First Grow with LED's

sffog said:

Thanks Bajafox and yes, we're only using the LED's for veg right now.
Our first flower was done under only 1 600 and we've since added another in our 4x8.
Other growers seem to be doing well with some high quality LED's, but I suspect they have a lot more experience than I do.
I agree too, that for us the risk outweighs the cost savings for electricity. Our's spiked when we started up the HPS and of course has
increased with adding a second. I wrote a few months back that I might try doing an all LED grow at some point but, for now, I
think I need some more experience getting the basics down.
Thanks again for looking and good luck with yours!

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Thanks man. I think the plan for now is to add one LED panel as supplemental lighting while weather permits and then make the full switch to LED for the summer. Figured I'll have a few full cycles under 600w hps, hps + led and then full led to compare when it's all set (said?) and done. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be better informed on which lighting system works best for my set up

Happy growing

Thanks to you too, Bajafox and good luck with yours!

A few shots from tonight:


Anyone care to venture what's going on with American Dream/2 in photos
001 and 002? The mother was,of course, just the same with funky, spinachy, leaves. I know it's an Indica dominant and a few other factoids from seedbank sites and that's about it.

We've been getting some unusual dry weather through these parts so our humidity
has been around 40%- down about 15% from our first grow. I'm pleased but will
keep up the Serenade treatments just the same. Azamax seems to be keeping spider mites at bay this round- this is right around when they hit last time.

Just a couple pics tonight as I button-up the shop:


The height difference between strains can really be seen in 005.

Through a sample and a feedback request to an anonymous email addy, I received this:
I was asked to comment on something, so here goes. Both the T and the A should be cured a little longer. There's a point where you think its done, but once you put it in containers, it's still sweating a bit. When you think its done, do a final trim and store a few days (1-3 based on ambient humidity) in a large (preferably glass but plastic tubs are ok) container, alternately opened and closed for 6-8 hours each. that will get you over that hump and make people happy. You may have to dump and refill during this process to make sure everything cures evenly.

Otherwise it looks like you've done decently with high quality dna. More intense light and or a high quality CO2 sensor/dispenser system will produce denser flowers. Looks like you timed the reap pretty well but some would have waited a tiny bit longer for more color and different effects..not better or worse just a matter of preference.

rock on and thank you!


It pleased me and I'm using his advice on the curing- still a work in progress...

Rolling along in the flower tent- this weekend is preventative Azamax treatment (last weekend, Serenade). Humidity hovers in the low to mid 40's/ temps peak at about 80 during day and drop to mid 60's at night. As an experiment, I added molasses this week in a midweek water in an effort to fatten the buds up.
I believe some N deficiency is showing in the leave coloration in a few of the plants.
I may try upping the Fox Farm Tiger Bloom dosage a bit as its only 2-8-4. I've used it and Big Bloom pretty sparingly so far.
Day 28 seems too early to me to be chalking up the yellowing to flowering but I could be wrong.
10 clones in 4x4's under the LED. One's sketchy and may not make it...we'll see...
Pics of those another time. Meanwhile:


Have a good weekend all!

A quick photo update:
6 clones made it into 1/2 gal pots and 4 stragglers still in their 4x4's- 1 is iffy:




Trinty here with some tops:



American Dream:



Thanks for looking and take 'er easy dudes!

Another quick photo update here as we get into the last weeks of flower.
Even with regular Serenade treatments (bi-weekly), lower humidity, and more intense light,
powdery mildew has shown up on our Trinity plants. I've been told it's really common for this strain and we're stepping up the Serenade treatment and removing any infected leaves we spot.
It's a bummer, man.. The American Dream, an indica dom, does not seem to be affected and we may steer the garden more toward them.
Next generation is coming along under the LED's quickly.

Hmm...Second attempt at this post- seems an earlier one never made it...
Pics of tops and a few buds.
Still fighting the PM on the Trinity and seeing a lot of the fans yellowing in general
which we expected.
Will check trichs this weekend using some hi res photos and will be getting the 3rd
generation into their 5 gal growbags.

Just a quick few close-up shots of a few buds:

Winding down to our second harvest and am thinking I'll
start on the Trinity this week. Canopy, a few buds and some close ups:



And the next batch under LED's in veg:


Thoughts comments? It's getting lonely in the basement here...

