Icemud's Far Red LED Journal - Flower Trigger Manipulation - Budmaster LED Lights

[Icemud]

Hey everyone!!! Welcome to my new grow journal!!! I have been a member at 420 Magazine since 2011 and I believe this is like my 14th journal that I have here at 420 Mag! I love that we all have a place to share grows, compare techniques, help each other, document our information and further our collective knowledge dedicated to the plants we all love!

So this grow will be featuring the all new Budmaster Emerson (FAR RED) 730nm LED grow lights. Well I actually shouldn't say "grow lights" because these lights are not for growing plants and will not grow a plant by themselves. These lights are for manipulating the flowering schedule with FAR RED light, as well as can be used to increase photosynthesis by using the Emerson Effect. So this grow will be showing how these lights do when running a 14/10 flowering schedule, as Far red light will quickly revert the chemical phytochrome from a veg state to flowering state (PFr to PR) which will allow for an extra 2 hours of daylight for flowering so in this journal we will test this theory, and the lights

So without further adieu... here is the info:

Here are the grow journal details and specs:



What strain is it?
In this grow we will be going with my same genetics that I have had for a few grow cycles and I absolutely love them:

Black Diamond OG lineage: Blackberry kush x Diamond OG (supposedly its a indica dominant offspring of OG Kush, 70% indica)


Tangie Lineage: California Orange (Cali O) x [Skunk #1 x Unknown] Sativa Dominiant
***I will be running my 2 favorite phentypes from my pheno hunt a few grows back, pheno 5 and 3


Ogiesel Lineage: SFV OG x Giesel (Mass Super Skunk x Chemdawg d)

Harlequin Lineage: Columbian Gold 70s x Thailand x Swizerland x Nepal

Black Cherry Soda: (nobody really knows the exact lineage of this strain as far as I know, but I was hinted towards it being possibly Airborne G13 X Ortega x C99 x Blackberry x Cherry AK-47 – 20% Indica/80% Sativa")


Is it in Veg or Flower stage?
Currently this grow is in early-mid veg.


If in Veg... For how long?
I don't count the veg days but I would estimate about 30 days.


Indoor or outdoor?
Indoors.


Grow Area Description and equipment
Each grow tent is a Hydrohut silver edition 2x4' tent. Actual measurements are larger and each tent measures approx 2.5'x5'x7'. Each tent is equipped with a large carbon filter (Can-filter), 6" fan on a manual variable speed controller. Intake air is sucked into the tent by the negative pressure and let in the lower portion of the tent on each side. Also the flowering tent is equipped with 2 circulation fans...one on an intake hose at ground level, and the other on the roof of the tent blowing downwards. The lights are by Budmaster and I am running 2x COB-X-4 led grow lights, 1x Budmaster GOD-4 and 1x Budmaster Emerson Far Red LED.

Lighting type used?
The main purpose of this journal is to showcase the all new Budmaster Emerson Far RED LED grow lights that use all OSRAM 730nm SSL led chips (far red). The grow will be using these far red leds to manipulate my flowering period to extend it to 14/10 instead of 12/12 by using the Far red light to rapidly change photochrome from its veg to flowering state.


Is it aircooled?
The lights are cooled by individual fans to disperse the heat given off by the lights. A pin style heat sink is used on each module. The case has plenty of holes and openings for ventilation.

The tent is cooled by a 6" hydrofarm fan hooked to a large carbon scrubber mounted at the top of my grow tent.


Soil or Hydro?
Soil.... recycled and reused soil.


If soil... what is in your mix?
I am using a recycled soil which is re amended every time a cycle is finished and dumped into my soil bin to cook until needed. Most of this soil is probably 2 years old or more. The basic ingredients/additives are below


The Base Soil Mix:

ProMix HP
Worm Castings
Volcanic Pumice
Alaskan Forest Humus

The Amendments:
Azomite (trace minerals and micronutrients)
Calcium Carbonate Powder 97%
Soft Rock Phosphate (Collidal Clay with high phosphorus and CEC value)
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)
Crab Shell Meal 2-3-0 23% calcium(also a P source and source of chitin a hormone/growth regulator)
Fish Bone meal. (3-18-0) 24% Calcium
Lava Sand (adds trace minerals and supposedly adds paramagnetic value to the soil)
Kelp Meal (also has growth hormones and PGR's, plus trace minerals)
Alfalfa Meal. (2-0-3) (contains Trichontinol which aids in plant growth and health)
Powdered Humic Acid (Adds Carbons to the soil as well as trace minerals and aids in chelation of minerals)
Humboldt Myco's Maximum (Beneficial Bacteria and Mycorrizae Fungus)
Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate)
Greensand (0-0-3) (Trace Minerals)
Dry Molasses (1-0-3) (Energy for the Microbes)


If soil... What size pot?
I currently am using 5 gallon square plastic pots with my tangies. For my next grow I will be starting out in the same 5 gallon square plastic pots.

