LEDs Stripping Back the BS. Vegging 6 Clones under 22 Watts

[PetFlora]

Especially with LED tubes - twice the wattage means more there, since you get a lot more penetration with them, too.. Biggest LED 2' T5 tubes I've seen are 9W and that's pretty piddly, haha

I have a different take on 2ft led tubes: if you have a 2.5-3ft square closet, the 2 fters light will be as effective per square foot, and may be even better per cubic foot as the tighter space should reflect considerably more light back into the plant. Certainly be great for clones/seedlings (or growing one plant)

 

[PetFlora]

This is a critical time for bud development.

I now err on the side of caution in my DWC bubble system, and change nutes more often at this stage. I waited 6 days, but should have changed at 5. Nutes were 1250, pH 6.0. Fresh nutes: 940, pH 5.9

While 1250 is no big deal if it's fresh nutes, it's a very big deal when what is being released into the bucket (~ 250ppm; 1/4 of the ppms) is stuff the plant does not want/need- waste products. I certainly don't want their roots soaking in a septic tank.

About 3 changes ago, I added a step to the nute changes. I now clean/flush while changing out their buckets, placing each plant in a separate bucket with RO water + a few drops of Himalayan salt concentrate, + 2 air stones from their bucket. This is easy with bubbleponics using netpot lids. The whole assembly lifts off and gets transferred without trauma

Plant Update

While I am very impressed with the amount of trics, using only WW bulbs and tubes, I am not seeing a ton of swollen calyxes. This might be due to a lack of 640+. Got my finger on the trigger of my UFO

In speaking with the company making 2400K bulbs, they had no plans to make them in tubes as their 2400s are RP. I neglected to ask for 3 globes which I can put in my vanity fixture. I will be calling them soon- we're 3 hours apart

Call made. They are very interested. Hoping to get 3 @ 10w globes to beta test

 

[captainmorgan]

Pet have you seen these? They have 2700k and 5000K. Less lumens and more expensive than the household bulbs but they are floods. No need to buy or make reflectors.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/204366182?productId=204366182&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053#.UfHs3Y2Tzng

http://www.designingwithleds.com/cree-led-65w-equivalent-br30-flood-light-tear-down-and-review/

 

[PetFlora]

Awesome find! Hope my local HDs stock them. Hopefully they will provide more flood than the A19- now in use under canopy. I will buy 2 and put them in the vanity over the 2 plants

In the mean time, I took out one of the extenders, so the bulbs are now closer to the canopy, but ~ 6" below it

The company I have been talking to regarding the 2400K has no clue about the horticulture market. Their 10w is $20, but has to come from CA, which takes 5 working days and I need warmer color NOW to see whether it is what's holding back calyx development

Here's a comment from the Designing page A $20 BR30 doesn’t undercut the competition much, but a $17.47 one does. Order a 4-pack from HomeDepot.com for $69.88 to enjoy the discount–much more significant than the 50¢/bulb savings with the A19 multi-packs.

 

[PetFlora]

The company making the 2400K globes (not tubes) has no clue about the indoor horticulture market. I can buy a couple of 10w @ $20, but they are on the west coast and I am on the east, so 5 days for shipping.

I can't wait that long, and 20w may not help that much.

I checked the girls this morning, no improvement in calyxes, whereas, the same 2 clones under heavy HOT5 reds had a normal amount.

However, I have to say there are considerably more trics. Sure seems like all that's missing is 640-650

Even though Home Depot now sells Cree Spot Lights; 10w @ 2700K, instead of spending $40 for 20w, I decided to put my 90w UFO over one plant. It's ~ 70% reds, a flowering LED.

I put a divider between, so no bleed. It may be too late to promote swelling calyxes. Time will tell

In using the ufo, I ran out of plug ins, which eliminated the sub-canopy globes. I just solved that by adding a power bar then anther splitter on the non UFO side, now using 2 @ 5w WW + the sub-canopy globes. 2 Cree Spots could still be on the table for the non UFO side

Probably need to take a few pics

 

[PetFlora]

Hey guys and gals

Just thought I would let you know I ordered a few things in prep for the next tent battle. This time both tents will use Hydro Halo 2.0, taking advantage from lessons learned from the first ever go-round using HH Drip Rings.

HH was not used from the start, and info on the net is scarce, so it took a while to develop a basic 'protocol'.

