Homemade LED light grow - Are my girls squating too much or are they healthy???

Hi, For those that dont know I've built myself a custom made LED grow light (49 x 3w LED modules = 144W).

I started 3 plants; 1 30 days ago, 2 25 days ago outdoors. and moved them indoors on the 10th Jun.

I'm hoping an experiened LED grower may answer.....

The girls seem to be squating a bit. here are some photos from Day 11 under my light.


I am not sure if this is ok? 11 days.

Here is a comparison of 11 days ago (day 1):


I have been using Cyco Grow A&B formula I water every 2 days with 300ml in each pot, I feed every second watering cycle (4 days) with 2ml/L.

What do you guys think??

- Slix

What is ratio of red to blue LEDs?

Ideally, you want 3 red LEDs for each 1 blue LED.

Also, you may want to supplement the grow with a high wattage CFL (100 - 200 Watt, actual)

The plants look really small for 2 weeks old (this is the average age of your plants, I gather?)

What reflective material are you using? It looks really wrinkled. Laying it out flat and smooth improves the amount of light reflected.

Also, is it foil? try flat white paint or mylar!

At this stage, the plants look small, and undeveloped. The nutes in the soil should be adequate for growth. Lay back on feeding them for now.
Just plain water will work.

also, hows about some current pics?

those pics are from today

Thanks for the tips I may continue just watering.

My ratio is:
24 x 630nm Red
6 x 660nm Red
6 x 465nm Blue,
12 x 450nm Blue
1 x 410nm Ultra violet

All are 3 watt high power modules.

Yes I am using foil and aluminium tape to hold it all together.

change to mylar (foil giftwrap is a cheap source of this)
also flat white paint works, and is cheap and easy to apply!

I would get more red LEDs (6 more 660nm) And one 6500k daylight 23W CFL for each plant.

This will give them ample light.

LEDs have poor foliar penetration in lower concentrations.
Most store bought setups would have a minimum of 225 3 Watt LEDs. 1/4 would be blue, the rest red.

Truly?

that would be over 600w of LED? I havent seen many on the market that deliver that much power. :\

I am getting 3 times the output of an LED UFO using a LUX meter (LUX meters do not see red and blue well)

the guy on ledgrow.eu used a few 660nm's and had alot of stretching problems so it makes sense to add some to increase vertical growth. I'm trialling this light but I have enough of each spectrum of LED to build 4 more lights just like it. SO i will mix and match.

I wanted to add a 130w 6500K fluoro for veg and 130w 2700K fluoro for flower but I want to play this LED light out see what my hard work and labour have made.

After this grow I will try a nuetral white and blue mix @ the same number (49 x 3w LEDs) for Veg and warm white and the 2 reds for flower.

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Slixxor I read your other thread as well, great work.

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/334273-home-made-led-grow-light-2.html#post4289001

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Thanks Hobbes,

I also had a thorough read hrough your article. very nice information.

All we can do I guess is share the knowledge and make something that really works. I genuinely believe one day LEDs will be the most efficient way to grow indoors

I'd love it if you made your own light so we can compare I will provide designs for mine.

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Thanks Slix! I've been meaning to do this for months and just let it slide because of the electronics learning curve. Your help and threads are going to get me back on track.

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Best bit of avice, this is my third design now. make sure you chassis is solid, and you wiring is easy to work with.

I used bullet connectors for everything to make it all easy to click together. You need alot of time taken building your array. but the design itself (mine) is very forgiving to errors. in fact I didnt measure some things I did the line it up and dot it trick. it all worked out in the end

When using premade LED controllers some dont care about input polarity and if you get your polarity wrong on output you are unlikely to kill the LED, just swap it over. My next design will be PIC micro controlled and of course, multiple time based e.g only running 660nm for the last 2 hours of light cycle with rest on. Although switches work fine for a static light

shop around and find LED controllers that suit you. 3 in series, 6 in series, 12 in series etc. the more in series the higher the required input voltage. But the more controllers, the more chassis work needed to contain and protect your LED drivers.

I will post more pics of the girls in 5 days. cheers guys.

- Slix