First time Hydro Grow, CFL indoor. (PLEASE HELP!!)

[CAM3RON27]

sup guys, so i ended up going with a 500w LED grow light. it was 400 bucks and here are the specs.


Discription:
*LEDs: 160pcs,3W high power(1 core led)
*Dimension: 440mm*280mm*70mm
*Spectrum 8 band: 660nm,650nm,630nm,610nm,460nm,450nm,440nm,2800K
*Input Votalge: 85V-265V AC
*Viewing angle: 90 degrees
*Power consumption: 290W+/-3%
*Working Temperature: -35°~+55°
*Plug type: USA, European ,UK,Australia,etc
*Humitity: 0%~95% relative humidity
*Max-Lifespan: 50000 hours
*Right for all phases of plants growth and flowering stage
*The lighting area and the height are changeable according to different plants and stage
*The housing color is white
*Built-in power supplier ,no reflector and no ballast needed
*One Hanging kits and one detachable power cord included
*Environment-friendly: have no mercury and other harmful heavy metal, emit no light harmful for plant.
*Energy-saving: emitting light fully absorbed by plant, much efficient compared to HID grow lights to produce the same result.
Application:
Our led grow light are used by master gardeners, schools,universities, medical dispensaries,home enthusiasts, florists, nurseries, researchers, , collectives, caregivers & moreour. Just indoor gardens and greenhouses only. NOT intended for outdoor use.
Use tips:
Recommended height above plants: 31 to 40 inches
Recommended Lighting Time:
Vegetative Stage: 14-18 hours on
Vegetative Stage: 10-12 hours on.

and some pics...

figured since im already fighting the high temps as it is that i would go for one of these, even though there a little more pricey up front, should save a lot of energy and help keep my grow cool! its supposed to be here in 2-7 days so ill post an update when i get it and get it all set up! anyone else got lights from this ebay user before? ledgrowlightmanufacturer they have really good feed back and seems ligit enough to me so i figured i would give em a shot.

 

[CAM3RON27]

and heres the one month picture of all of them, lookin pretty good but ready to get them under the LED.

also, here is my BlueBerry FIRE. it was the smallest, but by far is showing the best improvement!

3RON

 

[CAM3RON27]

yo just wanted to post up these couple pics of the new LED grow light, just got it in the mail today and got it set up and everything seems to be working well. only down side so far is it does create more heat than the cfls did so im going to have to work on getting my temps back down but other than that, i think this should help improve growth nicely. anyone that uses LED's know how far i should have the lights away at this point in there growth? from what ive read online it seems like about 12in from the tops is about right...but anyway heres the pics!

hope they love it! its bright as shit in there now haha.
3RON

 

[CAM3RON27]

hey so i havnt herd much from anyone but im going to continue this post because maybe someone will find it helpful or maybe i will still find some more help. today i just have some pics for ya, at about a month and a week. they seem to be doing much better under the led's but i think switching them over to this light confused them a little because a few started growing pistols, from what ive herd, this should stop in a day or two and they should go back to there vegetative state.

ALIEN KUSH

SpaceBerry

SKYWALKER

BLUEBERRY FIRE

CAVEMAN

ALL PLANTS 1 month, 1 week.

i also topped my blueberry fire the other day and here is a pic of the two new tops coming in.

thats all i got for now, but until next time...keep on growin. 3RON

 

[SmokyRobinson]

Looks like a decent setup for a bathroom tub grow. I'd recommend some oscillating fans to keep air flow moving. Also, I hope you didn't get your LED's mailed to where your grow site is at (Not a smart idea as the feds can track everything). Make sure you leave your lights on 24/7

 

[CAM3RON27]

Looks like a decent setup for a bathroom tub grow. I'd recommend some oscillating fans to keep air flow moving. Also, I hope you didn't get your LED's mailed to where your grow site is at (Not a smart idea as the feds can track everything). Make sure you leave your lights on 24/7

thanks man! i got a good fan on them right now, along with a cool breeze humidifier to help keep the humidity up and temps down and also add more air circulation. also i did have the light mailed to a different location and i do have all my paperwork if anyone comes knockin lol. i would be surprised if they were dicks about 6 little plants, but still never hurts to be safe so good point. and hmmm 24/7 huh? i have em on 18 hour days right now, have you read somewhere that leds are supposed to stay on full time? from what i have herd its good to give your lights some down time. thanks for the feed back brotha

 

[SmokyRobinson]

I actually have read about this in two books, Jorge Cervantes and Ed Rosenthal. Both state that the amount of light an LED emits is not as strong as a Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium. Its a bit stronger than a T5 but then again thats why people who veg out under a T5 leave em on 24/7.

