First CFL/LED Hydro Drip Indoor Closet Grow

Day 2 74-83F 39-49% Humidity
Clones 1 & 3 are roughly the same slight growth can be seen, clone 2 is still on the fence, although I think it will pull through. Humidity dropped a lot last night, when my thermostat comes in the mail it should help keep it closer to 50% through out the day. Temperature is getting up there, I hate seeing it above 80 degrees but with an ambient outside of 77 degree, there's not much you can do, I thought, until I found a simple "redneck cooler" design. Really simple all it was, was a return off your main ventilating pipe back to a cooler box with a bottle of frozen water in a few socks to control moisture, the cooled air then trickles down to the clones and cools the lower area under the lights off. I built the setup today and plan to test it tomorrow with the high temperature I should be getting here. Here are the pictures.

Day 3 77-85F 39-51% Humidity
All three have finally kicked in and root growth is evident on all three clones, clone 2 is now standing under its own power and wilting is slowly fading away, but it has some catching up to do. I am going to do the CFL's for four more days and if they still need more I will continue to veg them with the led panel. The heat was still high the flow back on my cooler is not to great, but having the outside house temp around 79 degrees I would say that the cooler helped keep it at 5 degrees over ambient. I plan on getting a better fan most likely a inline 4 inch doubling the CFM. Here are some more pictures.

Day 4 81-85F 42-55% Humidity
30/60 Minute Water Cycle
Clones are looking good, still some yellowing has been getting slightly worse over time I think they need more nutrients for the growth they are putting on, I need buy a damn ppm meter. Temperature was 78-80 degree in my house but with the addition of my cooler and my new CFL heat recovering hood. The temperature only increased 4-5 degrees over ambient. I think I can do a degree or two better with a thermal blanket around the hood. Here are the pictures.

Day 5 79-84F 47-55% Humidity 775ppm
As you can see i got my ppm meter finally, clones are all looking great, it was a ppm issue along with a pH issue that was causing them to yellow but now that the pH is balanced the nutrients are being absorbed correctly and yellowing is disappearing. Here are some pictrues of the new insulated proto-type CFL hood made cheaply with a clear tupper ware box and some ducting aluminum foil tap. Works great only 3-4 degrees over my houses' ambient temperature.

Day 6 79-83F 49-59% humidity 800ppm
All clones are still looking very nice, especially clone 1, it has put on the most growth of them all, maybe rotating the plants to this spot will help even them out. Here are today's pictures.

Day 7 79-83F 49-55% Humidity 790ppm
Clones 1 & 3 are looking great, clone 2 I think was not fully rooted when I got it, so it will be a few day behind the rest. All in all moderately cool day with a good amount of growth, here are today's pictures.
The Led Light panel has changed from just a red, blue to a red, blue, orange configuration. Still 120 watts with 100 660nm Red Led, 10 455nm Blue and 10 610nm Orange. I went with this one because 660nm Red panels are hard to find in the 1 Watt range, normally they are 630nm, and the difference between 630nm and 660nm is like 35-40% absorption difference, 662nm wavelength is the most absorbed wavelength during flowering. Cost will be 400$, no shipping because they are located really close to where I live.

Lanaborn said:

Day 7 79-83F 49-55% Humidity 790ppm
Clones 1 & 3 are looking great, clone 2 I think was not fully rooted when I got it, so it will be a few day behind the rest. All in all moderately cool day with a good amount of growth, here are today's pictures.
The Led Light panel has changed from just a red, blue to a red, blue, orange configuration. Still 120 watts with 100 660nm Red Led, 10 455nm Blue and 10 610nm Orange. I went with this one because 660nm Red panels are hard to find in the 1 Watt range, normally they are 630nm, and the difference between 630nm and 660nm is like 35-40% absorption difference, 662nm wavelength is the most absorbed wavelength during flowering. Cost will be 400$, no shipping because they are located really close to where I live.

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Cool grow you got going here man. Could you post a pic from under your hood and a little info about it. Really neat looking DIY job. GL hope you really get the most from your space!!.

Thanks for the info! I'm very interested in seeing how this LED grow goes. Keep it up.

