LazLows Aeroponics 101

Hello, again, everyone. It’s been over a month now since I began trying to grow with aeroponics and in that time I have started and lost 3 crops of seedlings. I believe after all that trial and error I finally have it figured out and would love to use this diary to share with you a general how-to. Firstly, my light is a Sun system 315W LEC, the site doesn’t have an option for LEC lighting yet but I used this system the majority of my last grow and it holds a special place in my heart. I have added in some side lighting by way of a 450W Relassy LED that I chose because its super compact profile saves valuable space in my tent. The aeroponics system itself is a Platinium AeroStar-60. This system is considered low pressure aeroponics. It’s modular and can be converted to ebb and flow or micro-irrigation; so that’s cool. It’s a bitch to sterilize and you’ll probably never feel like you got it clean enough. I spent hours on it with peroxide and soaking each container in my tub and etc etc. It can get pretty gunky at parts where nutrients might settle or not drain completely. So what am I doing different this time than the others? First off, I hardened my seedlings longer. They started in a heat mat and humidity dome until they got too lanky for that, from there I rigged up a small homemade DWC system for them to give them about another week of establishing themselves. Second, and what I hadn’t done on the first two attempts, you need to use a timer for your sprayers on-off cycle. Your root zone can’t be getting sprayed 24/7. I picked up a cheap on/off interval timer and have it set for 5 seconds every 60 minutes. That’s it. I could probably set the off cycle even longer but this timer only allows for 60 minutes. Third and what I will call MOST important, and what no other aeroponic tutorials mentioned to me. That reservoir needs oxygen. Use air stones, you absolutely have to. I am 98.9789893 percent sure that lack of oxygen in my reservoir was the culprit behind third attempts heart breaking root-rot. Finally, I kept reading in forums about people saying how adding in a product called Flying Skull Z7 completely solved root rot issues for them. So I picked some up, the entire 8 gallons res. Requires a super small amount, it’s sold in a 2 part pack. I don’t know if it’s making a difference or if these plants are thriving because the billion other changes I’ve made; but it can’t hurt.

One thing that seems to hold true with aeroponics systems is the initial growth seems slower than other hydro systems. Takes time for the roots to establish, after that adjustment period the growth increase very quickly. That is what we are seeing this week, they are absolutely taking off. Just topped them and believe it or not did some defoliation lol. Reservoir change is scheduled for tomorrow, they’re absorbing about half the reservoirs worth of water every five days at this point. Happy girls

Wowza. They’re coming along. Did a lot of defoliation this week. Blue dreamatic started flowering about 2 days ago. They’re going through about half a reservoir every 4 days at this point.

Long time no update! The girls are very high maintenance. They require about an hour of defoliation a week to keep the canopy open. Beginning to regret not taking them time to train and SCROG. The diesel auto is just now showing signs of flowering so it is significantly behind the Blue Dreamatic and the Critical Jack which will probably be ready to harvest within a month. The massive bush behind the Diesel was supposed to be yet another Diesel. It started off terrible unhealthy and was stunted well behind the rest of the crop and now it seems to be the healthiest, monsterous plant of the bunch. Certainly not convinced it is a sister to the Diesel, certain difference between phenotypes I understand but this is a night and day difference.

Pretty much an automated system at this point. Summer temps are climbing a bit. Humidity is staying high in the tent finally. Critical Jack doesn’t look like she will yield much which is ashame because she’s produced the most beautiful buds I’ve ever seen and I want more of them! Blue Dreamatic just keeps getting denser and denser with no sign of it being close to done yet. Very anxious to see what it produces. Both the “auto diesels” kicked into flowering finally. Front row diesel is stretchy with the narrowest sativa style leaves I’ve ever seen. Lots of bud sites so she should produce plenty. Back row diesel looks like an entirely different plant, was the last to flower, and is probably the one plant at the moment I’m most eager to watch mature.