do you experience a lot of stretch from leaving them on all day?
Barney's Gorilla Zkittlez
- Thread starter Laughing Grass
- Start date
Axion42
Well-Known Member
Nope not at all. From what the experienced lighting guys explained to me was in order not to trigger the SAS, or shade avoidance syndrome then you need twice as much red to far red. As long as you keep your ratio under 2-1 red to far red you won't notice much stretching, I only run 2 hlg3 far red boards at about 10-11watts.
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Thanks for that. I think this far red puck is 10 watts as well. I mounted it yesterday with some thermal tape on the bottom of my main light, then realized I have no way to time it. I ordered a new 4 outlet timer so I should be able to start using this on the weekend. Think there's any problem with me starting to use it mid-flower?
Thanks Willie. He's long since retired from construction work but still loves to brag about all the projects he was involved in.
Axion42
Well-Known Member
Nope you should be good. Try starting with a lower time of 15 minutes just incase they wanna stretch on you some more. Also a side note, check your timer 3, 4 or even 5 times before you set it and "forget" it. If that far red stays on all night or even a few minutes longer than it needs to, your plants will stretch bad. I use sonoffs for all my timers. No mechanical switches and I can see right from my phone what lights are on and what arent.
Axion42
Well-Known Member
Amazon has them: Far Red LED Initiator Puck https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073X5XSKB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.-mQDb2JWJBD1
Or rapidLED: https://www.rapidled.com/far-red-initiator-puck/
Will do. The new timer I bought is APC for controlling server room cooling equipment. Seemed like a good deal for $30. I don't think it's fancy like that where I can see it via wifi. I was planning on using it to also turn off the fan that cool my lights when they're not running.
Thanks I got mine at rapidled's Canadian site. @Axion42's amazon link is probably a better option. I ordered it the third week of September and just got it this week.
Day 41 flower. They're starting to fatten up! I've really struggled with my nutrients this week and got a little nute burn on the tips of my leaves. During late veg and early flower I was running between 1,000 and 1,200 PPM and they were happy. This past week and a bit my nutrients would rise as high as 1,500 as the plants consumed water. I did a res change and brought it down to 700 and the nutes are now slowly dropping with the water. Is that normal? In my short experience I've never seen a plant change it's requirements like that.
I got the new far red light running now. I used two way thermal tape to connect it to my main light.
I got the new far red light running now. I used two way thermal tape to connect it to my main light.
Dr.Amber Trichome
Well-Known Member
Beautiful! What a haul! I love the colors. I guess as far as nutrients go she didn’t need as much as you gave and then it kept building up in her system till overload. I have heard of some growers skipping a full feed in the middle of flower and just feeding water for a few days. All strains are different and it’s really great you watch her closely and respond accordingly. Next time if you grow this strain you can make adjustments from what you learned this time.
I was thinking the same thing. I pushed the nutrients a lot harder than I did in previous grows. I guess I just found the limit.
I'm completely out of seeds now and just started researching what I want to grow next. I was thinking humboldt chocolate mint og.
I'm completely out of seeds now and just started researching what I want to grow next. I was thinking humboldt chocolate mint og.
jzs147
Well-Known Member
I often do this when i change res. Just fill with water an leave for 1 or 2 days.
Iys just like weak nutes for me really cause my tray always has a small ammount of water in tray betweem feeds
DustyDuke
Well-Known Member
Sorry just seen the reply. So my area is a 8x4 but it’s broken into 2 area’s. I only need the light for a 4x4. I’m not stressed about overlapping lights. My hlg I built has no red but I added some cutter led strips to fix it just lacking far red now. As for how long I’m running the light for, the more I read the more I change my mind lol. I’m thinking of just rolling with basically the same as @Axion42 but maybe leave it on for 15 mins after the light goes off. If I see stretching I’ll drop it back to 4 hours in the middle of the light schedule to sort of act as the brightest part of the day and for the 15 mins before and after the light goes off.
I think it will be a trial an error thing
DustyDuke
Well-Known Member
If I saw pictures of your last grow and this grow side by side for the first time I wouldn’t believe it was the same grower lol it’s sooooooooooooooooo good.
I have to top up daily now since it started chugging water like mad. I brought it up to 800ppm yesterday so we'll see how that does.
I'm using RO water at 0ppm. When you run plain water do you add calmag or buffer the ph?
I've been running it since Sunday night and haven't noticed any stretch at all. I have it setup as @Axion42 suggested as well, but I have it going 2 minutes before lights out then 13 minutes afterwards. They say each puck does 3x3 @ two feet. I have my lights at 18" and it only looks like the light intensity is at a 1x1 spot through my ip camera.
Thanks I'm blown away myself by this grow. I really wish I started using a scrog earlier. Love RIU and everything I've learned here.
I ordered my new seeds today. I settled on humboldt chocolate mint og. Hopefully they're here in time to start as soon as this one finishes. I figure I have about three more weeks to go.
DustyDuke
Well-Known Member
I haven’t grown a chocolate strain yet I will be keen to watch, keep up the good work
jzs147
Well-Known Member
Hey mate nah i prolly should ph buffer but o dont.