AeroGarden AutoFlower Experiment

I recently completed my first soil grow. I forked out shed loads of money on equipment, I had literally every problem under the sun (thrips, mites, nutrient lockout, fungus) but managed to get a decent yield because I planted 13 plants. Even the ones that didn't do well (at all) are a nice smoke. So onto my next adventure. I already had an Aerogarden, and for those that don't know what it is: "AeroGardens are foolproof, dirt-free, indoor gardens - so easy to use that anyone can grow lush beautiful gardens, all year round. With an AeroGarden, you can grow almost anything, anytime, anywhere, with no dirt, no weeds, and no gardening experience needed. AeroGardens make gardening simple. They tell you when it's time to add nutrients, and even turns grow lights on and off to simulate the sun. Aerogardens ensure fast, healthy plant growth by ensuring perfect amounts of light, water and nutrients, with no dirt, no weeds and no mess. Despite what its name implies, the AeroGarden is not an aeroponics system. It's actually more like a top-feed drip system because it trickles the nutrient solution (water and fertiliser) onto the grow sponge to feed and hydrate the plant's roots, the roots of which are growing into the tank of water like a DWC system." Now, the AeroGarden lights are only 60W. I have about 600W extra if I wanted to add extra power, but I have years worth of herb from my last grow, as I'm growing just for myself, for medical purposes. So, even just a few grams would be great, and I'd like to see how much I can get from the AeroGarden without any extra's added. The tank is also only 4 litres, so growing one, or two (max) is possible. I have also added a pretty powerful air pump and air stone to the mix. I'm actually on day 15 now. I've had no problems whatsoever (yet). I change the water once a week, and once a week add new nutrients according to the schedule above. And before anyone mentions it, yes the AeroGarden is an overpriced gimmick. But it's one I already had, so thought I'd give it a go rather than fork out some money for a bigger/better hydroponics system/oxypot/bubbler etc. I'm just intrigued to see what kind of yield I can get from it. I should also add that it is being kept in a room that is almost constantly about 20 - 21 degrees.

Now it is week four, and I am amazed at how quickly the two plants have grown. Each week I have been changing the water, and adding new nutrients. When doing so today, I noticed just how thicker the roots had become. There are now two considerably large root balls, with a noticeable weight. Each time I change the water every week, the roots have been growing together and become entwined. I have been carefully separating the two roots each time. Due to the rapid growth I have experienced, I have started LST'ing the plants to ensure they don't grow higher than the maximum light height for the Aerogarden (34"). I did this by sticking some 'cable clips' to the top of the garden with removable picture hanging strips, and tying the stems down with plant wire as best I could. I plan to do this for another 3-4 inches if possible, and then will start scrogging the plants, using the Aerogardens' trellis attachment.

Not too much to report this week, except phenomenally fast growth and a root ball taking up most of the grow bowl. I am keeping the 45W LED lights as close to the canopy as possible, currently about 2-3cm. There's virtually no heat given off, and after measuring the heat of the closest leaf to the light was 22 degrees, I plan to keep the plants as close as possible. I also measured the LUX at that distance from the light, which measured between 45-60,000, which seems more than adequate. I'm not sure why some people don't like the idea of growing with this, so far it has proven effortless for me. One thing I have been doing which is not generally recommended with auto-flowers is trimming. I have done this a couple of times a week, a total of 2-3 leaves each time. I have found this very useful in keeping the plants manageable, and it hasn't seemed to have a noticeable effect on their growth, and has allowed more light to reach lower areas of the stem. I have been LSTing the plants every day to keep their height down. So far I have been very successful with doing this. I am a month in, and the LED light is still at its lowest height setting, so I am more than confident that I will be able to keep the grow within the boundaries of the maximum LED height of 24". As with every other week, I drained all the water and put fresh water (mineral water this time) along with fresh nutrients (PH 6.0). I haven't had any problems adding the CalMag with the mineral water (yet), so fingers crossed it remains that way.

Two days late with this entry, so this post is referring to 20/11/19. The UK Cheesy Express has started the initial phases of flowering, and the Jack Horror Auto's have suddenly had a growth spurt. I am now changing the water every day, and the entire tank is full of thick, (and quite heavy in comparison to the plant) roots. I am doing my best to LST the plant still, though only so much can be done. Next I will probably start to SCROG it - at least the one that hasn't started flowering! Dropped the nutrients a bit this week. I raised the light a bit for the first time. The plants are looking very happy with just 45W of power. As mentioned earlier, however, the LUX is close to 40,000 when an inch from the canopy.

