First photo grow, Barneys Farm Acapulco Gold

5m of 120 led/m 5730 strip should cost you around $10, just need a stable, ideally 150w power supply (I prefer to stay around the 2/3 load mark wherever possible, better for the driver), at maybe $15 and something to stick the strip to. And be good with a soldering iron, of course.

You don't get much cheaper for that output

Hoping to have dodged a bullet here.

Looked at plant and a certain type of yellow spot that means only one thing. Leaf Septoria. Shit. Only a few spots, here and there on a couple of leaves, but that's enough for me.

Bottom 4-6" of foliage has now been chopped back to the stem, top couple of mm of dirt removed, fungicide to be made or bought and there will be more ventilation very shortly.

I hope I caught it in time, nobody likes fungus.

Well, no sign of any more little yellow spots, nothing in 2 days so I'm hoping I've nipped the LSF in the bud,so to speak, thanks to me going nuts with the scissors and upping ventilation.

She's still drinking like a Scotsman at a free bar and taking in feeding like a fat person at a free buffet.

Here's the latest pics, still roughly a month to go, maybe 6 weeks.

Looks good buddy that bud sure is getting fat u should have some descent smoke there here in a couple months overall good first grow...

Well, first photo grow, had two "not so good" autos before this one where stupid bastard here didn't have anything nearly like enough light.

So third ever grow, and so far, touch wood, I haven't killed one yet.

I'm looking at an upgrade to the LED panel soon, getting rid of the blurple strip because, well, it's not much good so there'll be 9.8m of the 3000K 5730 strip.

That's gonna be sunglasses time, and I think sunblock too because I'm so white I make Casper the Friendly Ghost wonder what race he is...

Why don’t u get mh/hps lights instead?? They will give u a better outcome in my opinion... I have a 600 watt and get oz’s off My grows...Are u growing in a tent or in a stealth cabinet???

Tx-Peanutt said:

Why don’t u get mh/hps lights instead?? They will give u a better outcome in my opinion... I have a 600 watt and get oz’s off My grows...Are u growing in a tent or in a stealth cabinet???

Click to expand...

Cost, especially electricity.

Now I'm running at around a fifth of the draw of a 600w including ballast, give or take since the panel pulls 138w from the wall, on something that cost me under $50 in parts and when you ain't able to work then every watt counts, especially when thinking about what would be needed to keep the small 4' wide utility room I use at a reasonable temperature. In a rented apartment, can't duct out through walls, etc, so when you start adding up all these costs it would not be viable compared to getting an ounce delivered every now and then.

Do the same sort of bodged up panel using only the 5730 strip the parts stay around the same price, power draw will be closer to 200 watts but the light intensity will be a lot greater. And then the next serious plant will suffer LST, practice will be had in one of the solo cup fun and games, so next yield should be higher.

As said, I want one vaguely successful grow before complicating things, get the basics right move up a step on the grow ladder. Try too much too soon, fucking it all up is guaranteed

Fubard said:

Cost, especially electricity.

Now I'm running at around a fifth of the draw of a 600w including ballast, give or take since the panel pulls 138w from the wall, on something that cost me under $50 in parts and when you ain't able to work then every watt counts, especially when thinking about what would be needed to keep the small 4' wide utility room I use at a reasonable temperature. In a rented apartment, can't duct out through walls, etc, so when you start adding up all these costs it would not be viable compared to getting an ounce delivered every now and then.

Do the same sort of bodged up panel using only the 5730 strip the parts stay around the same price, power draw will be closer to 200 watts but the light intensity will be a lot greater. And then the next serious plant will suffer LST, practice will be had in one of the solo cup fun and games, so next yield should be higher.

As said, I want one vaguely successful grow before complicating things, get the basics right move up a step on the grow ladder. Try too much too soon, fucking it all up is guaranteed

Click to expand...

I wish I new how to mess with electricity I would make something for side lighting also anyways good luck bud practice makes perfect.... As far as LST goes it ain’t hard I tried it on my first grow and have now moved up to topping and making a manifold with them it’s really easy u will see once u try it... first pic is beginning of manifold second pic is them recovering

Was an electrician for 30 years before my back went, so making these things is second nature.

But things will change with the grows, things will progress

Fubard said:

Was an electrician for 30 years before my back went, so making these things is second nature.