Temp of Room/cab?
usually my ambient temps stay between 75F-85F (during the current summer months the upper portion of the tent can reach 93F while the canopy stays roughly 85F.

RH of Room/cab?
my RH typically stays right around 50% but sometimes (rarely) the winds come off the desert and dry the RH down to 10% or less. Usually in the winter months of October, November, December and January we see a lot of offshore breezes and low humidity.

PH of media or res?
I don't check PH..

Any Pests ?
I had a early outbreak of thrips in the first few weeks of veg, but they have been treated with spinosad, neem and SNS and are gone at the time this journal is being created.
I do use a few preventative measures to make sure it stays this way..
I grow high brix, so typically pests don't go for high brix plants.
I spray in veg with spinosad which pretty much prevents any pests from wanting to breed
I use yucca extract in soil and foliar sprays which also seems to be a great pest deterrent.


How often are you watering?
This depends on the portion of the cycle I am in, but typically I water about 1x per week in early veg, in late veg about 1x every 3-4 days, In early flowering about 1x every 3-4 days, late flowering about 1x per 5-6 days.


Type and strength of ferts used?
All nutrients and pest products used are 100% certified OMRI organic with the exception of my silicone additives (armor SI and bulletproof SI)

My main nutrients (bottled): (all organic/natural)
Earthjuice: Grow, Bloom, Meta K, Microblast, Catalyst
Humboldt nutrients: bloom, equilibrium, humic acid, deuce deuce
Thrive alive B1 organic
Terpenator (potassium in mid/late flowering)
Yucca Extract



Other nutrients on hand include and may be used:
occasional additive:
Advanced Nutrients: carboload, organic b, fulvic acid
General Organics: hydrolyzed squid, florablend tea,
Bonide: liquid fish 2-4-0...love this stuff!
Armor SI (potassium silicate) (non organic)
Bulletproof SI (silicone dioxide) (non organic)

On hand for pest/disease prevention, treatment and eradication if needed:

Thrips and Spidermites
Captain Jack's Deadbug (spinosad)
SNS 209 Systemic
SNS 203
Blue sticky cards
Bonide BonNeem (mites only)
Bonide Mite X (mites only)
Bonide Insecticidal soap

Fungus Gnats:
Yellow Sticky Cards
Mosquito Dunks

Powdery Mildew/other fungal disease
SNS fungicide 244
Bonide Liquid copper fungicide
Serende (biological)

I hope all of you enjoy this journal as I test out the all new Budmaster Emerson Far RED panel. This IS a sponsored grow by Budmaster, so I do have a few guidelines that I hope everyone can abide by to keep the peace and allow for a great test grow journal:

-Please keep all LED discussion strictly to Budmaster products. Mention of other brands, promoting or comparisons of other brands will be not allowed in this journal and will be removed.

-If you are sponsored by another company other than Budmaster or showcasing another product, please turn off your signature when posting in this thread as the 420 Magazine rules state.

-This grow is to give the community information on the Budmaster Products and to show a real world grow using these lights, but I will not discuss comparisons, LED shootouts or anything related. This is strictly to show off these lights and how they grow, not to get into any comparisons or pissing contests

General LED questions are ok relating to PAR, spectrum and other General LED topics, but please refrain from asking me about other brands in this journal or specifics about another company as its unfair to our paid sponsors which is what brings in revenue for 420 Magazine to operate functionally

Most of all keep it positive! no trolling, bad vibes, negative nancys or anything else.. Let's have fun, lets take lighting research deeper, lets explore a new sponsors product and enjoy our time!

Thank you everyone!!! Lets get into it, what do you say?!!!

