Limpfingerz First Journal: Dynasty Seeds & High Brix

[Duggan]

Good morning Fingers! Don't worry about that lil one falling over,..it happens when theyre brand new like that. Just give them a bit of help for a couple weeks standing up...they will be fine. Please remember to let those pots get 'light' and dry out before watering them OK...Don't worry about the roots...they will search out the moisture in the pots and get stronger because of it OK!!
Also ,your light cycle....ditch it! right now !! Switch it to 16/8. Forget about 18/6 or 24 hrs. like you have now. My new crop is as yours...tiny lil things ..they are on 16/8 in one gal. pots that were drenched at planting and will be fine for at least two weeks , prolly longer ok. DO NOT water them until the pots are dry . Hope this helps ya ...cheers eh!

 

[Van Stank]

Hmm I'm sorry, whos van? does he have a journal going with them spyders? I'd love to check it out and see how he is doing with them. You're right they seem pricey but it might be a better investment for me. Instead of paying big money for a mini split set up, might aswell replace the hps for fluence, then the portable ac wont have to work as hard.

Any chance you know of the btu numbers required to cool them lights? I know a 1000w hps needs approx 4k btu of cooling but what about the spyders? I imagine those spyder models @ 630w may require a hair over 2k BTUS per hour. Using those numbers, 4x 1000w hps requires 16k btu cooling where 4x spyders (guessing) requires 8k btu cooling. That's huge difference! I probably will do it but need to confirm the numbers before i make a decision. I just hope fluence lights dont give off much heat as the platinumsled does. When my p900 lights were on, they did give off alot of heat and the portable ac couldnt handle it. :/ So those lights might be up for sale as they were only used for two cycles.

Hey man. Yeah I am running the previous version of the Fluence Spydrx Plus and absolutely love it. I am running it on a lightmover 4.0 inside a 10x10 tent. Basically its covering 5x10 by itself on the mover. Very little wasted energy goes to heat with this thing.

I have run it as close to 3" above the canopy with no ill effects or bleaching. When I ran it in a 5x5 and stationary, it was pulling in the 1.4-1.5 gram per watt range. Since I have put it on the light mover and have it covering more space, those numbers have gone up.....somewhere near the 1.7-1.8 gram per watt range. Thats growing in organic soil using rain water only, maybe the occasional compost tea.

I bought the Fluence Razr for my seedling and clone tent. Its similar technology and only runs 91 watts to cover my 27" x 55" tent. I will be buying their Spydrx 2x for my veg area. Its the same footprint as the more powerful models and coverage, but it only runs about 345 watts which is more than enough for my veg area.

All together I will be running the three tents, about 85 square feet of growing space, all powered by about 1100 watts. Very little wasted heat or wasted vertical space from needing to run the lights 20-30 inches above the canopy. I have had plants grow up between the arms of the light before I had it on movers.

Nothing cheap about the Fluence gear....but its seriously top notch and it will pay for itself with increased yields in no time. My yields essentially doubled with the Fluence over cheaper LED technology.

 

[Graytail]

I feel what you are saying, but I had always had it explained to me as a matter of efficiency ... So say an HID light runs at 40% efficiency your 1000 watt light is putting out about 400 watts worth pf usable light with the other 600 watts really just putting out heat. So if you go to an LED set up that runs with 60% efficiency those numbers are then flipped. At 1000 watts you are getting 600 watts of usable light while putting off about 400 watts worth of heat. I may have interpreted this wrong, but that is how I understood it.

Efficiency (efficacy) matters because you get the same amount of light from less wattage. As Neiko said, wattage is heat, period. All that light eventually becomes heat, after it's done bouncing around. 650 watts produces the same heat, no matter what the source is.

So if you need a given amount of light, you can use less wattage (and heat) to produce it.

That's where the win is. You don't get less heat - you get more light.

 

[Duggan]

Good morning Fingers! Don't worry about that lil one falling over,..it happens when theyre brand new like that. Just give them a bit of help for a couple weeks standing up...they will be fine. Please remember to let those pots get 'light' and dry out before watering them OK...Don't worry about the roots...they will search out the moisture in the pots and get stronger because of it OK!!
Also ,your light cycle....ditch it! right now !! Switch it to 16/8. Forget about 18/6 or 24 hrs. like you have now. My new crop is as yours...tiny lil things ..they are on 16/8 in one gal. pots that were drenched at planting and will be fine for at least two weeks , prolly longer ok. DO NOT water them until the pots are dry . Hope this helps ya ...cheers eh!

 

[Skybound]

As Neiko said, wattage is heat, period.

I think people often get mixed up in this topic b/c most people understand wattage as represented on the electric bill. If an LED and HID is consuming identical power draw from the wall, the LED is giving out more light due to needing less current.

