6x90W UFO LED - 2x600W HPS Soil Grow - Medibud - Super Silver Haze - WW

LEDman

New Member
Soo... after exactly four weeks since germination, out of 10 Medibud, 10 Super Silver Haze and 3 (free) White Widow seeds (all feminized), the remaining 9 MB, 3 SSH and 1 WW have survived all my noobishness could throw at them (see Medibud Seedlings Leaves Yellowing & Splotching for details) are alive and kicking and it seems a grow journal is in order. For the record, all my losses were incurred during germination, which I really messed up.


Let's begin with the basics, namely my setup, which represents my initial purchase; additional items will be added over time as the grow develops. At the start, the area designated as flower room is not yet physically separated from the veg room, but I'll be building that division as time passes, so bear with me, please.

Veg room:
2x 75W 6500K CFL for seedlings and clones
6x Illuminator 90W UFO LED from prosourceworldwide
24 1,5-litre pots (for the first part of the veg cycle)
24 11-litre pots (for the final part of the veg cycle)

Flower room:
2x 600W Osram Nav-T 4Y (2000K) with Adjust-A-Wings reflectors w/ spreader
24 11-litre pots for bloom

Both rooms combined have about 30 cubic meters and are exhausted by one squirrel cage fan rated at 800 m^3/hour (the carbon filter is sufficient for 1000 m^3/h), with fresh air being drawn in passively through a duct right now. The room is temperature controlled between 20 and 25 degrees Celcsius, relative humidity is around 40-50%.

The plants reside on mobile trolleys such as you would use for moving funiture around the house for easy access and maintenance. I'll post pix in the next days to illustrate!

Seeds were started in jiffy pots (I won't do that again) and the surviving ones transplanted to seedling soil without nutrients.

The soil (once the seedlings have their second set of "real" leaves) is a regular grow-mix with basic nutrients, coco fibers and 20% perlite.

Watering schedule is strictly-as-needed (when the pots feel light as bone-dry), which is about every 3 days. Once a week, I add fertilizer to the water - I'll update with the exact dosage next time I do.

Since I use tap water with a pH somewhere in the range of 7.5-7.8, I use pH down to bring it down to 6.5-6.8, which the plants seem to enjoy.

I'll keep updating with more pix and information, so stick around. :)
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

The first batch of pix...

This is an approximate representation of my grow room layout...
room_layout1.jpg


And here are some plant pix. These babies have been raised from seedlings under 2x75W CFLs and have been moved under the first two 90W LED UFOs on day 34. I'll measure their growth rate over the course of the next weeks.
IMG_2246_1_.JPG

IMG_2247_1_.JPG


The first two UFOs in action. As the plants grow, I'll roll out more LEDs and spread the plants over more trolleys.
IMG_2249_1_.JPG
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

I've wanted to watch an LED grow to see how it goes. I've been contemplating going LED so I'm gonna hang around for this one. :grinjoint:
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

I've wanted to watch an LED grow to see how it goes.

Yep, though I don't trust my LEDs for bloom yet, which is why I have them in the veg room only, at the moment. For my flower room, I'll use the 2x600W HIDs and wait for new LED panels to roll out.

I'm really interested in their veg performance right now, which I'll document by measuring the plant growth weekly... :)
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

Week 5, another update: The babies are growing at about 0,5-1 cm per day under LED. You can already tell the sativa-dominant Super Silver Haze, as it outgrows the rest. For fun and profit, I decided to throw in 3x dual 75W CFLs (6500K) between the LEDs, although you just see one at the moment. The rest will follow as my time allows.

I've been busy constructing the separation wall between veg and flower room, using diamond reflective mylar foil to maximise light usage. Enough talk already, some pix:
IMG_22624.JPG

IMG_22591.JPG

IMG_22583.JPG

IMG_22571.JPG


All the lights are suspended on "easy rolls" that allow for easy raising and lowering:
IMG_22603.JPG


Btw: If you can spot my tomato patch, you are a good observer. ;)
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

Addendum: The growth rate I measured is just the vertical one. These babies really put all their energy into branching out horizontally, trying to grab more light and shade each other. Some of the fan leaves are longer than the plants are tall... o,O

It's "plant eat plant" in there.
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

Looking good! I'm liking the pulley system. I wanted to do that on my set up, but it seems like over kill for my little CFLs.

The outward growth is good. That means they aren't wanting for more light and stretching toward the source. How is the heat on the UFOs? Do they put off much?
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

I'm pretty happy with the LEDs so far, they seem well ventilated and do not give off measurable heat - but one thing I didn't see mentioned before: those 3 fans each are pretty loud by themselves. Imagine lots of CPU fans whirring at maximum speed and you get the picture.

