.Smoke from the drivers, Qboards in the sky

[V256.420]

Lesson learned.
Boards are strapped to the top of the tent. These things are no joke. I never had plants tuck tail and run for shadow as hard and fast as these have. 18" @ 70% and they react like you have a 1kW SE 6" above them.

@V256.420
I saw you were talking about getting an led to try out.
Regardless of what you decide on (mine are lm281b+ for instance), it does seem like there's something to these things. Either they're powerful as f#ck, or the plants just hate them. I should know in a couple more days.
Anyway, I say go for it.

HLG Scorpion Diablo. Don't care about price. If I learn enough about LED I'll DIY down the road.

 

[.Smoke]

HLG Scorpion Diablo. Don't care about price. If I learn enough about LED I'll DIY down the road.

Can't go wrong either way with those choices.

I'm planning to burn these through a few runs while I learn a bit more on the subject and then swap the panels out on them once I know a little more about the different spectrum ratios.

The UV/IR still seem to be a little new to the scene, so I figure giving the manufacturers some time to figure it all out couldn't hurt.

Let me know when you get the Diablo. I'm sure it's impressive.

 

[V256.420]

Can't go wrong either way with those choices.

I'm planning to burn these through a few runs while I learn a bit more on the subject and then swap the panels out once I know a little more about the different spectrum amount ratios.

The UV/IR still seem to be a little new to the scene, so I figure giving the manufacturers some time to figure it all out couldn't hurt.

Let me know when you get the Diablo. I'm sure it's impressive.

I was hoping they would go on sale for 420 but with only 2 weeks to go I don't think they will. I'll wait another week then I'm pulling the trigger

 

[.Smoke]

Spent some time in the veg tent this morning.
Apparently I forgot and left the feed line on to a clone and managed to drown it. I decided to pop a Garden of Green Girl Scout Cookies in its place. Luckily I've gotten it down to a pretty easy process.

I use 1.5" rockwool cubes inside 2" net pots and pre-soak them in my regular veg feed.

Seed goes in the hole about a 1/4" down

Then I use a toothpick to gently cover it up a bit.

You can see here how I made the lids feed from underneath, directly onto the rockwool.


I cover them for the first week with a makeshift dome and that's that.

It will get watered 1 quart 2x daily until it's well established. So far this method has had about 90% success rate over the last 3 months or so I've been running it.

I dropped temps down to 79F, RH 66%. Everything is looking pretty good, but a bit dark for my liking with some mag deficiency showing on the stems. I've been running 2.5-2.5-1.0g/gal so I think I'll tweak it to 2.5-2.0-1.2 and see if that clears things up.

 

[.Smoke]

I've gotten the feeling that my pump for the flower tent maybe be a bit under powered due to the rise and length of the feed lines causing the furthest sites to get a little less water than the others. So it was time for an upgrade.

Old 24w/800gph pump, meet New 100w/1150gph pump.

No more low pressurization worries.

 

[.Smoke]

Getting some more refining done. After a few cable reroutes and some fan swapping, I was able to get all the boards spaced correctly and move my exhaust to the end of the tent for better airflow.


Now it's intake/dehumidifier/fans on one end...

With exhaust pulling @ the other end. Not going to miss the 8" ducting in the center @ all...

Everything is running @ 75% with no increase in tacoing or stress, but they're still pretty beatdown looking. Hopefully everyone perks up in a few days.

 

[.Smoke]

Things are looking a lot better.

Lights are anywhere from 24"-40"+ above the plants.
Canopy is an even spread from 26k-29k Lux even with the height differences of the plants. Big learning curve though. I'm usually shooting for 45k+ lux with HPS at this point. Definitely have to work on turning the throttle down a bit...


I'm glad I got 6 lights instead of 2 large ones. Being able to dial each one in independently is definitely a must for my perpetual setup. No matter how much training I do, I'll never come close to an even canopy due to the sheer number of different strains I run.

And the icing on the cake???
All that PAR only costing me $.11 per hour

 

[.Smoke]

I've been doing quite a bit of reading on the subject of vpd. Against 99% of the advice I've seen in the past and how I've always grown, (40-50RH for flowering) I decided to say fuck it and trust the science and some commercial growers personal advice from another site regarding their rooms.
So, referencing my newly favorite LED VPD chart,

My flower tent is set at 82-84F leaf temperatures and 65-70RH.

I removed the dehumidifier to have it running in the lung room, and also added an exhaust fan pulling air from the ceiling of the tent and recirculating it back through a floor vent hole for more air movement.

To my shocking surprise, the plants seem to love it.


So I guess it's hot and humid for me from now on.
It's already been a huge learning curve switching from HPS, but I think if I'm on the right track here, the environmental needs of led actually suits my setup better.

