Super-Charge Yor Growing with Aeroponics !!

[*mistress*]

Mistress A woman who grows pot? SWEEEEEEEEEEEET

I'll be brief: TAG has been under development some 5+ years, taking bits and pieces from NASA research.
Somewhere along the line, someone confused fog with ultrasonic fog (UF). At the time, I too followed their lead- not knowing anything about TAG some 3 months ago!

Mature TAG roots look like pom-poms made from fish bones. The gianormous roots shown in this thread requires gallons more nutes with no appreciable benefit to size or potency. Compared to Pirate's system, TAG will likely use 1/4 the nutes. This not only saves money, but time, too.

Finally, TAG is the ultimate KISS system: one high pressure pump (50 psi <$100) probably 4 EXL type fog/mist heads that spray 50-60 micron droplets per 18 G tote, and your light system of choice- mine is LEDs. The pump will handle 60 sites on a 4 X 8 table, so you have lots of room to grow without buying more pumps.

TAG= No bubblers, no foggers, no chillers! KISS

garden is imaginary & full of tomatoes... post here for entertainment & educational purposes only...

tag has been around fro longer than 5 years... there true aero grows/ers on both og & cw, both of which have been defunct for over 5 years...

nasa did not invent aeroponics... but they have used aeroponics in space... mainly in the biomass production unit... the misting/fogging attributes were mainly developed to preserve the most valuable resource known: water...

the original aeroponic system was the ein geddi system. created in isreal to conserve water, etc... just a simple concrete tank w/ nutrient solution in bottom of tank, spray manifold @ timed intervals.

droplet size fixation does not seem necessary...

ran aero buckets ten 360's ago... included this & worked very well:

*5 gal bucket
*diy net pots: 32 oz big gulp stadium cups, holes made w/ soldering iron
*rio 600 pump in ea bucket
*2 regular sprayers

connect 3/4 vinyl tube to pump. end-cap @ 3". punch 2 holes into tube. insert 2 1/8" lines to sprayers zip-tied to bucket, below net pot. sprayers splash either side of the bucket. many droplets abound... 1-2 gals of water kept in bucket... level checked/water+nutes added thru, clear vinyl tubing attached to outside of bucket, running from 2" (@ bottom) -bucket lip (@ top), where zip-tied...

pump ran 24/7... no timed intervals... had 1/8" & 1/2" soaker hose in some, none in others. observed no difference between groups...

water is constantly splashing, dripping & circulating w/ pump, so is constantly releasing oxygen atom...

dont see how smaller droplet sizes or bigger pump, etc will have any impact that would be quantifiable... would only require time & energy to maintain & clean...

did not use foggers, special misters, or have external plumbing connecting buckets... used supernatural brand fertilizers & just poured in water & nutes into bucket... never emptied it... nute @ full strength - add back water for 7 days - nute @ full strength - repeat...

does not have to be complicated... please refer to the examples where high pressure pumps were a direct impact on final fruit count, health or anything else... vs a low pressure pump...

similar to old krusty threads where there were 20 pages just on soaker hoses & air pumps... while plants do need oxygen, as long as top root mass is not submerged, air roots will be exposed to the oxygen in the environment & bucket itself...

anyway, please refer to <50 psi pumps providing directly attributable impact on an aero garden, vs a >50 psi water pump...

enjoy your garden!

 

[Organic-Dank]

thank you for sharing pirate I sure enjoy your aeroponics it sure is very inspiring

 

[PetFlora]

If I owe Pirate an apology, my bad. I thought we were all here to learn.

 

[*mistress*]

If I owe Pirate an apology, my bad. I thought we were all here to learn.

not pirate. cant post for that member. no apologies needed. all here to learn, yes...
just find/found no distinction between <50 psi pump/xx micron water+nute droplets vs. >50 psi pump/large water+nute droplets. @ least no difference that amount to t.a.g. being better than a low-pressure system. maybe there are examples yet to be observed.

the root-zone will have 100% humidity under either pump, as water vapor will be present 24/7.

enjoy your garden!

 

[PetFlora]

not pirate. cant post for that member. no apologies needed. all here to learn, yes...
just find/found no distinction between <50 psi pump/xx micron water+nute droplets vs. >50 psi pump/large water+nute droplets. @ least no difference that amount to t.a.g. being better than a low-pressure system. maybe there are examples yet to be observed.

the root-zone will have 100% humidity under either pump, as water vapor will be present 24/7.

enjoy your garden!

It took me a good bit of reading and rereading (as well as using an ultrasonic fogger along with spraybar) until I figured it out. I will finish this grow using a 320 GPH aquarium pump.

For the longest part of this grow I alternated between spray and fog. As I read about >50 psi and the effects it has on fog head droplet size, creating a moist fog, it occured to me to experiment and run both the spray and the fog at the same time. Within days I had explosive root growth - first time I saw fish bones! The number of bud sites also exploded.

So, with 50 psi your fog heads create a wonderful nutrient rich fog that is super easy for the roots to drink. The more the often they are able to drink, the faster they grow, and the bigger they get.

The short blasts (< 1 second- 1/25/10) prevent root cells from swelling, and therefore nutrient lock out. RE:1/25/10- not quite this way. Visit my journal to get the current 411.

