Aeroponics DIY - Aeroponics Systems

Aeroponics DIY Aeroponics Systems

Aeroponics Made Easy

For far too long aeroponics systems have been over complicated on the forums and online in general, but that is all going to stop now. It’s almost like they are trying to scare you out of it. They even talk down to growers who use low pressure aeroponics.

I build simple aeroponics systems without a lot of unneeded bells and whistles. If you want an aeroponic system for growing weed and not a science project you have come to the right place.

I have seen some diy aeroponic sites online where it is obvious these people don’t even grow.

I have seen some forum posts where guys only talk about their systems and not their crops.

They forgot they started out trying to grow weed. I say if you don’t have pictures it didn’t happen!

So don’t be put off. Start your aeroponics diy project and start today. Once you start growing with aeroponics you will never look back.

Aeroponic weed is the best weed you can grow. It grows faster, yields more and tastes and smokes better too.

You can get the same yields with half the nutrients because everything a plant needs is delivered directly to their roots.

You don’t need to waste money buying or replacing soil.

Aeroponic systems are also perfect for stealth or closet grows.

My methods and opinions may seem controversial but they have been field tested and my yields prove that my aeroponic systems work. I have been growing aeroponic weed for over 3 years now with these systems.

Anyone can build an aeroponic cloner or a low pressure aeroponic system. High pressure aeroponics is a bit more complicated and a bit more expensive but still a very doable project.

I am probably going to piss off some people. If you want to sell an aeroponic system for thousands of dollars to uninformed growers you will be pissed at me. If you are a forum troll or high tech geek you will be pissed off at me.

But if you want to easily grow aeroponic weed you are going to love this site.

Aeroponics – Keeping It Simple Stupid

You have probably heard the term KISS which is an anagram for keep it simple stupid. That is my approach to aeroponics, growing weed and to life in general. The more complex, the more moving pieces something has, the more likely it is to break. I am certainly not alone in this belief as the quotes below will show

“Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.” – Woody Guthrie

“Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to make something simple.” – Richard Branson

“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction.” – Albert Einstein

Why and how did aeroponics become so complicated that most are afraid to even try it out? The first aeroponic system known as the Ein Gedi System was low pressure and extremely simple and possibly because of its simplicity it was largely ignored.

But when NASA announced it would use aeroponics on its mission to Mars it brought a lot of interest and a lot of attention, especially for those who were growing weed on the forums. They began calling their totes pods and developing all kinds of crazy rules and definitions of what is and isn’t aeroponics.

They started developing complicated “high tech” systems. Somewhere along the way, in the quest for ever smaller droplet size and ever shorter cycles it seems they forgot they were just looking for a better way to grow weed. In fact if you dig up those old forum posts you hardly see any mention of better yields. If you used low pressure aeroponics you were shunned and it was dubbed false aeroponics.

Needless to say there were a lot of lost crops. People spent thousands building or buying the few available aeroponic units on the market. I think as a result aeroponics got a bad rep and unfortunately never really took off. A lot of disappointed growers simply went back to hydroponics and gave up.

Stupid Simple Aeroponics Is Born

I am certainly no genius but I do have the tenacity of a bulldog when it comes to doing something I want to do. I believe I have a true high pressure aeroponic system that anyone can build and grow successfully with whether they are growing weed or tomatoes or whatever. And I believe in keeping it simple.

Where Aeroponic Gardening Went Wrong

First I think the only really useful thing to come from NASA is Velcro. Sorry but Tang just doesn’t count. Astronauts drank it because they had no choice and we bought it like idiots thinking it was cool and “space age”, but in reality it was just a poor attempt at powdered Gatorade. I am all for space exploration don’t get me wrong here. But we are growers here on earth and we are not going to Mars so NASA’s ideas on aeroponics don’t necessarily apply. We also don’t have free taxpayer money to play with either so this needs to be affordable for the average Joe.

Weight is at a premium for a space shot. Every extra ounce makes it harder to overcome the pull of gravity. We don’t need to worry about this or use inflatable aeroponics systems. Our space is not as limited either so we really don’t need aeroponic towers.

If you look at the company NASA had design these units you will quickly see they are for growing small plants like adzuki beans or greens and not larger plants like weed or tomatoes.

Can you imagine trying to grow in conventional pots in space? Of course without gravity you would have soil and liquid everywhere. So they definitely needed a closed system and that works for us too because it allows us to use a fine mist and less nutrient solution.

Why Aeroponics?