 

[Icemud]

Re: Icemud's FAR RED LED journal: flower trigger manipulation, Budmaster LED grow lig

So first off, before I get into my grow, I wanted to go over a little bit about these all new Budmaster Emerson LED's.

Now as I had mentioned in the original post, these lights are not for growing plants, but rather for manipulating the growth with specific wavelengths of FAR RED light or 730nm light. These lights do not have the right spectrum to actually grow plants by themselves, and aren't made for that purpose... so please don't try as you won't have good results.


The build of these lights is beautiful, nice lightweight cases, laser cut for detail and precision, lots of vent holes for cooling of the LEDs and PCB boards. Budmaster did a really nice job with these lights, and the best part is they are made 100% in the UK by BUDMASTER!!! a real LED company that makes their own lights is rare to find in this industry, so kudos to Budmaster for constantly innovating and creating new and better products.

These lights feature OSRAM SSL LED chips, which are pretty much the best LED chips you can use for Horticulture purposes. The are scheduled to last up to 100,000 hours where many other cheaper leds will fall short of 40-50,000 hours in lifetime, and the efficiency of these OSRAM CHIPS are much better than other brand manufactures in the LED chip industry, so again, quality and detail is put into these budmaster LED panels. The Emerson LED's use only 730nm FAR RED LED chips, so no other colors/wavelengths are in these lights.

The main 2 purposes of these lights are for:

1. Flower trigger manipulation (used during the flowering cycle, after the regular grow lights go off for the day, the FAR RED light comes on as these lights go off, and stays on for anywhere from 15 mins to 2 hours afterwords(during the start of the dark period).

Red light converts the chemical phytochrome Pr (red) into phytochrome Pfr (far red). In the short day plants red light, 660nm begins the synthesis of PR and red light converts this to Pfr. Now this conversion of Pr to Pfr in light is a very fast process but at night, the process reverses and is slow, changing the PFR back to PR... Unless there is more PR than PFR, the plant will remain in veg..

HOW the flowering trigger with FAR RED Light works, is instead of the nightly process of PFr converting back to PR which is slow, adding FAR RED light after the sunlight/daylight goes out, will quickly convert the PFr to PR, instead of it taking all night, it takes just a few minutes of Far RED light to do this... Therefore because plants flower due to long interrupted nights, this process usually requires roughly 12 hours of uninterrupted dark, but when you use FAR RED, then you actually can get away with a shorter night, and longer day pushing the daylight of flowering up to 14 or 15 hours of daylight and only 9-10 hours of night, because the long night isn't needed with the FAR red converting the PFR to PR.

This is also the same reason that the GAS LANTERN ROUTINE works for veg, but in opposite....
By interrupting the dark cycle with 1 hr of light (RED or including red) , the PR is converted back quickly to PFR, so the plant stays in veg, because there again is more of an abundance of PFR than PR...typically this process as we know it for short day plants takes around 12+ hours of darkness to achieve a full reversion. So by breaking the cycle up, the plant will not flower.

2. Emerson Effect:

The emerson effect is a different thing from IR being used as a flowering trigger. *used during the daylight period...

The Emerson effect relates to photosynthesis. To be sort of general about it, there are 2 reaction centers involved with photosynthesis. Photosystem II (P680) and Photosystem I P700.

Photosystem I or P700 takes in electrons from IR light or light >680nm

Photosystem 2 or P680 takes in electrons from <680nm.

Emerson was experimenting with red and far red light and determined that when using both red and IR light together, photosynthesis was greater than using either IR or RED by themselves. This helped to the realization that there were 2 photosystems but also shows adding "some" IR light to the daylight is beneficial as well.

Now since the budmaster COB and GOD lights already have some Far RED for the Emerson effect, the question I have is how much extra FAR RED is needed during the daylight period, and it seems to come down to the ratio of RED to FAR RED. Now this ratio of red to far red can effect the morphology of the plant (how it grows) and with a low ratio of RED to FAR red this typically will cause plants to stretch more, as well as effect the traits of the leaf size. With a Higher Red/Far Red ratio, this typically will create less stretchy plants... So the goal with FAR red is to have some, but not too much, even though the sun is nearly a 1.2 :1 ratio.



Currently since I am in veg, I am running an 18/6 schedule, and using the Budmaster Emerson panel during the 4 mid day hours replicating peak sunlight, and to hopefully enhance the emerson effect.