 

[WildWayne]

I have achieved almost 80 psi and in just a few short days have seen explosive root hairs. Prior to this is was only achieving 20-40 psi. I have also been experimenting with different spray heads that you can get the droplet size smaller. I believe that getting the droplets small that the roots will form more hairs, giving more surface area, and take up more nutrients.

 

[PetFlora]

WW. TAG you're it

Seems most are skeptical, including Mistress, but I think she is curious and experienced enough to run her own A/Bs. Hopefully your near instantenous results will energize some folks to join the party.

At what I thought was the last 2 weeks before harvest, I added the high pressure pump and quad fog head (purchased from Reptile Basics): Wouldn't you just know it, the buds took off and the overall plant weight nearly doubled

I had to let her go another 3 weeks and wound up with 4+ ozs wet, and about 1 oz dry from one 2 ft plant- the lone survivor that had been through just about every mistep imaginable.

As I got closer to TAG/TAE , I got lots of new root shoots; as they grew they looked just like the 'fish bone' photos in the TAG blog, the buds got bigger, and the tric's got thicker.

Been drying for 2 weeks, taking a tiny sample here and there. Best I've ever grown. Just a pinch last hours.

Bummer: I started to sprout 10 3-4 y/o Sharksbreath seeds 4 days ago, but ZERO have popped!

Hope this thread gets some new energy and takes off. It's lonely out in space.

 

[dakin3d]

Whats up, P? I appreciate you sharing the treasure, bro. Very impressive setup, and some great innovation that I will def be integrating into my Aero unit. Cheers, dak

 

[PetFlora]

Thanks Dakin3D. Slide on over to my TAG LED journal, it's loaded with info and photos.

 

[Grow4Flow]

Can anyone tell me where to find these inline filters or brand/model? ive been to all my hardware stores and cannot find them anywhere, not even in the hydro shops. what application are they normally used for?

 

[GrowerGoneWild]

Great thread and pictures! going aero is a bit more trouble but I like the results.

I've done a cab and now I'm doing a aeroflo table copycat.

+K to ya!

 

[PetFlora]

Grow4Flow

Grow4Flow

Google dripworks irrigation. Get the one where the barrel that holds the filter is on an angle above the in/out. The straight inline version requires a lot of brass fittings which are both expensive and likely to leak due to the acidic nature of the pH. Mine developed a leak after 5 weeks.

 

[beatster]

bump this got me thinking bout turning one of my 4x4 flood tables into something similar...
good shit!!

 

[PetFlora]

I updated my Journal intro. I think you will find it easier to follow. If you open the TAG link you will see how they custom built root chambers. Most likely you can salvage your table top.

Keep me posted.

 

[kushking20]

Pirate how much would u sell a battleship setup with everything just plug in n grow??????Please get back to me Im interested.

 

[Grow4Flow]

Pet Flora,
Thank, I did see those at lowes and HD but didnt know if they were any good. ill give it a shot.

I just converted my 3x3 tables to aero and im having better results so far in my veg system than I have had in both Ebb n flow and coco.

 

[PetFlora]

Grow4Flow

You will need that timer to really get in the zone. Maybe even an accum, but that remains to be seen. I'm goinna see how close I can get without an accum.

Pirate/KushKing20: I don't think Pirate will mind me interrupting this thread as he loves putting rigs together, and this is just one example of his excellent skills BUT his premise is false. Now before you make me walk the plank, hear me out...

On the first page of this thread Pirate says low pressure is cheaper. Maybe that was true 5 years ago, but today you can put together a high pressure system for about the same price (maybe less) than this model, but one that is much easier to assemble/maintain, AND, it will run circles around the best results from any low pressure system available. Arrrgh

I have an active journal to prove it, although at this moment it is missing a digital timer accurate to one second on times, and stacked totes. I will get 2 more totes today. See why a deep root chamber is critical in my journal.

My pod consists of two 18G totes (8 plants) with a foot print of 40 X 32: if you want a bigger system simply buy larger totes (but you will need more lights) and upgrade from the single fog heads that comes with the AMS to doubles (small upcharge). You will also need a 'Y" ($3-4) to split the nutes to each tote.

AMS kit is $199. It includes a 6800 high pressure pump, 2 fog heads, fittings, tubing and a deep cycle analog timer (but you don't want it). You should upgrade to the 8800 pump.

The next biggest expense is getting the proper timer. It is the timer that separates so-so results from killer results. It will set you back $186. Whether you decide to go low or high, I promise you, you need this timer! So for a total cost of under $400 you will have a state of the art high pressure system!

The tools you will need to cut holes for the net pots are identical, but all that plumbing (very professional job BTW) is totally unnecessary. You only need to drill one hole per fog head, and one fog head per 30G tote. You can literally assemble this system in less than 20 minutes!

ROOT PICS: Most people are impressed when they see huge roots, but only because they do not understand what to look for. The pics that Pirate posted are farely healthy, but far from ideal. Even my own aren't yet ideal: that's where the digital timer comes in. It separates the OK roots from real root porn that will take your grows to a very high level

 

[kushking20]

Any pics of this Petflora?????

 

[PetFlora]

Lots. They are in my grow journal, which you can find by clicking on my UN > posts or by clicking on Site Menu > Grow journals> True Aero...

 

[LoudBlunts]

nice thread!