A Comprehensive Review of the Aerogarden

pohtyay
yes, the PH needs to be watched closely. It's kind of like putting 7 kids in a very small room. Things get dirtier, than if they were in a huge house, if youy know what mean. Go to your local petstore and get some PH up and PH down in the fish tank section.
Topping will do fine, as long as you can get adequate light. Use the Aerogarden light as a side-light. That's what I did.
From start to finish was exactly 12 weeks, but thaqt has everything to do woth the strain you are growing, not the AG.

Charles,
Your growing space is too small brother. Also, I'm going to go on a limb here and guess that you are using the black Aerogarden. Eh? The white one keeps the temp down better. I would guess (I could be wrong) that if you are using the black one that if you somehow whitened the surface if your AG that would bring the temp down a bit. Just a hypothesis though!

Intricate.. i have ph up and down.. but never thought to check the res after I have balanced it initially.

so you really got 450g's out of 3 plants?

charlesiii said:

I'm actually just starting out with the aerogarden and thus far I have had some success. I started with 7 seedlings and two of them died. Now I have 4 somewhat healthy plants and one on the verge of death. I'm growing in a small cabinet at my father's house which is about two feet tall by three feet deep. The aerogarden fits well but I'm definitely having problems with temperature. during the day when I'm not home the temperature reaches about 90 degrees Fahrenheit and when I'm home is down to about 78 - 80. I tried using some nutrients but my plants showed some sign of nute burn so i quickly changed back to filtered water. Right now I have three plants that are doing well, not compared to anybody elses grow but well for my standards. the all have their first set of fan leaves and are growing their second. they are about an inch tall..... kinda sucks. Anybody know what I could be doing wrong? I've got an airstone and I try to keep the ph at 5.2 - 6.5 but it sometimes spikes. could it be stress that is stunting my growth? thanks! also koolcat I appreciate your posts about the aerogarden, it seems as if the for fathers have all but left. peace

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I am concerned about the temps. Do you have a fan blowing directly on your aerogarden? This will help with your temperature problems - the Pro100 runs hotter than the standard. If your temps are going to keep running high, suggest you get hydroguard and keep an eye on your plants for signs of root rot - ugly, ugly. Change the water weekly! Plus, read Roseman's posts regarding proper root health.

MrIntricate said:

Charles,
Your growing space is too small brother. Also, I'm going to go on a limb here and guess that you are using the black Aerogarden. Eh? The white one keeps the temp down better. I would guess (I could be wrong) that if you are using the black one that if you somehow whitened the surface if your AG that would bring the temp down a bit. Just a hypothesis though!

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So true about the black gardens and Pro100s! Quick cheap fix - cover the deck with aluminium foil or mylar, cut small "x" and punch your seed pods through. The shiny surface will be good for your plants and bounce light up under the leaves.

Thanks to all of you who helped.
I'm going to water dry half & air dry the rest. Pics of my one plant. I had 2 males that had to be removed.
AK 47 Seeds & Fox farm nutes.
I'll advise in 8 days on the smoke.
Comments appreciated.

Peace, O2

Very nice o2tangoagn! I just upgraded my chamber to a 3' bu 3' sterilite cabinet. The cabinet is plastic, just like rubbermaid stuff. One question, I'm running two 42 watt cfl's along with the two stock aerogarden lights, is this going to be a fire hazard? I also bought a small fan to keep the air moving and a fire alarm to save my house lol. As of right now there is not much ventilation other than the space between the door and a small slit for all of the chords, any suggestions? Thanks!

I would say cut it open....
You need proper ventilation, it is one thing that is stressed in all grow guides.
And trust me... I have read TONNES!
sigh sigh...

today I used the FIM technique on one of my plant's, and hoping A)that I don't kill it B)I did it right, and
C)I prrraaaaay she is a fem, cause if not I been kissin these guys' asses long enough to take back everything
heterosexual I have ever done! lol sigh sigh

day 25 here.. couple more heavy days of veg... 3 clones... then off we travel to the "fall" where the most skunky
flowers are in bloooom.

I'd be afraid to speculate on the heat factor. I had extra lights but none were of a variety that got real hot.
Ventilation is good--I would think the fan would solve your problems there.

Peace, O2

do you think that water soluble nutes such as miracle grow plant food would work in the aerogarden instead on paying so much for foxfarm?

I cut some long slits on the top of the container and I have a small turbine fan pointed directly at my plants. The temperature seems to be in the 90's and I'm getting kind of frustrated with the whole delemma. The Aerogarden lights run HOT, let me tell you. I'm using a digital thermometer and it usually gives me the temp + or - 5 degrees or so f. I lined the aerogarden itself with foil to help keep the res cold but not sure how well it's working. I'm going to buy a fan and a filter to pull air out of my cabinet so hopefully that will help things cool down a little bit. Aren't I supposed to aim for a temp at or about 80 degrees f? Oh and cerveza420 I was using schultz water soluble nutes in my aerogarden and it worked fine, I just had to susepend my usage until I can get this temperature problem under control as to keep my little guys as healthy as possible. Oh by the way my plants look healthy with the ecception of the tips of the leaves with are yellowing then turning brown all while turning upwards, I'm almost possitive it's heat stress due to my outrageous temp and the fact that it matches pictures. I also heard heat isnt as big of a problem once the plants roots reach into the res to bring in more H20 and o2.

is the hood all the way up....from what i ve read it looks like you have to take you hood off or rig it to go higher

The hood is on the last notch, the plants are 12 days old and only about an inch tall. All of them are getting their second set of fan leaves with the first set doing well with the exception of about a centimeter on each tip. It's just bagseed from the past year.

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/1614-aerogarden.html

Heres a good thread that i found... it has alot of different ideas for lighting.

Man I appreciate the help immensly but to be honest I've exhausted all of the aerogarden resources on this site!! People rarely talk about their grow rooms or their troubles with heat when using the AG. I've prob. read Tek's "The Aerogarden!!!" like five times forward and back, and if I missed the part about heat problems then I smoke too much lol. But thanks alot man!

The thing about the aero, and its lighting... is that there should be no heat problems. You can keep the lights right above your plants.. like less than an inch. The cfl's barely give off any heat so IF you have proper ventilation in your cabinent... you shouldn't have any troubles

You can follow a growing season through my posts. It includes the typical newbee stupid questions that you won't have to ask if you do a little reading. Heat should not be a problem. A guy out ther called TEK had an awesome AG thread for a while & disappeared. Go to search & you can get a lot of AG info out there. It is a great little unit with fox nutes if your needs are personal.
Peace, O2

Your reviews / posts on the aerogarden are great!

As a newbie, I would love to find a comprehensive "guide" to specifically using the Aerogarden for this...I've searched the forum and couldn't find anything...can anyone direct me to something like this?

Thanks!

MrIntricate said:

I am now on my third grow with this thing. My last grow yielded about 450 grams. It's a wonderful little machine, and I must admit, I've grown quite attached to it.

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450 Grams sure you did buddy

reeffermadness said:

you got 450 grams off a aerogarden? Or did you transplant them/use another light?

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hey thats a good question

MrIntricate said:

Used a 400 Watt MH/HPS conversion on 3 plants in the Aerogarden. No transplant.

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ok so you yeilded more than 1 gram per watt of light used?? in an aerogarden?? sure you did buddy

then after all that.....

reeffermadness said:

wow.....impressive...making me consider to give one of these units a try. So did you disconnect the top like everyone else did to move the 400w light above? Any pics you could post on your setup in action? Thanks

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