Aeroponics

[John-E-Blazed 13]

Afternoon guys,

I have been doing some research on different grow systems lately. I have seen alot around here about hydro systemsm DWC, Ebb and flow. But I haven't seen much on Aeroponic system like this one www.hydroponics.eu/aeroponics-c-78/aero-systems-s-31/producer-505-4786.html. Is anyone currently running or have run this type of system before? Would be nice to get some first hand experience feed back. Thanks all

[Guest superbluehaze]

anguscr is the person to talk to. he has a lot of experience with aeroponics.

With pot it takes a lot of adjustment to get things right, but anguscr has done it.

happy growing,

john

[anguscr 290]

Hi John-E-Blazed ... The Flood & Drain systems have so many disadvantages & it's very tricky; can fool u constantly because of the misconception that those systems can be program (once, twice, etc a day) when in fact such thing cannot be done as the plants will need different watering/feeding cycles during the growing/flowering process, the different strains will have different needs that you have to try to match, it’s a difficult task, sometimes no other way but hand water to cover the deficiencies. Flood & Drain are so tricky, especially when u want to grow different strains, when plants go bigger u can program the cycles, but in my opinion is not a good system for multistrains grows & it’s better to hand water.

Aeropinics/Dripping/DWC is definitely better as each plant will take what needs on each hit/spray/drip time & the off time gives dry time to the roots to get O2.

I grow using 2 different systems I built myself, both can be consider aeroponics/DWC/Drip (Aeropinics because the plants are in a net pot & roots are floating in the air & DWC since the pots/containers/buckets maintain the water in them with air stones running 24/7 plus they have an off on cycle). I have two different timers the ones that you can program in 15 minutes range & others that cannot be program & are set for 1 min off & 3 mins on, the last ones are the ideal for NTF, but in my case the reservoir keeps the water in so the roots are always in contact with water because of this issue I increase the cycle to 30 min off & 30 mins on.

First system is a 25 gallon Rubbermaid with 4 air stones at the bottom & 360 degrees sprayers (all can be obtain in hydro stores or even hardware stores).

Here some pics:

The other 1 is a 5 Gallon bucket with 2 airstones at the bottom & dripping.

On this one I did a step by step u can chack at

http://www.strainhunters.com/portal/content/how-build-independent-5-gallon-bucket-dripping-system

[Guest dfwi]

Anguscr you hit the nail right on the head buddy, The Flood & Drain systems do have some disadvantages and require a bit off attention. I would recommend Anguscr's Independent 5 gallon bucket system 1st, just to see if it's for you. It is a great system and works fine without the big $$$$ out-lay. I have wasted so much $$$ over the yrs on systems that i've made myself and bought that end up in the corner of the shed, they looked great on paper lol lol lol lol, like i'm sure many others have before me.

There are so so many systems out there now days and everyone will tell you there's is the best, but at the end off the day it comes down to which system YOU prefer to work with and which works best for YOU. Happy growing and hope you find the system for YOU peace

[Guest delicious]

? dont get ?t why hydro ...? mean soil seems so easy .. should given some minerals of course but not like hydro systems: anyway the quest?on in my head is WHY hydro instead of soil ...somebody tell me by the way ....and good luck buddy

[dedicated user 0]

Hello Delicious,

Where to begin with the differences, benefits, and hurdles between hydro and soil,
Lets start with the most noticable difference,Time, the abundance of growth with hydro as opposed to soil is nothing but amazing, I have had growth results in as little as 2 weeks that have taken as much as 1 and half months using soil.

And then the controlability of growth cycles through nutrient steering with hydro is much quicker over soil in plant response time, flushing is much easier IF you think ahead and set your system up properly, and clean up is alot neater, cleaner and your not discarding pounds of burnt soil.

Some of the hurdles to deal with using hydro are mostly time related, it is a daily watch, PH, PPM's, Temp, Humidity, Resevoir temp and oxygen levels.

The downfall of hydro as compared to soil is that when something goes wrong, it happens fast, I mean within hours things can go catastrophic, and you could loose half your end yield through plant damage and stress in a matter of a couple of bad days.

But if you are willing to put in a little time learning the general rules of thumb about hydro and start small you will realize the only way to go is hydro.IMHO

[Guest superbluehaze]

hydro results in faster growth and higher yields than soil.

less problems with pests, and other nasties.

medium can be reuseable.

shorter growth cycles than soil.

steath - it can be hard getting rid of large amounts of soil in a city without attracting notice.

it is cleaner and less messy if you intend to grow indoors.

and all that has been already said by Ded. User.

happy growing,

john

[Hydroguy 5]

I have some experience with areoponic setups, mostly for cloning though. I find that they work to best to grow seriously dense root mass that are usually bright white to almost clear. I am not in favor of using this type of set up for veg to flower because the spray nozzels usually clog up and loose effectiveness after a few weeks. Cleaning them can be a pain in the neck. I religiously clean my cloner setups every time a new batch of clones is ready to go. Recircluating DWC is my system of choice, you can see my post in the hydroponics forum with some pics of my system. Don't be intimidated by hydroponics, the first cycle will be your hardest but if you look at every day you will be able to tell exactly what your system needs. If you use a system with a resevoire I feel like the maintanence is must less than with soil. I hope this was helpful.

[blueskyolympia 149]

Hydro is the way to go I have say... it defiantly cost a little bit in start up for things like PPM meters and PH pens and what not but the growth and lack of dirt born problems are awsome!

I have flowered one crop with dirt and turned to hydro.

no matter how hard I dosed the dirt these lil flys would keep comming back lol.

[mikearnill 0]

I am also using hydroponic and indoor farming as it provide more nutrition plants at less times. You just have to require some start up cost and it provide you better gain as compared to soil gardening.

[Big'G' 131]

I grew in soil for many a year but now use an aero system, the difference between the two is like day and night

Good luck and peace brother.

[oldemarine 233]

When it comes to aeroponics we have the high pressure systems that work well if you have everything perfect and have back up systems in place for power outages. Here is Richard Stoner's Aeroponics International that took hydroponics to another level with help from NASA and the Space Program. The low pressure cloners do not compare with these professional models.

http://www.aeroponics.com/about.htm

[Big'G' 131]

I think it time Aeroponics got its own section

[Kush Kabob 4]

How much less messy is aero/hydropnics compared to soil?

That's one disadvantage I've noticed growing with soil tends to get the grow room or tent dirty.

I'm considering changing from soil to hydro for awhile.

[oldemarine 233]

Aloha Kush Kabob, With high pressure drain to waste aeroponics you do not have the safety factor that coco coir, peat mixes & rockwool provide. If things go wrong like power outages losing an entire crop is not uncommon.

[Big'G' 131]

I guess when choosing a grow technique you have to take into consideration the amount of time you could spend giving them your attention.

So lets say you went ahead with a hydro or aero system. Firstly that would be fantastic. Now youd be able to look forward to seeing your crops be bigger faster. Now you would have to be able to hand feed, doing it all manually if you had a pump failure or a problem getting electricity fed to your system. But bear in mind with soil you hand feed all the time and see much smaller crops.

Just my opinion bro

Peace and welcome