Hey Mike you asked about how the hood was made and to see few pictures, well I was not sure if you meant the CFL Hood that I posted about already or the LED Hood that I am soon getting, so i put both. My CFL hood is super simple all it was, was a .99 cent clear Tupperware box that I cut four holes out of. Two small ones for the CFL fixtures that screw together made from ceramic, these holes are on the short sides. The other two holes are larger 3.5" to be exact, one is a In Flow and the other is an Out Flow. I taped the inside of the box with aluminum foil ducting tape its about 90% reflective, then I covered the outside of the box with a proto-type low density foam padding for insulation.
The Led Panel will be bought from a company called Cal Nursery they are located really close to my house. The Led's are incased already in a hood with three high powered fans pulling the air up and across the leds then out the top of the panel, I plan to build a manifold around these three fans and duct it out with the same fan that is being used to bring the hot air out for the CFL's during the vegging period.
Here are the Pictures of both Hood's

Day 8 80-82F 47-56% Humidity 810ppm
Today you could actually watch them grow it seemed. Inner foliage growth has begun after topping the plant on day 6, with the new tops shooting out and now opening up in to another set of sun leaves. Also did a water top off with some reverse osmosis water and some more nutrients to bring it back up to 810ppm. Clone 2 seems to be 4-5 days behind so I have decide to continue using the CFL Hood for 3-4 more days and see how it is doing and decide to either flower it or wait the rest of the week out before flowering it. Clone 1 is 5.5" Tall Clone 2 is 3.5" Tall Clone 3 is 5" Tall, I want to flower them before they get bigger than 8" that way they stay around 20" total. The Genetic is heavier sativa then indica which worries me a lot about stretching in the small grow area. Here are today's pictures.

Day 9 78-83F 48-54% Humidity 810ppm
Nights are getting cool here, and the plants I can tell enjoy it more. I looked at the water condition and while I was I noticed that Clone 1 is a thirsty Bitch and she has already sent four root tips down to just touching the surface of the water, no wounder it has grow the most it hit the nutrient reservoir first. This means I think I can water them longer. I went to an hour on hour off watering cycle, to see if the others growth improves and maybe catch up. The Led Panel can not be held off any longer I will try to get it tomorrow if not by Wednesday at the latest. Here are today's pictures.

Day 10 79-83F 44-55% Humidity 800ppm
Clones 1 and 3 are 6". Clone 2 is 4+" and don't care really the other are to big to wait any longer so I have to get the Led Panel tomorrow.
Day 1 80-84F 40-59% Humidity 800ppm
Clones are looking nice especially Clone 1. I got my Led Panel and wow is it bright.... I put it, and turned it on to take a picture by the time I found the camera I was tearing up my eyes burnt. The guy told me if you look at the light reflected back off say a wall it can cause your eye serious pain. I now believe him because the headache and the burning sensations was very true. On a side note about the heat they produce they are cooler then say your average 500W HPS but don't be fooled they get hot and you can feel the heat about a half and inch to a inch away and the surface is the same as a CFL it burns to the touch. Otherwise they do run cooler than an HPS but I don't know about say a T5 Florescent. Anyways I Started Flowering Cycle tonight and turn on the lights at 7:30AM and turn off at 7:30PM so I can keep the space cool and I can still sleep. Here are both days Pictures and the LED Panels Pictures too.

The Led Pictures did not load here they are again.

Day 4 of Flowering 79-84F 920ppm
Sorry I haven't been able to post I got a new job and I can barely move at the end of the day so I wont be able to post much until the weekends, and to top that my camera is acting up and wont focus properly now. Bare with me for a few weeks as I get things back on track. I can say this thou the clones 1 and 3 are doing great, roots are stretching down into the water, and growth is rapid still on only twelve hours of light form the LED. I wish I could show you the leaves these plants are producing under these LED Lights, its like nothing I have ever seen and my buddies who have been growing indoor forever have never seen either. To describe their growth they are extremely thin almost thinner then paper, but no wilting or wrinkles, really coarse jagged edges almost like a tomato leaf, and grow from the middle out and the greenest of green colored, all I can think of what is maybe causing this is that since it isn't getting the IR and the UV spectrum's the plant doesn't need the old defensive growing styles, thick leaves and not very wide from the genetics sativa with a finer jagged edge, and grow from the base of the leave out, with a litter green color. On Clone 1 there is a set of leaves that the main middle leave of the three it has total is an inch wide and 5 inches long. Just weird I hope to get my camera going tomorrow and get some pictures of the monsters under LED Light. Clone 2 is not gonna make it, the growth it puts on daily is pitiful compared to the other two, there had to be something other then just stress involved with it. Now about my LED light, bad news is a transformer died and a row of lights is not working so I am down to around 90 Watts. I have to go and get a new replacement panel covered by the 1 year warranty it came with, bad news is that I gotta put them back under the CFL's for a day, but I am gonna get some 2700K bulbs to replace the 6500K bulbs i used for vegging, hopefully this wont throw them off to much. Keep you posted and have pictures as soon as the camera is fixed and get a new Panel with all 120 Watts of working LED.