I may have to pull out an hps for some heat next winter, but I'll worry about that later.
For now, it's all about trying to get this lined out asap.

 

[.Smoke]

Deforestation completed on the Cannarado Birthday Funk day 22.

Nirvana Original Glue close to chop.

 

[Crysmatic]

I noticed my plants are happy with jacks 3-2-1 at a lower EC than when I was using maxi bloom. Maxi was always 1.8. Happy foliage but the happiness ended when it came time to smoke a bowl. Dark black ash. Not hard, but clearly contaminants were present using maxi bloom. I attribute the contamination to heavy metals in GH's maxi bloom raw elements. My jacks flowers burn to clean gray ash and are both smooth and enjoyable to smoke.

Have you tried maxi grow throughout flowering? Its ratios are closer to Jacks, and more importantly (wrt black ash) it has much lower phosphorus than maxi bloom. pot sulfate would improve flavour.

I want to try hempys with mega crop. fwiw, their new 2 part fertilizer is basically Jack's 321 with organics. imo jack's doesn't get the plants looking quite as healthy as mega crop (assuming both are used optimally).

 

[jonnynobody]

Have you tried maxi grow throughout flowering? Its ratios are closer to Jacks, and more importantly (wrt black ash) it has much lower phosphorus than maxi bloom. pot sulfate would improve flavour.

I want to try hempys with mega crop. fwiw, their new 2 part fertilizer is basically Jack's 321 with organics. imo jack's doesn't get the plants looking quite as healthy as mega crop (assuming both are used optimally).

I ran maxi for 2 years after running 1 cycle of jack's 321 thinking I would get bigger buds or yields. I paid 40% more for it. I didn't get bigger buds. I didn't get bigger yields. The flavor went to shit and the burn qualities became less than desirable. Dark black ash. Looks great. Tons of resin. Loaded with heavy metals from the low quality source of P and K general hydroponics uses in their maxi bloom blend. I couldn't figure out what the fuck happened. Same strains. Same buckets. Same RO water. What the fuck? Switched back to jack's 321 and just harvested my first batch of jack's buds in over 2 years. And I'm right back in flavor country! Clean gray ash? Check! Amazing flavor? Check! Read up on heavy metal content in P and K sources in the fertilizer industry. Who you buy your fertilizer from matters. Manufacturer's are not required to list heavy metal content on the label. Jack's tests for them and only uses top grade technical nutrients free of heavy metals. And it translates into the flavor and quality I'm experiencing now. Fuck maxi bloom and fuck general hydroponics. They wasted 2 years of my time with their garbage fertilizer. Back on jack's and life is good again. I've heard all about people on the forums saying too much P and K in flower causes shitty tasting buds. They were almost right. The heavy metals piggy backing onboard the P and K infest your flowers with heavy metals the more you use of those shitty heavy metal laden elements. Again, who you buy your fertilizer from matters. A lot! Jack's has been doing this since 1947. Do you think they might just know what they're doing? That was a rhetorical question If someone's plants don't look good using jack's consider it operator error. Nothing more. Just jack'n it dude:

 

[.Smoke]

Now that I don't have air cooled hoods taking up all my space, I can start to utilize my uvb bar again .
24" above the canopy gives a 4'x4' footprint. I'll be running it for 2 hours a day to start with.

We'll see how things look in a couple days. I can't wait for this side to finish up. These are the last of the plants that suffered through the nutrient change from Megacrop to Jack's 3-2-1

This side "should" end up looking much better.

 

[.Smoke]

I'm coming up on 2 years of growing in June. I've always ran a perpetual grow so I could sort through strains to figure out which I liked. Where I'm from the usual answer you got on what bud you were buying was always a "best guess" from the guy you got it from.

I've finally narrowed it down to a few strains I'd like to grow for a bit, so I'm ending my perpetual grow once my current plants are harvested.

I'll be running my 4'x8' with 4x- 220w and a 150w Qboards. 8 plants total. 4 Nirvana Original Glue and 4 ILGM Granddaddy Purple.

Second tent is my 4'x4' with 2- 220w Qboards.

First run is going to be a bit lopsided. There's a Blueberry Glue and Birthday Funk that are way ahead of the Girl scout Cookies seedling and another Birthday Funk clone, but I'm going to veg them all out here for another month and then flip.

Once they're finished this tent will run 4 Expert Seeds Blueberry Glue.

So that's the plan.
2 tents. 12 plants.
I'll be looking forward to having a grow all on the same schedule. I plan to harvest 1 tent every 8 weeks. I'm hoping for around 1.5lbs per 4'x4' area.

Let's see what happens...

