First Time Grower - Using Hydro & LED

Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

cannateer said:
We call them a weed for a reason. By no means are you done. I have a feeling it will be great once you raise. I would take some extra time to veg after raising the lights. You should get a lot of new growth at the top. Let that stuff mature, then flower when you are ready, or she may flower for you. I don't have direct experience in this situation. The lights are usually lowered during flower, but you should definately consult the instructions again, or even call advanced led. My instructions say 30 inches veg, 20 inches flower, but it also states to figure out which height is best for whatever species of plant you're growing.

I do suggest raising to 30". Let the plant and leaves stretch up a bit, allowing light to reach the inner parts. She is gonna be bushy, though. Not a bad thing.

Some people let their plants stretch up to the lights deliberately to get them to grow short and bushy, making them easier to light, essentially. However, there is a limit and it can stress and stunt plants, as you've seen.

It looks like the rest of your parameters were perfect, so the plant hardly missed a beat. Getting that light up higher should make your good grow into a great one.

That is a very nice light. With your aero setup, I can't wait to see what you can do. Congrats on such a nice first setup.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I raised the lights up 30 inches now and I hope to veg for another 3 or 4 weeks. Main problem I see is water temps in the reservoir. I am tempted to buy a chiller since already have this set up, but tired of having to put in frozen water bottles 3 times a day already. Soon as my air pots get here that I have ordered I am going to start up 2 holygrail69 fem seeds I got. With that grow I am going to try Capn's and S1ing's system of topfeed to drain using rockwool.

Damn hobby like all hobbies is getting expensive wanting new toys for indoor farming.

:peace:
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

You and I think erily similar, hah.

Take a look at my journal, I posted a pic of the chiller I just bought. It should arrive wednesday. Man, you're tired of hauling ice, too? It's a good work out, but I don't think my plant enjoys the swing in temp. I got the chiller and controller for under $200. The other options are 330-infinity. They have very simple and expensive units on marinedepot.com (where I bought my chiller). My res is about 4 gallons, so I think it will do the trick. I will also insulate my res if possible. Still working on that one.

I am also considering top feed or aeroponic. I don't like to see waste in my grow.

Try a reef aquarium, lol. They aren't so much a hobby as they are temptuous abysses of expensive gadgets and living aliens. All for a price.

I just double checked to see you are running top led and not advanced. Sry for mentioning calling them, hah. I would contact top led, though. Just to be 100% informed.

My advice definately holds regardless of manufacturer. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

I can't comment on the FIM, as I don't FIM my plants, but have always wanted to give it a whirl.

Your photo of 2/20, looks fantastic. She looks great, with the right amount of node spacing. She's growing as she should, so don't go changing too much.

My experience with Diamond series lights, is not entirely comprehensive, but I have more than a couple of their lights, and I've used them on several strains, start to finish. With the DS - I've found that vegging is best started at 40" (unless you harden them off a bit, as I will often do), and slowly moved down to 30". Then let the plant grow into the light as much as possible. For most strains, I've been able to get them as close as 14-16" during peak flower, after bud set. Anything closer, is too close, but won't really hurt too much.

My preference is ~16-18" inches from the very highest tops. The best resin production, seems to happen around 22-42" from the light, so depending on how tall your plant is, you have to make your best compromise, to keep as much of the plant in the sweet spot as possible. I also run HPS (and take out the CFL) in the tent during the winter. Summer now, with a bigger tent, has me shopping for bigger lights, like the XML. I have no hands on with the XLM yet.

I think that Cronichemphog on here, has an XML350 that he has <10" from the tops, and a couple DS's that are <6" away. His plants are very healthy, you can have a look. I say this, because when I first started, I started with LED. I attributed many plant maladies to the LED type of light, and looking back, the light had nothing to do with any of em. :)


Hope you enjoyed this wall of text. It just seemed to keep getting longer, the more I typed. ;)
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

Yeah, I didn't mean to confuse things by mistaking his lights for ds, but he actually has top led.

I am sure the top led height is very similar. I think they use similar output leds, but it is always best to refer to the manufacturer instructions.

I'm finding more snd more that my lights should be just a bit higher. I started really high, about 36", then moved to 30. I experimented lowering it snd went back upmto 30. Now I try to keep it just above 30. These 3w cree diodes work well to penetrate.

Not to mention, experimenting with the height of the light is a big part of growing. We are always trying to find the optimal distance. I just know how my plants responded to having the light too close. If they aren't flat or reaching, the lights need to go up. When his seedling was kinda bening over, I would have tried raising the light and seeing how it responded.

I agree, though. His plants don't seem to mind much. Maybe top led are supposed to be lower and it might have been something like ph or nutes. Either way he is finding success. When I read the symptoms, I figured I had it nailed. Can't hurt to raise the lights to see how they react. It wouldn't be detrimental either way. It was more important at seedling stage, which may be why growth isn't as fast as he may hope for.