Day 5 80-83F 40-53% Humidity 920ppm
Small flowers are popping out, I have to say I am pleased with the LED's performance at only 3/4 its power. The Growth is unreal using less than 120 watts, no stretching that i have seen yet, the main stem is almost a quarter inch now, leaves are gigantic and healthy green. Clone 2 is flowering too but extremely slowly so its slowly gonna get shaded out and most likely die from space competition from Clone 1 which is a beast. Here are the Pictures, and see you guys next weekend.

Day 6 77-82F 38-57% Humidity 960ppm
I decided to post this week if I can remember to, and if I am not to tired. I also got my new LED Panel back with all the LED Lights going using the max 120 Watts of power and man are they bright, just taken today's photo's my vision was completely altered, it was like looking through green sunglasses was kinda weird and lasted for few minutes or so. This was just the reflection off the flat white panted walls. The manufacture says its calculated to 4000 lumen, but they also said because our eyes can only see so much of the of all the spectrum's, but green (555 nanometers) it won't look as bright as say a 4000 Lumen CFL which has a lot of green light infused in its white light, but to a plant it obviously wants the opposite. Anyways here are my pictures I took them under LED Lighting, kinda look funny.

Day 7 74-80F 38-47% Humidity 1010ppm
Clone 1 & 3 are beast under this LED light putting on massive growth still on only twelve hours of light and no stretching, almost all of the growth is in its roots and its flowering leaves. The Leaves are diffidently abnormal for this strain of cannabis the leaves should look more like Clone 2 true sativa with a narrow skinny leaf, and a lot more of them. The down side of LED's are they are really heavy like 15-20 Lbs and my cardboard mansion is starting to bow down from the top. I am going to make a grow tent setup now that i have a better understanding of the space, it will be 20" wide X 24" deep X 48" tall, it will have a 4" intake fan on the bottom right corner on the top of the tent and a 4" exhaust fan on the top left corner on the top of the tent, hopefully with around 200-300 cfm this small tight grow area will stay closer to ambient. I will also be changing the air stone out and will get a long air rod, with a better pump. On my next Go Around with the LED i will go with a true SOG setup with 6 plants flowered even earlier, with small pots with open side slits to allow the roots to grow down into the solution, making it a Drip Aeroponics Grow.
Day 8 77-81F 39-49% Humidity 1110ppm
Day 8 even more grow they are looking very nice they are catching up to the outdoor plants I started late. Get paid tomorrow so I will be going to home depot and the fabric store to get materials to start my Grow Tent Setup, and maybe ordering the 4 inch fans. Here are both days pictures.

Day 9 74-80F 44-52% Humidity 1290ppm
Plants are getting that sweet smell about them. I have started to design the Grow Tent for the space, later will be used to do a small SoG Grow.
Day 10 74-79F 43-49% Humidity 1490ppm
Everything is as it should be now by day ten, maybe a little stretching, but for 120 Watts of power I am surprised its only the very small amount. Got the the PVC Fittings for the Frame of the Tent now I need to find the material for the inside, it needs to be reflective obviously also be stitch able. Here are the pictures of the progress.

Day 11 74-78F 43-54% Humidity 1550ppm
Got to work on the new tent fabric stitching it up today so I can scotch guard it for over spray, it lets some light through but very little and in a closed closet there is no light so not to worried about messing with the light and dark cycles. I did this because the frame out of Schedule 40 PVC so it can support 100+ pounds of weight, because the light ways about 30lbs. and the fans are 5lbs. a piece I think for a total of 40lbs., so its a little overbuilt but other things may be added later like a carbon filter or a cloning setup up top.
Day 12 75-81 45-56% Humidity 1600ppm
The tent is completed just waiting on the yo-yo's and the two 80 CFM booster fans that only use a whooping 33 watts each really efficient, at least better then the 50 CFM, and uses 100 Watts bathroom fan I am using currently. Also I have got my Briximus Maxiumus Sugar Peak Formula Coming for foliage spraying and the Grand Finale Mix also. Here are the pictures.

Day 15 75-85F 44-56% Humidity 1800ppm 5.8pH
I got a digital pH meter but they are really high maintenance, with the calibrating and the saline solution rinsing after ever test to keep it accurate. I finished the Tent and the fans came yesterday still working on the platform for them. Flowers are coming on nicely, and upward growth has slowed, all new growth leaves are green and have seven leaves. I need to get some more water I am out and the PPM is slowly increasing from the plants drinking up all the water. Well here are today's pictures.