Green Knight Berry Bomb Hydro CFL - Experiment #1: Supercropped Defoliated ScROG

[iSmokes]

Man vs Weed

 

[ajagunle]

That makes perfect sense and explains a lot. I also remember reading somewhere that the knuckles that develop help more nutes get delivered to the buds. How true that is I'm not sure, but the healing/hormones hypothesis makes perfect sense

I have also read about the nutrient super-highway and reading your experience it could be true?

Canopy is looking gorgeous, those lovely splashes of almost white, full of beautiful promise!

What wattage of LED are you considering?

 

[Green Knight]

Thanks AJ - yeah, I'm really pleased with how it's filled out. I do really like the bird's eye photo (I'm not tall enough to view it like that so it's only when I take a photo - I have to hold the camera at arms length above my head and guess the right position to hold it in, but when I see the photo after it's a really nice surprise). I can't wait until the buds develop and fill out.

I'm a bit unsure about the LED size. I'm 90% sure I'm going to go with Fero because Jon's getting such good results with their lights. I reckon it's more sensible to go with a brand that you know for sure works and that you've seen other people get good results with, rather than go on fancy marketing (which I'm a massive sucker for to be honest... if it looks pretty and has a fancy label.....!)

Size-wise I'm torn between the A60 or the A90. The A60's 110w with a 50x50cm coverage which is basically the perfect footprint for my cupboard (well, 44x60cm or thereabouts) but I'm considering the 170w A90 just to get the absolute maximum possible light. To be honest I'll probably go for the 60 - I think the 90 will just be more than I need and the extra power will be a waste, plus the 60 will be cheaper. I do also need to find out the dimensions of the light itself just to be on the safe side - the A90 may not fit in my cupboard (although I'd be surprised if it was that big, but I'd be gutted if I bought it and it didn't fit!)

What are you thinking for an led AJ?

And thank you for the reps by the way mate

 

[iSmokes]

Maaan.. LED's huh?

I've been thinking about switching to LED's after I downsize to my 2x2. It really is puzzling. I saw a lot of juicy and amazing nugs grown with LED's (advanced, fero..). My biggest concern is how close can my buds get?

I tried cheaper LED's before and noticed that plants don't like being too close to them. They got bleached. The big point of my downsizing is "stealth". I don't want too much vertical requirements. If I can find a proper air cooled hps to fit in that small space I wouldn't even consider LED's.

Right now I'm trying to focus on my current grow, but I can't stop thinking about what's next? I need a small area that provides enough meds for me to never run out. Decisions decisions... my current thoughts are a 2x2 and advanced led's, It's just silly trying to fit an aircooled reflector, filter, and a fan in a 2x2 lol.

GK we're the same when it comes to marketing LOL. I'm a sucker for shiny man toys! I'm checking out some "grow boxes" that are rather expensive. Stealth has become an issue and I just can't work with tents anymore.. I'm moving into an apartment (rent). If my neighbor has a leak for some reason, maintenance personell can just walk into my place. They can do that for any type of emergency. They also have the unit inspections. It's just too damn risky to have a grow tent in a rental. If it comes down to it, I'm going to have to take the plunge and toss some $$ on a bc northern lights unit or something.. At least it looks like a washer or dryer, lockable, and I'll even place it in my dryer spot and exhaust out. Ahh.. I rambled too much, I'm just really worried about what to do. I know I never want to buy bud from a douchebag ever again, so if it's a $2000 investment I have to make, so be it.


Why can't I just grow them on my porch?

 

[ajagunle]

I love the overheads!

My garden is 2.5ft by 1.5ft with about 32” total height, LED I’m looking at is 11”x14” so could sit next to the CF and give me almost 20” extra bud room height, (can’t think how to word that properly) I could afford 180w today or 270w by march but I’ll be replacing almost 700w CFL, I can still fit in about 100w low level light with the LED.

I was looking at the new 2013 Lighthouse Blackstar Chrome, read all the bumph and quite a few journals, it’s the upper end of my affordability, which is below Fero starting price. Not keen to drop the wattage but I’ve been assured that 270w is overkill for my window-box.

Your room looks very similar, I suppose I’ve got CFL overload, over compensating? Is it worthwhile?

 

[Green Knight]

Maaan.. LED's huh?

