What makes Aeroponics more difficult?

The reason why aeroponics is a challenge (tends to kill plants easily), is because of the higher oxygen content that the roots are exposed to. When you bubble in DWC, you only put about 8% of added oxygen to the water. When you suspend roots in air, since air has about 20% oxygen content, roots are more exposed to oxygen than the bubble method. Since roots use oxygen in the nutrient uptake process the more roots are expose to oxygen, the more nutes will be taken up. For this reason, aero requires a lower ppm content than bubbling or potting soil. It also requires more observation of the ppm and pH levels to ensure a good range. When you run a lower ppm level, it can be easy for ppm to get too low and start starving the plants. The good news is that aero might provide quicker grows than dwc, however, since dwc is more forgiving and will grow plants considerably faster than soil, dwc might be the best option for most hobby growers. Bubbling in 5 gallon buckets, 6 inch net pot, pH and ppm metering, and fish tank air pumps for every bucket, is not a bad idea.

Using low ppm in aero has little to do with the higher O2 level, its about the amount of water in the droplet.
Think of each droplet as a miniature res, as the root absorbs the water the nutrient concentration increases. If a droplet halves in size on its way to the target, the nute strength will increase by a factor of 8

I'm sorry atomizer, but how can this be when a smaller droplet of water will carry with it a smaller amount of nutrient? If you have nutrient dissolved in water, the concentration of nutrient doesn't go up just because the water drop size gets smaller. Shouldn't a smaller droplet carry a smaller amount of nutes as well? I would imagine that's the case.
From Wikipedia: "Water droplet size is crucial for sustaining aeroponic growth. Too large a water droplet means less oxygen is available to the root system. Too fine a water droplet, such as those generated by the ultrasonic mister, produce excessive root hair without developing a lateral root system for sustained growth in an aeroponic system."
I think I see what you mean. You're basically saying that a droplet for water nute mix flying through the air will lose water molecules until it collides with the root target. I don't doubt that this happens, but I don't think it affects an aero grow as much as oxygen. Oxygen is the reason why it's important to let potting soil dry out, so oxygen can get to the roots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroponics
From Advanced Nutrients: "That’s because roots need oxygen, and root zone media surrounds roots to limit the amount of oxygen they can absorb in comparison to how much they can absorb when grown aeroponically. Aeroponics nutrients are misted through oxygen, and there’s plenty of oxygen in the growing chamber for roots to absorb. That’s one reason aeroponics plants grow faster and absorb more nutrients than regular hydroponics plants."

Darth Vapour said:

Problem with Aero is you cannot grow big plants its designed for small plants now if your living in a state where plant count dictates jail time your screwed .. let alone other issues that always occur .. Hence why there are really Not to many Aero / fogger set ups run with MJ grown growers ..
In my opinion your better off going 5 gallon bucket DWC you will get a bigger bang for the buck

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You can grow big plants with Aero. But you need to support the plants or they'll fall over. Low pressure Aero is much cheaper and simpler than high pressure, and seems to yeild the same. I left my pump turned off for a whole day and it didn't kill the plants. They wilted very badly, but an hour later they had returned to normal.

theexpress said:

Fuck cleaning the foggers and misters just replace them. Aero is awesome. Sickest root structures imo

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I just drilled 1/32 holes in PVC pipe, 3 per plant. Never had any clogging issues.

The base nute strength of a droplet is geared to the res it came from Droplets are spherical, if it halves in size due to evaporation, it will have 8x less volume but still contain the same amount of nute, base strength x 8. Aero plants grow faster because the roots can breathe and feed at the same time. Roots coated with 5-80 micron droplets isnt the same as being coated by a film of water..there`s no gaps

Red1966 said:

You can grow big plants with Aero. But you need to support the plants or they'll fall over. Low pressure Aero is much cheaper and simpler than high pressure, and seems to yeild the same. I left my pump turned off for a whole day and it didn't kill the plants. They wilted very badly, but an hour later they had returned to normal.

