My first fogponic - any advices?

[Kamisama]

Hi guys, I am gonna try also fogponic but have some unclear questions, which I cant find answers anywhere.

Heres my setup, I am gonna test just with one pot for now but final goal r 4 buckets.
30l buckets on around 4-5cm base because I ll have drainage hole with tube (16mm) going into semi tank (inside tent) with magnetic water level swith at 2-2.5cm, water will be pumped with DC pump in big res outsoide of tent, where I ll mix goodies for plant, from this big res will water goes to small res, where water valve maintaining water lvl for atomizer (fogger) with 3x DC fans (I ll regulate their speed), that helps to spread fog into buckets via corrugated tubes. Will have 4 buckets in 5x5 tent, with 6inch inline fan, carbon filter and F.O.G led light AIR pro III.
Thats pretty much my plan for setup, now how to operate it properly, I ll add nutrients, water, adust PH on 5-7 days cycles.

1. Cycles
I was planning to use cycles 5m off, 30s on but seems like that ll give around 8.3L of water per day with 7L/h fogger. That seems to me like too much, althought the water will not stagnate in bucket and will return in big res. But still, I am not sure, if plant will not end up overwatered. I ve read some growers use 15m on, 15m off but I dont wanna use fogger that long, especially when fog I assume will be very thick in buckets in 2-5s.
ANY SUGGESTIONS I could try instead of doing mistake from the beginning?

2. Amount of water
I ve tried octopots before and plants didnt drink much, which was a surprise. So my next question is how much water per cycles of plant should I ve in big res for a 5-7 days? I dont wanna end up filling more water, while there already is still a lot of pre-existing one as that PH will fluctuate and I dont wanna add for example blackjak (humic, fulvic acid, well very messy dark coloured liquid), which for me worked pretty much as stabilizer of PH in big res for octopots.
ANY SUGGESTIONS whats the reasonable amount of water per plant in pre-veg, late veg (obviously will depend from plants size) up to mid of flower?

3. Atomizer
Currently dont have that big 10 head fogger (7L/h) I plan to use as I am just testing but my other question is, if its not overkill for 4 plants? Maybe 4 head fogger (circa 3-3.5L/h). Theres nothing to my knowledge with what I could control and decrease the amount of fog coming from atomizer.
ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Thanks for any advice in advance :)
Kami.

 

[Zill]

Why are you misting the roots? Isn’t that sort of finicky.

1). Mist all day. Doesn’t hurt. You will always be dialing in the timer based on plant size.
2) it’s a unique fogger set up. You figure it out.
3) depends on the fogger tip design. Throttle down the inlet water pressure. Depending on the tip that may not work with your nozzle design.

 

[Trash_2002]

Did you think about power outage? ~3h without power on aeroponics/foggerponics and you will have big time problems.

Never did any of those setups neither helped anyone doing those setups,
But I hear it's growth is even more explosive than rdwc if done properly.

Post a journal about this experience I would love to follow it.

 

[4HyerLevelz]

I only ran HP aeroponic on one grow..it was not cannabis. The root structure was incredibly different than what I observed with DWC. Think of a fluffy root cloud. I will try it again. I have to wonder if my pressure holding tank is still safe. I made the mistake of not evacuating and drying it before storage. It could be a painful experience, literally, to find out the rust has weakened the walls. I wish you success Kamisama. I think the secret to success, is try something until you decide that there is something better to try. When I set up the HP aero..i built one section at time. I am not quite following your diagram to where i can understand it completely just yet. I will keep watching and learning.

 

[Kamisama]

Prečo zahmlievate korene? Nie je to také vyberavé?

1). Hmla celý deň. Nebolí. Časovač budete vždy vytáčať podľa veľkosti rastliny.
2) je to jedinečné nastavenie hmly. Prídete na to.
3) závisí od konštrukcie hrotu hmly. Znížte tlak vstupnej vody. V závislosti od hrotu, ktorý nemusí fungovať s vašou konštrukciou trysky.

I am gonna use this for fogging, not sure what water size of particle it produces. Misting because its easier to setup and I think it ll be faster and easier absorbed by roots then just regular sprinklers. Cant control this one preciselly, just timing and the only thing I can control more pricise is speed of DC fan, so the fog would stay in bucket longer (or I could do timing for DC fan too same as fogger). Water will eventually condensate in bucket and will get to drainage res. Having fog in bucket whole day I ve read isnt very optimal for roots as they need also air, it might get plant into overwatered phase. So wonder about the cycles, try and error but yes will get to right setup eventually, hopefully :)

 

[Kamisama]

Did you think about power outage? ~3h without power on aeroponics/foggerponics and you will have big time problems.

