Colorado High - Soilless - LED/CFL - Skunk Red Hair - 2014

[David Bowman]

I agree KJC. I think peat pots have their uses, for instance plants that require much wetter soil or outdoors where the peat can more readily break down, just not indoors with cannabis. Another thing I like about these RR plugs, which at first concerned me, was the open holes. At first I thought how is the sprout going to deal with light while it is emerging since typically there is no light on it until it breaks the soil. Well, surprisingly, they don't seem to care and I love it as I can see the progress of the sprout becoming a seedling and don't have the urge to go digging around trying to figure out why it hasn't emerged yet. I have to say KJC, that you were instrumental in my choosing RR plugs and going soilless with peat moss for this grow. Thank you for providing so much useful information to all of us growers here at .

 

[MegeBudz]

Another thing I like about these RR plugs, which at first concerned me, was the open holes. At first I thought how is the sprout going to deal with light while it is emerging since typically there is no light on it until it breaks the soil.

The plugs I used were the same way and I was concerned about it as well.. even though it was a first time effort I closed a couple and left a couple open. In my experiment the ones I did not close fared much better than the ones I did close.. but a one time experiment.. take it for what it is worth lol

- M

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks MegeBudz! I was thinking along the same lines but since the directions didn't mentioned closing/covering the holes, I left them alone. Thanks for sharing, that makes me feel even better about using these plugs. In the end, doing what we can to make it as easy for the seeds to germinate and get to seedling stage as possible is, IMHO, the best thing we can do for these babies.

 

[KingJohnC]

I agree KJC. I think peat pots have their uses, for instance plants that require much wetter soil or outdoors where the peat can more readily break down, just not indoors with cannabis. Another thing I like about these RR plugs, which at first concerned me, was the open holes. At first I thought how is the sprout going to deal with light while it is emerging since typically there is no light on it until it breaks the soil. Well, surprisingly, they don't seem to care and I love it as I can see the progress of the sprout becoming a seedling and don't have the urge to go digging around trying to figure out why it hasn't emerged yet. I have to say KJC, that you were instrumental in my choosing RR plugs and going soiless with peat moss for this grow. Thank you for providing so much useful information to all of us growers here at .

It is my sincere wish that everyone who wishes to grow their own medicine be able to find reliable methods that work and will ensure they have a good harvest. I know there are other methods and techniques that do work well that I do not employ. There are other fertilizer brands, differences in organic versus chemical nutrients, different training techniques, soil, soiless and hydroponic growing mediums, different lighting such as Metal Halide, High Pressure Sodium, and LED light sources that all will grow great looking plants and have great harvests. My first grow started with using Miracle Gro potting soil with time released nutrients and had many problems. When I started growing cannabis for medicine I did have some experience with gardening but had to read copious amounts of information to find newer methods and techniques to use indoors in a controlled environment. There was a sharp learning curve and a need to find reliable methods to use for my cannabis plants. I have tried many different methods and techniques to grow plants and have eliminated many that do not work well. I know how important having cannabis as medicine is for quality of life and would like to assist other people in producing their own medicine.

 

[Christine Green]

Very nice CH! More pictures please!

You are an awesome resource and guide to us all KJ!

 

[David Bowman]

I'm in the process of taking one-a-days of the SRH in the RR plugs and once I transplant them, I'll post the sequence. BTW, one of the plugs has a root stick straight up out of the plugs. Given what I've seen so far, I'm very impressed with these RR plugs and they appear to be ideal for handling the transition from early sprout to early seedling without any issues whatsoever. All I do is once a day make sure they're sitting in about a quarter inch of water to keep the plugs moist. I'm just using straight tap water.

 

[David Bowman]

Day 7 since the start of germination and the babies are loving life! After starting the cure of my last harvest, I installed my new Top LED 96x3-watt Reflector grow light into my grow box. Below are some pictures of my new grow box setup.

Grow box with the LEDs off -

Grow box with the LEDs in Growth mode -

Grow box with the LEDs in Growth/Bloom modes -

The fan noise from the LEDs is noticeable but pretty much on par with the other fans located throughout the grow box and of course when the exhaust fan kicks in that's pretty much all you can hear anyways. I did a temperature test of the LEDs in Growth and Growth/Bloom modes without any exhaust running in my sealed grow box with only one 6" intake open. Growth mode raises the temps by ~10° and Growth/Bloom modes raises the temps by ~20°. I'm assuming the doubling of the temps in Growth/Bloom modes is due to the addition of the IR diodes as part of the set of red diodes that come one when Bloom mode is engaged. Under CFL canopy lighting, the best I could do was a ~10° increase with the exhaust running so it appears that, with regard to heat, there is a slight advantage to using these LEDs over CFLs for canopy lighting. It's looking good for this summer grow as I now know that I can maintain a proper vegging environment, flowering could be a little trickier but I think that it will still be manageable.

The sprouts are doing very well in the Rapid Rooter plugs and all 6 of the sprouts have emerged from the plugs and have started the seedling stage. This is a milestone for me since I had so far been unable to successfully get all of my sprouts to the seedling stage. While they were in the RR plugs, I took one-a-days of the sprouts to show their progress prior to transplantation into the soilless medium. The first picture, which was included in my previous update, shows the sprouts on the first day that they were placed into the RR plugs. The next two pictures show their progress while they were sitting on an east facing window sill. After installing the LEDs, I placed them under the LEDs running 24/7. The last two pictures, taken 12 hours apart, show their progress while under the LEDs and as you can see for yourself, they literally popped overnight and continued to display aggressive growth. So far, with respect to light intensity and quality, the LEDs are far superior to the CFLs as I never saw this kind of growth so early on in their development under CFLs.

