Multi Spectrum T5 Veg and Flower with Flood table and Tent-First Grow.

Hi there...Welcome to my nifty little grow.

Although this is my first grow I am being heavily consulted by my Hydro-Store-Guy, and yes he grows what we grow...and he has tried every system, and every light on the market. He could have made me spend a lot more when I made my initial purchase, but instead he heavily influenced me to go with this set up.

He swears by a Multi-spectrum set up. All under T5's. So im working under advisement...but let me tell you...this guy seems to know his shit.

Anyways.

Here’s what you might want to know at a glance:

My Lights:

Manufacturer- Sunblaze 48
Total Watts: 432W
Bulbs: 4 ft T5s
# of Bulbs: 8(54W)
Spectrum: 4 T5s @ 3000k (20,000 lumen) 4 T5s @ 6500k (20,000 lumen)*
Total lumen: 40,000 @ 2 inches
Coverage: 2'x4'
Additional lighting: 2 -24 inch T5 @ 6500k (seedlings and clones). Sunblaze.
* This set up is used for both Vegging and Flowering. The only thing that changes is the time-on/off (12/12) or (20/4).

Ebb and Flow

Flood Table: 2'x4'x6"
Reservoir: 100 litres/25 gal.
Pump: 264 gph
Planters: Netted
Media/Medium: Rockwool/Hydroton
Air Pump: Dual outlet 4.5 litre/min; x 2 Air Stones
Temperature: Control: Digital Monitoring.
Nutrient System: Lucas' Formula/General Hydroponics

Grow Tent

Manufacturer: Sun; Silver Hut.
Size: 4.5'x4.5'x 8.5'
Air Intake: Passive Vents
Exhaust: 245 Inline 4"
Fans: 2 Oscillating
Temperature gauges: 3

The Grow (Hydroponic)

Seed Co: Paradise
Strain: Belladonna
# of Planters: 6 (sex undetermined at this time)
Growing Mother Plant: No
Clones:Yes
Water: Processed fresh water; Great Lake H2O (180ppm); Tap
Meters: TDS/EC/Ph-Hanna Multi Pen.

So where are we at right now?

I have one Mutant Belladonna
I have one plant that got hit by Nute burn (because I was experimenting)

And four who are looking fantastic

All of these plants are about the same age (the 2 injuried younglings are 1 week older)

We are in our 2nd week of Veg for the 4 healthy ones.
And 3 weeks for the first 2 (who are coming back strong)





All questions, complaints, and comments are welcomed.

wow im definitely subscribed! cant wait to see how this goes!

Ive cut back my nute levels by 300PPM today. I was starting to see some yellowing at the tips.

my ppm is now 650 (-180ppm for water) so im at 470PPM
anyways....

This is 470PPM based on lucas formula for the half-strength 0-5-10...so im close to the "zone." (less than 100PPM) My Ph is 5.86 (it's a real good thing I recalibrated today--my meter was off by about 10%)

My four healthy plants are doing so well and are acting so healthy (in spite of signs of yellowing)


Here are some pics -plus I wanted to show how close i keep the lights to the plants. See that silver temperature gauge on the planter? The heat at the Plant-level is only 27C (with the 432W of lights only a mere 2 inches away from the crowns), but i could get that to 25 C no problem.

Im learning how imperative it is to top off every day, otherwise it plays absolute havoc on my PPM.

So today I learned--Top off your shit

For all who are interested: Here is how I ended up going with this light system over HID/HPS. This was Copied from a response I made in another post on this site:

I know Im new around here--but let me tell you my story.

This might be a bit of a read...so I hope you don't mind.


When I decided to grow I had a lot of the "usual" ideas about how I was going to do it. I used Youtube and many forums (and I always liked these ones the best ) plus all the various articles. I knew I wanted an Ebb and Flow, A nice size grow tent, and a 400W or 600W HPS. I had a budget of 2K-3k CAD.

I managed to find a low-key Hydroponics store that was close too me. Now, of course, I wanted to tell them what I was growing.....but at the same time .....I kind of didn't. So I thought I would play it careful....see if they catch on (after all flowering...male and female plants...I mean its a distinct plant).

When I first met (I'll call him Dave [ Dave's not here man]) Dave I could almost tell instantly that he was a toker...I mean I could just tell by looking. Him and his wife own and ran this shop and it had very low traffic. Every visit I got some real quality time with him (a 5 hour chat-session was our record)...and he is uber chatty...uber knowledgeable....and quickly I discovered he grows what we grow.

He took almost every single idea I had about growing MJ and chucked it right out the window.

His attitude towards HPS and HID?
quote " Yeah that's how I used to grow in the 90's,".......His words not mine.

His philosophy was based on effective-coverage. Which in a way, is more about heat dissipation. It also illustrates a characteristic of a the sun many growers forget to take into account.....shade.

A 400HPS can only get so close to a plant. So at 56,000 lumen light dangling a foot above a plant....is going to give one really nice plant. a few okay plants. The shade and true coverage of a single HPS is what Dave would challenge. ( the loss of Lumens due to distance due to heat control, and shade cascading effects of a single bulb, that's not to mention green spectrum-unusable for growing, plus the cost of removing heat).

Dave has grown everything...because he co-owns a hydro store. He has flat out claimed to have tried every lighting system on the market. The system Im using is the exact same system he uses. A muti-spectrum 8 HO 54(W) (4 T5's are 3000k and 4 T5's are 6500k) for a total of 40,000 lumen. The light system runs soooo naturally cool you can literally have a leaf touching a naked bulb---no problem.

Now I could have spent a lot more money with Dave on cooling and HPS bulbs (I can replace one of my bulbs for about 12.50 each if I get the cheapest). Even if we look at bulb replacement costs--Dave shorted himself by STRONGLY recommending this direction. Which add a lot of cred in his favour.