 

[nebulius]

I've heard of bathtub gin, but not bathtub pot, lol. :D
How's the battle with the bugs Cam? What type of bugs and what did you use to get rid of them?
Couple of things you may want to think about if you haven't already. With your CFL light, you could use different Kelvin temp. bulbs to get a wider spectrum of light. For instance, you currently have 5000k bulbs, you could change half or a third to a lower Kelvin temp. say 3000k. That is if you're going to keep using this light since you bought the LED.
Also, since you live in the desert and fight temps and humidity, you might want to look into an evaporative cooler. That's pretty much what you have with your humidifier but a evap. cooler will do an even better job at keeping temps. down.
lookin good. hope that LED works out for ya.

 

[CAM3RON27]

haha! me neither but it seems like a pretty decent place to grow em for hydro, makes doing my flushes easy and its already nice and white in there. as far as the bugs go, there completely gone! i got some stuff that you mixed into the water and it took about 4 days before i stopped seeing dead ones in the bottom of my tray, then i drained out all the old water, gave it new fresh water and nutes and its been over a week now since i have seen any at all! :] pretty excited about that. i never exactly figured out what they were called or even managed to get a good picture of them because they were so small...but they were little beetle shaped bugs with six legs and they lived down in the hydroton. i will post the name of the stuff i used tomorrow i need to look at the bottle, but i will let you know! seems like it did its job pretty well!
Also, i do plan on using my cfl's again for the next set of em that i get started in about two weeks so i will def pic up a couple or the 3000k. they seemed to do a decent job, but this LED light really seems to be giving them what they want so far. i was a little worried about getting one off ebay that i didnt see any reviews on but all in all it looked like a good deal and so far ive been liking what ive been seeing so no complaints so far! and i will def look into the evaporative cooler, i know its better to have the room temps down around 75 and i have a hard time keeping at 85 lol. thanks for the info man, it will be used!


heres a pic from today fillin out pretty good!

3RON

 

[Yellowjacket]

The pistils are just the plants way of showing you that it is mature enough to go bloom. Those are only preflower pistils not the ones that make buds.

Plants do better with some down time as there are processes that happen during the dark cycle. Continue with your 18/6 schedule until you flip to 12/12.

When you topped those plants did you root those tops for a head start on next round?

YJ

 

[CAM3RON27]

ooh thanks for clearing that up YJ, and thats what i thought for the light schedule, i will continue with the 18/6 for another two weeks then im gonna switch em on over to bloom.

and by rooting the tops do you mean i can clone the little clipping from the top? can you explain that one for me? i am about ready to get a next round going so that would be some helpful info.

thanks! 3RON

 

[CAM3RON27]

hey everyone, heres a pic of the 1 month, 2 week mark, im gonna leave them in veg for another 2 weeks, right now there just about 2 feet tall so i hope they will really grow these last two weeks as much as possible, i know they will still gain some size in bloom also. check em out!

3RON

 

[AdvancedBioHydroponics]

Are you using the CFL's for side and supplement lighting? Looks good!

 

[CAM3RON27]

Hey ABH, thanks for poppin in, I havnt been using the cfl's because I've been having problems with heat so I'm trying to stick with just the LED for now, everything is really picking up and looking good! And here's a video since I havnt posted one in a while I figured I should at least do a quick one.

3RON

 

[CAM3RON27]

yo quick update, its sunday again so that means they have been in veg for 1 month and 3 weeks. i just got a pic for now but they will be starting bloom next sunday. pretty sweet!

3RON

 

[CAM3RON27]

counting down the days till bloom, saturday will be there last day on the veg nutes and then im switching them over to start there bloom nutes. sunday will be there first day of 12/12 light days, and then we start the real count down to some finished budz! pretty exciting this is by far the furthest ive ever got by myself...though its my first true try. im going to be using Floranova Bloom, and Floralishus Plus for sure, but is there some other recommended nutes i should pick up? Bud candy, etc....i gotta get them soon because saturday will be here before i know it. the next picture that i will post will be there last day of veg so it will be going up on satuday...maybe sunday. seems like the LED is really doing well though, looks like im runnin out of space in my bathtub haha. stay tuned, the good pics should be soon to come!