Two days late again with this entry. Plants are growing nicely, the Jack Horror is still in the vegetation stage but that's normal for the hybrid. The main problems I have come across now include ensuring there is enough water in the tank (and enough oxygen in the water), and keeping the plants as low as possible. As you can see in the picture below, the root balls have grown substantially, and therefore disposition much of the water. I can't see anything immediately wrong with this, as long as the roots don't dry out, however it means topping up every day. I do have an automatic top up device, but won't be using it this time. To aid in oxygen content in the densely packed (with roots) reservoir, along with the 4 inch air stone, I have started adding 2ml of Silver Bullet Roots (with hydrogen peroxide). Next week I will start SCROGing the plant if possible instead of LSTing it, as it is becoming very difficult to LST it at this stage. Unfortunately, due to the small canopy / light area, and the fact I am growing two auto plants, barely any light gets through underneath the canopy. Therefore, I have been trimming a substantial amount of large fan leaves each week (around 20 each time) in order to keep light penetrating the canopy, hopefully maximising the eventual yield. I have been doing this for the last 4 weeks now, and the autos have been fine with it. Their growth probably slowed a bit each time I have trimmed them, but they seem to spring back very quickly. Also, additional growth isn't something that I need or want due to the limited height the LED can be raised to. So overall, things are going great, and I am very pleased with how easy this grow is going compared to my last, expensive, and problem saturated soil / tent grow. Obviously the yields won't be as high, but this is more an experiment. I don't need high yields as I grow for myself for medical reasons, and I can't wait to see how much I can get with this compact - tidy set up!

I used picture hanging command strips (1.5kg variety) and soft plant ties to LST the plants as much as possible, something vital considering the limited height of the AeroGardens LED light (24"). However, now both plants are well into flowering, they seem to be pulled away from the command hooks, and pulling them off the base they were connected too. If I do this experiment again, I will use a stronger variety. Also, both plants seem to be stopping their vertical growth finally. This is great, but I still have about 60% more height available from the LED light hood. If I decide to embark on this little adventure again, I'll probably stop LSTing the plants earlier, to allow greater vertical growth and reduce stress, especially important if growing autos. Unfortunately I also noticed a tiny amount of nutrient burn as you can see in the picture below. I think in the future I will reduce the nutrient doses very slightly, but not too much as all strains respond differently.

I've started having a few issues with water quantity now. The roots have completely filled up the 4 litre reservoir, making the available volume available for water to be minimal. On average I have been adding PH'd water every day. This is not too much of a hassle though and takes less than 5 minutes. As well as this, I had to defoliate the plants, removing about 40 leaves in total. The leaves were too bushy, and very very little light was penetrating the canopy and reaching the developing lower buds. I imagine this is something that will need to be done every week now, whilst being cautious to not overdo it and create too much stress for the plant. I decided to divert from the nutrient schedule slightly and repeat week 8, as the larger of my two plants was about two weeks behind the other - another reason why growing just one plant if using an Aerogarden is preferable.

This week I had to cover the garden as we had some people round. Unfortunately, it then overheated, burning a large proportion of the canopy as you can see in the photo below. I trimmed the burnt bits off, and changed the water and nutrients, adding 2ml of SuperThrive to the water to help the plant deal with the stress. I used tap water again this week, but plan to move to distilled water as from next week. I've also started adding slightly more water the reservoir than recommended, as the roots are now taking up almost all of the space in the tank. After doing this, the garden went from requesting a water top up everyday, to every other day, and there has been no noticeable change in the plants growth. Fingers crossed for a full recovery from the ladies burn injury!

The plants have made a great recovery from last weeks accident. The canopy has started flowering new buds in place of the previous burnt ones, and seems to be growing fast again towards the light. It is a challenge finding the right height to keep the LED light from the canopy, to ensure spread (so that all buds receive optimal light) but also intensity. However, considering the UK Cheesy Express is flowering so well from quite a distance from the light, I don't consider this to be a major issue. This week, when changing the nutrients, I also started to use distilled water. I hope this will aid in the growth and flowering of the plants. In the past I had an issue using distilled water, which now seems laughable. I found it hard to get a good PH reading of the water, due to the lack of ions within distilled water itself. However, I was measuring this before putting in any nutrients. Obviously, I only need to measure this after adding nutrients, to then subsequently make the necessary adjustments. From now on, and in the future when growing hydroponically, I will continue to just use distilled water. I'm hoping I can harvest the UK Cheesy Express very soon, and plan on looking at the plant under a USB microscope within the next few days to check on the colour of the trichomes. If I can see a few amber trichomes amongst mostly milky ones, I will harvest the plant. I will harvest it in stages though, taking the top half first, and then waiting for the lower portion to mature. The Jack Horror has another 3-4 weeks to go still.