Day 4 since the start of germination, 1st day in the RR plugs -

Day 5 since the start of germination, 2nd day in the RR plugs -

Day 6 since the start of germination, 3rd day in the RR plugs -

Day 7 since the start of germination, 4th day in the RR plugs -

Day 7 since the start of germination, 12 hours later right before transplanting -

Once roots started to show on day 7 since the start of germination, I transplanted the six seedlings into 2 gallon pots filled with the generic soilless indoor potting mix along with Doggett & Simpson Growology Step 1 at 1 Tbsp/gallon. I evened the height of all of the seedlings by burying the taller seedlings deeper into the medium.

Group shot of all 6 seedlings in their new homes -

Close-up shots of the back row from left to right -

Close-up shots of the front row from left to right -

I'm starting the LEDs at approximately three feet above the pots. When they were 4 feet above the RR plugs, the seedlings tended to stretch a bit. I will continually adjust the height of the LEDs to fit the needs of the plants. I switched the lighting over to GLR and I am employing sidelighting in order to get the temps over 85° so that I can begin CO2 supplementation. I will start with D&S Growology Step 2 once the seedlings appear to need additional nutrients.

Here is how the grow box looks when all available lighting for vegging is on -

Over the next few days, I will make any necessary adjustments to the grow environment to get it to stay within my preferred vegging range of 85°-95° with 50%-70% RH. Once the environment has stabilized, I will add supplemental CO2. As always any comments, suggestions, etc. are more than welcome.

 

[David Bowman]

Day 8 since the start of germination and during their first "day" overnight, the babies continued to stretch so I lowered the LEDs to two feet above the pots and I will continue to monitor their progress. The environment remained pretty stable at ~85° with 70% RH, ~20° above ambient temperatures. Given our recent freezing cold overnight temps, this should be about as low as the temps should go during lights on throughout vegging for this grow.

 

[David Bowman]

Day 9 since the start of germination and the babies are still stretching for the light so I have lowered the LEDs down to 18" above the pots. The grow environment seems to have stabilized at the proper vegging temps and RH so I added supplemental CO2 to the grow box.

 

[Christine Green]

Very impressive grow box, and 6 new beauties! They look so velvety and sweet! I would love to watch your grow!

 

[BUDsai Grower]

Great setup. Gonna follow this journal closely as I'm getting LED.

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks Pinky!

 

[David Bowman]

to

Welcome BUDsai Grower! Glad to have you along for the ride!!

 

[Calyx Hunter]

Hey CH I have a question due to the stretching of your seedlings. I want an LED very soon and am researching as much as I can.

Does your LED have a veg and a bloom setting or is it same spectrum all the time? I notice the pinkish hue on alot of LED's around here. In my mind the pink seems good for flower and a bluer spectrum would be good for veg.

Your setup looks awesome!

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks CH! There are two switches on the Top LED reflector series, one labeled Growth and one labeled Bloom. The Growth switch turns on the majority of diodes as well as the two fans. The Bloom switch turns on the remaining Red/IR diodes for flowering. Both switches are one during flowering.

Here is what the Reflector LED grow light looks like -

Here it is with the Growth switch ON and the Bloom switch OFF -

Here it is with the Growth switch OFF and the Bloom switch ON (NOTE: This is for demonstration purposes only as this is not recommended since the fans are tied only to the Growth switch and the diodes could overheat.) -

Here it is with the Growth and Bloom switches ON -

 

[Calyx Hunter]

Awesome reply thank you!

Do you think at 18" the stretching has reduced?

 

[David Bowman]

You're welcome CH! I adjusted the LEDs a few hours ago right before sunset at 9:00 AM. Tomorrow morning, after another full 12 hours of light I will check on them to see if the stretching has slowed down or even stopped and I will post an update.

 

[David Bowman]

Well, there might have been another reason behind the stretching, I completely inverted the GLR light schedule, instead on 12 on, 5.5 off, 1 on, 5.5 off, for the last two days I've been running 12 off, 5.5 on, 1 off, 5.5 on so the babies were spending 13 hours looking for light instead of the normal 11 of GLR, not to mention only getting 5.5 hours of light twice a day. That was corrected today during the 2:30-3:30 PM lights on hour and tonight will be their first full 12 hours of light. Hopefully, that should take care of any stretching issuse for the moment. As always, time will tell!

 

[Mike Wright]

Well, there might have been another reason behind the stretching, I completely inverted the GLR light schedule

Whoops! That'd do it!

 

[David Bowman]

Whoops! That'd do it!

Yeah, they didn't stretch too much over the last 24 hours and for the most part they were following the GLR for that time. Instead of the full hour of light yesterday afternoon, they received ~50 minutes since it took a while for me to realize that the lights weren't on when they should have been. The babies appear to be putting more energy into leaf development over searching for the light now so they appear to be on the right track and I will keep the LEDs at 18" above the pots for time being.