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TBH Aero was made for small plants was talking to a designer of the Aero systems. Low pressure and High pressure,, for comerical use
i cannot find the post anymore he also said they are not designed for big plants but rather lots of small plants SOG so 1 week veg n flip .. So if you want to grow lettuce haha have at her seriously
You are not going to grow trees in Aero Not going to happen show me really big plants in Aero something like this 5 week veg under current ??
THis one plant would cover 2-3 of them tables lol seriously i am not trying to be a prick just stating the obvious ,, and why there are not many documented big plant Aero hell hardly any real Aero grows out there
Its not worth the hassle or wasting time on even attempting to make one ..
Great for cloneing station other then that , ?? not much else

Darth Vapour said:

TBH Aero was made for small plants was talking to a designer of the Aero systems. Low pressure and High pressure,, for comerical use
i cannot find the post anymore he also said they are not designed for big plants but rather lots of small plants SOG so 1 week veg n flip .. So if you want to grow lettuce haha have at her seriously
You are not going to grow trees in Aero Not going to happen show me really big plants in Aero something like this 5 week veg under current ??
THis one plant would cover 2-3 of them tables lol seriously i am not trying to be a prick just stating the obvious ,, and why there are not many documented big plant Aero hell hardly any real Aero grows out there
Its not worth the hassle or wasting time on even attempting to make one ..
Great for cloneing station other then that , ?? not much else

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Aero lends itself well to large numbers of smaller plants, but can also be usefull for larger sizes if you support the plants. Those aren't exactly "trees" you posted there. I've grown plants that size in aero. Not familure with TBH Aero so can't comment on that particular set up, If you could only use one particular product for UC, you would be limited in size to that particular system, also.

please post some pictures or it didn't happen specially in them 2 - 3 " net pots

Darth Vapour said:

please post some pictures or it didn't happen specially in them 2 - 3 " net pots

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That grow was two years ago and I lost all pictures in a hard drive crash. Currantly using a C.A.P. Flow & Gro with vertical lights. Some servicability issues with it. Will probably switch back to the horizontal aero system I used before. I like to tinker, so maybe not. I did post a pic at the time, it still may be on the RIU server? It was a overhead shot of a scrog, tho. The size of the plants may not be apparent.

You're in luck. Still have some photos on the SD card. Ignore the bad plant condition, it was my first attempt.

Red1966 said:

Aero lends itself well to large numbers of smaller plants, but can also be usefull for larger sizes if you support the plants..

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These guys are using hpa on a commercial scale to grow a few big hungry plants, admittedly its not MJ but it`ll grow whatever you want to put in. They`re using a constant hp mist which isnt as efficient as using a timed mist geared to the plants uptake, i guess commercial scale involves some compromise between performance and simplicity. The roots at the end of the vid could be white and fluffy if they allowed them some breathing time. A plant with super healthy roots will always outperform one without.

All the different types of growing have their good and bad points. The truth is there's nothing wrong with growing with soil. It's a great way to start out and if you follow directions, pretty easy. At the same time soil sucks. Is there anything dirtier than dirt?

Any hydro system can be a real bitch if you don't watch out. I love my aero systems! Once you grow with aero everything else seems like slow motion. They are so clean and easy to maintain. I really don't have to fuck with them at all. Just add water and change the nutes once a week. It takes about 15 minutes to change the res and maybe 5 minutes every couple of days to add water. The only big work day is when it's time to harvest. Clean up is really not much. Way better than soil and about the same as Rockwool, Hydroton, Coco, etc...

I've been trying the new Botanicare Kind nutrients. All you need to do is follow the directions on the back. You don't even need to fuck with PH or PPM. Too easy bro.

bluntmassa1 said:

Hey, I'm thinking of giving hydro a try. I almost want to build an aeroponics system but everywhere I turn someone is saying it is more advanced, harder or some shit.

It don't look much harder to me though and sounds like the best hydro system just a bit harder to build one other than that what is so much harder about it?