I've been thinking about switching to LED's after I downsize to my 2x2. It really is puzzling. I saw a lot of juicy and amazing nugs grown with LED's (advanced, fero..). My biggest concern is how close can my buds get?

I tried cheaper LED's before and noticed that plants don't like being too close to them. They got bleached. The big point of my downsizing is "stealth". I don't want too much vertical requirements. If I can find a proper air cooled hps to fit in that small space I wouldn't even consider LED's.

Right now I'm trying to focus on my current grow, but I can't stop thinking about what's next? I need a small area that provides enough meds for me to never run out. Decisions decisions... my current thoughts are a 2x2 and advanced led's, It's just silly trying to fit an aircooled reflector, filter, and a fan in a 2x2 lol.

GK we're the same when it comes to marketing LOL. I'm a sucker for shiny man toys! I'm checking out some "grow boxes" that are rather expensive. Stealth has become an issue and I just can't work with tents anymore.. I'm moving into an apartment (rent). If my neighbor has a leak for some reason, maintenance personell can just walk into my place. They can do that for any type of emergency. They also have the unit inspections. It's just too damn risky to have a grow tent in a rental. If it comes down to it, I'm going to have to take the plunge and toss some $$ on a bc northern lights unit or something.. At least it looks like a washer or dryer, lockable, and I'll even place it in my dryer spot and exhaust out. Ahh.. I rambled too much, I'm just really worried about what to do. I know I never want to buy bud from a douchebag ever again, so if it's a $2000 investment I have to make, so be it.


Why can't I just grow them on my porch?

I know the feeling iSmokes, it's crazy you can't just grow a couple of plants for personal use.

I'm not sure about distance from plants with LEDs, I hadn't really thought about that. Height is less of an issue for me at the moment than light distribution but if you're really limited with height then would be worth checking out - I'm sure Jon or Tony Sussans would be able to advise on LED distance from plants and give you some guidance.

Sucks with rental- I grew in a rented place once and was really paranoid. I installed a burglar alarm so the landlord / letting agent couldn't just walk in if I was out. With a 2x2 space I'm sure you'll be able to get plenty to keep you in meds, particularly if you can get a small veg area going too so you've got the next plant on her way and ready for when you harvest the flowering one. I've seen some of those stealth grow boxes and they are really neat, but pricey.

You could make something really stealth for a lot less money though I'm sure. You could buy a wardrobe and convert that - it would give you more height and you could have a veg and flowering cab side by side. Light proofing it etc wouldn't be a problem and in some ways it might be more stealth than having the tumble dryer pulled out and sitting in the hall or storing it somewhere - a landlord's only going to ask what you've done with his dryer, but is unlikely to question a wardrobe. If anything goes wrong with plumbing etc a workman may also need access to behind where the tumble dryer (or your grow cab) is and may have to pull the cab out which could raise suspicions, but it's unlikely they'd need to move or inspect your wardrobe. You can also modify the inside to your heart's content so it fits your needs perfectly.

 

[Green Knight]

I love the overheads!

My garden is 2.5ft by 1.5ft with about 32” total height, LED I’m looking at is 11”x14” so could sit next to the CF and give me almost 20” extra bud room height, (can’t think how to word that properly) I could afford 180w today or 270w by march but I’ll be replacing almost 700w CFL, I can still fit in about 100w low level light with the LED.

I was looking at the new 2013 Lighthouse Blackstar Chrome, read all the bumph and quite a few journals, it’s the upper end of my affordability, which is below Fero starting price. Not keen to drop the wattage but I’ve been assured that 270w is overkill for my window-box.

Your room looks very similar, I suppose I’ve got CFL overload, over compensating? Is it worthwhile?

Yeah, we've basically got the same size space exactly AJ (mine's slightly smaller, 1.5x2ft, but I've got a bit more height to play with). Wow, I didn't realise you had 700w of CFL's in there!! You're getting great results so it's working, though you may be able to lower the wattage and still get the same results. Even a 250 hps would drop your electricity bill and would probably put out less heat overall than all the CFL's, but with the height restriction it may be a bit hot for the tops of your plants once they grow up. Led-wise I imagine it would depend on manufacturer but 270w does seem a lot! I've been looking at 90-120w sort of size which I think would provide more than enough light for the space and footprint needed. There does come a saturation point where the plants are getting all the light they need and adding more increases heat and electricity bills without necessarily increasing your yields.