So this time there will be several important changes to be employed as soon as seedlings are big enough to transfer from a 35 lpm bubbler to amplify root development

At the end of HH 1.0, I wound up with a feeding cycle of 8 second 'on' with ~ 5 minute intervals. This is why the roots were so fluffy, ala hpa.

New pump 160 gph is ~ half the GPH (320) of the pump I used the first time. Since the rings are not about delivering a large liquid volume the smaller pump should easily do the job. A plus to pumping 1/2 the nutes per cycle, expecting to get by with < 5 g rez.

I will be using BrandX G13 X WW pollinated with Bubblegum male. Never grew this, so not sure what to expect volume-wise, but it should be awesome bud

I expect to add 2 more tubes to the led tent; I will get 2700s. The 3000Ks are producing lots of quality trics, but not seeing much calyx development. I'm guessing the 3000K does not provide sufficient 640-650nms that 2700K does

I have a source for 2400K A19 globes, which I will add during flower, unless someone introduces 4ft tubes by then

 

[captainmorgan]

I saw a new light today that I'm interested in and had a nice talk today with Bill the owner where I got my flower initiator from. He say's that he's seeing better result from supplementing during flower with the 660 and 680 combo over the usual 630 and 660,check it out.

http://growlightsource.com/products/indoor-outdoor-led-grow-lights/e-effect-50-red-booster-50-watt-660nm-680nm-50-50-grow-light/

 

[PetFlora]

One thing I learned from own a ufo- they don't spread the love very far, certainly not far enough to cover ~ 2 x 4 area

Maybe he is onto something with the 680. Keep in mind >630 the life expectancy of the diodes goes way down

AgriGro makes red tubes ($73/4ft) I have to check it may be 660 only

 

[PetFlora]

The 5630 mid-power LED now offers efficacy as high as 180 lm/W, and 1W operation in the 3030 LEDs promises to lower the cost of SSL products

http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/7/16?cmpid=EnlLEDsJuly312013

 

[PetFlora]

Couple of notes

I have been re-experimenting with magnets. 3 powerful donut shape mags, one half again as big as the other 2, so it is in the middle. Mags are placed in repulse, as close as I can get them. This creates a powerful energy vortex. The clone on the right has had them around the base for several weeks. It is definitely fuller

Coming down the home stretch (~ 10 days)

Changed nutes lowered ppm to ~ 510 will cut that in half in 5 days

 

[PetFlora]

Based on presumed results using 3 really large magnets on clone #2, I went to the hobby store in search of Alnico magnets. No luck, but they had a 6 pack of 1" donut iron magnets, which are now surrounding the base of clone #1. They are not very powerful, so no idea what to expect, especially this late in the grow

I moved them closer to the main stem in expectation of creating the strongest possible energy vortex

There is a lot of fun web searching to do, so instead of asking me, knock yourselves out. It also affects water



Here's a potential DIY LED winner 1 x 4 led panels @ 45w x 4100+ lumens! 3 each 1 x 4 panels each 4000 lumens would provide some kick-ass light in a 2 x4 and quite possibly up to 5 x 5 grow area. I can see one on top and one on each side at a 45* angle

I inquired about minimum + questions like heat dissipation, daisy chain, etc http://www.opleder.com/china-hanging_led_flat_panel_lights_indoor_45w_lumen_4100_6500k_ra75-1179644.html

 

[PetFlora]

I will be using BrandX polycross G13xWW-pollinated with Bubblegum seeds for my upcoming grow, so I decided to research the 3 strains.

http://www.seedsman.com/origins-of-g13


White Widow numerous seed companies sell WW and may have slightly differing characteristics http://sensiseeds.com/en/cannabis-seeds/whitelabel/white-widow

White Widow is known for its abundance of THC and high potency. Its bud glistens with a high volume of trichome crystals.

At first White Widow provides an euphoric and energetic type high. After a while, the high level of Indica in the strain causes a tiredness and "couchlock" that Indica is famous for.

White Widow is a smaller, more compact plant, and is suitable for growing both indoors and outdoors.or this indicating Sat dominant

There was a time when nothing could touch White Widow. There&#8217;s been quantum leap forward in marijuana genetics in the last 10 to15 years, but White Widow was once the Mia Ham of Marijuana, and is still regarded as a heavy-weight contender. And she should be. White Widow has won more awards than Nelson Mandela, including the coveted Cannabis Cup in 1995. And in a field ripe with world-class buds, the Widow still stands tall. The big pine-cone buds are iridescent green pinstriped with orange hairs. At full bloom the buds are covered in a white coating of sugary sativa trichomes. It&#8217;s an experience for the White Widow rookies. White Widow thrives indoors, but does well outdoors, too. The bouquet is skunky with undertones of spice. The high is pure sativa psychedelica, a pulsing, high-energy cerebral effect.

