LED & Sunlight Combo Grow Of Think Different

[Muskoka]

Hello, I've just gotten back from a year working in China and I intended to buy a mid range LED light ( reflector series) before I came home but at the last minute I was told that the lights were export only so if I wanted to buy them I'd have to pay to have them shipped. I got a bit angry at the situation and I didn't buy the lights.

When I got home I came across some 3 band 90w UFOs, grudgingly I purchased one (used). Now with this light alone I would imagine that I'd be able to get 30g dry off one plant but I'm hoping to get 60g a plant off of two plants by supplementing in 3-4hours of direct sunlight and 3-4 hours of indirect sunlight. This will greatly improve the diversity of light spectrums my plants are getting and increase the 'wattage'.

But I've never heard of anyone doing this kind of grow before and I can see some negatives to this kind of growing. One being that the plants will be exposed to more sharpe temperature changes as I carry them from my closet to the window. Also the growth structure will be effected- I'm going to keep the LEDs close to the plants to keep them squat but when I move them to the window they as going to stretch towards the sun which stays very close to the horizon this time of year. The big changes in light orientation has to interfere with the plants general health.

Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

I popped two Think Differents in a cup of water for 36h then put them into moist papertowel for another 24h then I planted them directly into 10L pots with a humidity dome. The seedling are under 3 CFLS totaling a draw of around 50 watts but will introduce the LEDs in a couple of days. I'm using an African Violet soil which has what I expect to be a good mix of sphagnum, verm, perilitte, and compost.

 

[Muskoka]

 

[Kusharella]

I've never heard of this either. I know that when I rotate the girls and clean the flower tent - I put them in direct sunlight. But my purpose is to not interrupt their light cycle too much, not "add" to it.

I'd be interested to know if this helps your yield.

 

[Muskoka]

My seedlings are really stretching, from heat I think. I'm living on half gas, half wood through a crazy cold winter- it's difficult to maintain a good temperature.

 

[stealthgrow]

Hi Muskoka, I'm sub'd.
I don't think the stretch is from heat, I think its from the real sunlight. It won't hurt your plant at all, but if its required use something to prop up the plant until the stem thickens and can support itself.

For some help on how to post pics of your plants check out the following link.
Photo Gallery Guide: How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

Good luck with your grow.

 

[Muskoka]

Thanks stealth grow for the tips on the photos; I'm new to this site (or any site to be honest). Although I do expect my girls to stretch when they are put under natural light, they are currently 12" from a series of CFLs. The room I had them in is too warm I think- I would imagine 27oc or higher. I live in a cabin and even temperatures don't exist. Ill put them under natural light soon , I'm worried about always carrying the girls around seeing as they're so young and fragile in their huge pots. In a week or so I'll put them into natural light. It seems like the stretch has stopped, I've removed the humidity dome and increased circulation to the room. I may give them a bit of support if they're not looking rigid enough this evening. They're 4-5" on their 3rd day.

 

[Kusharella]

If they're 12" from the CFLs that's why they're stretching. Move em closer they are too little to be that far away. Just a thought.

 

[Muskoka]

Thanks Kushi, I moved the lights down to about 3". I've also got my 90w UFO in position but I think I'll wait another week before I turn it on. I also put some long match sticks in the soil and supported the seedlings. Go Seahawks.

 

[Muskoka]

The stretch has seemed to stop and the girls are looking good...tall, but I like tall girls. Lol

 

[Muskoka]

I lost power today for about 4 hours during the day and I put the girls in sunlight for a bit. This has been a crazy winter and I foresee a rocky grow.

