Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender Under 120x3w LED

[samsquanch]

Well it's my first grow and very excited! I'm sure you all understand the excitement with it being my first grow. I feel blessed to be growing this fascinating plant. Been reading a lot, trying to learn from my mistakes. Would really love to hear any constructive criticism anyone has. This is a tiny, tiny grow compared to most people, but it's mine and it's all I really need. Quality over quantity Here's the setup:

Gear:
2x3x6 grow tent
Growblu 120x3w full spectrum LED
600W MH was used for first couple weeks of veg growth
240cfm fan w/ charcoal filter
1 gal diy c02 generator (sugar,water,yeast)
3 gallon smart pots
Ultrasonic humidifier (live in a very dry place, 20% humidity most days)

Soil and Nutes:
Seedlings went in Light Warrior
Planted in Roots Organic after a few weeks
Age Old Worm Castings
Mykos
Age Old Grow and Bloom
RO water with GO Organics calmag
Dyna-Grow Pro-tekt
GO Biothrive
Molasses

Strains:
2x Sensi Seeds Strawberry Cough fem
1x (freebie) G13 White Lavender fem

_________________________________________

6/24 - Seedlings came out of humidity tent and under a 600W MH light

7/9 - Seedlings are looking pretty happy, temps are upper 80's and low 20's humidity. Put them in half gal pots with Roots Organic and some worm castings. Watered lightly with RO water w/ calmag + molasses. Still trying to get my environment under control as it is always hot and dry.

The next couple weeks I discovered I had fungus gnats... pretty sure I got it with the Roots soil but hey what can you do. Hit them with Azamax for 3 days and problem solved!

Topped them at the fourth node. Some mild LST with 12g solid core wire. Supercropping branches here and there.

7/24 - Due to heat and a recent surplus of funds, coupled with the fact that I believe I've been bitten by the hobbyist bug, I have purchased a Growblu 120x3w full spectrum LED light. This has helped tremendously in two ways already. First, the heat has gone down about 10-15 degrees, I'm now between 70F and 75F all day/night long. Was able to bump up the humidity with an ultrasonic humdifier to 65% now. Secondly, I no longer feel like my eyes are melting every time I lean in the tent to do some maintenance.

Here's one strawberry cough...

and the other...

Here's the white lavender...

 

[RockBuddz]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

hey bubbles are you watching this documentary on Saskatchewan's??? lol... looks awesome man!

 

[Maxximilian]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Hey Sam and welcome. I'm in the market for some LEDs as well and these have recently been grabbing my attention. Your plants look awesome really short healthy and bushy. Subbed for sure. Going to love to see your progress and thoughts with the light. Happy growing. fighting off the fungus.

 

[KingJohnC]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

subscribed

 

[samsquanch]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

@Max - If you're interested in some LED lights, I got the idea of using growblu from a youtube channel called oneshotled. He has a grow with 2 of these lights and many others. Thanks for the good vibes!

 

[Maxximilian]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Thanks sam. Yeah ive sought out every grow out there on the internet using a growblu light they seem like pretty wicked lights. Thinking about getting two to cover two rows of plants in a 4x4 tent. or the one big one. but i think im going to run with two smaller ones for better coverage. thanks for the info about the youtube guy saw his grow too was pretty good he had some pretty good looking bud in the end. anyways looking forward to more updates from you. happy growing!

 

[samsquanch]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Well I guess if the light works well in my 2x3, 2 of these bad boys will work in a 4x4. I guess I'll be the guinea pig Another idea I had was getting some Kessil H150 purple's or red's @ $100 a piece, inverting them upside down so they shine up in to the canopy from below. Better coverage for the buds that don't get as much light. There's some neat stuff you can do with LED because you don't have to worry about the heat aspect as much. Going out of town for a few days but I'll post more pics when I get back...

 

[Maxximilian]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

No Idea what a Kessil is and what advantage that will have but sounds interesting. If other people have any insight into the kessils and your idea I'm sure they'll let you know. Have fun on your weekend out. I personally love pics of other people's grows I'd love more pics from everyone just to see how they hangin. And I know others love pics too so snap away and let us know how your ladies are doing.

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

I'm in... I'll be setting up and LED flower area in the next month so I've been lurking LED journals... love that Blu, looks good and your plants seem to love it

 

[Maxximilian]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Sup Rune, i see we have very similar interests hahaha. The Blu does seem to be doing a awesome job in the various spots ive seen it being used. Im sure Sams going to be impressed with it too

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

That it does... too pricey for me right now, but it is a nice unit Maxxi ... The only reason I went HPS for this round was the cost of setup to amount of light, but the plan has always been to have the grow area LED... eventually I'll move the HPS to fruit and veggie room

 

[Maxximilian]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

I am just curious if the lights if i got two would span a 4x4 because the guy i saw some vids of was in a 3x3 with 2, but seeing as it fills up sams 3x2 on all sides im thinking if raised once the plants are taller it would reach all sides of the tent in a 4x4 ill have to contact growblu about it and see whats what.

