Interested in aeroponics....

Doobieus

Well-Known Member
Hey guys and gals I have been interested in aeroponics for awhile. I have looked in the FAQ and still haven't found some of the info I need. I'm thinking of building one o the DIY setups found on this forum, there was plenty of info for that lol.

Anyhow here's my questions.

1. I know that there is a certain time you spray the root system for, what is the best timing? And is it per hour, per 2 hours etc. etc.

2. From my understanding, aeroponics and soil are totally different nutes and Ph, but is that the only difference?

3. What are some good nutrients for aero?

4. What are the most important things I need to know to do a successful aeroponics grow?

Any other information is much appreciated, thanks in advance.
 

Xan2

Well-Known Member
1. I know that there is a certain time you spray the root system for, what is the best timing? And is it per hour, per 2 hours etc. etc.

No in a aeroponic system you should run your pump 24/7.

2. From my understanding, aeroponics and soil are totally different nutes and Ph, but is that the only difference?

From what i know in hydroponic you want the ph to be between 5.5 and 6.1 and in soil from 6.0 to 7.0. I use Advanced Nutrients 2 part Sensi and set my ph to 5.6 to 5.7 in my water reservoir. I used to use G.E.T. the cheapest way i found but not worth it in my opinion... Go with advanced nutrients 2 part sensi and few aditives and your plants will thrive!!! it's about 50$ for Part A&B Grow & 50$ for bloom...

3. What are some good nutrients for aero?

Advanced Nutrients
Canna
General Hydroponics
B'Cuzz
much more...


4. What are the most important things I need to know to do a successful aeroponics grow?

Keep the temperature under 82F if you can, Get HPS light for flowering, Light as close as possible without burning the plant, Get a PPM meter!!!!
Keep an eye daily on the ph and nutes level, and get some advanced nutrients lol
:bigjoint:
 

Demosthenese

Well-Known Member
1. 1 minute on 5 minutes off is the best timer setting. A timer that can manage that will cost 90 bucks. I have a diy aero and i've run both 30 mins on 1hr off and 30 mins on 30 mins off using cheap HD timers and it will work just fine.

2. You need hydro nutes. Big choice is organic or synthetic. Synthetic is much easier in hydro. Any major brand will be fine, everyone uses different things. Add 1.7ml 35% hydrogen peroxide per litre of water in the res. PH should be 5.8-6.1. Res temperature can NEVER go above 75F, and should really be kept below 70F. Between 62-70F is ideal.

3. AN. GH. Stick to something you can find lots of information and grow journals on. I use GH.

4. Keep the temp in the res under 75F. ADD H202! Any slime on the roots spells doom. Swap the res water if it isn't clear. Check the Ph every day, twice a day if you can. U need a ppm meter, it's not really a choice.
 

AeroKing

Well-Known Member
1. I know that there is a certain time you spray the root system for, what is the best timing? And is it per hour, per 2 hours etc. etc.
There are reasons for using a timer:
Heat is the #1 reason people run the pump on a timer.

Theoretically aeroponics will provide enough o2 to the roots, that they should not need a "drying out" time, like as is required with soil or ebb and flow hydroponics.

However, it seems that the problem isn't the lack of o2, but the fact that when roots are soaked consistently, they tend to mat together. When the roots are fluffy and spread out, they grow many tiny little white hairs that are very effective at absorbing water, nutes and o2. When they become matted, you will see less of these fine root hairs and the plants will not grow as fast.

So, the #2 reason would be to allow the roots time to dry out, not to provide o2 in and of itself, but to allow the roots to "fluff up" again(which they will not do if being sprayed constantly).
The optimal timing is dependent on the strain. Some strains originated in wet climates and will fair better with watering more often or vice-versa.

2. From my understanding, aeroponics and soil are totally different nutes and Ph, but is that the only difference?
That and dramatically increased growth and potential for disaster.

3. What are some good nutrients for aero?
Any high quality non-organic chemical nutrients. The GH Flora 3-Part is the standard world over. Advanced Nutrients are the groundbreakers for R&D, but expensive...

4. What are the most important things I need to know to do a successful aeroponics grow?

Any other information is much appreciated, thanks in advance.
Keep your res temps low, 68'f is ideal for optimum dissolved oxygen/fastest growth. Some will say higher is ok if you use h2o2(or similar) to combat pathogens, but if you want optimum growth, you're gonna need to keep that DO up.
Insulate your reservoirs and plumbing, paint everything that's exposed white and if necessary, get an aquarium chiller - or better yet, design your system with the reservoir external to the grow area.

Flower your plants early or keep the spacing far apart. Plants grow incredibly fast once you're dialed in. They will outgrow there constraints before you even realize it's too late.