Also does it even yield more than ebb and flow? That thing just looks so easy too build.

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the only problem ive seen with aero is the jets clog very easily and very often,,no matter how clean ur rez is,, tiny paticles go through the pump and clog jets constantly...if u wanna go hydro do flood n drain,, very easy to master and yields can be just as good as aero..ive grown every method and always go back to flood n drain,, im in a home made dwc now but really want to go back to f n d again i miss it.. oh the only other drawback with aero is if u get alot of power outages,,,pumps stop spraying and roots will dry up in a day unless you figure somthing out...wen my power went out id fill the tub underneith till the roots were sub merged untill power came back, then id drain it and go back to the roots getting their mistings...in dwc or flood n drain u have alot more time to deal with power outs before any ill effects...
hope this helps u decide

flood n drain works great with soil to bro,, ive used f&d with felt bags and soil many times and it works great...great alternitive for growing indoors organicly, just fill the rez w a tea and felt bags w soil above.. ive grown in all sorts of hydro and i disagree w some of the comments.. ive had yields just as good or better in f&d than in aero or dwc,, it all depends on what your medium is and how big you let your root zone be..

f&d is simple, easy to learn and master, then after u master it try dwc or aero or whatever,,i promise you will end up going back to flood n drain time and time again,,,youll miss it!!!

StinkBud said:

All the different types of growing have their good and bad points. The truth is there's nothing wrong with growing with soil. It's a great way to start out and if you follow directions, pretty easy. At the same time soil sucks. Is there anything dirtier than dirt?

Any hydro system can be a real bitch if you don't watch out. I love my aero systems! Once you grow with aero everything else seems like slow motion. They are so clean and easy to maintain. I really don't have to fuck with them at all. Just add water and change the nutes once a week. It takes about 15 minutes to change the res and maybe 5 minutes every couple of days to add water. The only big work day is when it's time to harvest. Clean up is really not much. Way better than soil and about the same as Rockwool, Hydroton, Coco, etc...

I've been trying the new Botanicare Kind nutrients. All you need to do is follow the directions on the back. You don't even need to fuck with PH or PPM. Too easy bro.

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Keep us up to date on the Botanicare, I've been using the AN PH perfect stuff and kinda like not worrying about ph/ppm..but want something cheaper..

StinkBud said:

At the same time soil sucks. Is there anything dirtier than dirt?

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I don't find soil "dirty" at all. I love playing in it! Show me a hydro system that brings this to the table:

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

As for hydro systems I'm partial to DWC. Easy to set up and run, and the rate of growth is amazing!

Darth Vapour said:

You are not going to grow trees in Aero Not going to happen show me really big plants in Aero something like this 5 week veg under current ??
THis one plant would cover 2-3 of them tables lol seriously i am not trying to be a prick just stating the obvious ,, and why there are not many documented big plant Aero hell hardly any real Aero grows out there
Its not worth the hassle or wasting time on even attempting to make one ..
Great for cloneing station other then that , ?? not much else

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I don't know if these plants are considered "large" and if this medium less tube system is "true aeroponics"----could be called------ "spray & drain"??????

A~~~

I see no reason aero couldn't be used to grow large trees, if you have the root space, and it's kept fairly sealed so it's a relatively humid environment there shouldn't be any issues. If needed you could even put some sprayers on leads and shove them right into the middle of the root mass. But it is definitely geared towards smaller plants, SOG style growing and accelerated growth.

Alaric said:

I don't know if these plants are considered "large" and if this medium less tube system is "true aeroponics"----could be called------ "spray & drain"??????

A~~~View attachment 3427369 View attachment 3427369 View attachment 3427372 View attachment 3427373

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That is a pretty wild looking picture problems i can see with Aero is being your limiting your self you can only put so many watts per sq foot in that area, before bleaching occurs ,,also being so compact Mold and mildew are are at a higher percentage
Was reading a post above guy saying Aero is the fastest in growth rates ???
Again there is no difference one is sitting in oxygenated water other is being misted