 

[Muskoka]

I was getting a bit concerned with the tall girls- about 6", so I added another 2" of soil to my pots. I also turned on the UFO. these steps did the girls a lot of good and they have really straightened out and are looking more robust. I may kill one of my girls- Im having second thoughts about dragging the girls into sunlight every day and 1 UFO isn't enough for two plants. Well, I guess there's no point in killing one I would just put it in sunlight only, but I don't think I'm getting enough sunlight a day for autoflowers to be successful, I think these plants need 10h of exposure. We'll see though. I'm interested to see how this rag-tag grow is going to turn out. Growing weed is a great way to keep your mind occupied....lol

 

[Muskoka]

The girls are looking good but this is the beginning of a tense time because I'm going away for a week and the girls are being left alone. I'm hoping the big pots will hold enough water for the 10 days or so I'm gone. I've still got both under the one light but when I get back one will be pushed out to sunlight during daylight and CFLs. We'll see, this grow is turning out to be quite the mix and match. Lol

 

[Muskoka]

Hello, I'm back in the Northland! Boy oh boy was I worried about my plants, I was worried they're thirst to death because they went 15 days without a watering. I really soaked them before I left and those big pots really paid off. It was hard to get both plants perfectly under the 1 UFO light so they both were a little off center (one more so than the other). The one plant really started leaning and it's not quite as robust as the other plant and the stem is a little kinked, but I'm hoping to get that ironed out in the next couple days. I think the reason the girls did so well is that while I was away the temperature was only 17 degrees celsius which is like 63ish for any Americans reading- at those low temps they wouldn't use much water. I'm really happy with Think Different at this moment, I'm really excited to see how this works out.

Today is also the first day that I've moved a plant into direct sunlight in my home. I put some tinfoil covered boxes around the plant so that more light is directed onto the plant. I think I'll be able to get 3-4 hours of direct sunlight and a couple more hours indirect, then back under the UFO. But I think that after one more week the girls will be too big to share a space. I'll keep you posted more frequently than I have been- this is the interesting part! Tomorrow I'm going to give the girls their first shot of nutes, I've got some fish emulsion for the girls...really light doses.

I'll post pics tomorrow with a run down of the first sunlight day. Have a good one!

 

[Muskoka]

So today is day 42 which means that it's 6 weeks since the seed popped- the girls aren't flowering yet. I've got them on 24 hour light and I am wondering if I have to go to 12/12 to kick them into flower or can I just move them on to 18/6? Do you think they will start flowering if I move them to 18/6? I don't want them to be on 24s of light during the flowering cycle.

Adding in sunlight has been great, I've been putting them in sunlight for the last two weeks or so. At first I was just putting one into the sunlight and she really stretched out, but now I'm putting them both into sunlight and hitting them with the LED on the side (as pictured below). Now they both are stretching a bit but that's a good thing seeing as how I want them to get as much sunlight as possible during the flower cycle and to do that they will have to have a different leaf arrangement then what they've developed for the over head LED.

The LED I have is only 90w (with a lower draw) and it's only 5 band (which is better than what I had originally thought- at first I thought it was only 3 bands). Regardless now that they are nice and bushy they can draw a lot from the sun...it actually IS full spectrum.

Please let me know if I should be more worried about my girls not flowering yet. I've been giving them 5-1-1 fish emulsion which was supposed to be foliage spray but I've been watering the soil with it-- would that cause a problem...they girls look great aside from a little bit of heat damage to some fan leaves from a CFL getting too close (shit).

On another note- it's EFFING COLD out! Still -20oC or -4oF. Have a good one ladies and gents.

 

[TanR]

Hi Muskoka.

Welcome to 420 Magazine!

Your plants look great! I've skimmed your journal but didn't notice if you provided any info on whether your plants are auto's or photo period so I'm assuming they are photo period type plants. If correct they will require a reduction in light to a figure below 14 hours day in order to begin flowering.

Be well, happy growing, and again- welcome to

 

[Muskoka]

Thanks for the welcome TanR! The strain I'm growing is an autoflower and usually autos begin to flower around the 4 week mark but it's not uncommon for autos to take up to 6 weeks (where I'm at now) to flower. Im not in a big rush so I don't mind them vegging out a bit, but if I don't see flower with the next few days I'll change the light schedule to induce flowering. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

 

[TaylorMade420]

ive seen a few of these think different plants grown and i must say ive seen a few beasts, good luck, ill be following, im not an expert by any means but your on a great forum with loadsa great members if you get stuck with anything

 

[TanR]

Muskoka,

If an auto-flowering then I believe the plant won't respond to a change in the photo period. I've read a few journals of growers that have done some pretty extensive experimentation with auto's and that indicate their best yield came from a 20/4 light schedule.