 

[Icemud]

Re: Icemud's FAR RED LED journal: flower trigger manipulation, Budmaster LED grow lig

So as for my current grow, I am about 1 month or so into veg with these girls, and they are thriving. I had a little issue with thrips early on but have sprayed weekly with a blend of nutrients, bvitamins and spinosad along with some SNS and I haven't seen any leaf issues. I will continue to spray weekly for the next few weeks as a preventative measure just to make sure they are gone before flowering.


I plan on letting these girls go about another 3 weeks or so in veg, as I still have to clone each of the plants and make sure they root as well as I want them to get a fuller canopy and a little bit stronger of stems before we hit flowering.


Right now I have been feeding the girls about 1x per week as they are sucking up water, but not really fast yet as they were transplanted into larger pots about 2 weeks ago, and the root base is still developing. I have been rotating my feedings between compost teas, earthjuice teas, amendment feedings and botanicare feedings.


Other than that not much else right now to report on here are some pics

 

[Teslarossi]

Re: Icemud's FAR RED LED journal: flower trigger manipulation, Budmaster LED grow lig

Looking forward to this one

Sent from my SM-G900F using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Shawnee]

Re: Icemud's FAR RED LED journal: flower trigger manipulation, Budmaster LED grow lig

Per the usual, Ice.....very technical, comprehensive, and succinct....rock on my imaginary boyfriend....

 

[Mr. Krip]

Re: Icemud's FAR RED LED journal: flower trigger manipulation, Budmaster LED grow lig

I'm definitely in for this one, and +REPS!

 

[Light Addict]

Re: Icemud's FAR RED LED journal: flower trigger manipulation, Budmaster LED grow lig

Here and feeling guilty for not getting mine up and running sooner lol. I'll follow your lead soon, so yep you get it all ironed out for me lol

 

[drcannabi]

Hi Icemud,

Thank you so much for journaling this. I'm in brother and very excited to see your (our) journey.

 

[Gazoo]

This is Great been wanting to experiment with the FAR RED at Dusk
to put the plants to sleep faster, Just like what happens at sunset as
the sun goes below the horizon BAM FAR RED (Makes those beautiful colored sunsets)

Anyway I also need to check into the cost for one of these as I am very
interested in this idea. And now I get to watch your progress and see
for myself, without the cost, and when I do decide to spend the money
it will be much easier to justify it

 

[Icemud]

Looking forward to this one

Sent from my SM-G900F using 420 Magazine Mobile App

Welcome Teslarossi!!! Glad to have you!

Per the usual, Ice.....very technical, comprehensive, and succinct....rock on my imaginary boyfriend....

Hey Shawnee!!! Happy you made it! Hopefully this grow is exciting and impressive, and if not.. I will smoke till it is haha

I'm definitely in for this one, and +REPS!

Hey Mr. Krip!!! grab a seat or beanbag or huge sack of weed, kick back, relax and enjoy the fun Thanks for joining the party!

Here and feeling guilty for not getting mine up and running sooner lol. I'll follow your lead soon, so yep you get it all ironed out for me lol

I felt guilty too, having it sit on my counter, staring at me everyday saying... "why icemud, why wont you plug me in!!!" LOL I had to finish up my other grow first so I also felt bad for having to wait... but I'm really excited to try it out and see how it does. Mainly I just want to know if it works as far as extending the daylight... but in the future, if I can find the room, I want to run a side by side, one side a cob and far red, and other side just a cob, and see the differences, both in emerson effect, as well as flower trigger. that wont be for a while but definitely in the plans

Hi Icemud,

Thank you so much for journaling this. I'm in brother and very excited to see your (our) journey.

Hey Dr. Cannabi! thanks for joining in the fun! I'm so happy to be using the emerson panel and trying to manipulate the schedule, and I am very hopefull as everything I read says it should work no problem super excited to get to flowering, and I still have a couple weeks before that happens.

 

[Icemud]

This is Great been wanting to experiment with the FAR RED at Dusk
to put the plants to sleep faster, Just like what happens at sunset as
the sun goes below the horizon BAM FAR RED (Makes those beautiful colored sunsets)

Anyway I also need to check into the cost for one of these as I am very
interested in this idea. And now I get to watch your progress and see
for myself, without the cost, and when I do decide to spend the money
it will be much easier to justify it

Hay Gazoo!