If heat wasn't an issue I'd be considering a 250w hps or something like that, but I wouldn't go above 250w for my size of space as I don't think I'd get much additional benefit. I think the biggest issue you and I have with the CFL's is the light distribution because of the dead zone under the ballast ends of the cfl bulbs. If you can fix the light distribution issue you could probably lower your wattage. One of Jon's big led lights is 600w and he's got 4 for a 6x12ft scrog which works out at 33w per sq ft or thereabouts. You've got 186w per sq ft at the moment. Admittedly Jon's LEDs will have more penetration etc than CFL's, but you may be able to lower the amount of power you use without any major reductions in yield. I'm just running 125w which works out at 41w per sq ft. It's just not evenly distributed unfortunately, otherwise I'd be pretty happy with where things are.

 

[jon705]

there is no point in switching from 700w cfl to a 250 hps bro other than power consumption imo, and the 250 will put out more heat unless you can vent it.I need 28 inches in between the top of the canopy and the lights but the smaller the panel the lower you can go.that 60 your looking at GK would probably need 12- 14 inches or so. For a closet grow theres nothing better than led's imo, theres alot less heat alot less hydro consumption no thermal footprint full spectrum coverage crazy trychrome developement.....shall I go on lol...

 

[Green Knight]

Do you reckon the 60 would be enough Jon, or should I be thinking about the 90? I'm keen to keep power and costs down whilst getting the absolute maximum I can out of space, so given the size and based on your experience would the 90 offer much benefit over the 60 do you reckon?

 

[jon705]

I havent looked at the specs on either of them yet bro but usually the higher the wattage the high the panel needs to be.If you have enough hieght in your space I would go with the 90 because it probably has a bit better penetration than the 60. I ll go have a look at the website brb

 

[jon705]

ok so the 60 has a core footprint of 20x20 inches and needs to be 14 to 20 inches from the canopy during flower. the 90 has a core footprint of 24 x 28 inches and needs to be 20 to 24 inches away from the canopy during flower. so it all depends on your height restrictions if you can fit the 90 in your space and have the height I would go with it personally, the more watts you have the better coverage and penetration in my opinion bro

 

[Green Knight]

Thanks mate. I've got a reasonable amount of height to play with (though off the top of my head I can't remember how much clearance I have above the screen (I need to wait until lights on a bit later before I can measure). At a guess I reckon I've got about 32 inches from the screen to where the fan and filter sits at the top of the cupboard. Might be safer to go for the 60 rather than the 90 in case I grow a strain that stretches more

 

[jon705]

yep that would probably be your best bet bro

 

[Green Knight]

Mind you, I'm interested to see their new range - website says that once they're out of stock the 60 and 90s will no longer be available as they're replacing them with new models.
It's going to be a couple of months before I need to order it anyway. Hopefully their new range will be even better

 

[jon705]

the new ones are 175 watts and have a core footprint of 2 x 3 feet

 

[Green Knight]

Bugger, so are they entirely discontinuing the lower wattage models? Website says they'll no longer be available once the stock has run out, but if they don't replace with new equivalent lower wattage models then I may have to go to another supplier as a 175 will be equivalent to the 90 and I think will be too big.
Mind you the Apollo's look pretty good, and it seems Fero rate them too.

 

[jon705]

im sure they will still have some in a couple months bro

 

[Green Knight]

Cool!

 

[Green Knight]

Hmmm. Yesterday was day 14 flower, day 25 from 12/12. I did a massive defoliation (photos will follow, probably at the weekend) but I carelessly snapped a top (just the top very top inch or two). It was blatantly screwed but I taped it just in case, knowing really it was gone. Just got back from work after a really long day feeling like shit and it was shrivelled and dead.

I'm now not smoking (on the e-cig) and my wife's also now ordered one and it arrived on Monday, so we have no tobacco in the house. Remembered i had a bong which I've nit used for years and after some thought about why even bother at 3 weeks in with 5 weeks to go I quick dried it in the microwave like a dirty bitch (it looked quite frosty and it seemed a waste not to). Probably got two small bowls worth of immature, green, quick dried, shitty weed that should have gone in the bin.

I've had one bowl and now I'm really nicely stoned. I think this is going to be good.

 

[iSmokes]

That's awesome news man. Good buds ahead! You'll find yourself going with glass a lot with no tobacco in the house. I love bongs, my #1 favorite.

Keep up the good work on the ecig. I'm on week 5