White Widow/Master Kush LED Grow

[bizz]

I was wondering if anyone knew if it mattered where I positioned the flouro's?

what flouro's do you have?

generally with flouro's you want them as close as possible since they dont put out that many lumens and dont get very hot, altho if you are going to do something like PAD then it seems like spectrum is more important than light intensity...

i have a 4ft t8 shop light which holds 2 32w bulbs, each put out 2,800 lumens so 5,600 total lumens

used it for clone/early veg

for clone i put bulbs a couple inches above plastic dome covers cutting tray, this worked fine

after transplanting to 4" pots, 48 clones took up about 16" x 48" so light had to be a bit higher to spread light out, it was barely enough to keep them alive it seemed, they really didnt like this much light, after giving most of these clones to my friends, i kept 12

i put these 12 clones in a row, bigger ones alone, smaller doubled up and put the light so the 2 bulbs were on either side of the plants, having light so close to plants and having essentially 2 sources of light from different directions, really got them growing but after having to move light up a few inches, the bottoms started to fall behind the tops since light was fading so top of 7 inch plant happy, bottom not so happy...

got some LED UFO's at that point and stopped using flouro's, growth really took off... granted i was only using 64w...

EDIT: also i think 2000 lumens is minimum for growth, 5000 is minimum recommended for good results

 

[prodotype]

It's hard for me to compare, since that I have only used LED's and that this my secong go around with them. Especialy since the first time I only used 2 gallon pots, so I know that held me back. My first go around with using the 2 gallon pots and no flowering nutes I yielded a little over an oz from three plants. This time around I'm going to be alot stricter with a feeding schedule, and hopefuly doing that and using biger pots Im shooting for an O from every plant. This grow is going to really be the deciding factor if I stick with the LED's or vent my room and throw a MH/HPS light in there.

The reason I decided on using an LED is because after researching for about three months I came to the conclusion that an LED light was best for me. With my set up I dont really need to install a ventalation system because I use a small room, which wouldnt be the case if I was to use a MH or HPS light, so that saved me a few bucks. Plus with the LED I didnt even notice an increase in my electricity. Now if I was a caregiver or growing on a large scale. I would go with a HPS, but since im only providing for my self LED is the light for me for now.

I dont know if you have seen it but there is an LED source thread on the boards right now that has some great techniques on how to manipulate LED lights for bigger yields. I would check it out heres the link

Everything LED, Open Source Light?

Hay Cough thanks for the link there's a lot of grate info in that forum.

 

[cough 80]

what flouro's do you have?

generally with flouro's you want them as close as possible since they dont put out that many lumens and dont get very hot, altho if you are going to do something like PAD then it seems like spectrum is more important than light intensity...

i have a 4ft t8 shop light which holds 2 32w bulbs, each put out 2,800 lumens so 5,600 total lumens

used it for clone/early veg

for clone i put bulbs a couple inches above plastic dome covers cutting tray, this worked fine

after transplanting to 4" pots, 48 clones took up about 16" x 48" so light had to be a bit higher to spread light out, it was barely enough to keep them alive it seemed, they really didnt like this much light, after giving most of these clones to my friends, i kept 12

i put these 12 clones in a row, bigger ones alone, smaller doubled up and put the light so the 2 bulbs were on either side of the plants, having light so close to plants and having essentially 2 sources of light from different directions, really got them growing but after having to move light up a few inches, the bottoms started to fall behind the tops since light was fading so top of 7 inch plant happy, bottom not so happy...

got some LED UFO's at that point and stopped using flouro's, growth really took off... granted i was only using 64w...

EDIT: also i think 2000 lumens is minimum for growth, 5000 is minimum recommended for good results

I'm using 2 T8 shoplights, I believe it the bulbs are the same lumens as yours are. right now I have them about 18'' above the plants to the sides of the UFO. I'm worried that if I were to lower the 2 shop lights closer it would block the light being given off from the UFO.

I was just wondering if I should leave them where they are or maybee put them on the sides of the plants?

I'm not using PAD lighting right now, but I intend to For when I set up the flower room.

 

[bizz]

I'm using 2 T8 shoplights, I believe it the bulbs are the same lumens as yours are. right now I have them about 18'' above the plants to the sides of the UFO. I'm worried that if I were to lower the 2 shop lights closer it would block the light being given off from the UFO.