Anyhow, I'm going to hook up the large 800m^3/h exhaust fan these days and see how that goes; my skills as an electrician leave room for improvement, and the bloody thing has a condensator that has to be connected somehow - and no manual ...
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

OH DEAR! Leaf curling in one plant:
Foto19.JPG


I've done my homework and know this can stem from multiple factors:
  • Over-fertilizing
  • High light (ruled out)
  • Over- or underwatering
  • High heat (ruled out, always between 21 and 24° C)

Since this is the only plant showing these symptoms (it started out the day before yesterday), it could be something spefically pertaining to this plant. It's a little smaller than the rest, uses less water (the pot stays humid longer than the other plants') and may thus be subject to nute burn or overwatering. I waited until the pot was bone-dry and then gave it a good watering with pH 6.7 water without nutes. The runoff was 6.6, so no pH problem here.

Grateful for any input!
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

In other news, I installed the exhaust ventilator yesterday and hooked it up to a dimmer in order to control its speed. I probably found the right wiring diagram on the interwebs, yet I have this nagging feeling I missed something; the ventilator is running, but at certain speeds, it vibrates and hums in frequencies that induce head-ache, to say the least. Or alert the neighbors...

IMG_2269_1_.JPG


This is the wiring diagram I found. The dimmer (substitue the "Zuleitung" by "mains coming from the dimmer") has one loop-through port that is either on or off (read: not regulated). Maybe I should hook that up to the condensator instead of running it as the diagram tells me to. As far as I understand these phase motors, the condensator is necessary for correct operation - and it's probably used to not being subject to differing currents.

Hmm... to do or not to do...
attachment1.jpg
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

My sole White Widow has been a naughty girl craving sex. If you are offended by grossly vulgar pictures of "sexy time", do not read any further! I walked into the room today to find THIS, and please excuse the underage pr0n I'm posting:
IMG_2271_1_.JPG


Naughty, naughty, naughty. Sometime the week before last, the facility manager informs me upon questioning, there was a power outage that lasted half a day before anyone noticed, since only parts of the less-used tract of the building were affected. So, I am guessing, some of my baby girls got strange ideas into their stalks and decided to dress up and party. Now I'm a libertarian when it comes to these things, but these are MY kids and they're too bloody young.

I'm switching to 21/3 as of now to teach them the error of their ways and just hope there won't be any more outages. I hate having to put the stress of re-veg on the WW, but I want her to be bigger before putting her into flowering.

Edited to say that none of the other plants show any signs of preflowers.
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

Naughty indeed. I, unfortunately, am not an electrician so I will be unable to help you with your fan issues. That being said, it looks like the one plant was over watered. I don't see signs of nutrient burn and if you water all the plants with the same amount and that one is smaller, I'd say that's your issue.
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

MacMota, I exculpate you for your un-electrician-ness. And I agree that it was probably an overwatering issue in this one plant. No change in the cupping, but the leaves feel nicely cold and humid to the touch today, so I guess that no real harm was done.

In other news, I tried to re-wire the exhaust fan in a myriad of ways, narrowly escaping death (the fan's death). My idea to use the bypass to hook up to the condensator led to a very quiet fan... in an intermittent kind of way, for the rest of the time it was going crazy. So, it didn't really work. I wonder if my cheap dimmer is at fault. The neighbors haven't complained yet, so I'll stick with the setup for the time being.

There's a dinosaur in my closet, I am really high right now and bed sounds like a good idea. Good night!
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

Good times, good times. The grow room is taking on form as I throw out garbage and create order out of chaos. I've put up some IKEA shelves to act as... shelves.
One is set in a small alcove and will act as a cloning station / will house the first mothers I shall select in the next weeks. Actually, I wanted my surviving white widow as a mother, but with her persisting in her flowering ways, I may scratch that and just have one Medibud and one Super Silver Haze for the moment. I'm not sure that re-vegging the WW will make her suitable mother material...

Anyhow, here's some pix:
First, the cloning station.
IMG_22903.JPG


Then, shelves!
IMG_22916.JPG
IMG_22923.JPG


The plants are growing as expected. Some have drooping leaves (yet the leaves feel humid), but I'll make a new thread in the disease control forum.
IMG_22843.JPG
IMG_22853.JPG


The flower room is coming along as well: I installed the two 600W HID on easy rolls, did the electrical necessities and completed a successful test run. I still miss a timer and will have to light-proof the room, also I'll have to install the exhaust & carbon filter properly, but I figure I have lots of time still.
IMG_22933.JPG
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

Ah, the drooping... following the advice given to me in the problems forum, I repotted the plants into the 11L-containers. They were becoming rootbound, so I had to advance my schedule a little.
IMG_23074.JPG


The result:
IMG_23083.JPG
IMG_23092.JPG
IMG_23104.JPG
IMG_23114.JPG


Welcome to the jungle
We take it day by day
If you want it you're gonna bleed
But it's the price you pay
And you're a very sexy girl
That's very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights
But you won't get them for free
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
 
Re: 6x90W UFO LED / 2x600W HPS soil grow: Medibud, Super Silver Haze + WW

WOW!!
Sure beats the hell out of my hook into a ceiling joist.lol
Those plants def. do not look out of place in the new pots.
Looks like you might have something rollin' here buddy!!
Good Luck.
 
Back
Top Bottom