Dave suggests I can grow as many ounces this way with a Full Spectrum approach by making up the difference in effective coverage. The kicker is that 20k of each spectrum will easily do the trick. That is to say that I'll never have to change the the lighting set up from Vegging to flowering cycles....just my timer and nutes. I suggested that I buy extra 3000k bulbs---for flowering (at least one). But Dave is all like "No man"....you just don't need it. He said "Trust me".

Well how can I not trust someone talking themselves out of sales? (althought they make most of their revenue on mail order)
So I ve started a grow Journal...Im not saying he's right or wrong....but we will find out soon enough.

....So that's my story ( in a nut shell...believe me)....so no...not everyone will tell you that HID/HPS is the way to go. Especially Dave who has access to an unlimited amounts of them. All I can say is he sold me, and he made it make sense. But we will see. If he's wrong--I'll have some strong words for him. (and I live real close...he knows this)....but he doesn't sound wrong too me.

This is what a fully matured Belladonna looks like (no this is not mine-unfortunately)




Mine will go into Flowering at 8 inches--so I doubt it will ever look like that--but thats the prize.

They say the high is "Trippy" and Psychoactive...so I can't wait til July

Welp -it's been only one week since my last MJ pictures...and Im getting some nice growth (imo). They will be ready for flowering by May 19th -I estimate.

I guess I should chuck the 2 lessor ones--but Im must admit I almost don't have the heart. So at this point I don't see them as doing any harm; eventually the other four healthier ones will steal their light--but until then...i think they deserve a chance.







Hard to believe these are Sativas with their bushiness

woow! thats a really epic story! thats cool you know someone that really knowledgeable.. im definitely keep an eye on this!! im really curious to see how it goes! good luck! and your plants are looking great! and i was wondering how much did your light set up cost?

i will be running a 600w hps in flower but i have been using a 125w cfl and that has been really good. I think this should turn out well.

nastyhr said:

woow! thats a really epic story! thats cool you know someone that really knowledgeable.. im definitely keep an eye on this!! im really curious to see how it goes! good luck! and your plants are looking great! and i was wondering how much did your light set up cost?

Click to expand...

The lights were $400.00...I think I read a few people getting for about 100 buck cheaper. I think they are pretty cool because they can be "Daisy- Chained" should I want to add another 432W (Which I may next grow

The 2 24 inch were about 40 bucks each.

Thanks for your good wishes

That picture of the finished Belladonna is insane! Those buds are huge relative to the size of the plant! I've seen some pictures of Big Bud, C9, Big Bang and the like...all with huge buds. Obviously, the goal is to achieve the greatest compromise between yield and quality - let the quest begin.

Good luck to you, and thanks for checking in on my new Journal. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/327589-1200-watt-blue-dream-lemon-2.html

It's time for my weekly update--and it's been quite a week--for one I've started a new job, so this is where my grow tent has really paid off. It's nice to have a self-contained unit to grow in.

Anyways--Ive had some of the best growth I've ever had this week. I just upped their nutes...but I got a little carried away...they've indicate they are not ready for full strength yet. So right now im at about 900ppm @ 0.5
.

Ive also had to remove some stems and some leaves...but it can afford the loss. (I hope...gulp)

I also eliminated the "stunted" one from my garden. But one of my "test" plants has bounced back nicely. I'll be dropping those planters into 5 gallon planters at my next res change (2 weeks from last friday)...probably taking clones. Then it will be Flowering time.

More pics next Monday...thanks for reading

Goodnews

My plants have reached (the recommended height for MAX THC production according to Paradise seeds of) 8 inches....so it's flower time!!!!

Since Im using T5's I probably won't change the res....Lucas recommends the same nute levels in flowering under Flouro's as Vegging, My ppm's have been reduced to about 650PPM...so Friday will be the day.

siiiiick! cant wait to see how it goes!!

Just as I was moving them to bigger planters...I noticed Root Rot (What a drag!!!)

Ran out and bought more H2O2 then I'll probably ever use...gave them a bath (3% H2O2) ...a rinse...a flood.....


It's in Bob Marley's hands now......

All I can tell you are my plants are pissed. So now im not too keen on Flowering them until they are at least pointing upwards again.

I'll update Monday

/weep

This is an interesting setup. +rep and subbed.

Tee Five said:

Just as I was moving them to bigger planters...I noticed Root Rot (What a drag!!!)

Ran out and bought more H2O2 then I'll probably ever use...gave them a bath (3% H2O2) ...a rinse...a flood.....


It's in Bob Marley's hands now......

All I can tell you are my plants are pissed. So now im not too keen on Flowering them until they are at least pointing upwards again.

I'll update Monday

/weep

View attachment 936101

View attachment 936100

Click to expand...

are those roots just coming out of the block or did you trim the roots,i would give it a h2o2 bath and cut the watering back a little,good luck

litljohn said:

are those roots just coming out of the block or did you trim the roots,i would give it a h2o2 bath and cut the watering back a little,good luck

Click to expand...

yeah the roots are just coming out...but roger that on the watering and bath. Actually...since im moving them to bigger planters (Pic coming Monday) Im probably just going to keep watering them at the same pace. Hopefully the extra hydroton will make it work out that they are getting the correct amount now. I'll have to keep an eye on them.

But thanks for the advice. Im a little freaked out--although I think they'll be okay.

@ Ygrow---Welcome, thanks for your interest. Bubbles Rocks!!!

sorry to hear about the little bit of root rot. but its not bad at all..

but yea you forsure can water with the same amount if you make your pots bigger..

i just started this little soil grow myself. but i have no pics or journal.. ima post some up once this scrog im doing is done..

but also what size pot are you gonna switch to?