Never did any of those setups neither helped anyone doing those setups,
But I hear it's growth is even more explosive than rdwc if done properly.

Post a journal about this experience I would love to follow it.

Yes, the power outage is also one of my concern but it doesnt occur like at all... In case of a longer planned power outage I am not prepared. Would have to change into kratky method. Should be easy to fix with water ventil on tube used for drainage of water so water would stay in buckets.
Hopefully will not lead to root problems, there I dont have any experiences as I never encountered them yet.

https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/%F0%9F%A4%B7%E2%80%8D%E2%99%80%EF%B8%8F-excess-or-deficiency-nutrients-or-virus-help-me-%F0%9F%99%8F.150284/post-2996615

 

[Kamisama]

I only ran HP aeroponic on one grow..it was not cannabis. The root structure was incredibly different than what I observed with DWC. Think of a fluffy root cloud. I will try it again. I have to wonder if my pressure holding tank is still safe. I made the mistake of not evacuating and drying it before storage. It could be a painful experience, literally, to find out the rust has weakened the walls. I wish you success Kamisama. I think the secret to success, is try something until you decide that there is something better to try. When I set up the HP aero..i built one section at time. I am not quite following your diagram to where i can understand it completely just yet. I will keep watching and learning.

Thats how its supposed to look like based on what I ve read, fluffy roots but pure white colour. Dont u use plastic tank? Yes, I am gonna test just with one bucket first and will see, especially the leaking might occur, so need to use right steps and materials. Had a lot of problem with that in my octopots. Easy diagram... water from bucket and fog from green tank.

 

[Zill]

4Hyer,

I saw the same thing when I was fogging. Roots get really hairy when grown in a fog, makes sense.

Misting should involve short quick bursts. Rapid on and off. O2 should not be an issue.

 

[4HyerLevelz]

This thread gave me the incentive to get out of my chair and poke around the pole barn. I found the bucket very quickly...looks like it needs a bit of cleaning. I looked back at my pictures.This was used once in winter of 2017-2018. I started with just a 13 gallon container but the roots wanted to clog the drain line. My solution was to cut the bottom out and glue silk screen on it. It then nestled in the 8 gallon for drainage back to the reservoir.

I couldn't find a good picture of the final cloud of roots. I did find a picture of the hairs starting to form

It will take me awhile to remember what I did and why I did it...getting too old to remember something from nearly 6 years ago. Your picture of the fogger unit, cleared up your diagram in my mind quite a bit. I can understand the basic principle that you are trying to achieve now.

 

[4HyerLevelz]

I found more components. Fortunately they appear to have landed in about the same zone as each other. This was the pump and pressure tank. The tank is metal with a diaphragm that holds the pressure nutrient solution. This was so the pump does not need to turn on and off for a second at a time. I will have to look back at my mostly missing notes to see the actual time interval that I eventually settled on. I have to wonder, I see that the tank pressure gauge is reading 130 psi after pulling the tank out of storage 5+ years, There is no way that can be accurate..can it be?

 

[Kamisama]

This thread gave me the incentive to get out of my chair and poke around the pole barn. I found the bucket very quickly...looks like it needs a bit of cleaning. I looked back at my pictures.This was used once in winter of 2017-2018. I started with just a 13 gallon container but the roots wanted to clog the drain line. My solution was to cut the bottom out and glue silk screen on it. It then nestled in the 8 gallon for drainage back to the reservoir.

View attachment 2027850

I couldn't find a good picture of the final cloud of roots. I did find a picture of the hairs starting to form

View attachment 2027851

It will take me awhile to remember what I did and why I did it...getting too old to remember something from nearly 6 years ago. Your picture of the fogger unit, cleared up your diagram in my mind quite a bit. I can understand the basic principle that you are trying to achieve now.

I plan to use root control disc from autopot to prevent roots growing in hose that ll be connected from bottom of bucket. Hopefully it ll drain fast throught it. Dont wanna cut roots if possible.

 

[Kamisama]

I found more components. Fortunately they appear to have landed in about the same zone as each other. This was the pump and pressure tank. The tank is metal with a diaphragm that holds the pressure nutrient solution. This was so the pump does not need to turn on and off for a second at a time. I will have to look back at my mostly missing notes to see the actual time interval that I eventually settled on. I have to wonder, I see that the tank pressure gauge is reading 130 psi after pulling the tank out of storage 5+ years, There is no way that can be accurate..can it be?
View attachment 2027892

Did you even need a pressure tank? I d use only a decend pump with a timer and possibly some water lvl sensor.

