LED Grows by 619ster

[619ster]

Hey Farmers! Figured I've been here long enough, and haven't seen as much drama in the LED world. So time to come out with it. I LOVE my LEDs!!! And I've been growing with them for over a year, and my results have been quite the opposite of what they are "known" for. But I'm not here to rub it in anybodies face, just here to share. Hope y'all enjoy my pics as much as I enjoy the real deal, and snapping the pics. Gonna share a plant I'm quite proud of at the moment, she is Bubblelicious from Nirvana, and a pleasure to have in my garden. At 38 days in flower, with an estimated ~77 day harvest:

:icon_stick man:

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

Nice work on that plant.

I like playing around with different lights. I am mixing them together lately.

Keep on rockin the grow guy.

 

[619ster]

Thanks for the words bro! I agree. I'm all about mixing spectrums. I had another area with a horizontal 400w CMH in a cool tube with 400w LEDs (100w x 4) above canopy, as well as another vertical 400w HPS with LEDs surrounding the vert bulb. I currently have a veg area with 100w UFO LED and cfl's to fill in gaps. Fun mixing lights and seeing results. I just run this tent with pure LEDs because these particular LEDs work damn good on their own.

 

[testez]

Well Well Well! Look who just came out of the closet? no no, the tent >< Sorry i had to lol. Welcome to the big, bad world my LED Farmer brother!

Look, If it's one thing i have to say is this. I wish people would stop being mentally bothered with paranoia and with peoples emotions regarding LEDS. The truth of the matter is is that they are regularly used now a days. It's ok... to do things differently everyone! There is to much "He said, she said" and we need to cut threw that BS with facts. If something doesn't work, it plain just doesn't work. Move onto something that does. All of the flaming and the drama that surrounds this industry comes from three major reasons. The first and the biggest of course is it's the cost. Those that cannot afford it will likely be turned off by that fact. This is were usually the shit slinging begins. The truth is though, they work. Time and time again this has been proven now.

Being a HID Farmer and being forced to adapt to a newer more efficient way to operate i have came to the realization that i had to take the plunge and to experiment. I had to be done. At some point, change is inevitable. IMO might as well be on the forefront to make sure that I know that this is the right solution. However, I did do an extensive amount for research which some people are not willing to do. This is the second biggest problem with LED's. People are not used to the technology and thus are not aware how to even discuss the differences most of the time.

The third major issue with the LED world is experience. Far to often I see first time growers report their very first results which are obviously negative and then either give up or go on a massive shit talking spree. This is were facts need to be injected, discussed, realized and implemented. Most of the time growers don't even take notes which i really don't understand but that's a whole other topic i suppose lol.

What LED panel are you using for flower?
What nutrients?
What style of grow (grow medium)?
How long did you veg for?
What pruning/training technique(s) did you use?
Does this plant come from seed or clones?

 

[CA5P3R]

Welcome aboard. Nice looking plants you got there.

 

[619ster]

Thanks CA5P3R! Glad to have you drop by!

Testez, thanks for the welcome :) And great post too, I agree with much of what you said. I understand it all too well the issues that come about when regarding LEDs. I've seen many great grows with LEDs (more recent), and alot of shitty ones as well (older grows, and from shitty brands as well). My interest now lies with DIY LEDs, but that's something I'm still in the process of studying. I've got a good idea of exactly what brand LEDs I need, and exactly where to get the supplies I need for the whole build. Just getting into ratio's, but using an already proven formula, I know I can build a great light. Question is, can better really come? With LED tech still in its developement stage, YES!!