As I'm writing after midnight, I'm calling it Day 62.
Will be starting to harvest Trinity later today.
We're 1 day shy of when we started with their mommies.
At almost 6 months in to this experiment, I'm still pretty green, learning , and working on improving so those that do stop by, I appreciate it.
We'll have a lower overall population next round which will be a bit less crowded.
We'll also probably experiment with lowering the lamps a bit to increase intensity. The molasses really seems to have helped so we'll keep that up as we continue to dial in nutrients.
Last pics of Round 2 intact:

Work in progress- these are from over the weekend and these are now in the dryer rack:


We're holding off on the American Dream as the trichs are still mainly clear with some milkiness. I'm checking each nite when the lamps come up.

It's been a busy couple of weeks finishing out our second harvest, vegging grow 3
and cloning for grow 4.
The American Dream plant harvest photos were somehow misplaced so unfortunately, no pics of those. I'm claiming quasi-senior moment and not my testing of said product.
Harvest 2 is now curing in jars with daily cycles and visual monitoring.
We found we averaged about 1 oz/plant from our first grow. Disappointing, but given our ignorance and lack of experience/expertise, think we're lucky we got that. Grow 2 had more
plants that grew bigger buds overall and I'm hoping dry wt. will come in at least 2oz. per. If nothing else, just so I know I'm not wasting my time. Given the potency, I think we have some okay genetics to be working with; any lacks are on our side.
We've gone with a smaller population for this round with the intention of further increasing light intensity. We've added cages on this effort to make better use of staking and opening the plant up some. We'll also be experimenting with lowering the lamps to about 18" from the canopy. I've also acquired some sturdy white styro blocks I'll use to adjust height/ light distance.
I'm taking more frequent ph readings in an effort to bring that down from 7.
I've added a few tspns. of coffee grinds to the soil tops and that seems to be helping get closer to the target of 6.5.
Pics of our LED work in progress and clones:

Flipped yesterday. I really enjoy this part- watching the metamorphosis...
Temp is topping out at around 85 with a low of 70. RH in the upper 30's/ low 40's.
Still working on lowering soil ph to 6.5 and have started adding a tsp. of Bragg AC Vinegar to the water. The readings have come down from a consistent 7 to a 6.6- 6.8 range. Clones of next batch to start:View attachment 1548046

sffog said:

Flipped yesterday. I really enjoy this part- watching the metamorphosis...
Temp is topping out at around 85 with a low of 70. RH in the upper 30's/ low 40's.
Still working on lowering soil ph to 6.5 and have started adding a tsp. of Bragg AC Vinegar to the water. The readings have come down from a consistent 7 to a 6.6- 6.8 range. Clones of next batch to start:View attachment 1548046
View attachment 1548039View attachment 1548040View attachment 1548041View attachment 1548042View attachment 1548043

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Been a few since I've stopped in but glad to see everything is going good. LOL you are on your 3rd grow and I started my 1st and 2nd b4 yours and I haven't even finished my 2nd! Heh... Keep up the good work Sffog!

I remember you having an issue with spidermites and using azamax. Did you use it during flower? If so did you spray all of you plant including the flowers? Again if so how did the nugs turn out...taste funny, affect the trichs at all, any noticable residue?

Thanks for stopping back Buddha! I wondered what happened to you.You're the first comment I've had on here in awhile- I feel less lonely in my little laboratory...
Azamax worked great for us and yes, we used during flower and did the whole plant. No noticeable residue. Any feedback we've received on our first harvest has been positive though our yield was pretty low. I was totally under-lit with 1 600 hps. Our 2nd grow didn't show 1 mite- I apply the Azamax
every 2 weeks (alternating weeks with Serenade to control PM).

A quick photo update for the week:

The weeks progress here and after a pruning today:


And the next generation:

As I've mentioned before, watching the flowers come in is probably my favorite time- so full of promise. We're a work in progress...

Flowers are coming in strong thus far. I'm watering less, but more frequently during this grow and am still working on lowering ph in soil. It has come down from 7 some and I'm continuing to use AC vinegar in the water to help along those lines.
All but one clone is in soil and the first have already graduated to vegging in 1/2 gallons. The peat puck experiment worked better than anticipated (thus far I'd only used rockwool). I now have more clones than I can effectively use in my next round unless I do some sort of circle cropping or some other technique. I may just experiment with them- we'll see..
Canopy and tops here: