" smell (and apparently it ruins the plants taste and smell). Needless to say it didn't last 24h before it was thrown out.

Anyway, I'm loving watching these babies grow.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Don't be too much of a cheapskate about hiding the smell. One time I bought a little tub of "odor neutralizer" and it just filled my house with this "this guy is obviously trying to hide something" smell (and apparently it ruins the plants taste and smell). Needless to say it didn't last 24h before it was thrown out.

Anyway, I'm loving watching these babies grow.

My thoughts exactly. I have a very expensive air purifier (Winix U450) that can keep a room clear, but the more I think about it a tent + internal fan and filter are a much more directed form of air scrubbing. It's scrubbing at the source of the smell instead of trying to neutralize a large area around the source. I'll be ordering the tent and fan/filter at the end of this week.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 12: 12 days from seed and 9.5 days above ground. Morning temp was 73F with humidity at 58%. Night temp was 77F at 53% humidity. PH this morning was 5.7 but PH tonight was 6.1. Under the funky colors of the LED I saw what, to me, looked like white spots on 2 leave from plant #1 and 1 leaf from plant #2. I switched the main LED off and turned the closet light on. It appears to be the beginning of nute burn to me, but I'd like an opinion from y'all. Please see below....

Plant #1

Plant #1 left leaf tip - nute burn?

So, just in case it is nute burn (as opposed to nute deficiency?) I went ahead and siphoned out the reservoir and replaced with 5.7PH water with a half dose of calimagic and NO base nutes (sensi grow A + B). The PPM of the old was about 250 and the PPM of this is about 150. Any ideas are greatly appreciated! I hope I'm not overthinking this.

Anyhow, the plants are continuing to grow quickly. With the exception of those small spots, everything else seems to be going very well. Root zone growth is vigorous. The stems are also thickening up and there are small tendrils coming out where the main branches meet the stem - see pic.........

Plant #1 above ground and below

Plant #2 above ground and below

And for scale.......

Thank you, in advance, for any advice that can be rendered about the small spots on the leaves.

 

[arteekay]

I know absolutely nothing about much, and little more about Cannabis growing and your grow system, but I'd place bets on deficiencies rather than toxicity.

Don't take this as advice, wait for someone with more experience to advise, please.

 

[Ferboldt]

I love to follow your grow. Nice pictures, babies and setup

 

[CMJJMC2000]

I know absolutely nothing about much, and little more about Cannabis growing and your grow system, but I'd place bets on deficiencies rather than toxicity.

Don't take this as advice, wait for someone with more experience to advise, please.

I believe you are right. The spotting got worse on plant #1 today, but it is still growing. #2 is unaffected, it appears, maybe because it's younger and doesn't demand the extra nutes yet. After looking further on the forums, and a few other sites, it looks like phosphorous deficiency (purple stem, yellow/brown spots on leaves). I've added a 2ml/L dose of sensi grow a + b, which brought ppm up to 550. PH imbalance looks like it causes light green or yellow blotches - and it can't be that because my ph is always in a tight range. I just set the meter using calibration fluids from GH on saturday, I'll do it again tonight just to be sure! Thanks for the inpute guys.


Ferboldt, thank you for the compliment. Please, enjoy!

I'll have full daily update tonight.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Nute Deficiency???????????????

Plant #1 - yellow spots/blotches under regular lighting, they look like grey/brown spots under the veg lights of the MarsHydro. You can see the spots/blotches on the right leaf and on the very rip of the left leaf. Newer leaves at the top seem unaffected at this time.

Plant #2 - same as #1 but minimally apparent. I took a picture with no flash so you can see it without any additional lighting morphing colors.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 13: 13 days from seed and 10.5 days above ground. Morning temp was 73 with humidity at 48% and night temp was 78F with 46% humidity. I'm going to get the directional fan going tonight on the lowest setting, to get closet air circulating more. Morning PH was 6.1 with PPM about 135. Initial night PH was 6.1 with similar PPM. The biggest issue right now is diagnosing this spotting that's taking place on the leaves. I'm inclined to agree with RTK that they may be hungry for nutes. I added in 8ml of Sensi grow A and 8ml of Sensi grow B. This brought PPM up to about 550. The bottle says to stay at 2ml/L until the plant gets more than 4 sets of leaves. So, I'm at full strength for the plants size. I wish I had a way to get a breakdown of PPM per trace element in there to make sure everything is balanced properly. Anyhow, I guess this is part of the game. Right when things seem to be going flawlessly, throw a stick into the spokes. I've had them under the LED's (about 20-24 inches from the tops of the plants) for 5 full days now, so it shouldn't be light/heat burn. The temp on the surface of the Aerogarden deck is 77 right now, which isn't hot at all. I bumped the nutes up about 3 hours ago, so hopefully I'll see some improvement in the morning. If not, then I really am at a loss for what to do.

Now, for some pics!

Plants #1 above ground and below

Plant #2 above ground and below

And for scale.....

