First Grow with LED's

A few photos here of the progress this week:

Biggest concern is keeping humidity in check to avoid any molds or rot- we're generally around 50-60% but it can spike higher if the dehumidifier fills and kicks off. Its generally emptied twice a day, but we've had occasions of it needing more-usually after watering.

Some zoom shots of trichomes using a Photoshop utility to monitor ripeness:

And our next batch- now under LED's:

Nice man looking good! All the spider mites dead now?

dam those look great good job bro

Thanks for checking in and again, I really do appreciate the support.
The mites appear to be gone with the Azamax. After the initial blast of the 3 treatments over about 10 days, I'll
use up what's left treating once a week to 10 days. The stuff worked great for us.
I've also mixed up a batch of Neem solution and did a spray last night in the veg tent to start a preventative maintenance routine.
Had an electrician come in tonight to discuss adding a dedicated circuit to the operation. We have 2 more 600's running 240 ready to go
for our next flower in a few months- just need to get the wiring in place.

sffog said:

Thanks for checking in and again, I really do appreciate the support.
The mites appear to be gone with the Azamax. After the initial blast of the 3 treatments over about 10 days, I'll
use up what's left treating once a week to 10 days. The stuff worked great for us.
I've also mixed up a batch of Neem solution and did a spray last night in the veg tent to start a preventative maintenance routine.
Had an electrician come in tonight to discuss adding a dedicated circuit to the operation. We have 2 more 600's running 240 ready to go
for our next flower in a few months- just need to get the wiring in place.

Click to expand...

Nice man good to hear the mites all but gone. I hear that Azamax is some gnary shit luckily I didn't have any problems with pests...knock on wood that continues! Keeping your grow area clean is key. Gotta clean every little nook and cranny along with all the stuff you use to feed/water etc. It's a pain in the ass but it's worth it! Also I'm not familiar with soil but talk to someone at your local hydro shop or maybe start a thread here on RIU because I have had friends who have problems with bugs coming from their soil. I'm loving my 600w need to get a MH bulb for it so I can get my little ones in there on Thursday after I finish chopping the Blue Dreams and the rest of the Bubblicious. I wish I could run 240v cuz I have heard it cuts the electricity usage down about 30-40% vs. using the 120v but I live in a rented condo. Keep up the good!

In deferring to the experience of some of the readers out there, I'm curious if 3 weeks sounds about right for a harvest date? Put a lot of time into this and afraid to blow
the big call, frankly put.
One grower mentioned 80-90% of the red hairs pulling in but I've not seen that elsewhere.

sffog said:

In deferring to the experience of some of the readers out there, I'm curious if 3 weeks sounds about right for a harvest date? Put a lot of time into this and afraid to blow
the big call, frankly put.
One grower mentioned 80-90% of the red hairs pulling in but I've not seen that elsewhere.

Click to expand...

I'm no expert but I have found the best way to make the decsion is to check the trichs. Most people seem to use a 30x jewelers loupe but I found that it sorta hard to tell the color of the trichs. I use a pocket microscope that I got from a hobby store. I guess it really comes down to "does it look ready?"Do you have any info on how many weeks it supposed to take to finish flowering? I would use that as a guide too but depending on the pheno you get that could be a little off. I would do some research here on RIU

Thanks for replying Buddha- your grow certainly looks expert from where I sit, and yes, I've been spending time reading here on RUI, the Grower's Bible, and Ed Rosenthal's book. My textbooks so far....
I haven't found a whole lot of info on either of these strains. I Googled and had some results for forums and seedbanks so I'm using those numbers as rough guidelines.
I keep hearing the voice of Yoda saying "Go With the Force Luke..." but I think a magnifying device is probably a safer bet!
Will be posting pics later this weekend.

sffog said:

Thanks for replying Buddha- your grow certainly looks expert from where I sit, and yes, I've been spending time reading here on RUI, the Grower's Bible, and Ed Rosenthal's book. My textbooks so far....
I haven't found a whole lot of info on either of these strains. I Googled and had some results for forums and seedbanks so I'm using those numbers as rough guidelines.
I keep hearing the voice of Yoda saying "Go With the Force Luke..." but I think a magnifying device is probably a safer bet!
Will be posting pics later this weekend.

Click to expand...