Anyway, to answer some q's:

What LED panel are you using for flower? Spectra's
What nutrients? Bub is on Nova. I use GH Nova, sometimes Flora, sometimes VF-11
What style of grow (grow medium)? Bub is in 1 gal smartpot with coco. I use Coco/perlite in airpots or hempy. I do have DWC experience. Just started with soil.
How long did you veg for? Bub was vegged for 7 weeks under cfl's. I vary my veg times with all plants.
What pruning/training technique(s) did you use? Bub was topped and supercropped. I use any and all training and pruning techniques
Does this plant come from seed or clones? Bub is from seed, but I use both seeds and clones

 

[619ster]

Here's a bit more details as to what's going on in the my grows. I grow perpetual, and have things in and out all the time. I have a second tent next to this one with 400w HPS or CMH (whichever I feel like using). I have mixed my lights around, but for now I'm leaving the 4x4 tent featured in this thread with only LEDs. I have 4 small clones in cups, 2 of which are getting upcanned today at 2 weeks flower, and 2 are 6-7 weeks into flower and will remain in cups til harvest. The two getting upcanned are Royal Pure Kush, and the other two are Emerald Triangle's Super Sour OG, and Lemon Diesel. Here's the two older ones:

Here's another couple shots of the Bubblelicious, now 6 weeks flower:

A couple pics of a G-13 Labs Pineapple Express I have in soil, 6 1/2 weeks flower:

A nug shot of some World of Seeds Northern Lights x Big Bud, 6 1/2 weeks flower:

Nug shot of Lemon Diesel:

Nug shot of Super Sour OG:

So basically everything in coco gets fed with Flora Nova Bloom, Humboldt Nutrients Equilibrium, and FloraBlend. I use Great White once a month and at transplants, and also inoculate coco with Extreme Gardening's Mykos.

Everything I grow in hempy with 100% perlite gets Flora Micro and Bloom at Lucas Formula ratios, and Cal-Mag+.

And for soil I use VF-11 and Cal-Mag+.

As you can see my feeding technique is KISS. Hope you farmers have a great Sunday! Peace!

 

[Purpstickipunch]

Great plants man. I can literally smell the pungent sweet odor :D

Can you explain the difference between cfls, leds, and htg bulbs?

 

[blue-dreamer]

how big are the plants in the cups before you bloom them, and how much are you yeilding off each?

 

[kes5480]

are u in Cannaventures contest?? I can't figure out why else u wud keep those plants in those keg cups?? Anyways everything looks soooooo good brotha. There is some serious frost on most of those buds..
im gonna sub
peace

 

[619ster]

Great plants man. I can literally smell the pungent sweet odor :D

Can you explain the difference between cfls, leds, and htg bulbs?

Thanks! The Bub is a stinker, like ripening guava.

LEDs are "light emitting diodes", capable of emitting specific light frequencies in the desired spectrums. Not all LEDs are made for growing! Cfls are regular bulbs that can be bought at stores for the home, and happen to give off good spectrum to support plant growth. I wouldn't flower with cfl's unless I had to due to circumstances (or for experiment in my case. Yep done it!)

how big are the plants in the cups before you bloom them, and how much are you yeilding off each?

I tend to take pretty small cuttings, as they seem to root faster and consistently that way for me. Maybe 2-3 inch cuttings, go into cups once rooted, then vegged a few days to let roots get established. They go into flower at around 4-5 inches, and yield about 7-14 grams each depending on strain. Lemon Diesel stretched to 15", and SSOG stretched to 18".

are u in Cannaventures contest?? I can't figure out why else u wud keep those plants in those keg cups?? Anyways everything looks soooooo good brotha. There is some serious frost on most of those buds..
im gonna sub
peace

Thanks man! I haven't seen Cannaventures contest, but sounds like fun if keg cups are involved lol. It started as an experiment, that went quite well. So I figured if I could stuff as many of those cups with small clones in a small space, I could get a damn good haul! Imagine 9 of those cups in a 1 sq ft area. That's at least 7g x 9 plants = 63g from a sq ft!! I have 16 sq ft in my tent, if I filled it up with cups, that would be at least 1,000 grams. Who do you know pulling 1,000 gra+ out of a 4x4 space? Now I haven't attempted this as I would need to set up a very extensive auto watering setup (or flood and drain setup), but I don't have the resources (time and money) to do so. But I sure do like sticking them wherever I can find an open space where a large plant can't fit. I try to fill in the gaps as much as possible.