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Well, big problems on plant #1 and it looks like plant #2 is starting to show similar signs but not nearly as bad. The "bad" leaf on plant #1 looks much worse this afternoon than it did this morning. The leaf across from it, which had the tip turning yellow, also looks bad. Those two leaves, on the very bottom node, are starting to curl down. I think that it was an issue of too much nutes instead of not enough. I emptied the reservoir again - recalibrated PH pen - and then refilled with 5.6PH water with 65ppm. I'm hoping I'm not too late in taking corrective action. The top leaves are still looking OK, but I know that problems tend to start at the bottom. I'm going to run this low PPM load for 24 hours in hopes that it will reverse some of the damage. How disappointing :-(


Pics of Plant #1 , both bottom leaves are feeling the burn

I've scoured the web and have come across a few hydroponic nute schedules that are PPM based - which is what I need for this small reservoir - and one states that I shouldn't be beyond 100-150ppm at this stage. I'm thinking they're right. Anyhow, hope this won't mean the end for plant #1.

 

[Renegade69]

CM, first don't panic and don't make any drastic changes. And DON'T make too many changes at once. You'll only drive yourself batty...if you haven't already done so...LOL.

Your watching your gurls very closely and seem to be on top of things. At this point the only thing you can do is check your math...so to speak.

1. Distance of LED from the plant. Raise it some more.
2. Nutrients, cut back to almost nothing till you see signs of improvement. Which by the way still looks good. The best sign is new growth. As long as you have new growth she is doing ok. And those roots look very good.

I almost question the introduction of the CALI/MAG at such an early stage. It's ideal for LED type grows but maybe it's just to early. I've attached a pic for you to use.

Hope this helps and keep up the fight....but breath...LOL.

 

[Renegade69]

 

[CMJJMC2000]

CM, first don't panic and don't make any drastic changes. And DON'T make too many changes at once. You'll only drive yourself batty...if you haven't already done so...LOL.

Your watching your gurls very closely and seem to be on top of things. At this point the only thing you can do is check your math...so to speak.

1. Distance of LED from the plant. Raise it some more.
2. Nutrients, cut back to almost nothing till you see signs of improvement. Which by the way still looks good. The best sign is new growth. As long as you have new growth she is doing ok. And those roots look very good.

I almost question the introduction of the CALI/MAG at such an early stage. It's ideal for LED type grows but maybe it's just to early. I've attached a pic for you to use.

Hope this helps and keep up the fight....but breath...LOL.

Thank you for the input, Renegade. You could be right about the cal-mag. I added it in because I'm using RO water and thought it was essential to have since my baseline water has almost zero trace elements in it (it measures 7ppm). In this hobby, you truly do learn something new every day. I'm trying to remain calm and let the "flush" do its thing. I may have to start doing PH adjustments 3 x daily to keep the range super tight.

 

[420forsure]

I kinda wondered if your ppm were to high. But I know little to nothing about hydro. Just the soil I use. But renegade is right. There is no reason to panic all to much yet. I see what appears to be new growth. I honestly don't see you losing a plant. But I also know how easy it is to panic.

 

[CMJJMC2000]

Day 14 Update: 14 days from seed and 11.5 days above ground. Morning temp was 73F and 55% humidity. Night temp is 77F and 49% humidity. The PH this morning was 6.2, so I added in some diluted AN PH down to bring it to 5.8 - should have been more patient and gotten it to 5.5. When I got home the PH was at 6.1. The mystery lower leaf condition looked a bit worse this morning and much worse when I got home from work. As stated in my earlier post, I quickly turned the pumps off and drained the reservoir. I recalibrated my PH pen - it was off on the high side by about .3 in the 7.0 and .1 in the 4.0, which is a lot. With only a .3 margin between 5.5 and 5.8 that could have been a source of my leaf problem, but no way to know. My PPM's were also ridiculously high - by my own doing - at around 600. Thinking back to boosting PPM up that much, very foolish to double. The top leaves are getting fuller on plant #1 and plant #2 and starting to grow out. There are also lots of green shoots coming from the joint where the branches meet the stem. I'm guessing these are bud sites, right? The roots are still looking good, I may add in a small dose of voodoo juice, as that doesn't seem to affect PPM or PH. With 2 flushes in 2 days, may be good to repopulate the beneficial bacteria in the reservoir. The plants have been drinking a lot of water. My 1 gallon aerovoir top off jug is more than halfway empty since refilling it on Sunday. After looking over things with my wife and looking at pics from last night vs. tonight I feel optimistic that there is still lots of new growth. I did move the lights up the highest position I can, which put about another 3 inches of distance between the plants and the LED. It's now about 24" above the top of the plants. Final adjustment of the night was PH'ing back to to 5.5 - it had drifted up to 5.7.


Plant #1 above ground and below

Plant #2 above ground and below

Pictures of the sick leaves

And some pics for scale that show some great new growth. Plants are both about a 1/2" taller and 1" larger radius than yesterday.

Thank you for the help, any and all ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[420forsure]

The green shoots tend to make up side branches. So you will have you top cola then what branching you have will turn into your other colas. But if not much branching.. thoughs could all just make up a gaint main cola I guess. It will be interesting to see!

 

[arteekay]

Thank you for the help, any and all ideas are greatly appreciated.

Sorry if I led you at all astray CM, hopefully I did say not to take my opinion with anything approaching value.