619ster's First Grow: Pure Royal Kush July 2010

[619ster]

Alright so I have the two plants already in dwc in my room, and put other half my setup in my tent now where my 180 watt LED light is now up and running. And a 105 watt 5000k cfl. I have the cfl in there for now just for when I am working in there because I turn the LED off. That LED lighting makes me dizzy and gives me all kinds of side effects anybody else experience that with LED's? Or maybe just the Spectra from GLH? I dunno but I don't feel too great after a couple minutes under that thing. Maybe it's just me?? All I know is it may be good for plants, but I doubt it's good for us. Anybody else feel this way?? Update when I get more pics!

 

[619ster]

Very nice grow ya got 619 I'll have to keep an eye on this one!

High Woodsman! A pleasure to have you join my journey. This should be fun to see how many plants I can cram under this little 180. But I'm sure I can pull of at least a few with added cfl. We will see. Welcome!

 

[619ster]

Damn!! Just got home from work and my healthiest plant seems to have been attacked by horse flies. Yes! Horse flies!! Maybe not real ones (I never seen what a real horse fly is), but they aren't regular trash flies. There were about four of them just chillin right next to my plants and the lights. So... I killed em! But damn they forced me to top my healthiest plant early. I wanted to try a FIM in a few days when the next set of nodes grew in. But I got 5 more to try on so we shall see. Hopefully they won't be back. Pics when I can. Peace!

 

[Guido]

Haha yup! Tupperware works just fine. Even with the clear res but I now have it wrapped in foil tape. I want to start doing Deep Water Culture with a water pump and lines feeding the roots. Just too hot these days to stick anything in the res that's going to add heat. And I also plan on starting all my plants in soil from now on and I'm leaving rockwool alone. Thanks for stopping by.

I am using the same container with great success. I lined mine with black\white poly and have had no issues with light. It is to small for 2 plants though. I just had to cut one out 7 weeks into flower because of no room. It is be perfect for vegging (just make sure to keep the roots seperated) or 1 plant all the way through to harvest.

 

[Green007]

Yes you must take precautions with LEDs just like HIDs.

Here's an excerpt:

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - GrowLEDHydro 300w LED vs. 400w HID

Originally Posted by Green007
SS, you mentioned you wore welding goggles to take pics of the LED with the lights on. Would you mind explaining the precautions one should use when working with both of these types of lights while they are on?

These are what I use:

IR/UV Green Shade 3.0 Safety Glasses


The shade 3 are dark enough to provide good protection, but not so dark that I can't see the plants well. I tried a pair of shade 5 glasses, but they're too dark.

I'm going to be blunt.

These are high-intensity LED and HID grow lights and can damage our eyes and skin the same exact way the sun does.

Staring directly into one of these lights briefly from close distance, or for longer periods from farther distance will cause permanent and serious damage to our eyes.

The surface of our eyes will sunburn just like any other tissue, but the consequences are a bit more serious. Cataracts, abnormal skin growths over the surface of the cornea, cancers around the eye, and macular degeneration that can lead to blindness.

Skin protection from UV and IR is also important, so I use sunblock on exposed skin just as if I were going fishing. I like the greaseless gel variety.

Our eyes and skin don't "get used" to UV and IR. Every significant exposure is cumulative and damaging.

I'm not a very disciplined person, and certainly not a safety freak, but keeping a pair of shade 3 glasses handy, and taking a minute to put on some sunblock doesn't slow me down much at all, and is really no burden considering I'm protecting something as valuable as my vision.

Thank you for asking Green007, because we tend to dismiss the issue and joke about "seeing green" when leaving the grow room, instead of being responsible and protecting ourselves.

 

[619ster]

I am using the same container with great success. I lined mine with black\white poly and have had no issues with light. It is to small for 2 plants though. I just had to cut one out 7 weeks into flower because of no room. It is be perfect for vegging (just make sure to keep the roots seperated) or 1 plant all the way through to harvest.

Hey Guido welcome! Good to have you. Yea I know watch mean bout the size of the tub. My last two I had in there would have definately been crowded. But I vegged them too long. These I will flip to 12/12 really soon and I wil lst them away from each other. But I think I will be getting another to do one plant in. Peace!

 

[619ster]

Thanks Green007! I knew it couldn't just be all in my head lol.

 

[Bud stankalot]

Just read through the grow. I'm glad I can get subscribed while they're still young. I really want to see you push the limits with your setup. I haven't seen too many LED grows. Everything is looking healthy.

 

[trichtone]

Thanks Green007! I knew it couldn't just be all in my head lol.

Yeah thanks Green! That is great info you posted on the effects of the lights. I will be ordering me some of those glasses!

 

[NorCaliwood]

Just a fast 'Hey' and say I kind of scrolled back atad in your thread, seems you leaning to organics. I always favored it more, but I'm no big hydro grower either. Seen alot do 'Great', I've done good, but to me get down dirt is the best.
Good dirt, good seed, good lite, =GOOD Weed Gl with whichever you lean too. Acouple these + and I'll peek back in a while Laters and Keepem Green

 

[Guido]

For me, If I try to grow anything in dirt I find a way to kill it. I tried water and lo and behold I can grow. Go figure!!

