2.2 Recommended marijuana strains for the AeroGarden

3. The shopping list

Now you have your AeroGarden™ Bounty and your seeds, you will need the material below, and the optional list would help to have more yield out of your grow, but are not required.

3.1 Required

3.2 Optional products

Cannabis, like any other plants, needs calcium and magnesium.

Your tap water may have calcium and magnesium in small concentrations, but likely not enough.

If you’re using distilled water, you will need to add a Cal-Mag solution to your water as they are essential secondary nutrients for healthy plant growth.

Botanicare Hydroguard® is well known for their unique beneficial bacteria that help to increase root mass and health.

Pro-tip:

In my installation, I have added an external air pump with an air stone to make more bubbles in the root zone. This helps to prevent roots rot, and bring more oxygen to the roots.

The external pump also helps to reduce the usage of the AeroGarden™ built-in pump. The water temperature will stay low, and you will be able to keep an optimal temperature (between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit).

On the top of the AeroGarden reservoir, you will find two water/air ports with rubber plugs that you can remove.

They are the same size as the standard aquarium airline tubing. Just place the tubing inside one of them and put the air stone in the center of the bowl.

4. Nutrients and the importance of pH

Important: don’t use the provided plant food that comes with the AeroGarden™. This will not work, and you will lose your time and seeds.

I use General Hydroponics Flora Series, and I always have great results with these nutrients. Some other popular alternatives are Advanced Nutrients and Botanicare.

Your AeroGarden™ Bounty holds approximately 4 liters of water. I pour this amount of water into a big stainless steel mixing bowl. Let the tap water sit for 24 hours to become chlorine-free or use distilled water.

Now it’s time to add nutrients to the water. Begin with half of the recommended dosage by the manufacturer.

If you’re using GH Flora Series, take a look at this fully-tested nutrient schedule.

4.1 pH control

The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14. The pH of the AeroGarden™ solution should be between 5.5 and 6.5.

So I target 6, and I check with the pH pen tester every day and make the required adjustments with pH buffers (do not use pH up and pH down in the same solution).

In the vegetative phase, the pH tends to go higher, and in the flowering stage, it tends to go lower. Keeping the pH in the target zone is essential. Out of this zone, the cannabis plant may be unable to absorb some nutrients, and this leads to nutrient deficiencies.

If the pH fluctuates a lot or is out of control for a long time, your plant leaves will become distorted especially in the new growth areas.

This can be reverted, but the affected leaves will not return to normal appearance.

Key takeaway: pH problems can slow the growth of your cannabis plants and lower your yield.

4.2 Total dissolved solids (TDS) & parts per million (PPM)

Before pouring the solution into the AeroGarden’s bowl, you need to verify the concentration of nutrient in the solution with the TDS digital meter.

In the first weeks, the PPM should be around 400, and this amount increase as the marijuana plants grows. In the early flowering stage, the TDS could be around 1000+ PPM.

High nutrient concentration levels will not help the plant to grow faster and can lead to problems like nutrient burn.

5. AeroGarden setup to grow weed

Now the fun part! I assume you have already assembled your hydroponic system and you have transferred the solution to the AeroGarden reservoir.

Now let’s take a closer look at the control panel. First, set the clock, and if you’re in the quick plant menu, select the grow anything option.

5.1 Grow light settings

Select the sun icon, and follow the steps to configure the grow light. If you have autoflowering seeds, I recommend 20/4 light cycle. My settings are as follow; light open at 6:00 am, and close at 2:00 am.

For feminized seeds, I suggest 18/6 for the vegetative stage, then switch to 12/12 to trigger flowering stage.

5.2 AeroGarden™ Pump settings

Select the water icon, and then change settings. Follow the steps until you reach the pump on/off screen.

In the vegetative stage, I recommend setting the pump 30 minutes on, and 60 minutes off.

In the flowering stage, it’s better to give an oxygen boost in the water for the increasing root masse of your plants. So, if you don’t have an external pump, set the pump to 60 minutes on, and 30 minutes off.

If you have the external air pump with an air stone, keep in mind this one should run all the time from seed to harvest. You can configure the AeroGarden built-in pump 10 minutes on, and 60 minutes off when you run the external pump.

5.3 Nutrients settings

Finally, select the nutrients icon, and then settings. Set your nutrients cycle to 7 days. This is a simple reminder, and the AeroGarden™ will give you a warning every week to add nutrients and replace the water.

6. Seed germination

I strongly recommend growing only one or two plants at a time. Your marijuana plants will need an increased amount of space while growing and try to put more plants will decrease the yield.

Take two grow sponges and baskets, then place the seeds into the small holes. Be sure seeds are not falling too deep, (1/2” would be awesome). Cover the two pods with the provided transparent domes and put duct tape over the remaining pod holes.

From my experience, it could take anywhere from 2 to 4 days to see the first tiny sprout.