True aero systems don't have an integrated safeguard. I run an aero/nft hybrid system called an aeroflo2. They have pipes that control the water level in the tube. I leave 1/2" of water in the tubes. I recently had an accident that left the sprayer pump inactive for about 36 hours. If it weren't for that 1/2" of water, they'd all be dead.
I'm designing a new system as an aero/dwc hybrid. Using "rubbermaid" type tubs that the roots hang in, the misters will do the bulk of the work, but about 2" of solution will sit in the bottom of the tubs with an air stone. Even if the sprayers fail, the bubbling action will keep them alive for a day or so. I'd suggest you devise some sort of safeguard as well.

Keep in touch as you progress.
 

Doobieus

Well-Known Member
Thank you guys for posting so much useful information. I just started another soil grow only about a week in from seed. So I thought I'd take the time to learn this right while my current grow is going, so when this grow is done the next I can try out aeroponics without being completely in the dark.

The only thing I know about PPM is that is stands for Parts Per Million, other than that I don't really know.

So res water temps between 68-70F, AN or GH for nutrients (How about Foxfarm? Are they any good for Hydro?), H202 in the res (Every feeding or how often?), and 1 min on 5 off for spraying right?

Also check my res and grow room everyday, Ph, Temps, and PPM everyday too. I know I have a ton more to learn about this method of growing, but this is a really awesome starting point for reference. Thanks so much again guys, really helpful +rep.
 

potsmoker93

Active Member
So res water temps between 68-70F, AN or GH for nutrients (How about Foxfarm? Are they any good for Hydro?), H202 in the res (Every feeding or how often?), and 1 min on 5 off for spraying right? .
I find growing in aeroponics pretty easy to be honest, tried several methods out there and this one is probably the easiest to use, takes about 5 mins a day to manage to check ph, ec and general plant health and temps, night temps, using a hygro meter and that's it.

As for the on and off for aeroponics, mine is set on 15mins on and 15mins off, never had a problem yet, one thing with this system is root growth is emmense, sometimes they can block the spray heads from spinning resulting in possible plant death if unoticed. Other problems with pathegens, root rott if setup is unclean, everything sterilised and sanitised often, i tend to leave everything i don't use daily out the room completely.

Incidently I would run your system more often in the later stages of growing, mid to late flowering as they will need much more water and will drink most tanks in 3 days flat, 50 litres in 2-3 days in the amazon aeroponics system. Must keep checking them misters just to see if roots are close and clogging them up, especially in flowering.

For germination I use the plate method, I place seeds on a paper towel on plate and soak slightly so the paper towel is wet, place kitchen paper towel on top of seeds and soak them running off any excess water on plate and place them in a black bin liner bag away from light but somewhere quite warm.

Beforehand I would pre-soak rockwool 1 inch cube in ph 5.6 water ready to pop the seed in. Once the tap has appeared out the seed, takes about 24 hours, make a hole in the rockwool 1 inch cube in the centre and remove 1/3 of the water from the cube, reason for this is it stops the seed from drowning in the rockwool cube. Drop the seed in cube about 5-7cm down and cover the hole where the seed went in with a tiny piece of the rockwool cube, take a bit of the corner and slightly cover the hole, very gently as the seedling needs to be able to break the surface of the hole where the seed went in.

I then place in a standard propagator not aeroponic and cover with humidity dome, spraying the inside lid to create high humidity and then place that in a black bag until the seedling has popped up above the rockwool. I then place it in a aeroponic propagator using ph 5.8-6.0 for first week and ec is 0.5, incidently you will need to check your water ec beforehand. If you water reading is reading anything above 0.0 then you add it on, for example my plain tap water EC is 0.3 so in order to get 0.5 for seedlings which is recommended I set my EC on 0.8 which is effectively 0.5 EC, it will also change week by week so have to check weekly.

You could bypass the plate method and just whack some clones straight into the aeroponic propagator hold them up using clay balls, pellets, ph it to 5.6 plain water and spray them 15mins on and off and within 6 days they will root.

My ph levels are as follows for aeroponic propagator.
5.6 ph and EC of 0.5 week one
5.8 ph and EC 0.7 week two
5.8- 6.1 ph and EC 1.0 week three

Transfer in Amazon Aeroponic main systems
5.8-6.1 ph EC 1.2 week four to six

Flowering week one Ph 5.8-6.1 and EC set at 1.2 and never move it any higher up, drop it slightly if i get tip burn, or nute burn as it is called.

Feeding Canna Aqua and Flores which is designed for aeroponics and systems like this, voodoo juice for explosive roots, expensive, can also use rhizatonic if you dont wanna pay 35 pound a litre for voodoo juice. Also use Oxyplus now and then,pk13-14 and also carbo load in mid to late flowering. All in all I love the aeroponics setup's, simple to use.
 