Bubblegum copied from Marijuana Compare site

The original Bubble Gum is from the US. In the 1970&#8217;s it had the name Indiana Bubble Gum. It has been taken to Amsterdam during the 1990's where a stabilized strain was developed and was named Bubble Gum.

If you grow the Bubble Gum properly it will, according to its name, fill the entire house with a bubble gum aroma. Even when you smoke the plant you will taste a little bit of bubble gum.

The plant offers nice, dense and frosty buds. The plant height can be considered short 90 cm -120 cm (3-4 feet). The yield for this strain is medium. The strain is extreme potent with THC levels reaching up to 30%. While growing the plant can get a reddish color.

Bubble Gum is widely known to be the best tasting strains and logically has won the High Times Cannabis cup for 4 times.

 

[PetFlora]

I changed nutes Thursday pH was ~ 6.1 for both clones

Today #1 pH (the one that had been without mags was dropping 4-5 points) but now with magnets, the pH was 5.9

It sure seems like the mags are destabilizing pH swings, somehow neutralizing the waste entering the rez

 

[PetFlora]

I think this article validates the effects unquantifiables have on plant, or human life

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/08/04/barefoot-grounding-effect.aspx?e_cid=20130804_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130804

I repositioned the plant buckets in order to place the jug of ice closer to the fan. Lights on temp was 82, now 78. Not that 82 is bad, but I had to keep the front flaps wide open. 78 is with tent completely zipped, keeping more light where it belongs

 

[PetFlora]

I responded to a thread asking about 8 bulb Quantum Bad Boy, offering the following 411...

Life expectancy of 54w bulbs We know that 600+ nms is essential to max budding. The problem is red phosphors do not last as long as blue (450-500), but LED diodes will last many times longer than cfl.

I do not have a way to measure spectral output, but i doubt there will be much value after the 4th flowering cycle @ 12 hours per day. Factoring in taxes and shipping exotic aquarium bulbs cost me ~ $30 per

I paid $35 per 18w LED tube + shipping. Believe me 18w led gives 54w HOT5 a run for it's money. Why? Well HOT5 distributes homogenous light in 360*s, hence the need for reflectors. There has to be some loss. If it's ~30%, a new bulb provides ~ 35 watts to the canopy. However, LED tubes light 100% of their wattage straight down in ~ 120* coverage. By the 2nd or 3rd HOT5 grow, due to loss the comparison is ~ even, and by the 4th grow LED tubes should outperform the HOT5s.

 

[PetFlora]

The girls are taking their sweet time to finish, and I am going to be popping beans tomorrow

My idea that the magnets were stabilizing ph went out the window. Both had dropped to 5.1/5.2 in 2 days

They are heavier than they look

I am having auto focus issues after dropping Canon EOS Rebel from 2 ft. Anybody?

 

[420Barista]

sorry your magnet experiment went out the window, I was curious since i never saw anyone use magnets in a grow. as for the ph dropping to the low 5.1/5.2 thats not to bad if it were going up ther other way i would be concerned. your ladies are looking lovely

 

[mc130p]

Yeah, magnets won't affect your pH. You'll need to add acids or bases to do that. Temperature effects on pH are also minimal in the range that plants can survive. I wonder if anyone has thought about, or tried experimenting with different buffers to help maintain constant pH.

 

[PetFlora]

sorry your magnet experiment went out the window, I was curious since i never saw anyone use magnets in a grow. as for the ph dropping to the low 5.1/5.2 thats not to bad if it were going up ther other way i would be concerned. your ladies are looking lovely

Thanks. It's not that the magnet experience is out the window, just that i had thought it was controlling pH; that didn't pan out. Plus, I started using them late in flower, so will use them next grow as soon as seedlings are put into net pots

Considering the girls are flowering nicely under ~ 110w is awesome for someone growing on the cheap in a small space

 

[Growingforpeace]

So how many watts of led during veg/flower cycle do you need per plant and any additional after the first? These sound great for a small grow. Mercury and heat from cfl as well as there overall feeling of being so fragile is a turn off.Thanks. Still hoping I somehow get my seeds in the mail so I can grow some dang medicine.