Expert LED growers opinions

bigt4172

Active Member
I'm a new grower and have spent several hundred hours reading and watching videos. The info seems to vary so much, I'd like some instant feed back where I can answer any questions.
Ill tell you what I've got and what I've done.

24inx48x 75 in Hydro Builder Tent
6in inline fan/ large canister/charcoal filtering system
12 in fan
6 in fan
speed controller
KIND K3 600 watt LED

Using 3/5gallon bucket
Miracle grow organic soil with perlite and worm casings

Germinate plants 1-2 in water for 24 hours them placed directly in soil. * they popped out of soil on day 3-4)

Plants 2 and 4 I germinated in a baggy for 36 hours then placed in soil. They popped out 24-36 hours later.

Have been keeping soil/water around 6.5-7 (closer to 6.5 average)
Temps are about 80-84 during the day and 74-78 at night
Humidity 40%ish during the day and 65ish at night

The first week I kept the light about 24-30 inches away. Then I lowered it to 8-12 inches away for the last week and a half.

First 2 plants are 16 days old and 12/13 since popping out of soil ( Critical & Sweet Tooth Autos)

Second 2 plants are 10 days old and roughly 7 days since coming out of soil ( Auto One and OG Kush Autos)

Any input, suggestion etc would be great, Ill post pics as well.
Thanks
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
Lights too close i'd say from my experience. Unless you're saying this grow is done and you want feedback. Did your buds yellow or tan at all? This will indicate burning. I burn things alot under only 360w of LED even cactus. I like to keep plants 12"-18" away from the face of the panel and 12" burns plants and cactus.

How did you get a timer to do 12-13?

I dont like miricle grow organic. If you aren't applying compost teas you're not going to see fat buds with that soil. I've gotten an 8th from an auto using that soil... granted that was my very first grow but since i started using my brain thing and mixing soil I've gotten upwards of QPs from autos. I didnt ammend the.miricle grow with vermi castings but anyway. Vermicasting can be planted into directly during seeding with no damage and a steady release of nitrogen. I like 1:1 vermicastings and rice biochar but peat works well for much less $ or time depending on who or how you work.

An easy peasy auto soil can consist of miricle grow organic mixed with equal volume vermicastings, sand, peat (or coco or biochar), and compost. Then you can add a dry premixed organic fertilizer or mix your own. If you mix it to the qty on the bag instructions you might not want to plant directly in this. Id also add a half gallon minimum of bokashi per 20-25 gallons of soil. This is because a 5 gallon pail is like a measuring cup.to those mixing soil. 5gal soil, 5gal sand, 5gal peat(or other), 5gal compost, and 5gal vermicastings makes 25 gallons soil.

Ps humic acid is good stuff to add as well.

Good luck

your grow sounds fine anyway. Just feed it light and consistently.
 

bigt4172

Active Member
Lights too close i'd say from my experience. Unless you're saying this grow is done and you want feedback. Did your buds yellow or tan at all? This will indicate burning. I burn things alot under only 360w of LED even cactus. I like to keep plants 12"-18" away from the face of the panel and 12" burns plants and cactus.

How did you get a timer to do 12-13?

I dont like miricle grow organic. If you aren't applying compost teas you're not going to see fat buds with that soil. I've gotten an 8th from an auto using that soil... granted that was my very first grow but since i started using my brain thing and mixing soil I've gotten upwards of QPs from autos. I didnt ammend the.miricle grow with vermi castings but anyway. Vermicasting can be planted into directly during seeding with no damage and a steady release of nitrogen. I like 1:1 vermicastings and rice biochar but peat works well for much less $ or time depending on who or how you work.

An easy peasy auto soil can consist of miricle grow organic mixed with equal volume vermicastings, sand, peat (or coco or biochar), and compost. Then you can add a dry premixed organic fertilizer or mix your own. If you mix it to the qty on the bag instructions you might not want to plant directly in this. Id also add a half gallon minimum of bokashi per 20-25 gallons of soil. This is because a 5 gallon pail is like a measuring cup.to those mixing soil. 5gal soil, 5gal sand, 5gal peat(or other), 5gal compost, and 5gal vermicastings makes 25 gallons soil.

Ps humic acid is good stuff to add as well.

Good luck

your grow sounds fine anyway. Just feed it light and consistently.
Thanks for the reply. The 12/13 was how old the plant is after popping out of soil and showing me some green. I plan to use fox farms ocean, I had to order it and didn't have time to wait. I travel a lot and needed to get them planted due to time schedules. also as you can see by pics color is fine so far and no burning. Do you keep it 12 inches till harvest?
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
the distance is dependent on LEDs. id let them grow into the 12" and pull back as you near it. LEDs dont have much canopy penetration, only 8" or so. this'll force you to trim out whispery lower buds.

If you have a 600w it's probably only putting out 300w but that's almost twice as much as i get out the 360w (actual is 180w). and i think i stated before I've burned plants too close to 12" mark too young. like, seedlings should be 18" away or more and let them grow into that. then pull back the lightand let it grow nack into it. lst or scrog or mainling or all three combine can even this canopy. that's as far as i can help with distance since iv never used the K3.
hope this helps
 

questiondj42

Well-Known Member
I keep my k3 L600 about 18"-24" off the canopy and have decent penetration. It's not the same as the CXB3590s, but it's decent. The pull from the wall is 320W. For what it's worth, I've got 6 3590s in the tent along with the K3.
 

bigt4172

Active Member
are either of you experienced with growing autos? Neither of mine seem to be getting much height, but are getting bushy. Seems everyday at this point there is new nodes or stems growing.
 

St1kybudz

Well-Known Member
the distance is dependent on LEDs. id let them grow into the 12" and pull back as you near it. LEDs dont have much canopy penetration, only 8" or so. this'll force you to trim out whispery lower buds.

If you have a 600w it's probably only putting out 300w but that's almost twice as much as i get out the 360w (actual is 180w). and i think i stated before I've burned plants too close to 12" mark too young. like, seedlings should be 18" away or more and let them grow into that. then pull back the lightand let it grow nack into it. lst or scrog or mainling or all three combine can even this canopy. that's as far as i can help with distance since iv never used the K3.
hope this helps
Rofl your wrong on canopy penetration I have a friend running a cali light works 880 and with that light 6 feet away the bottom buds are just as hard and full as the top colas so if all your buds aren't hard there is more to it his temps average 86-87 degrees rh is between 40 and 70strain is vision seeds nl auto and all but two plants will yeild way over 2 zips colas as big as water bottles and the grow has increased CO2 with sugar and water mash some of the plants I estimate will yeild atleast a qp
 

St1kybudz

Well-Known Member
oh cool! yea I'm just referring to the specks on my outdated LED panel. bad assumption
Check out fluence leds and caliotnia light works fluence I think it is used to be bml they build spyder grow lights that can be placed as close as 14 inches from canopy and the cali light works make solar storm lights the 440 660 and 880 with uvb suplementary lights and can be placed as far as 5 foot away from the canopy but I would not recommend it but only because I've never tried it were currently running a solar storm 880 about 3 foot from the canopy and the bottom buds are as nice as the tops XD I'm convinced that with modern tech indoor buds can be as good if not better than outdoor buds
 
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