 

[619ster]

Just a fast 'Hey' and say I kind of scrolled back atad in your thread, seems you leaning to organics. I always favored it more, but I'm no big hydro grower either. Seen alot do 'Great', I've done good, but to me get down dirt is the best.
Good dirt, good seed, good lite, =GOOD Weed Gl with whichever you lean too. Acouple these + and I'll peek back in a while Laters and Keepem Green

Hey Norcaliwood A pleasure to have you drop by. Checked a few of your sick a$$ grows and I am really impressed. BUt what do you expect from a POTM winner Yes I am leaning to dirt but only for sprouting seeds. I may try a soil or coco grow in future but it seems I need a bit more knowledge or i may just need to wing it and try. But hydroponics is really where my focus is at. After reading the Lucas threads and him explaining how simple it is, I was SOLD! Then, I ran in to one of IrishBoy's grows and found LED's. And here I am. So let's see where we can take this. Peace!

For me, If I try to grow anything in dirt I find a way to kill it. I tried water and lo and behold I can grow. Go figure!!

I hear you man I tried dirt, but knew nothing bout nutes and lights. Then I saw you can grow with cfl's. Did a bit of research on dwc hydroponics and seemed simple enough. Tried once and I'm hooked! It sure was fun growing my first couple o' males Now lets get these girls goin!!

 

[DJMattz0r]

Hey 619ster, your plants are looking great, nicely done. Thought I would check out your grow since you stopped in on mine. Sorry if I missed it, but how much longer do you plan on vegging till you switch to 12/12?

 

[619ster]

Hey 619ster, your plants are looking great, nicely done. Thought I would check out your grow since you stopped in on mine. Sorry if I missed it, but how much longer do you plan on vegging till you switch to 12/12?

High DJM Thanks for stopping by. Im still unsure of vegg time because I can't do too much but I do want nice plants, with some topped, some fimmed, some supercropped, some lst'd. Maybe combos too. But my space and lighting is limited so most likely I'll be switching within about ten more days or so. That will give me around 20 days vegg. I wouldn't mind all females, but I really don't have the room. I can supplement with cfl since my LED is only 180 watts. Let's just see how far I can push the limits

 

[619ster]

Quick update. Just a few pics of the progress so far. I'm still unsure of my whole setup. Need to work some kinks out but it's coming along rather nicely. Peep this and let me know how I'm doing:

Two healthiest(with others before transplant) plants before attack from flies:

After attack, and forced me to top lower than I wanted to:

Here's the others after transplant into grow tent:

Here's a view of one setup with LED on. My other two will be in there soon. Im experimenting a bit with vegging with cfl's versus the LED. All will be in there soon. Take a look of what's there so far:

I hope I'm doing this right. Seems to be running smooth Time for smoke break

 

[Guido]

Looks good to me. I prefer to veg until plant is mature (Approx. 5 weeks), they will show their sex before your light change you can then weed out the males and the harvest benefits greatly. The biggest drawback to a longer veg cycle is light penetration, but I add more cfls' as I go along. I hang these on the side of the plants (directed at the plant of course) and the sucker branches are no longer sucker branches because they get the light as well.
here is photo to illustrate

Not the best shot but I think you get the picture. LOL

 

[DJMattz0r]

I would definitely supplement the LED with CFLs, you can use all the light you can get especially with light sources that have such a large lumen drop off. I would definitely recommend using LST with possible topping/fimming so you can keep your canopy of buds even and allow them to all receive light. My girl has been vegging over 2 months but I bent her over and showed her who was boss before I flowered her

I like the pics, keep it up.

 

[Green007]

Looking good 619ster! I'd veg as long as you can and still keep the plants within your height range. Mature plants make for bigger buds.

However, you also need to take into account light. If you grow big bushy plants, you will not have enough light to get good dense buds with what you have currently. IMO.

Supplementing with CFLs will work good, but no matter what you do it is still all about lumens per square foot. Check out some of the links in my sig for more detailed info.

Agent Green

 

[Green007]

opps, forgot I don't have this one in there.

CFL tutorial

 

[IrishBoy]

girls are looking good bro.. very nice..

the stretch should be min with this light.. as long as ur temps arnt crazy hot.

IMO LST is a better way to go then toping or FIMing.. ive done it all and stick with LST now.. not need to get all crazy and tying tons of branches.. just have an anchor string holding the stem on the opposite side your going to lean her for you dont pull up the roots. then just lean her over on time.. bend her a little every other day, little by little.. works like a charm.

theirs nothing wrong with the Lucas form, i did it my last grow and had no problems.. but i dont think its the best way to feed ur girls, but its a damn good way.

if you want to rock things out and get those girl nice and wide by LST i would invest in a light mover for your light.. it will be worth every penny and pay in the long run.. or els i would keep those girls nice and short but ur yield will suffer.. the light mover will make it where u could keep that light closer to ur girls and still get a good foot print.. just my opinion.. wish the best of luck to you brother..