 

[jonnynobody]

I'm coming up on 2 years of growing in June. I've always ran a perpetual grow so I could sort through strains to figure out which I liked. Where I'm from the usual answer you got on what bud you were buying was always a "best guess" from the guy you got it from.

I've finally narrowed it down to a few strains I'd like to grow for a bit, so I'm ending my perpetual grow once my current plants are harvested.

I'll be running my 4'x8' with 4x- 220w and a 150w Qboards. 8 plants total. 4 Nirvana Original Glue and 4 ILGM Granddaddy Purple.

Second tent is my 4'x4' with 2- 220w Qboards.
View attachment 4878698
First run is going to be a bit lopsided. There's a Blueberry Glue and Birthday Funk that are way ahead of the Girl scout Cookies seedling and another Birthday Funk clone, but I'm going to veg them all out here for another month and then flip.
View attachment 4878699
Once they're finished this tent will run 4 Expert Seeds Blueberry Glue.

So that's the plan.
2 tents. 12 plants.
I'll be looking forward to having a grow all on the same schedule. I plan to harvest 1 tent every 8 weeks. I'm hoping for around 1.5lbs per 4'x4' area.

Let's see what happens...

Looking good there smoke. Blueberry glue sounds pretty cool. Do you use grommets for the drain tubing? I think I'm going to automate the draining with a condensate pump after my current flower cycle finishes. The convenience is just too great. I'm no fan of draining drip trays
Looking forward to seeing how that blueberry glue turns out!

 

[.Smoke]

Looking good there smoke. Blueberry glue sounds pretty cool. Do you use grommets for the drain tubing? I think I'm going to automate the draining with a condensate pump after my current flower cycle finishes. The convenience is just too great. I'm no fan of draining drip trays
Looking forward to seeing how that blueberry glue turns out!

The Blueberry Glue really is unique. It has a really strong "suck your cheeks in" sour berry flavor with an uplifting but sedating high. It's proven to be a nice daytime strain if you have high tolerance.

I use 3/8" quick connect X 3/8" male John Guest fittings for my drains.

PP011223WP - John Guest PP011223WP - 3/8" Tube OD x 3/8" NPTF Male Connector (Single-Pack)

John Guest PP011223WP - 3/8" Tube OD x 3/8" NPTF Male Connector (Single-Pack) - John Guest Push-to-Connect Male Connectors are manufactured from white polypropylene and equipped with EPDM O-rings utilizing John Guest’s push-fit technology to make easy, reliable, leak-free connections. They have...

www.supplyhouse.com

I use a hot glue gun to seal them inside and out.
Pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

 

[.Smoke]

Already a change.
I decided to keep 5 of the 220qb's in the 4'x8'.



That gives me a 220w and 150w in the 4'x4' for now. I plan to add another 100w or 150w in there the next time Amazon has a deal on something decent.

 

[.Smoke]

Well that didn't take long.
$64 after taxes with a $15 coupon. 100w dimmable, Lm301b 3k, 5k, uv, ir.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08MXPTB29?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image

 

[jonnynobody]

Well that didn't take long.
$64 after taxes with a $15 coupon. 100w dimmable, Lm301b 3k, 5k, uv, ir.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08MXPTB29?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image

That's a dam good deal for a 100w qb with lm301b chips! Nice score! $64 out the door is an absolute steal. Compliments on the cacti by the way. Very cool.

 

[.Smoke]

That's a dam good deal for a 100w qb with lm301b chips! Nice score! $64 out the door is an absolute steal. Compliments on the cacti by the way. Very cool.

Quick question for you.
What temps/rh are you keeping your tents with the LEDs at? I'm running into issues that I'm thinking are due to heat.

The plants seem to be fine with leaf temps up to 78F, but anything 80f+ and I'm getting tacos and tip/edge burns.

I know they say around 82F is optimal, so I'm worried I might run into issues running below 80F.

 

[jonnynobody]

Quick question for you.
What temps/rh are you keeping your tents with the LEDs at? I'm running into issues that I'm thinking are due to heat.

The plants seem to be fine with leaf temps up to 78F, but anything 80f+ and I'm getting tacos and tip/edge burns.

I know they say around 82F is optimal, so I'm worried I might run into issues running below 80F.

My RH is usually around 40-45% and temps are 78-82. Consider the intensity of the your new LED lighting. They can taco leaves easily if too close to the canopy especially if coupled with a temperature increase. They might be getting too much of a sun tan The only optimal temp is the one your garden performs best at. If your girls respond best at 78 then run the temp at 78. Every garden is a little different and has different needs. Dialing in new LED's can be a little tricky. It took me a little tinkering to get everything in the sweet spot, but you'll get it. The learning journey is fun too just trying different things.