 

[619ster]

Here's a bit more Bub action starting with a sea of BUDZ, ~7 weeks:

She's getting bigger, hitting some swell:

And a close up to catch the frost, the hairs are turning fast:

The Lemon Diesel BUDcicle, ~8 weeks:

Top looking very nice:

And a bit closer:

Thanks to all for looking :) I'll be getting to the rest as they mature. Peace!

 

[blue-dreamer]

WOW! im impressed, good job man! That looks so dank!

 

[619ster]

Thanks blue-dreamer.

Here's a bit more action. Today we have Northern Lights x Big Bud:

She is at week 7 and hits her swell in the next two weeks. Finishes around 10-11 weeks:

And a bit closer:

And we also have Super Sour OG here at week 8, may also go up to 11 weeks. We'll see:

The top:

Close up:

 

[blue-dreamer]

oh my goodness! Thats awesome! where did u get those genetics?

 

[619ster]

I order my seeds from only three places: Attitude, Single Seed Centre, and Sannie's. I would like to order seeds from here, but I live in Cali already so I can find clones locally. But I will eventually try something from here. Most of my strains going right now are freebies LOL. I've got many beans to pop still, but waiting to get tired of these. They were keepers out of about 10 other strains I've ran and had to cull.

 

[619ster]

Just a quick shot of the LED flower tent. A few plants will be harvested this week, as well as the next few weeks, things will be in and out. So probably last shot you will see of the tent this full for a few more weeks:

Will get back with harvest pics when that is done. Peace y'all!

 

[K11NG]

looks great man, i totally feel what your saying about cramming your space and getting a sick yield, Im thinking the same thing but just cant get myself to stop with all the strains and just try it out. anway great looking buds bro

 

[619ster]

looks great man, i totally feel what your saying about cramming your space and getting a sick yield, Im thinking the same thing but just cant get myself to stop with all the strains and just try it out. anway great looking buds bro

LOL I'm exactly the same way bro! I have so much variety going it's hard to keep things uniform and even. But with LEDs I feel we have an advantage. The inverse square law I have found that it doesn't really affect PAR/photons as much as it does intensity/lumens. So while having an HID at optimal distance is important, it's not so much the case with LEDs. Plus I think it's better to keep plants smaller since they're easier to maintain, they're smaleer and allow for better penetration through the canopy (though I've never had much penetration problems with my panels as I've heard about other LEDs, plus I defoliate quite a bit when needed), and who doesn't like pure cola buds instead of dealing with a big ol' bush of half nugs, and half popcorn/fluff. So the uniform growth isn't as highly important for good SOG results with a multi-strain LED grow. Now all I need is my 24 plant limit increased to a 300 plant limit :)



And now for some more porn. Holding off on harvest for a few days since I likes my couchlock! But let's see how Bubblelicious is doing. Ah yes, very nice, hitting the swell, and caking up with frost! At week 8 or 9? I lose track. She's ready when she's ready!:

And onto my Pineapple Express at week 8, which I've pulled at 8 before, but this time I'll see what letting her go 9 weeks gives me:

Not a bad pheno I have here. Though PE seems to have fairly stable genetics, as most PE I see grown from others looks very similar. But I think I have a fast finisher, with more solid and indica leaning buds, and good yielder (last plant was 3 1/2 oz, bigger than this one though). I've heard of the sativa heavy phenos taking as long as 11 weeks to finish, and the buds look fluffier instead of rock solid. Here's my main cola, looks good for SOG by the way:

And some close ups of some buddage:

 

[jczam]

Hey 619ster, thanks for letting us see your awesome LED grow.
Can you tell me how many diodes are in the fixture and what wattage they are?
Thanks!

-jczam