I second guessed myself on both the Bubblicious and the Blue Dream on when to harvest. I think I could have let the Bubblicious go another week but I got anxious instead of being patient. The Blue Dream I think was perfect timing even though it took almost 3 days to completly harvest it lol. Use whatever strain info you have found on how many weeks for flowering, your gut and your loupe or microscope. One thing I saw which I have no facts to back this up is when you do get ready to harvest leave them in the dark for few days. I saw a ton of growth on the Blue Dream that I would have never got if I had harvested on the day I was supposed to this week. I didn't see that on the Bubblicious, different strain but I really do think the extra 36+ hours of darkness helped the buds fatten up. In my opinion I think it is to let it go a little long than harvest too soon.

You got an amazing grow going on man I have faith that you will pick the right time to harvest.

Thanks Buddha-
Appreciate the vote of confidence and your kind words. It feels like a bit of a rollercoaster
at times so it means a lot to get some feedback.

"Well", the doctor said calmly, "There's good news and bad news..."

Buds are still swelling to the point where we've had to stake a couple plants that were
threatening to topple over:

The bad news is the seemingly sudden appearance of the powdery mildew.
One last foe before finish! And a formidable one at that...
Humidity in the tent runs typically at 50-60% even with a dehumidifier running on high
24/7. It only gets into the 40's when time to water. Too, I'm in the NW where moss could be the state flower.
Got some Serenade tonight and will be doing a full foliar spray tomorrow afternoon
while the lights are out. I'll keep you all posted....

Forgot to mention that the power went out Saturday night. It was still early day for the girls.
Just for an hour but damn, give a first-timer a break!

sffog said:

Thanks Buddha-
Appreciate the vote of confidence and your kind words. It feels like a bit of a rollercoaster
at times so it means a lot to get some feedback.

"Well", the doctor said calmly, "There's good news and bad news..."

Buds are still swelling to the point where we've had to stake a couple plants that were
threatening to topple over:View attachment 1335446View attachment 1335459View attachment 1335460View attachment 1335461View attachment 1335462View attachment 1335463View attachment 1335464View attachment 1335465View attachment 1335466View attachment 1335467View attachment 1335468View attachment 1335458View attachment 1335457View attachment 1335447View attachment 1335448View attachment 1335449View attachment 1335450View attachment 1335451View attachment 1335452View attachment 1335453View attachment 1335454View attachment 1335455View attachment 1335456View attachment 1335469

The bad news is the seemingly sudden appearance of the powdery mildew.
One last foe before finish! And a formidable one at that...
Humidity in the tent runs typically at 50-60% even with a dehumidifier running on high
24/7. It only gets into the 40's when time to water. Too, I'm in the NW where moss could be the state flower.
Got some Serenade tonight and will be doing a full foliar spray tomorrow afternoon
while the lights are out. I'll keep you all posted....

Forgot to mention that the power went out Saturday night. It was still early day for the girls.
Just for an hour but damn, give a first-timer a break!

Click to expand...

Fuck man!!! WOW you have some bad luck! Seriously shitty that you got white powdery mildew this late in to flowering. I wouldn't use anything with sulfer because you are going to be able to smell and taste it in your buds. I did a little research because I thought I had it too and I came across something some where here on RIU about using a milk/water solution. Do you have an intake coming in to your tent? If so do you use some sort of prefilter? You might want to look in to getting another dehumidifier if it staying upwards of 50%. When I have my lights on im in the range of high 20's to at most 35%. Lights off depending on the weather arund 50%. You got your clones from someone and they came with the spider mites...I know that if the mother has problems a lot of times it will carry on to the clones so the white powdery mildew could have come that way too and just started popping its head because the humidity got high. I use House & Gardens Magic Green as a foliar spray and it helps to protect against mildew and pets becuas it leaves a sorta waxy layer that protects the plants. Might want to look in to something like that but if you are 3 weeks out from harvest then might be best to save what you can. The plants are looking good other than the mildew problem. Hopefully you can get it worked out.

For whatever reason I've had a Hunter S. Thompson quote in my head:
"Oh well- you bought the ticket, take the ride."
I'm realizing logging in here that it's a response to my own post above.
It's been an adventure in 51 days and counting....
The Serenade and trimming infected leaves is done and we may have caught it early
enough to prevent the doomed button. Serenade is a bio-fungicide that is organic and states that it can be used right up until day of harvest. It's use was strongly urged by a 15 yr grower and who am I to argue with that experience?
The stuff stinks, I can tell you that. The rest, time will tell.
The larger issue and, I'm thinking, likely culprit is the humidity and improper ventilation of the grow area. After the spray and clean-up tasks, I added a large floor fan to the area the tents are in. It's helped lower humidity about 10% and tonight's reading is lower 50's. This, after a full watering last night, is about as low as I can get with existing resources (electrical primarily.) I'm running 2 dehumidifiers (one in the flower tent/ one in adjacent area) and they run 24/7 being emptied twice a day.
My theory is the spikes in humidity when the machine filled and kicked off
made a perfect environment for the mildew. Also, I didn't trim the lower foliage 'til late in the game which didn't help interior ventilation. No excuses- I'm a first timer and was nervous about it, but I'm learning a few things and taking notes.
Pics of mainly tops:

We have strong veg growth. These have been under the 180watt LED's that started this whole thing. They were also treated with Serenade and are already on a Neem
program. As roots are appearing throught the bottom holes of the 1/2 gal. pots, tomorrow they go into 5 gal. smart bags. :View attachment 1340995View attachment 1340996

I also realized tonight that I've been promoted here to "Learning How to Roll" status from "Stranger".
I think it should be "learning how not to kill them through my own ignorance" !

sffog said:

For whatever reason I've had a Hunter S. Thompson quote in my head:
"Oh well- you bought the ticket, take the ride."
I'm realizing logging in here that it's a response to my own post above.
It's been an adventure in 51 days and counting....
:

Click to expand...

I hear yah bro! I'm glad I haven't had the problems that you have had because I probably would have given up by this point. My mom told me "If it was that easy then everyone would be doing it"
Plants are looking good! I'm glad you got the problem solved with the mildew.
The whole process is learning day after day what "to do" and "not to do" next time around for use 1st timers. Yeah you gotta watch the dehumdifier filling up. I have seen people who put their AC's on a little step stool or something and leave the cap off on the resevior and just let it drain in to a bucket so it doesn't shut off when the resevior fills up. Having your ventilation set-up correctly is KEY! That was one of my 1st problems. And yes trimming up the lower branches or "Lollipopping" not only helps with that but also makes the plant focus all it's energy on stacking weight on the top nugs!

BTW I can't see the attachments in post #33. Idk if anyone else is having the same problem? I would like to see your pics because I'm thinking about grabbing some LED's to veg under myself here end of next month.

I reposted the photos above of the veg tent. The photo editor was not playing nicely last night- not sure why- and I was too tired to mess around with it anymore. These LED's have been great for veg but , as I'm sure you will, do some poking around here on for some
more experienced growers using them. Too, because I have to think a lot of people get all the gear then get discouraged along the way, I see used equipment all the time on ebay and Craigslist.
One of the strains we're using, American Dream, does grow under them, but the leaves always look a bit funky and somewhat spinachy. I don't know if that's their norm or if it is because of the LED's.
I gotta get to transplanting but will be posting more pics later tonight.

They look good to me. Way bigger leaves than I'm getting on mine under a 600w HPS. About to put my 400w back in since I don't have a MH bulb for the 600w.

After todays efforts:


The new grow bags are a slightly wider profile/ footprint so I'm
really going to need to focus on trimming and training as much as possible this go round. I FIM'd and took off a few lower branches last week.
The LED's are at about 18" and will be on a 24 hr cycle.

Thanks for the harvest tips Buddha, and all your input.I'm reading about extended dark as we head into the
last weeks for the flowers. Also looking into UV lighting for next time- my wish list is long!

sffog said:

After todays efforts:
View attachment 1342381View attachment 1342383

The new grow bags are a slightly wider profile/ footprint so I'm
really going to need to focus on trimming and training as much as possible this go round. I FIM'd and took off a few lower branches last week.
The LED's are at about 18" and will be on a 24 hr cycle.

Thanks for the harvest tips Buddha, and all your input.I'm reading about extended dark as we head into the
last weeks for the flowers. Also looking into UV lighting for next time- my wish list is long!

Click to expand...

Nive yeah I don't have any facts or proof to back up the extended dark period but I think it worked with the Blue Dream compared to my Bubblicious. Be careful with the UV lighting I have looked in to that a little and it seems to help trich development but can easily burn your plants big time! I would like to see some up close shots of the FIM if you got any or could take any. I have been wanting to try that too. I think I will wait until I take some clones from the Hero OG I got going now. I just don't know where to cut exactly to get good results to make it branch in to 2 like topping.

Everything is moving along in both tents.
Humidity is staying around the 50% mark in the flower tent.
Our estimated harvest date around Jan 3.
Some pics of buds from last night:



Pics from the FIM job I did on 12/18- a week ago:


Here is the guide I used:
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/200413-fimming-m-blaze-complete-how.html

Hope that helps and that Santa was good to everyone!