Well... When the bulbs and ballasts are brand new they are supposed to put out 2800 lumens, 4 x 2800 = 11,200, lighting area is 4ft x 2ft? 4x3? 4x4? 8, 12 or 16 sq ft? so 11,200/8 = 1,400 lumens per sq ft is not alot /12 or /16 is going to be worse, now depending on where you measure you are going to get stronger lumens in certain regions, like when I lowered the light so plants had a 2800 lumen bulb on either side inches away, they grew nicely but that growing energy did not seem to radiate much more than 6 inches away...

are you familiar with the inverse square law, if light is 1000 lumens at 1ft then at 2 ft lumens are 1000/4 = 250 lumens...

so if those bulbs put out 2800 lumens on their surface, then at 6 inches lets say they put out something less than 2800 lumens, how about 2000(prob more like 1000...), so at 12" 2000/4 = 500 lumens and 24" 500/4 = 125 lumens

so you can grow with those, but you are really limited as to how far they radiate enough lumens when using as main lighting source, as supplemental, they going to do a little bit and add to overall spectrum

I was just wondering if I should leave them where they are or maybee put them on the sides of the plants?

with your setup this might be most effective use, you could also arrange them in an upside down V shape with UFO in middle on top...

I'm not using PAD lighting right now, but I intend to For when I set up the flower room.

I dont know this for fact, but from my brief experience with PAD and from what I have read, it seems like when running PAD, spectrum color and timing/length are more important than intensity, where as tradition growing is almost completely bound by lighting intensity...

 

[cough 80]

Hay Cough thanks for the link there's a lot of grate info in that forum.

Ya there was. That has to be the best LED tread I've seen on this board.

 

[dogsnova]

I'm getting a seat for this one..

 

[cough 80]

Well I'm still waiting for the seeds to come, so much for worldwide 7 day worldwide shipping.lol

2 more of the seedling wilted over and died, while the other three are doing ok. Besides one seedling that looks to be needing more water than the rest, but i think the little thing will be ok now that I have come to this relazation. Here are some pics of the remaining bag seeds.

Bag seed 1

Bag seed 2

Bag seed 5, I'm going to pay more attention to make sure it gets enough water.


So far I have to say I'm satisfied with the progress so far. I am using shwag bag seeds so I came into this expecting some plants not to make it out of the seedling stage. I'm hopingn the remaing seedlings will really take off in growth in the next week or 2.

 

[cough 80]

The seeds came today, and to my suprise they sent me feminized white widow seeds instead of the regular ones that I ordered. I'll post 2 week status of the bag seeds and germination results the Widow and Kush in a few days.

 

[cough 80]

So things are looking good right now I'm getting some good growth from 2 of the 3 Bag seed plants, and I just checked on the widow and the kush and 5 of the 7 widow seeds have roots that have poped out and all 3 of the kush seeds have poped too. I'm going to wait until the roots show a little more to put them in soil, but so far I'm verry excited with the germination results, and hopefuly the other 2 widow seeds will open up today or tommorow. I will post pics tommorow.

 

[cough 80]

I'm happy to say today that every seed I ordered germinated, and I put them in soil and watered them with big bloom this morning. I also began using Grow Big on the bag seeds this morning. Here are a few Pic updates.

Heres a group shot.

Bag Seed 1

Bag Seed 2

Bag Seed 5. It's starting to recover from lack of water. I've been scared the past couple days I didnt think this one would make it.

 

[cough 80]

Sorry guys I had some computer issues this month.

But here is a quick update:

Were at day 39 since the bagseeds broke soil, they are showing wonderful growth, besides the fact that there only 6'' in heigh which is beggining to concern me at this stage in the grow. I think it might have to due to the fact that I removed the main cola from the stem to prompte more colas from lower shoots, but I expected them to be twice this size by now any Ideas.

Were also at day 21 with the three remaining White Widows, the master kush didnt make it past germinating which was verry dissapointing. But I am seeing great growth from 2 of the 3 plants. one of them is a runt that refuses to grow vertical as for now. I just removed the main colas the other day so a couple new colas are starting to appear.

WW1

WW2

WW3

BS1

BS2

BS3

 

[logitech227]

Hey buddy the plants look good. I bet the UFO looking thing is vegging real well. LEDs work wonders for that.

I love your strains, Master Kush is one of my all time favorite smoke. The THC and resin content is just jaw dropping when it fully develops! Good luck and I hope everything turns out awesome for you.

Also when you say you removed the main cloas I assume your saying you topped that plant? Regardless, when you top, fim, or whatever you want to call it, it is going to shock the plant for 5-7 days before things really start to pick back up. Things will grow, dont get me wrong but it will just be a little slower. At least for me they do when ever I top a plant. The plant now has to divert energy into two shoot oppose to just one and it takes time to develop all the tissue necessary for that to happen.