I've been wanting to try using Far Red for a while too. Back about 4 years ago, I can't remember the company and I don't even think they are around anymore, but I saw another LED far red panel. Ever since then I have been curious about them so really excited to be trying it for everyone

 

[Gazoo]

Can't wait to see the results, always have high hopes for ideas
that mimic nature.

Hoping the results are good as its going to be somewhat difficult
to justify the cost but if it works like we are hoping it just may
be worth it

Working with nature and not against it is always best.

 

[Icemud]

Can't wait to see the results, always have high hopes for ideas
that mimic nature.

Hoping the results are good as its going to be somewhat difficult
to justify the cost but if it works like we are hoping it just may
be worth it

Working with nature and not against it is always best.

It definitely is going to be interesting, first if it works with a 14 hour day for flowering, and second I think it will be exciting to see it the yield is significantly better than past grows. I would love to do a future side by side, with and without it, but I have to finish up my seed projects first before the other tent will be free for those... but we will see, maybe I can figure something out.

 

[CronicHempHog]

 

[Gazoo]

It definitely is going to be interesting, first if it works with a 14 hour day for flowering, and second I think it will be exciting to see it the yield is significantly better than past grows. I would love to do a future side by side, with and without it, but I have to finish up my seed projects first before the other tent will be free for those... but we will see, maybe I can figure something out.

Oh yes the 14 hour day (if flowering continues) is the most exciting part and should in it self be
able to justify the cost.

Yes a side by side would be best to compare, seems all my second and future grows with same plants
always get better so exact yield increase may be hard to determine but again just finding out if we can
increase day light hours and still maintain flowering will be the real test and if it works the yield should
increase accordingly.

Very excited to see the results

 

[Graytail]

 

[The Dealer]

 

[Icemud]

Hey Everyone!!!


Back with an update on the Budmaster Emerson journal Sorry for the 2 week delay. Since the plants aren't in veg, I usually don't update as frequently as the process to me is slightly boring, lol, and so I was going to update last weekend but I have been battling a severe ear infection which between the meds and the pain and pressure in my head, it just didn't have me wanting to do a whole lot, especially anything involving thought.. feeling much better now that I have been on my medications for about a week, but still have some time to fully recover as well.

Anyhow, sorry for the delay but we are back with an exciting update

So about a month ago I had some issues with thrips in this garden so I wanted to make sure that they were completely gone before I got the plants ready to take clones. I haven't seen any new damage on the plants in over 3 weeks now, so the plants finally got enough side branching and growth were I could take some good clones I took 3 cuttings of each plant, dipped in clonex, into the root riot plugs and then into the humidity dome. I'm hoping I timed this right, so by the times these root fully, my seed project tent will be done and I can move these right into pots for veg

Also, I had a few bagseeds that I broght back from Chicago last time I was visiting. They were some random seeds from one of my friends who usually smokes pretty good bud, being that its still very difficult to get legally in Chicago, so I'm curious what the genetics are. I popped the seeds a couple weeks ago along with some 5 year old seeds I had... none of the old seeds cracked after multiple attemps and methods, but the bagseeds did as they were still fairly new hopefully I will get something interesting and new, and if not the surprise will be worth it


So after taking clones I decided to give the girls 1 last topping before getting them into flowering in the next week or 2, basically once they recover and show strong growth from the topping, then I will be flipping them, as well as I want to make sure all the clones root before flipping them.


I haven't been needing to water the girls except about 1x per week, so the last feeding was just some cal/mag and water, so this feeding will be an earth juice tea. They still have about 2-3 days to go before they will need another feeding, so tomorrow I will be getting the tea ready and it should be at the proper ph in 2 days from then to feed


Other than that, I haven't noticed much in growth changes with the added Far RED Budmaster LED yet, other than the leaves seem to be growing slightly wider than normal, larger I guess would be a better word for describing it as it seems they have grown more in lenght and girth. It does seem like they have maybe a slight stretch to them over past grows, but its so small that it could just be a placebo effect too on my eyes. I am currently running the Emerson panel only 4 hours a day, during the daylight midday of the plants right now, but the main test will be when I go to flowering with a 14/0 schedule excited to see how it turns out

Here are the photos for tonight, before I took clones, cleaned up the plants a little, and topped them.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Looking pretty fine Ice

 

[Billyjack]

Nice, looking forward to the grow