Doobieus

Well-Known Member
I find growing in aeroponics pretty easy to be honest, tried several methods out there and this one is probably the easiest to use, takes about 5 mins a day to manage to check ph, ec and general plant health and temps, night temps, using a hygro meter and that's it. As for the on and off for aeroponics, mine is set on 15mins on and 15mins off, never had a problem yet, one thing with this system is root growth is emmense, sometimes they can block the spray heads from spinning resulting in possible plant death if unoticed. Other problems with pathegens, root rott if setup is unclean, everything sterilised and sanitised often, i tend to leave everything i don't use daily out the room completely. Incidently I would run your system more often in the later stages of growing, mid to late flowering as they will need much more water and will drink most tanks in 3 days flat, 50 litres in 2-3 days in the amazon aeroponics system. Must keep checking them misters just to see if roots are close and clogging them up, especially in flowering. For germination I use the plate method, I place seeds on a paper towel on plate and soak slightly so the paper towel is wet, place kitchen paper towel on top of seeds and soak them running off any excess water on plate and place them in a black bin liner bag away from light but somewhere quite warm. Beforehand I would pre-soak rockwool 1 inch cube in ph 5.6 water ready to pop the seed in. Once the tap has appeared out the seed, takes about 24 hours, make a hole in the rockwool 1 inch cube in the centre and remove 1/3 of the water from the cube, reason for this is it stops the seed from drowning in the rockwool cube. Drop the seed in cube about 5-7cm down and cover the hole where the seed went in with a tiny piece of the rockwool cube, take a bit of the corner and slightly cover the hole, very gently as the seedling needs to be able to break the surface of the hole where the seed went in. I then place in a standard propagator not aeroponic and cover with humidity dome, spraying the inside lid to create high humidity and then place that in a black bag until the seedling has popped up above the rockwool. I then place it in a aeroponic propagator using ph 5.8-6.0 for first week and ec is 0.5, incidently you will need to check your water ec beforehand. If you water reading is reading anything above 0.0 then you add it on, for example my plain tap water EC is 0.3 so in order to get 0.5 for seedlings which is recommended I set my EC on 0.8 which is effectively 0.5 EC, it will also change week by week so have to check weekly.You could bypass the plate method and just whack some clones straight into the aeroponic propagator hold them up using clay balls, pellets, ph it to 5.6 plain water and spray them 15mins on and off and within 6 days they will root. My ph levels are as follows for aeroponic propagator. 5.6 ph and EC of 0.5 week one 5.8 ph and EC 0.7 week two 5.8- 6.1 ph and EC 1.0 week threeTransfer in Amazon Aeroponic main systems5.8-6.1 ph EC 1.2 week four to sixFlowering week one Ph 5.8-6.1 and EC set at 1.2 and never move it any higher up, drop it slightly if i get tip burn, or nute burn as it is called. Feeding Canna Aqua and Flores which is designed for aeroponics and systems like this, voodoo juice for explosive roots, expensive, can also use rhizatonic if you dont wanna pay 35 pound a litre for voodoo juice. Also use Oxyplus now and then,pk13-14 and also carbo load in mid to late flowering. All in all I love the aeroponics setup's, simple to use.
Sorry for the way it is written, I did space it out into sections but when posting it clumps all the reply together for some reason?
Whoa! Lol that's a LOT of info there Potsmoker, I skimmed through it as I just woke up (Gotta love lazy ass Saturdays lol). About the spacing issue, I have no idea....

The only thing I can think of is the editing mode maybe? Are you using actual code for the breaks/spaces? The only thing I can advise is that when in the editor (Non quick reply editor), try and click the button with 2 A's in the upper right corner of the "Reply to thread" editor and see if that helps.

All I have to do to break my statements up the way I do is press the "Enter" key twice.

Hope this helps some and thanks so much for the info, I'll be sure to +rep you after I read it for sure.

Thanks again :bigjoint:.
 

potsmoker93

Active Member
All I have to do to break my statements up the way I do is press the "Enter" key twice.
.

Same as me then, all my other posts turn out fine, strage, will try the method you mentioned if it happens again.

Hopefully what i type here is spaced seperate from the above if it is working again, just to add iv manage to sort my above post out so it is more readable than before, he hopes lol.
 

Doobieus

Well-Known Member
Same as me then, all my other posts turn out fine, strage, will try the method you mentioned if it happens again.

Hopefully what i type here is spaced seperate from the above if it is working again, just to add iv manage to sort my above post out so it is more readable than before, he hopes lol.
Looks like it's working to me lol, yeah that is strange.... Weird but I'm glad you fixed it dude lol.
 
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