 

[TheGreenYeti]

Hey man. Yeah I am running the previous version of the Fluence Spydrx Plus and absolutely love it. I am running it on a lightmover 4.0 inside a 10x10 tent. Basically its covering 5x10 by itself on the mover. Very little wasted energy goes to heat with this thing.

I have run it as close to 3" above the canopy with no ill effects or bleaching. When I ran it in a 5x5 and stationary, it was pulling in the 1.4-1.5 gram per watt range. Since I have put it on the light mover and have it covering more space, those numbers have gone up.....somewhere near the 1.7-1.8 gram per watt range. Thats growing in organic soil using rain water only, maybe the occasional compost tea.

I bought the Fluence Razr for my seedling and clone tent. Its similar technology and only runs 91 watts to cover my 27" x 55" tent. I will be buying their Spydrx 2x for my veg area. Its the same footprint as the more powerful models and coverage, but it only runs about 345 watts which is more than enough for my veg area.

All together I will be running the three tents, about 85 square feet of growing space, all powered by about 1100 watts. Very little wasted heat or wasted vertical space from needing to run the lights 20-30 inches above the canopy. I have had plants grow up between the arms of the light before I had it on movers.

Nothing cheap about the Fluence gear....but its seriously top notch and it will pay for itself with increased yields in no time. My yields essentially doubled with the Fluence over cheaper LED technology.

Thanks for chiming in Van!

Efficiency (efficacy) matters because you get the same amount of light from less wattage. As Neiko said, wattage is heat, period. All that light eventually becomes heat, after it's done bouncing around. 650 watts produces the same heat, no matter what the source is.

So if you need a given amount of light, you can use less wattage (and heat) to produce it.

That's where the win is. You don't get less heat - you get more light.

Thanks for clearing it up.

 

[Slowpuffer]

Subbed and good luck !!

 

[limpfingerz207]

Good morning all,

Sorry about my slow responses, life’s been crazy and I’m trying to keep up with everything. It makes me feel a little more comfortable knowing the kind of a support system this forum has. You guys rock! No joke, I’ve been nervous about growing in soil cuz I failed a few times in the past. Oddly though, I had success in coco and it wasn’t the best but I personally thought it was great.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts, it’s going to be helpful for me.

Duggan, thank you for rest assuring me the plants are fine and letting me know to not give them more water for a lil while. I definitely do not want to over water/ kill my new babies! I did switch the lights from 24hrs to 16/8 over the weekend and I could tell the plants responded. They seemed well rested, reaching for the light and seemed to be growing fast. I hope you know this; I appreciate your help and thank you Duggan.

Greenyeti, Sweet thanks! I can see what you’re getting at about the wattages in led lights compared to HID. I’ll be sure to check out van stank journal soon when I have a chance.

Van Stank, I hear ya, they aint cheap and so is mini split units lol. Thank you for stopping by, your set up sounds very interesting and it might be something i want to do. I’ll be checking out your journals soon.

I just measured my room and it’s actually 11’L x 9.5’ W x 7.5’ H .

You think two of the spyder lights sitting stationary should cover half of the room. Right? I really like your idea of using a light mover and I think both spyder lights should have one. This would provide light for the other half of the room instead of buying a total of 4 lights. Perhaps have both lights moving opposite direction of eachother one end to another. This could cover 10x10, kind of like your description for a single light covering 5x10 tent.

What do you think? Could your numbers grams per watt be higher if you had more spyders sitting stationary or maybe the numbers would remain the same as if having one light on a mover?

Also is your light ballast mounted inside the tent or outside? I wonder if those ballasts can be placed outside the room like I do with the Hid ballasts to help with heat management.

Thanks Van Stank!


Welcome aboard slowpuffer and thank you for wishin good luck. Hope you enjoy the journal as we go


Ok Picture time!

Here’s how they greeted me today at 2am after work
( 6th one still hasnt come up yet and there's two seeds in there lol )

As you can see, this fella is standing up strong and i was able to remove the stake! I'm so happy to see it's doing better

Have a great Tuesday!

 

[Van Stank]

I think my numbers would be lower actually if I was running 2 Spydrx, at least in how I am currently growing. The yield would certainly go up....but I not enough to offset the doubling of wattage. I don't know that I am running enough plants for the numbers to make that feasible to attempt. I guess what I am saying is that in my current set up....I am using 50 square feet (though admittedly not maximized...I love having space around the plants) and 660 watts is covering that. By putting 1320 watts over that same area with the same number of plants I am currently running will up the overall yield, but I highly doubt that it will more than double the yield. So for me....running economically, the mover is the absolute best option. It gives me the ability to run more plants in the same space if needed (like picking up an additional patient or two), without needing any more watts. Also, I think my numbers go up during the warmer months. The numbers I gave you were for the winter months growing in my basement in New England. I expect them to go higher as my soil can get cooked in warmer conditions and the general grow temps and environmental conditions get closer to that dialed in zone.

