Aerogarden Amateur Bagseed Grow

Hey everyone! I've recently started an Aerogarden grow and I'm going to be keeping a detailed log of my efforts. Please feel free to send me feedback, or ask any questions!

Day 1 - Wednesday, 11/19/2008

1) Selected twenty dark, firm bag seeds and set them to soak for 24 hours in a cup of distilled water.

Day 2 - Thursday, 11/20/2008

1) Two seeds have split to reveal taproots. Removed from the rest and planted in a seed starter kit.
2) The remaining seeds are transferred to a paper towel, soaked in distilled water.
3) Added 16 oz of warm distilled water to the seed starter kit.

Day 3: - Friday, 11/21/2008

1) One seed (Seed #1) has sprouted about half an inch in the seed starter kit. The seed casing remains at the tip of the stalk. No activity from the other planted seed (Seed #2)
2) Three seeds soaked in the paper towel have revealed their taproots. They are removed from the towel and planted in the seed starter kit.
3) Remoistened the paper towel with distilled water.
4) Watered the seed starter kit with 8 oz of distilled water.

Day 4: - Saturday, 11/22/2008

1) Seed #1 has grown to a full inch, but is drooping, presumably due to overwatering. The seed casing has been shuffled off the tip of the stalk, revealing water leaves.
2) Seed #2 has sprouted to a half inch. The seed casing remains at the tip of the stalk.
3) No new activity from yesterday’s 3 planted seeds.
4) Two more seeds have revealed taproots and are transferred to the seed starter kit.
5) Purchased the Aerogarden Classic with Gourmet Herb Kit; removed the seeds from the seed pods.
6) Gently separated Seeds #1 and #2 from the soil and transplanted to Aerogarden. (Seed #1 on the right, Seed #2 on the left)






7) Added two starter nutrient tablets and filled the reservoir with distilled water.

Day 5 - Sunday, 11/23/2008

Aerogarden Day/Night Cycle: 16 hours/8 hours

1) Flushed the Aerogarden reservoir and replaced with fresh distilled water to prevent nutrient burn. Some undissolved nutrients remain at the bottom of the reservoir, but no further flushes are performed.
2) Seed #1 still drooping, but the stem has thickened and the water leaves have turned dark green and have begun forming ridges.
3) Seed #2 taking to the Aerogarden very well, growing straight up with a healthy stem. Color in the leaves is robust, dark green.
4) Three seeds from the seed starter kit have sprouted; one is ~1 inch, the others are less than .5 inches. They are transplanted to the Aerogarden.



5) The remaining two seeds in the seed starter kit have not sprouted, but they are transferred to the Aerogarden.
6) Purchased a 100W Daylight CFL to supplement the Aerogarden’s light source.

Day 6 - Monday, 11/24/2008

Aerogarden Day/Night Cycle: 16 hours/8 hours






1) Purchased an airstone and pump and set them to run in the Aerogarden reservoir.
2) Purchased a pH kit, and tested the water.
3) Seed #1 still remains deformed, but appears to be straightening up in response to the light. About 2 inches unstretched.
4) Seed #2 growing perfectly straight, very healthy. 2 inches tall.
5) Seed #3 growing straight, has revealed water leaves. 1 inch tall.
4) Seed #4 growing straight, has revealed water leaves. 1 inch tall.
5) Seed #5 growing straight, has revealed water leaves. 1 inch tall.
6) Seed #6 has sprouted, .5 inches tall.
7) No Activity from Seed #7.

so far so good, i'll be posted

Probably should get those lights as low as possible to prevent streching which looks like is already starting to happen....and also 18/6 is minimum recomended lighting for growing..you could actually do better at 24/0 IMHO.....so far so good looks like!

hey bro id recommend u start them at 12/12 as soon as u see them start to branch. if they grow to tall the lamp will burn ur precious buds. and if they veg to long ur roots WILL get tangled easy. mine grew to tall for the lamp and i had to pull it early. good luck tho ill be watchin

Pull out the Ag Hood, unscrew the one scew holding it together, and snap the arm off, so you can hang it lower to the plants

[quote="SICC";1670826]Pull out the Ag Hood, unscrew the one scew holding it together, and snap the arm off, so you can hang it lower to the plants[/quote]

Hmmm...I don't have a really easy way of hanging the hood right now, is there anything else I can do to prevent the stretching? Like putting more CFLs around the base?

umm I'm not sure

I have a CFL on a twist head lamp craning 1 inch over the leaves. Do you think this might do the trick?

should work, but they should be fine

Day 7 - Tuesday, 11/25/2008

Aerogarden Day/Light Schedule: 24/0

1) Added 4 CFLs on splitters to cover the entire canopy. (1 100W Daylight @ 5500K, 2 60W Daylights @ 5500k, 1 150W Soft White @ 2700k)
2) Moved setup to the closet, surrounded the area with mylar wrapping paper.

Fa sho I'll be posted

dacheefmiester said:

hey bro id recommend u start them at 12/12 as soon as u see them start to branch. if they grow to tall the lamp will burn ur precious buds. and if they veg to long ur roots WILL get tangled easy. mine grew to tall for the lamp and i had to pull it early. good luck tho ill be watchin

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice meister!! When can I expect them to start branching? Would you recommend going to a 24/0 schedule at these early stages?

i have always kept them in 24/o but im not sure if makes much of a difference. it all depends on the lights good idea with the cfls, the closer to the top of the plant the shorter and fatter. also im not even sure u want them to branch its be better to grow them straight up with one main cola. the ag is so small the the lower branches wont get enough light and not produce as much as if you let it grow up and finish tem with some flower hardener at the end. havent tried this yet want to tho.

Day 8 - Wednesday, 11/26/2008

Aerogarden Day/Light Schedule: 24/0

1) Added a 100W Soft White CFL @ 2700k, totaling 5 CFLs.

Lookin good, that twisted one looks like she is started to stand on her own feet

I heard that you shouldn't grow with all 7 chambers because of rooting problems with Aerogardens. That shouldn't matter for a while, but thought I'd give you the heads up.

[quote="SICC";1677496]Lookin good, that twisted one looks like she is started to stand on her own feet [/quote]

Yeah man!!! She's (keeping my fingers crossed it's a "she") looking really healthy and has straightened up quite a bit!! I'll take a picture from a different angle soon to illustrate. I've got a few questions so far:

1) One plant is developing purple veins on the leaves, they look healthy, but no other plants exhibit this feature. Do you know what it might mean?

2) The pump line for my airstone leaves the reservoir lid cracked open slightly; is this a mold/algae risk, or is a negligible amount of light getting in?

3) Should I leave the CFLs on 24 hours a day, or give the plants a break and just run things solely off of the Aerogarden lighting for a few hours?

4) I'm thinking of starting a second grow with an Aerogarden already! I ordered some feminized White Widow seeds the other day; do feminized seeds pose any challenges that I should know about? Should I only use one feminized seed for the whole Aerogarden?