 

[sky high]

Very colorful, man!

Yer doin' great for a first go. Some thoughts if I may..... dunno how much of this you've pondered or not....

If it were me.... I would give serious thought to erecting some sort of a SCROG screen over the tub to let them grow into/weave into......the focus being on making a nice, flat canopy.

If you are looking for a continuous garden set up....I would also look into cloning/get the supplies needed to clone......and I would take some cuts down low on the plants and see if I could get anything to root...if for nothing else...for the practice/to get a feel for it/to see what happens.

IMO....don't focus too much on nutes or think they are the pathway to a huge harvest. Too many products at once/from different manufacturers/etc. can make things go whacky quick....and the more of em you have..the harder it is to isolate what the fuck went wrong when something does go wrong. Two easily remembered addages are K.I.S.S ........ and "Less is MORE". Good things take time....

In the end, the only thing that can be sped up in this process by adding this additive or that additive is how quickly you can kill yer plants!

my last advice would be...if..that is...you are going to keep a continuous garden.... is to >always< look to and plan for the future. Make sure yer ass is covered for the next round before doin anything final like going into flower/etc.

good luck. Should be an interesting couple of months for ya........

s h

 

[CAM3RON27]

Very colorful, man!

Yer doin' great for a first go. Some thoughts if I may..... dunno how much of this you've pondered or not....

If it were me.... I would give serious thought to erecting some sort of a SCROG screen over the tub to let them grow into/weave into......the focus being on making a nice, flat canopy.

If you are looking for a continuous garden set up....I would also look into cloning/get the supplies needed to clone......and I would take some cuts down low on the plants and see if I could get anything to root...if for nothing else...for the practice/to get a feel for it/to see what happens.

IMO....don't focus too much on nutes or think they are the pathway to a huge harvest. Too many products at once/from different manufacturers/etc. can make things go whacky quick....and the more of em you have..the harder it is to isolate what the fuck went wrong when something does go wrong. Two easily remembered addages are K.I.S.S ........ and "Less is MORE". Good things take time....

In the end, the only thing that can be sped up in this process by adding this additive or that additive is how quickly you can kill yer plants!

my last advice would be...if..that is...you are going to keep a continuous garden.... is to >always< look to and plan for the future. Make sure yer ass is covered for the next round before doin anything final like going into flower/etc.

good luck. Should be an interesting couple of months for ya........

s h

Thank you once again Sky High! its nice to hear some good positive feedback. it helps a lot!

the SCROG setup sounds good and is a really good point, i thought about making one a while back but they were still little ones at the time and it was hard to imagine them gettin this close to needing one! my only question with that is, once they are grown up into the SCROG net, how will i be able to remove all the plants from my tray to clean/flush the equipment? it seems to me like that could possibly make things a little more complicated but there must be something I'm not thinking about haha.

i am looking into doing a continuous grow cycle, but at the moment...im very limited in space, and money. I'm trying to get a 4x4 grow tent along with all the goodies....carbon filter, inline fans, ducting, hydro tray and res, etc. then putting all of these guys in there with the LED light, then i would have space in the tub again to at least get the next batch going under my CFL's for now! sooner than later though once i get my new place, i will def be getting a clone box and taking my own clones every time!

as far as the nutes go, ill stick to the basics and use minimal. i def get what your saying about less is more. I'm not trying to speed up the process, I've got plenty of time on my hands haha, i just want them to grow as happily and efficiently as possible!

hopefully by this weekend i will have a better feel for what I'm going to be doing and what I'm going to be able to afford, because if anything...they may just have to stay in the tub for a week or so till i get the tent goin! thank you again for the help. I'm excited to see whats to come in the next few months!

3RON

 

[CAM3RON27]

yo, its been a min since ive put up some pics so im gonna go ahead and throw some up, these first ones were from the last day of veg.

and this one is from yesterday about 5 days into bloom.

today they were lookin really good especially my space berry plant in the top right of the pic above, all the other plants are starting so get the pistols also but man shes lookin good for only being 6 days into it...ill put up a new vid in a few days and get some good pics when the buds start showin there selfs a little more. i got bud candy for em and i am slowly introducing it into there feeding schedule but everything has been going pretty smoothly! i built a SCROG net and its perfect for the area but im having second thoughts about using it so we will see what happens...

haha keep on workin 3RON

 

[skuzz99]

lookin good broski. those shots under the leds make em fully psychedelic