Only the facts of aeroponics HPA or LPA

After surfing this site for awhile now and seeing all the bad advice and information that is on here just makes me ill so I will set the record straight on the facts and truth about aero.



The truth marijauna has a huge root mass when you veg for 30 days and flower for 60 days with that in mind the rules for growing are very simple the roots must have oxygen and nutrients that must penetrate the complete root mass to grow without saturating the complete root mass with fresh oxygen and nutrients you will get root rot and you failed to give the roots what they need. Using high pressure misters work fine but keep in mind that you need to saturate the complete root mass not just the outer roots so that brings up the question about micron size well here is the truth it does not apply to marijauna because the root mass is to large for any mist to penetrate. Fine mist is used to bond oxygen molecules to your nutrient solution making it highly oxygenated nutrient solution that your plant craves but you must completely saturate the complete root mass. There is no holy grail of misters for marijauna you can also use cloner nozzles but they are limited on the amount of oxygen molecules that are absorb in the nutrient solution that is why you will need a air stone in your reservoir to supply the oxygen to the nutrient solution.

The best way to mist or spray your roots.

Having your roots suspended you will have a hard time getting complete saturation thru out the root mass you need to take advantage of gravity and let it work for you. Using a tray on a angle that the roots lay in or using egg crate wrapped in silk screen does wonders. Without proper drainage your plant will suffer not having enough oxygen.

One option is to use aero to spur fast root growth before the roots are long enough to touch the water sitting in the reservoir. When this happens, or if you find you're unable to completely drench the roots, you could remove the aero manifold and replace it with an air stone, and just go dwc since the roots are huge at this point. Once the roots are huge, the plant is past 30 days (in my experience), and root growth is no longer the goal anyway.

Fuzzy roots Pom poms etc bottom line is that you are starving your plant when you see fuzzies on your roots is a bad thing reason is the roots are looking for any food it can particles so small it needs these fuzzies to catch these particles suspended in the air. Now you can tease your roots for short durations at a time just to grow new shoots on your root mass but you are riding a fine line because the center of the root mass will dry out fast and then rot root. Proceed with caution.

smokinafatty said:

One option is to use aero to spur fast root growth before the roots are long enough to touch the water sitting in the reservoir. When this happens, or if you find you're unable to completely drench the roots, you could remove the aero manifold and replace it with an air stone, and just go dwc since the roots are huge at this point. Once the roots are huge, the plant is past 30 days (in my experience), and root growth is no longer the goal anyway.

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I agree with you that aero does grow faster roots and you could take advantage of this using DWC after 30 days.

It sounds like flood and drain is probably going to end up being the easiest and most long term method for me. The main benefit of aero that I've found is the ability to make the roots thirsty and cause them to grow. I found this out by accident, after accidentally setting the water pumps to come on for 18 on, 6 off with the light. I realized the roots were wayy longer than usual, and then discovered the pumps weren't on 24/0 like usual. Now I run the pump for 15 minutes every 2 hours. I tried every 4 hours but the roots got too try for my comfort. The roots grow like 4x as fast and are much healthier than usual.

Flood and drain, which is amazingly cheap and easy to throw together, would allow this thirst and combat the dry center of the roots. I'm about to flower out my first set in aero, so I'll be looking for this problem to occur. If it does, I'll probably switch to flood and drain for the next grow. I'm already planning to use it for next year's mothers.

I'd say you're right about how fuzzy roots form (tiny particles in the air and controlled starving), but once the root mass exists, it's a good thing. This is the same as making them thirsty so they grow longer. You have to keep your eyes on the roots for a couple of days to be sure they stay damp.

It has become apparent that there is some problems with people believing what has been said about misting and micron size so here you go. Take some red food coloring mix with water mist your root mass this will stain your roots nothing more and you will see that the mist does not penetrate the root mass at all. This quick and easy experiment will tell you the answer you seek.

NASA did a study long ago on high pressure aero and there findings were that growth excelled with the right micron size. But they only used plants that had a 20 day or less maturity rate. They NEVER grew marihuana and NASA would never ever dream of filling the space station with 4'x4'x4' grow chamber with AA nozzles to grow one plant they grew micro plants for there study that's it. The micro plants had very small root mass. Some Days I just come on this site just to have a good laugh at some of the posts.

Forest you are correct the hurdle you face is no one wants to listen to the truth they all think that they have the answer problem is this is a pot forum and sorry to say very few knives are sharp here if you get my drift.

Hammer I understand and you can only help people that want help thinking it may be best to leave and do as you do just laugh at the crazy ideas people come up with. Cheers

Facts?

I grew via hpa for 2 years. While you make some true points others not so true. Case in point root size

Here is root mass after harvesting 4ft tall plants using an above ground misting system

Soft and fluffy, barely a handful

Buds could not have been any phatter for the strain

My hpa roots were much bigger, but not the plants

Pet the first picture is from your new style of growing? Above ground misting?
the comment you made about a bunch of roots and little growth is what I experienced doing hpa also.
i agree with some of what he says also about mist not penetrating the roots and light misting. I'm thinking that light misting is the worst thing you can do to get the best plant growth. Hmmmm

Yes, but it was 2 grows ago. Now have a much better handle on using HH Rings + now, my High Performance Rez. I do not expect them to significantly increase root mass

In the winter months the ambient temps were conducive. Those grows were good, well worth the effort, and I sure learned a lot about roots, and especially the potential of deep cycle feedings. Deep Cycle feeding is a key component in my HH 2.0 system; O/O: 18sec/18 min

Alas, it didn't take much of fluctuation to severely harm the roots and therefor plants

Com on by

hammer21 said:

Pet the first picture is from your new style of growing? Above ground misting?
the comment you made about a bunch of roots and little growth is what I experienced doing hpa also.
i agree with some of what he says also about mist not penetrating the roots and light misting. I'm thinking that light misting is the worst thing you can do to get the best plant growth. Hmmmm

Click to expand...

You two must not be talking about me because I didn't disagree with anything. I don't know who you're talking about.

Misting intervals is also strain and environmental dependent. If you have cooler air temps, you use shorter spraying times. Hotter, longer. Also depends on WHEN you feed...day vs. night. 50 micron misters ( like I use) can indeed produce explosive root growth AND plant growth at the same time....taking into consideration environmental factors. To say that these misters and short intervals don't work is judging only a fraction of the books cover. Yeah, people who try 2 sec on and 5 min off in flower is gonna see a shiity plant and equally shitty yield. But it depends on when you use the short intervals and when to blast them. Remember, only the tips absorb water and nutrients, so complete saturation of the inner most root zone isn't necessary.

HPA misting is a much better way of developing massive root zones for massive yields because of the speed and density of the root zone. Most hydro systems produce long spaghetti roots with a few hundred tips. Aero can create thousands...giving you more feeding sites which gives you faster growth and larger yields. But as I said in another thread, once you have them, feed them. (Longer intervals for the thousands of tips) Then back off, and feed, and back off....etc. The roots and plant continues to thrive all the way to harvest.