I could certainly get better GPW numbers if I did a full SOG or SCROG or at least fully maximize my space, but I don't like growing that structured. I enjoy a perpetual with lots of options. I love room to move around the plants....They are all on 4-wheel dollies so it makes watering a breeze.

 

[limpfingerz207]

Ok that makes sense and I get what you’re saying about the set up you have. Running it economically instead of 1 more light makes sense and the light mover is a great concept. This kind of technology will be a great investment for my next run after this one and I’m excited to save money on the cost of power bill plus a new AC unit (minisplit).

Here’s current status of the plants.

I lifted them all Tuesday afternoon and they felt light and possibly will be feather weight by Wednesday afternoon. I feel these plants are ready for their first drench or am I wrong? Keep watering plain water? I’m trying hard to be patient and not fk with the plants because I’m used to watering / tending the plants frequently in coco.

Oh and i might consider trying out quad lining and i think a few plants are ready to be topped. I'll be doing that when they have their first drench.

 

[Neiko]

Ideally you'll want to water them just as the lower leaves start to droop. You will be fine going with a transplant drench when you do water. How old are they? My 1's take about 3 weeks to dry out if they were saturated when the seed went in.

 

[limpfingerz207]

Okay Sounds good. Thank you neikodog.

My plants were planted on 5/19 and sprouted not long after that. I'm guessin about 5/24 is when i saw them above the surface. So it's nearing almost a month old

 

[limpfingerz207]

oh and your dog is stinkin cute!

 

[Neiko]

oh and your dog is stinkin cute!

She is, isn't she? She knows it too.

 

[limpfingerz207]

Neikodog : You should make a instagram profile for her if she dont have one

Update: 6/14 The plants seemed thirsty and is starting to turn yellow. i decided to give them their first drench. 3ml of tea and 15 ml transplant into a 5 gal bucket with approx 3-4 gal of R.O water at room temp.
Soon I plan to pick up one of those small plastic buckets at a local paint shop. I think its going to fit better for 1 gal potting drenches and help minimize waste.

8 hours later

Destress is next and i will do that soon as i get home few hours after lights comes on. Also think it's time for topping on few of them for quadling

 

[weenmeoff]

Hey limpy! 5 gal buckets work well, just use less water. You'll get used to how much to use. How long did you let them soak? 15ml is not enough. I'd suggest Duggans method because it's easy, easy, easy! Use 15 ml of drench PER gallon of water for all drenches. Personally I give a little less with the cats. So for your 5 plants at this stage, I would use 30ml of drench in 2 gallons of water and 3-5ml of tea. Should not be too much excess, give to your veggie garden if you have one.

 

[limpfingerz207]

Hi Ween, Okay I’ll try using less water and see how it goes. Also thank you for pointing out the drench being too low. Oops! I forgot dunking requires double the ml of drenches. The plant soil was submerged for about a minute and sat on the rack to drain for a couple minutes before putting it back under the light. I hope the low dose won't be too much of an issue. I'll be sure to double it next time.

So far the plants seem to be doing pretty good after they’ve had their first drench, distress and topping.

 

[Duggan]

Hey Fingers, you will notice a huge growth spurt now that they've gotten their first drink. BTW, thanks Ween, yes, Fingers , wat Ween said about Drench amounts. May i suggest my method of watering/feeding. Dunking is not necessary if you don't wanna bother doing it that way. I have never watered like that and have always gotten great results just top watering ok. My Drench strength is always around 15 mls. per gal. of water, no matter the size of pots/plants. This makes it "easy, easy, easy" as Ween said. It simply takes any possible confusion out of the picture. When plants are smallish ,or have just been transplanted into a lot of soil (bigger /final pots) go with a weaker mixture , like 10 mls. per gal. of water, understand? When the plants get larger and are more demanding on the soil , just stick with 15mls. /gal,..OK!
Cheers and enjoy the day/night Fingers, and friends.

 

[limpfingerz207]

Hi everyone, the garden is doing well. No stress or any issues and they seem to be doing fine with my first attempt on quadlining.

Here are a few photos of them growing over the past few weeks.

This morning they had their BRIX spray and this is what they looked like at the end of the day.

I think they might be due for transplant into bigger potting sometime soon. I need to find the 7 gal potting that i misplaced somewhere lol. Off i go to find it.

Have a great weekend every one!

 

[Duggan]

That's the stuff Fingers...looking great bud! Yes, transplant any time now , at your convenience. They will explode in much bigger pots. Keep a close eye on any 'runaway' leaders to keep the canopy nice and even. cheers eh.