 

[Muskoka]

I agree with you on both points: changing light schedules won't make an autoflower flower and around 20/4 is the best light schedule for autos. I've read of other growers getting bad autoflower genetics; in other words they paid for an auto plant but got a photo period plant-in cases like this changing the light schedule will induce flowering (obviously). This usually happens with lesser seed companies and I was wrong to think that it would happen with a reputable company like Dutch Passion (especially with their hallmark auto).

My ladies have started to flower and I've switched them to 20/4. I think they will be a bit stressed at first, but I think my plants have had to endure a lot of stress- moving from LED to sunlight daily must have some negative effect but I'm hoping the positive effects offset the negative.

I stopped giving them fish emulsion (5-1-1) two days ago and have been watering them heavily since (which may be unnecessary given the light nute). Today I will start giving them a seaweed nute which is also light (.1-.04-6.5). It's an exciting time now, I'm anxious to see if they're going to be the big producers that they can be. Be all you can be little weed plants!

Muskoka,

If an auto-flowering then I believe the plant won't respond to a change in the photo period. I've read a few journals of growers that have done some pretty extensive experimentation with auto's and that indicate their best yield came from a 20/4 light schedule.

 

[Muskoka]

Things have been going well but I've run into a few issues. The last week has been pretty sunny so the girls have been in natural sun light a lot lately. This is good for the unrestricted, full spectrum light but it's bad for the stretching and things are getting crowded in my closet.

They are bursting out everywhere. At the start of my grow I had to be away for a couple weeks and one plant was centered well under my light and the other was in the peripheral. Because she was on the peripheral she stretched and leaned in which made her asymmetrical and kinda awkward looking. This is a picture of her now.

Anyways a couple times now she burned herself by try to touch the CFLs and today she lost a couple lobes after the LED slid into her (the LED was providing side light while she was in the window.
I'm a negligent father- what can say?

Unfortunately, this unlucky pot plant's troubles don't end here: she has developed some kind of issue which I believe is a result of low ph but I'm not sure because I don't have a ph tester and the hick town I leave near doesn't have a proper gardening store. I believe it's low ph for a couple reasons but mainly because I've read that sea kelp nutes can lower soil ph and I noticed rusty spots on the older fan leaves in the centre of the lobes.

Note that the brown stuff is just dried foliar spray.

There is also this strange dirty looking splotch on the stems of all the leaves that have the rust marks (which are only older fan leaves).

I flushed her and a lot of merky looking water came out. i just noticed the marks on the leaves after i switched from fish emulsion to sea kelp. i think the merky water coming out was because the kelp is a foliar spray but I poured it in the soil (after mixing it) I even went a bit heavy so it may be a bit of nute burn too.

After the flush I put some hardwood ash on the soil hoping to get the ph up (even though I'm not sure if that's the problem). It's too soon to say if she's getting better particularly because she's a but doopy from the flush. What do you guys think is the problem? Any advice? Low ph?

Another reason I think it is low ph is because my other plant has purple stems and I'm told that is an indicator of Mg def. and one cause for Mg def. is when ph drops below 6. I've also given this plant dome ash and some Epsom salt because my hick-ass garden centre didn't have CalMag or dolomitic lime.

Aside from the possible Mg def. this plant is doing very well.

Anyways, I think the ugly girl will get kicked out of the grow closet and I'll just give her natural light which would be about 7h if direct sunlight and 2-3 hours of indirect- on sunny days. That will cause her some stress but I don't have room for her....she had a raw deal in life. Well- have a good one ladies and gentlemen and any comments or opinions would be feast let appreciated.