But things will change with the grows, things will progress

Click to expand...

Of course I know how it feels to have a bad back my doc wants to cut me open I just don’t wanna do it .....Your trade sure is coming in handy now ...Lol. Have u tried www.growweedeasy.com it helps a lot...

Looked at their pages and guides, along with the I love growing marijuana one and a couple of others, always good for seeing "what to do next" instead of getting information overload and trying to get everything from popping a seed to during into the head in one hit, I try that and I know it will go wrong. The problem with the web is there is too much info out there and some does conflict. Just look at Miracle Gro as an example of that (I've never used that stuff for tomatoes, wouldn't use it for anything else)!

As far as the back goes, they say I need L2-L5 fused if I want the pain eased. I say eff off until I can't function because of it and then they can do what they want, it hurts but I'm a stubborn old coot who won't let it win.

That is very true for nutrients I use Greenleaf Nutrients MEGACROP it’s an all in one and does a good job imo.... I can’t remember which one of mine I know it’s the bottom two because it’s hitting my hip that has arthritis in it also and the sad part is I’m only 32 yrs young it sucks

It's across the board, you ask 100 growers what to use and you'll get 200 answers no matter what you ask about, which always boils down to only using dirt that is taken from prime, untouched Himalayaan mountains, only buy seeds that have passed through the intestinal tract of some tropical mammal no bugger's ever heard about, only use lights that cost an arm, a leg AND both testicles, and only use water that's made from distilled virgin unicorn piss.

It's minefield, and it's little wonder some don't ask "What's wrong" until it's WAY too late.

Me? Home made light costing under $50, universal compost and some perlite, nutrients are a liquid universal flowering house plant mix which has copper, etc, in it which gets added at a "yeah, about that much" quantity every 4 days, water comes from the tap because our water is neither "soft" nor "hard" but somewhere in the middle and, well, you see the results so far. What helps is that I've grown all sorts of things on the window and so on for a LONG time so "basics" are already there and the plant will tell you what it needs if you keep a good eye on it. Sure, I've made mistakes, I freely admit to that in the hope that it stops someone else bollocking it up like I have (Light, light, light) but sometimes you have to ignore what others say as it is just contradictory information overload and newbies are likely to get so confused they just give up and, in all honesty, I think that's the last thing anyone really wants.

Oh, the back's a funny thing, something wrong where it joins your "tail bone", the sacrum, can manifest itself as pain up at L2, all depends on what puts pressure on where and you'll know yourself that you go nuts at times as you start questioning your sanity over whether the pain is "real" or just something in your head.

Latest pics, still no more signs of LSF so I reckon I did catch it in time, buds swelling and you can see some nice "frosting" on the sugar leaves.

Could be worse

Fubard said:

Latest pics, still no more signs of LSF so I reckon I did catch it in time, buds swelling and you can see some nice "frosting" on the sugar leaves.

Could be worse

Click to expand...

Looking good sure are plumping up....

Oh, I still have plenty time to bugger this up!

Fubard said:

Oh, I still have plenty time to bugger this up!

Click to expand...

I know the feeling...Lol

If there's nothing else I can really do now, then at least I can get some practice in with the 40x macro lens for my phone, lens cost €5

After reading grow journals and taking advice from members of RIU this is my first grow

Well, been a few days so here's a few more pics. Buds growing, no more signs of LSF, a few pistils starting to change colour, generally looks very much ok apart from what you see in one pic.

The "nasty" is affecting only the topmost two fan leaves, and explains why they haven't been "tilting" so much recently as they would go VERY high as the day wore on. Since it's only these two leaves and absolutely nowhere else my GoogleFu was put to use and, as I suspected if the result from more than one site is correct, the buggers have been able to get too close to the panel and are suffering from burn from the panel. They weren't close enough to touch, and trust me I would recognise THAT quickly, but since there is no signs of anything else wrong whatsoever on the plant, not even a single yellow point elsewhere as far as I can see, I'm guessing that is the case. That decision may be changed if any other leaves show anything, but at this time with only these two big fan leaves showing anything, and these two being the ones that would get closest to the panel

Both leaves now chopped, the rest to be checked VERY carefully numerous times per day to see if it is actually a deficiency, life will plod on until the bitter end.