For me there were several reasons for choosing an aeroponic system over regular hydroponics. I started growing in coco and yields were pretty good but along with soil comes gnats and the potential to harbor other critters and diseases. I also realized that plants grown hydroponically matured faster and yielded better.

So I started growing using a hydroponic top drip system and with the results I got I thought I died and went to heaven. But I had a problem because I lived in an upstairs apartment. Although I was a legal medical marijuana grower I didn’t want the other tenants or the landlord to know what I was doing.

I was concerned about all that water leaking below on a neighbors head. You would be amazed at how much just 20 gallons of water can spread. I also have some nosy neighbors so getting rid of spent soil or perlite was also a problem. So I was looking for a stealth grow. I did enough research to know I could eliminate all my growing media and most of my water with aeroponics.

There was really nothing out there that showed how to build a high aeroponic system. There were some forum posts on low pressure systems, they worked well, but still either used too much water or didn’t really provide enough room for the roots to grow. They were as much NFT systems (nutrient film technique) as they were aeroponic.

NASA hired Agrihouse to develop its aeroponic systems and they do make them available for sale but they are not really practical for growing larger plants and they are very expensive.

This Genesis system cost almost $3700. You have to be smoking crack to pay that much money for a tote with sprinkler heads in it.

I spent hundreds of hours researching and reading everything I could, looking at different pumps and nozzles and growing systems. Eventually I came up with an idea for my first aeroponic system using Rubbermaid totes and a closed loop system using tefen misters.

To my delight, when I tested it the system worked perfectly. My test produced a very fine mist that filled the tote. I couldn’t even get it to show in pictures and it was more of a fog. You could put your hand inside and feel a cool sensation but no water but when you removed your hand it was evenly covered in water. I started with 2 totes and a reservoir and then increased it to 3 totes.

Plants did very well and produced nice fish bone roots typical of an aeroponic grow and I found my plants needed a lot less fertilizer, in fact if I had used my previous nutrient levels I would have burned them. There was a lot of trial and error. I needed to find the best nutrients for my system, the right nute levels and the right on/off cycle.

Keeping Aeroponics Simple – Final Thoughts

My system is very simple and works like a charm. There are no solenoids or accumulator tanks. They are not needed. All there is is the right pump hooked to the right nozzles and a reservoir the totes drain into that also holds nutrients and a filter.

Does My High Pressure Aeroponic System Work? You Bet It Does!

The proof is in the pudding as the saying goes and if you are to believe anything I am saying you have a right to see some results. So here are a few random shots of a previous grow.

These were grown 12/12 from seed directly in my aeroponic system.

You can definitely grow large plants in my system. These were 6 feet tall and could have even gotten larger but I ran out of head space.One of my beauties. This grow yielded over 21 ounces in a 2’x4′ growing area. Not bad for growing from seed. With selected clones I believe I could double this.

Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule or the Pareto Principle? It was discovered by an Italian named Pareto who noticed 20% of Italy’s population owned 80% of the land. It turns out to be a universal law and it was adopted and applied to management and production. It can be used to simplify your life and a lot more. What it says is that there is a “vital few and trivial many” and you are probably wondering how this applies to aeroponic growing. Well it’s all about not majoring in minor things.

Pareto’s Principle, the 80/20 Rule, should serve as a daily reminder to focus 80 percent of your time and energy on the 20 percent of your work that is really important. Don’t just “work smart”, work smart on the right things.
http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Pareto081202.htm

Well 20% of your system will cause 80% of your problems. That’s why my system is simple. This rule states 80% of your outcome comes from 20% of your effort, so focus on what is important. Also if you grow from seed 20% of your plants produce 80% of your yield.

So what is important? Getting nutrients to the roots on time. What’s not important? If the nozzle drips after the pump shuts off or if some of the drops are larger than 50 microns or if your cycle is shorter or your pressure higher than the other guys.

The things many growers focus on, even obsess over, have almost nothing to do with yield or a healthy crop. They drain your wallet and cause problems that result in losing crops. Don’t go there!

What Is Aeroponics? Why You Want An Aeroponic System

What is aeroponics? That’s a fair question that deserves a straight forward answer. The term aeroponics comes from the root word aero for air and ponics which means working. So hydroponics means working water and aeroponics means working air.

Some consider aeroponics a special kind of hydroponic growing system and some consider it a totally different technique.

At its most basic aeroponics requires that roots are suspended in air and are sprayed, misted or fogged at intervals. In essence air is the growing medium whereas hydroponics uses water as a medium.

There are two basic types of aeroponic systems and they are high pressure aeroponics and low pressure aeroponics.

Low Pressure Aeroponics

Low pressure aeroponics uses mag drive pumps and ez clone type sprayers. They use a lot of water because these high volume pumps rarely give more than 10 psi at most and often only 2 or 3 psi. You will want at least 400 gph per tote to provide enough flow to run the sprinklers.

This system doesn’t use any grow media but holds seedlings or clones in a net pot with a neoprene insert. Some growers do use hydroton inside the net pots but this is totally unnecessary.

They can not produce a fine mist. I started with low pressure aeroponics and looked high and low for a submersible pump that could put out 25 psi or better so I could run fogging or misting nozzles and they just don’t exist.

The closest I came was a sump pump that got to 25 psi. Unfortunately it used a ton of water, power and had a conventional electric motor. There is no way it could have withstood the constant on off cycles for long and the power bill would be huge.

If you put these units on an interval timer they will work pretty well. You wont usually get those pretty fish bone type roots with this system but you can get some bumper crops with them once you dial them in.

Once I realized I was looking for something that didn’t exist I decided high pressure aeroponics was worth a try. It does cost more for fittings and spray heads but actually if you are going to grow 3 or 4 totes the pump prices are about the same. An added advantage is you can get a 24 volt system instead of running on 115v. Your plants will have pretty fish bone roots to better take up nutrients and you will be mixing a lot less nutrient solution too.

High Pressure Aeroponics

With high pressure aeroponics you use a pump that produces 80 psi or more and nozzles that produce droplets of 50 microns. The result is a very fine mist. Roots get moistened but never soaked and they develop that fish bone pattern.

If you compare my pics you can see the difference in root development between high and low pressure systems. Also I should point out that different strains have different sized root systems. Cinderella for example has a much smaller root system than Sugar Punch and my King Congo had the largest of all.

You don’t use any growing media with these systems. Instead plants are grown in net pots and held in place by a neoprene insert.

These high pressure pumps don’t move a lot of water and so you don’t need a large reservoir. This means you will have to mix a lot less nutes than with a low pressure or hydroponic system. The Aquatec 8800 series booster pumps work great for this. They are often used as pressure boosters for RO systems.

Because of the fine root structure and small droplets nutrient absorption is also greatly enhanced. So you will need to run your ppm about 50% lower than in a conventional system or you will burn your plants.

Hybrid Systems

There are also hybrid systems that some call aeroponic but in reality they are closer to NFT (nutrient film technique). You may have seen various hydro systems that use square vinyl fence posts or PVC pipe. The General Hydroponics Aeroflow system is a good example of this.

Even though these systems may not use media and spray the roots they are not aeroponic systems because there is no room for the roots to hang down. They work quite well actually, but we can do a lot better with a true aeroponic system.

Why Do You Want An Aeroponic System?

One of the major advantages aeroponic systems have over other types of growing methods is the lack of disease problems.

Because there is no soil there are no soil born diseases and also no soil borne pests. Also because the roots hang in the air these systems are free of the root rot problems that can occur with hydroponic growing systems.

These systems do not use air stones because there is no need for additional aeration. The root environment and falling mist or droplets provide all the aeration that is needed.

Growing media is not used in aeroponics. This saves money on operating costs and eliminates storing and disposing of spent media.

Because you don’t need media or noisy air pumps aeroponics is ideal for stealth growing. It is totally silent. Also you need to haul a lot less water and water weight and leaks can be a big issue with a hydroponic system, especially if you are growing in an upstairs apartment or an attic.

Aeroponic plants need 50% less nutes and what you do need to mix is less than any other system. This is another money saver for the grower.

Your plants will mature faster. An aeroponic grow will mature 7 – 10 days ahead of a soil grow. Both aeroponic and hydroponic systems will produce higher yields than a soil or soiless system. It is hard to say if one will out yield the other because systems vary so much, but the aeroponic plants will be superior to those grown any other way.

An aeroponic system grows superior weed simply because healthy plants with healthy root systems produce the best weed. Because you need less fertilizer the need to flush is reduced and the smoke is never harsh. You will also find that smell in the grow room and humidity levels are more controllable too.

So why do you want an aeroponic system? In a nutshell you will grow the best weed possible at lower cost, grow it faster and your plants will be disease free.

Don’t Pay Hydro Store Prices For Grow Gear

I buy most of my grow supplies on Amazon. They are usually much cheaper than my local hydro store. The only time I go there is if I run out of something and need it right away.

I recently broke a pH pen and got charged $66 for one that would cost under $30 on Amazon!

Also if you plan to build a high pressure aeroponic system the parts can be very hard to source locally.

Amazon offers free shipping on most products over $25 and often many items are tax free. If you join Amazon prime you can get free accelerated shipping plus many other great benefits.

RainForest 318 Aeroponic System Review

I have been using a RainForest aeroponic system from General Hydroponics for cloning and vegging and I wanted to share a review of my RainForest 318. This is an aeroponics deep water culture hybrid that produces excellent results.

The RainForest is almost an exact copy of the Ein Gedi System, developed in Israel.

Many people think NASA invented hydroponics. They did pioneer high pressure aeroponics for growing plants in space, but aeroponics got its start in Ein Gedi Israel where growers were looking for a way to conserve precious water.

The Ein Gedi System is a low pressure aeroponic system and is a hybrid of aeroponics and DWC. It uses a spinning disk called a Vortex Sprayer to deliver a fine spray to the roots which hang suspended in the air. The fine mist it produces is excellent for cloning weed.

But there is also a reservoir for the roots to grow in once they get longer. Water is pulled up a spinning tube from the reservoir and spayed on the roots it then rains down gently on the reservoir, aerating it. The system was later patented and only General Hydroponics manufactures it. I think this aeroponic system is the best combination of aeroponics and hydroponics around.

RainForest Aeroponic System Advantages

No Sprayers To Clog – Both high and low pressure aeroponic systems rely on sprayers or sprinklers to water the roots. Filters are needed to keep them from clogging and even then they sometimes clog. There’s nothing to clog in a Vortex Sprayer. Water is pulled up a spinning tube by centrifugal force and disperses through large slots to the rotating spray head.
No Expensive Cycle Timers Needed – The RainForest can be left running 24/7. No one minute on and 5 off cycles to raise your power bill or wear your pump out.
No Air Pumps Or Air Stones Needed – The Vortex Sprayer pulls up water from the bottom and the water returns to the surface like fine rain drops. The reservoir is always being aerated and recirculated without the use of air pumps or air stones.
No Complicated Plumbing – There is no complicated plumbing to leak, no accumulator tanks, no solenoids and no high pressure needed. There is only one drain tube in the RainForest and it won’t leak because there’s no pressure build up in the system.
The RainForest Is Compact – The RainForest measures only 22 inches across the top and 15 1/2 at the base. It is 17 inches high. The RainForest can easily fit in just about any closet if that’s all the space you have.
Your Crops Will Yield More, Faster – High and low pressure aeroponics growers may argue about which system is better, but all will agree that your plants will yield 2 to 3 weeks faster than in soil and give at least 20% more than similar sized plants in other systems.
Easy To Use – This is a very easy to use aeroponics system. Great for newbies or experienced growers. There is nothing complicated here. All you need to do is monitor your nutes and keep the water level between 10 and 13 gallons. That’s it, KISS at its best. Aeroponics doesn’t have to be scary or complicated to produce amazing results.

I think you will agree that the RainForest has some real advantages over other aeroponic/hydroponic systems. I can’t think of a single system that allows you to clone, raise transplants or flower that is as efficient or compact. If you are a larger grower these units can be linked together and maintained through a central reservoir.

The General Hydroponics RainForest

The Rainforest comes in 3 different configurations:

The RainForest 66, with 6 – 6 inch net pots
The RainForest 318 with 18 – 3 inch net pots
The RainForest 236 with 36 – 2 inch net pots

I purchased the Rainforest 318 and I will tell you why I think this is the best all around configuration. First, if you are not familiar with aeroponics, the roots hang down and are misted or sprayed. So the size of the pot has little to no bearing on plant size.

The RainForest 66 has only 6 plant sites and uses 6 inch net pots, which is a waste of space unless you plan on growing your plants to full size. If you want to root clones you will be limited. The unit comes with coco inserts that have 5 knock outs so you could root 30 clones theoretically but you will have to remove them as soon as they start to root or the roots will get tangled together.

The RainForest 236 with 36 2 inch net pots would be ideal for making lots of clones and you could still grow larger plants in it but no more than 6 so again a lot of the space is wasted IMO and if you want to veg and get larger transplants they will be very crowded.

The RainForest 318 will give you 18 single sites to raise larger clones or 90 total using the coco inserts but again you will have to remove your plants early. The 18 slots will allow ample room to veg your plants to a good size before flowering.You can still grow 6 plants to maturity by using inserts in the empty net pots. So this unit will allow you to make a fair amount of clones and grow larger plants so I think it will hit the sweet spot for most growers.

For those who can’t make up their minds, the tops are interchangeable and you can buy them separately. Each top consists of 6 modules and they can be interchanged and mixed if you wish giving you the ultimate in flexibility.

Unboxing The RainForest 318

So I got my RainForest 318 and took some pictures along the way. First let me say this is a high quality product. There are no cheap flimsy parts here. The bucket and lid are made from thick heavy duty plastic and nothing like a cheap Rubbermaid tote.

So here is what’s in the box: On left are the 6 modules that fit in the lid. The box holds the Vortex Sprayer and on top is the gasket it sits on. The white pipe with black fitting on the end is a root guard to keep roots from getting caught in the Vortex’s spinning shaft. Underneath that are 20 3 inch net pots, coco liners and coco inserts. Not sure why they give 20 for an 18 site planter but I appreciate the extras. Then there’s General Hydro’s Grow,Bloom and Micro nutes and two bags of hydroton.

In short there’s everything you need to start growing except the water!

Here is a close up of the lid assembly. You can see how the modules fit easily in the lid.

Something I haven’t seen, at least in any DIY aeroponics projects I’ve seen are the support straps in the bottom of the net pot recess.

I am not sure if I like them or not. They keep the net pots raised and are probably there to support the plant and its roots. They would be easy enough to remove but I am not ready to start cutting them just yet.

As an update, after using this for a while I would definitely recommend removing them. The roots will become tangled around them, making it impossible to move the plants without causing damage to the roots.

Here is the top of the RainForest with all the lids in and the Vortex in place. There is a rubber? boot that goes between the sprayer and the lid to seal it in place but it’s not real visible in this picture.

This next picture below is of the RainForest 318 living in my closet.

It has some newly rooted clones from one of my earlier grows. They were started in Rapid Rooters a week or two before I got the RainForest.

They look a little haggard but they are doing OK considering they sat in plastic cups for 2 weeks before I got the RainForest.

They came from my 12/12 grow so they were flowering but are being vegged now and starting to show new leaf growth.

RainForest 318 Review

So far I really like the RainForest 318. It is a solidly built and compact unit.

Considering all it can do I think it is reasonably priced. You can get it on Amazon for $235 with shipping included here.

It is versatile and can be used for cloning, vegging or flowering. It can be fit in small spaces or units can be grouped together for larger grows with an external reservoir.

It is fairly quiet too. The motor does give off a slight hum but it is barely audible. The motor, by the way runs on 12 volts dc, and comes with a plugin power supply. It can be run off solar panels if that’s your thing and also can be run off a UPS if you are worried about losing power.

I had some problems with the lid vibrating but found by not pushing the Vortex Sprayer all the way down in its mounting boot it stopped and there are no leaks.

The drain pipe does not really lock firmly in place and I did get wet socks before I found a wire from my lights had moved and lowered it. This issue was easily fixed by cutting a neoprene plug for the end of the tube. I do think there should be a ring to hold it in place.

The only other issue is accessing the reservoir for water changes. You wont want to remove the whole lid to do this. I unplug the power supply and remove one of the modules. There is plenty of room to add water or get a hand in there. I have a siphon unit I use for my fish tanks that attaches to a faucet so draining and filling is easy.

There is a small inspection port on the lid you can fit a hose in too and you can use a small transfer pump to fill and refill if you want. You could probably drain most of the res with the provided tube and use a turkey baster or something for the rest.

Another option would be to buy a tote and hook it up with a grommet and fitting to the existing drain tube. Then all filling and draining could be done from there. If you want to flower in this I would suggest this method and then put scrog netting above the RainForest.

In fact if you want to flower in this scrogging would be the best way to grow. Six plants will get really crowded in one of these if they are a large strain. Most Indicas would probably be OK but larger plants would need to be lollypopped and trained to a single cola.

The RainForest is perfect for a closet grow because it takes up so little space. It is just under 25 1/2″ at its widest point and 22″ from one flat side to the other and stands 16 1/2 inches tall. It is newbie friendly and easy to maintain and weed plants grow like crazy in this setup.

In spite of a few minor problems I am very happy with my RainForest 318 and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. For me it allows me to have a small, highly productive space for cloning, raising transplants or keeping mother plants. I really can’t think of another unit that does so much and is so easy to use and I think if you buy a RainForest you wont regret it.