One more thing, it may take a little longer because your using such low wattage. Im not saying it is a bad thing...I love led man! Im just saying it may take a little longer because the light is diluted, if you will, over four plants. Photosynthesis might just take a little bet longer with the low light energy being emitted. Hang in there bro, it will turn around. Its like watching puppies or kittens grow. They don't in front of your eyes until you flip threw a photo book.

 

[cough 80]

Thanks man. I figured they were just shocked. This is the first time I've toped a plant, so I didnt know what to expect.

 

[cough 80]

Alright guys sorry again. I've been with out a camera so I have been unmotivated to keep up on the journal. My flower room has been lacking on light so I picked up another LED that will be here by the end of the week. I also Have decided that when the last of the clones are moved to flower that I'm going to make the switch to DWC. I feel like after these two grows that I'm not going to get the results I'm looking for with the LED+Soil comination, and after researching the past month It seems people are having alot more success with LED+DWC.

But I'm back and heres an update.

I'm at day 42 of flower with one of the bag seeds. It's looking great besides the fact that I still dont think I'm going to get the ounce I was after, but I'll definately yield more than my first grow.

I have a White Widow right behind that one at Day 21 of flower. The White Widow is Much Larger than the bag seed. Its at about 3 feet and the bag seed stoped at 21''.

There are also 3 clones from my two beautiful WW mothers that are at 14 days at flower. These I regret putting into flower, because there too short and are not getting enough light .

My vegg room is doing great. Cloning has gone extremely well. I've only lost 3 of the 20 clones, and I'm quite proud of that being that I have never cloned before.

I'll hopefuly have a new camera by the end of the week and will be posting pics, and I might even get bored and get the DWC going so you guys can check that out.

 

[dogsnova]

I love DWC. Simple yet very effective

 

[cough 80]

I love DWC. Simple yet very effective

Ya thats what I have gathered over the last two months. Now that I'm going to have two UFOs in the flowering room. I'll have enogh wattage to go along with the red pannel and black light for the PAD technique. I'm hoping to see some big results by the end of summer.

 

[cough 80]

The DWC cloner is setr up, and running looks a little gheto riged but I think its going to be effective. I'm going to let these girls hang out in there until the roots are long enough to reach through the 5in net pots. I also harvested my first plant yesterday. Looks like about a half o when it's dried. I was suprised how fast it finished but the trics where over half amber, maybee since it was a bag seed? Its covered in crystals, and looks like its gonna be a great smoke. The White Widow which is at day 26 looks like its going to be a great producer its got 4 heads on it, but the rest of the girls at day 26 look like I'll be lucky to get an 8th when there harvested. I'm still kicking my self for putting them in there when there were still short because now the WW is almost three feet tall and there only about 16in, but we all live and learn. The new LED should be here by wed so that will help with the end of there life cycle and now I'll have 180w of led light combined with the 4 40w shop lights.

 

[cough 80]

Well I ended up with 8g from the bag seed plant, and now I’m going to let it cure for the next week.

As for the rest of the grow. I'm about 4 weeks from harvest on a WW and 3 bag seed clones. The WW is about 36" now and has been growing very rapidly since I have put in the 2nd LED which I have to say is better quality then my original. The rest of the WW clones that are in flower have also loved this light, it’s amazing to see what a difference adding another one of these UFO's has made.

Well The first set of clones that have been put into flower wont yield much since there so short but I'm very happy how well my veg room is doing, My two mother WW are doing amazing and have been producing great clippings. I have 5 clones in soil right now, 3 of which will be entering the flower room next week. I have begun to let the clones veg until they reach 18", I'm sacrificing 3 weeks of green but I know letting them veg longer will help with yield and allow for the shoots to develop before flower. These 5 clones will be the last clones done in soil, and then I will be making the full switch to DWC.

The DWC cloner has worked just as I hoped it would. My 5 clones developed roots two nights ago. Now I'm just going to let these roots get a little longer over the next week, then on Friday transplant them to the 30 gal veg tote. The only problem I've had with the cloner so far is a PH problem that I didn’t pick up on until the roots broke through. The leaves started to get a little light green so I immediately checked the PH and it had risen to 7.1 after I had changed out the water. I got the PH back down to 6, so now I'm just waiting for these clones to get healthy and to start growing.

 

[dogsnova]

Nice update..

 

[cough 80]

Nice update..

I try. Just wish I wasnt sinking all my money into grow equuipment and nutes, so I could afford to get a new camera to give you guys some pics.