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

It's always iffy, buuuut, if you're not reinforcing your tent walls to keep from loosing volume due to tent suck from exhaust fan, I'd say you need a combined coverage area of about 3.5 x 3.5 or better for a 4x4 tent. If you are reinforcing the walls to stop suck from pulling the walls in, then you'd want 4x4 coverage or better... I'm not sure about the blu brand units coverage because they're out of my price range... I know that 2 TaoTronics should do it for about the price of one blu, 2 lighthouse 180w or 240w would as well and a couple of the ones from our sponsor TopLED that I was checking out would as well, though I want to contact Sarah over at TopLED and ask a few questions about their 3w based units since they just release the 5w.

 

[Maxximilian]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Yeah Its not like a 100% given that im going for them they are just very close to the top of my list atm due to reviews, comments, and results. If the lights from Sara do work like a charm then im all in for that as they seem very helpful, efficient, and look like they make a solid product they have other factors that make them an attractive company but you know that as well. I am interested in the reviews from the three lights that they've sent out, hope that they dont veg the plants too long as id like to see some flowering results in time to make my decision. I also like that topled are making different dimension lights to fit perfect into a 4x4, i just want enough power for a sufficient output of growth as I see what a 600W hps can do now I don't want to go below that point of plant performance if that makes any sense.

sorry for hijacking your thread sam

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

I totally agree Maxxi... I'll be PMing sarah either this weekend or early next week to get some more info. I might get a UFO from TaoTronics and one of the small square units from top that cover the same basic footage and run a side by side on 2 clones from the same mother to help decide if I want to finish out with one brand or the other.

LED is the future, check out some of the vids on youtube from non-cannabis LED trials... it's crazy what can be done.

 

[samsquanch]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

I agree with you guys, the Growblu are pricey when compared with HPS as well as some of the other LED offerings. Couple reasons why I went with growblu. First, they've done some hardcore research with light spectrums, specifically with cannabis. There aren't many LED companies prepared to do that.

Secondly, the thing is really solidly built. Right when you take it out of the box, you realize it isn't some ebay chinese knockoff. They are made in china, but there are built far better than I expected, and I expected a lot for my money. You hear a lot of people having problems with the cheaper led lights having led's go out in the middle of a grow, and a lot of that is because the manufacturer skimps on the parts to make the lights so they can still turn a profit. A lot of times they'll do it and not even tell the distributor in the US that they made the swap. They're simply just not made as well and you're going to see poor results in your harvest. If money is your main deciding factor, I would get an HPS.

@Max, if you're going to rock a 3x3 or 4x4, I'd email Growblu and ask them. He's really on top of responding to people's questions. I almost wonder if you could get away with the 120x3w in a 3x3 with a little supplemental CFL lighting.

 

[samsquanch]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Seeing some nice growth after returning from camping...

Tallest on the left is one of the Strawberry Cough. About 9in tall now:

I supercropped the shit out of that guy, and every branch that I've supercropped has grown 2x as thick as the other stems:

Broke one branch, oops! A little duct tape and all seems fine:

Still no signs of sexing, at least not to my untrained eyes:

Here's my happy little White Lavender, looking a little more Sativa'ish than the Strawberry Coughs:

And here's the other Cough, bushing out more than growing vertically:

 

[runewulfsong]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Looking nice there Sam, those little bushes are going to be big bushes soon... woo hoo

 

[samsquanch]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Not to spam this thread, but Growblu's response is that you could do a 3x3 tent, but you would have better results with 2x of them.

I checked out this Topledgrow or whatever you guys mentioned that's a sponsor here, and it's basically the same units that are sold on ebay by a couple different vendors. I know that these grow cannabis pretty well, there's a guy Justintime on reddit/youtube that has used them with success. I thought about buying those lights before I got the Growblu. Justintime has like 2 of those 900W models and miscellaneous others running, but what scared me off is when he posted that several of them now have problems with lights and fans out etc. You might get lucky and get a good one though, and it's one helluva deal if you get lucky in an auction on ebay.

 

[samsquanch]

Re: Samsquanch's First Grow - Strawberry Cough + White Lavender under 120x3w Growblu

Female pre-flowers on white lavender and the big strawberry cough, woo! The big strawberry cough has grown an inch a day for the last 2 days, 11 inches now. Going to throw them into flower around 14-16 inches.