 

[4HyerLevelz]

Remembering....yes, I needed the tank, not only for pump life, but also to keep pressure available in the line at the solenoids for the short blast interval. I am probably going to set this back up for this winter. I will post pictures of what I have going on soon after I start. Winters are long here.

 

[Kamisama]

After some thourough research I came to a conclusions, which bring a dilemma, if I should actually go fogponic or rather DWC with air stones or using high pressure nozzles, which is similar but have lil bit bigger droplets particles.
Fogoponics itself has issues with 800ppm and higher for the devices because of salts and higher maintanance of system, possible more frequently than every 7 days, althought EC should be basically half of what we use normally based on stage of plant. Another issue is badly developed roots and problem in later stages of plant, where its neccessary to absorb bigger particle nutrients. I ve found out that ceramic discs coated in teflon might be better, have those that are coated in quartz.

Seems like fogponic is the best for cloning, rooting, early veg or combo with DWC with draining of water from buckets... Having cycle with fog and also root in water with extra O2 via air stones.

I ll prolly still try pure fogponic cause cost is basically same as DWC I ve already priced for comparison.

Pros I see are:
- less water and nutrients
- easier cycle change cleaning, no need to drain water
- faste root growth, so if u ll have small net pots (not sure, if plant will be properly supported) then roots will be out of hydroton a 2-3 days
- this I am not quite sure but I still believe these method might provide more vigorious growth (faster stress training) and more yields, just not sure how much more than DWC

Cons:
- foggers I think dont have such long life as air pumps
- without electricity u r doomed, if u cant change to at least kratky method temporarily
- if u ll get damaged fogger, its same like losing electricity, some reccomenend not buying those big 10 head foggers but multiple one head foggers
- more frequent maintanance than DWC, if DWCs done right with pumps, water circulation, etc (mainly cleaning heads of fogger)
- just very thin roots, the thick one, which transport more nutrients will be missing, so for the later stages of plant, not sure if the amount of tiny roots will compensate it.


ANY THOUGHTS?

 

[Kamisama]

Instead of DWC, I should prolly compare it to aeroponic with high pressure nozzles.
If that works better than hydro, than not sure why fogponic wouldnt either. When I was actually comparing at the beginning of my post partciles of droplets, I ve actually was talking about aeroponics, which have bigger particles than fogger product...


Wonder, how aeroponics deal with salt in those nozzles and very thin tubes?
Seems like I ll need a really strong pump.

 

[Kamisama]

I found more components. Fortunately they appear to have landed in about the same zone as each other. This was the pump and pressure tank. The tank is metal with a diaphragm that holds the pressure nutrient solution. This was so the pump does not need to turn on and off for a second at a time. I will have to look back at my mostly missing notes to see the actual time interval that I eventually settled on. I have to wonder, I see that the tank pressure gauge is reading 130 psi after pulling the tank out of storage 5+ years, There is no way that can be accurate..can it be?
View attachment 2027892

What PSI do u use? I ve read 80PSI is ok... so basically a pump that turns on at 80PS and turns off t 100PSI.
Didnt find yet to optimal one, just pressure tank.

 

[Chronic Monster]

Subbed, looking forward to seeing this play out.

 

[Kamisama]

I think the answer is aeroponic, not fogponic.

Althought seems relativelly cheapier, if we d not use air compressor with pump and special double input azomizer nozzles.
Heres the schematics:
One input nozzle
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005206880085.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.48e538daGhAIH1&mp=1
Tank - filter - pump (at least 70psi turn off) - pressure switch (if pump doesnt have one) - accumulator tank (5L should be big enough) - solenoid - nozzle (regular one)
Two input nozzle, air and water
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003979599517.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.48e538daGhAIH1&mp=1
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004027106519.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.48e538daGhAIH1&mp=1
Tank - filter - pump (probably could be weaker) - pressure switch (if neccessary) - accumulator tank (5L) - SOLENOID - two input nozzle
Air compressor - accumulator tank - pressure switch - SOLENOID - two input nozzle

ANYBODY HAVE EXPRIENCES WITH THIS SETUP? I ll use most probalby just DC air compressor and water pump...

Need answers on second setup and if just air compressor 120-150psi would be enough with some weaker pump or it ll still equire water pump with 70psi+?

Same schematic as I ve drawn, just without semitank with fogger.

 

[Kamisama]

I ve decided to make a new thread for this as using a regular forgponic atomizer head isnt the way. It could seems cheap but its far more expensive as the clogging will force u to buy new tools over and over and your plants will die too.

Heres the link:
https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/hpa-high-pressure-aeroponic-first-attempt.153284/

I d close this thread to prevent further chating here but no idea how :)
Kami.