I'm just happy to have another hydro grow to watch.
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

Hi Saving. ;)

Your plant looks great man, and good advise raising the lights a little. I keep my LED about 2-3 feet from the plant also. Your PPM's are a little high IMO and that might be slowing growth a little, but you don't seem to have any nute burn on your plant.
Keep it up man. :thumb:
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

cannateer said:
You and I think erily similar, hah.

Take a look at my journal, I posted a pic of the chiller I just bought. It should arrive wednesday. Man, you're tired of hauling ice, too? It's a good work out, but I don't think my plant enjoys the swing in temp. I got the chiller and controller for under $200. The other options are 330-infinity. They have very simple and expensive units on marinedepot.com (where I bought my chiller). My res is about 4 gallons, so I think it will do the trick. I will also insulate my res if possible. Still working on that one.

I am also considering top feed or aeroponic. I don't like to see waste in my grow.

Try a reef aquarium, lol. They aren't so much a hobby as they are temptuous abysses of expensive gadgets and living aliens. All for a price.

I just double checked to see you are running top led and not advanced. Sry for mentioning calling them, hah. I would contact top led, though. Just to be 100% informed.

My advice definately holds regardless of manufacturer. Sorry for the confusion.
Click to expand...

First of all.....sub'd for sure. Savin you asked the question that I was doing some research on. Chiller....I've found some for around $300 but don't want to spend that much if I don't have to.

Cannateer, where did you find one for under $200?

Renegade
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

Renegade69 said:
First of all.....sub'd for sure. Savin you asked the question that I was doing some research on. Chiller....I've found some for around $300 but don't want to spend that much if I don't have to.

Cannateer, where did you find one for under $200?

Renegade
Click to expand...

I bit the dust and bought an Active Aqua off ebay 1/10 HP .... yea I really hated spending 300 that I had not budgeted for, but I got too worried about keeping my temps down... went in a few week ago and they would sore to high 70's in the res....and putting frozen water bottles in the res is a pain in the butt.
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

SavinPeace said:
I bit the dust and bought an Active Aqua off ebay 1/10 HP .... yea I really hated spending 300 that I had not budgeted for, but I got too worried about keeping my temps down... went in a few week ago and they would sore to high 70's in the res....and putting frozen water bottles in the res is a pain in the butt.
Click to expand...

I'm right there with you man. My res reaches high 70's on a regular and I'm constantly putting ice and ice baggies in the res. It's only a 1 gallon res and it's a pain in the ass to do so. The only thing is her roots (1 plant) look good. White and no yellowing or brown at all.

I'm reconfiguring my cabinet right now while my AG experiment moves on. The things I've added is LED's, BubblePhonics6 and that chiller. Everything else we've learned thus far are nailed down. The money spent will be worth it in the end if I can produce the plants I've seen on 420.

Renegade
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED.

Insulating the res along with the chiller is a great idea, too. I dropped the temp a few degrees with some 3/4 packing foam. I have plans to maybe use a yoga mat, or something clever. I even thought of a fancy mold and pouring foam insulation.
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED

CareStaker said:
:cough: update :cough:
:)
Click to expand...

Dang guess I read your mind and finally got around to doing an update.
Last night I changed the res and up my nutrients for transition to flower. I was going to do it last Sunday at the 5th week mark but.... family and more family and friends prevented me from changing....

Ok here is what I added
For transitional stage (one week before and two weeks into flower) (around 700ppm):
Fill a 5 gal bucket with water, then add:
20ml Cal mag plus, or cali magic
20ml florablend
15ml flora bloom
15ml flora micro
15ml flora grow
Aquashield at 2ml/gal.

I plan on flipping the lights to 12/12 on Sunday which will mark my 6th week of the slow process....I am learning patience...

03-05-2134_-1.jpg


03-05-2014_-3.jpg


03-05-2014_-2.jpg


Any suggestions please feel free to comment.... being a newbie, I am constantly reading and looking at everyone's journals to help me out also.
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED

Looking great :) keep your patience going my friend its all worth it at the end:)
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED

When using a SCroG screen you want the screen 60% full before switching to flowering. Keep tucking the tops under the screen to even out the screen as your plants grow.
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED

Your plants are looking great SP, keep up the good work. ;)
 
Re: First Time Grower, Using Hydro and LED

I am really liking the idea of general hydroponics subculture -M for dwc. It basically grows fungus on your roots which protect and feed them. I had this same idea and found it was already invented, and sold by GH.

I was also going to mention that cannabis pollenates by air (I'm sure you already know) but I noticed you are growing some bag seeds and just to be sure, if not checked could mess things up for your girls (I think). Just something to take a look into if you aren't already aware. I haven't even delved that far into cultivation, but remember this issue from some reading.
 

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