Let's Grow A Mom Out! aka Journal of a Chinese LED Panel Junkie

Originally Posted by reverof

Franjan.... NICE! I been looking at a couple LED Star panels, one in fact has the following layout
Red(660nm):Red(630nm):Blue(460nm):Orange(615nm):Yellow(585nm):White(7000K)=5:2:2:1:1:1
all 5w LED's

Was thinking of putting 2 of them in place of a 1k hps

That's pretty wild there Rev. 2 5x60s! That's a lot of light but realize 5x60's run pretty hot. Not 1K HPS hot, but they do generate quite a bit of heat. And are you using these panels as a basis for a multi-panel setup? I ask this because I don't think 2 5x60 can replace the awesomeness of a 1k HPS, but you surround them with LED wash lights or a few Kessils, and man you've got something there IMHO. Overall 5x60s have their pluses and minuses so do yourself a favor and be sure they're right for your situation. They ain't cheap to return regardless of their warranty. And you do know they'll make them with almost any spectrums you want, right? Ask about their white LEDs and get the spectral outputs for them. You'll see that you can dump the blues, oranges, and yellows and replace them with the outputs of various white LEDs. At least dump the blues for 10000K white. You'll thank me for that . Good Luck Rev!

Yeah I talked to the sales guy about customizing the LED spectrums. They also have several other panels I am kinda considering also, such as 180*3w + 6*5w
Ratio of 630:128 660:24 460:20 14000k:6 610:4 410:2 730:2
Lumens: 11600ml

Again 2 of these replacing a single 1000w hps... stating that I have 1000w running over a single flood & drain table 2'x3'.

Well they will do 2'x3' that's for sure . I'm hoping we're all going to be seeing pictures of this. Sounds like it could be incredible.

Yeah I dont have any big grows going anymore, I just grow 4-6 plants in 2x3 F&D or 2-4 DWC plants at a time.

This is why I am thinking 2 panels would be excellent coverage for them!

Hey gang I've returned with another update for all of you payin' attention out there. Though things seem to be going smooth so far there's certainly some dangers looming on the horizon (insert ominous music here).

But first lets get on with the good stuff. So far both plants are doing good and appear to be quite healthy, with lots of buds and bud sites starting to pop up. The Magic Bud is really starting to show off and is loving it's environment. Don't let the droopy appearance fool you, that's the way this plant grows, at least around here . The BC on the other hand, while doing quite well is starting it's diva bitchiness phase and is showing signs of nute burn and, I think, is a little stressed from the LEDs, it's environment and it's diet. Still bud production is going on and maybe a steady diet of water and better conditions will help calm her. I've also decided to start treating these plants as the different strains that they are and I won't be feeding them on the same schedule or diet any longer. And just for the record both plants were fed on May 30th. The Magic Bud was given 28 oz, at 1/3 strength, of what I used last time to feed her and will probably be given 20 to 30 oz of water on Sunday. The Blue Cheese was given just 20 oz of water and will be given another 20 oz of water tomorrow since the pot was already light today. Plus both plants were augured lightly today to help increase air to the roots.

Here's some pics of the Magic Bud:
Main Cola - Copy - Copy.jpg Main Cola 2 - Copy - Copy.jpg Diff1 - Copy.jpg Diff2 - Copy.jpg Closer - Copy.jpg Clip2 - Copy - Copy.jpg Clip1 - Copy.jpg
Here's some views under the LEDs and under the T8s. The last two show how I've got to trim out the middle and the branch in the last pic is just not keeping up so it will probably be gone soon.



Here's some pics of the Blue Cheese:

BC! - Copy.jpg BC2 - Copy.jpg BC Down - Copy.jpg Closer - Copy.jpg Diff - Copy.jpg Closer2 - Copy.jpg Rubber - Copy.jpg
So far so good, but there's some nute burn going on and some heat stress from the last few day's temps IMHO. If you notice the rubber bands this is how I control any branch taking off and sometimes to help create more tops. The negative of doing this is it stresses the plant a bit and can results in increased flowering time. Having said that it can also increase your yield. Sometimes I take them off after a few days but this time I'll probably be keeping these on for the duration or when the stem that is being LST'd has hardened.


On the other hand, things are shaping up to be a tough grow this summer. Got a little taste of summer this week and the cooling system barely kept up. Temps were peaking this week at 88F with lights on and basically my cooling system that worked so well last summer at keeping everything at 78F does not seem to be able to handle the heat running 2 5x60s, 2 BS240s, 2 5500K LED wash lights and 4x32 watt T8s can put out. I've definitely got some options to play with, but most cost money which is running thin at the moment. One is I could drag my 15,000 BTU monster into the room (I'm using a 5000 BTUer right now), and pay the extra money running it and be done with my problem, though there are other aspects of doing this that make this not such a great answer. Of course I could start running CO2 to counteract any bad effects from the heat with lights on, but again this is an option that costs money to do right and would mean I would have to completely seal up the rest of my grow room. And I could grow econo and put frozen blocks of ice under my fan and maybe mod my panels to see if I can get them to generate a little less heat, but this also means I'm chained to the grow till the end of the summer most likely. The problem of course is the decision needs to be made NOW, which I always hate. So Sunday is decision day and I'm sure I'll be mentioning it next time.

Also we just got a little surprise today. Seems we may have a rooster in the hen house. I was trying out some of the MB SoG that I harvested and guess what popped out of a bud? A beautiful round half green-half white FUCKING SEED. (Just typing those words made me put down the keyboard and take a hit. Aaaaarghhhh!) And since I discovered it shortly before lights out I wasn't able to fully check out the flowering room, but it seems to be localized to this plant. It probably hermied and that was most likely brought on by the combination of starting in 12/1, the LEDs I'm using and the height of the LED panels for this particular grow which I chose to run closer than I normally would. I did have my panels running less than 12 inches with this new grow now, but have decided to move them a little further away for rest of the grow. I'm going to try to keep the 5x60 at least 16 inches away from the tops and the 240s around 14 inches. I'll probably drop them come the last two weeks but for now I want to keep the environment more stress free than I feel it is.

Of course there could be another explanation for the seed. Not as plausible as the first hypothesis but I feel there remains some possibility that this scenario happened. I ordered some Jilly Bean seeds one time that turned out to be all males. I did take some pollen from them and it is in my freezer at the moment. Sometime last month or so I gave my charcoal filter a good cleaning and I'm wondering if there was any JB pollen in it that got loose when I originally harvested the pollen and landed on that particular plant. The seed appears to be no different than the seeds from the 10 pack of MB I originally bought. To tell you the truth I was shocked that the MB seeds from Paradise seemed so green and I thought they would never germinate when I initially bought them. So I've decided just for shits and giggles to see if today's surprise will germinate. I may have to wait a bit before I germinate it, but it very well could be some kind of cross between JB and MB. I doubt it, but hey, there's only one way to be sure. But first we've got to be sure this is an isolated incident, otherwise it's game over.

Anyone see a male flower?
TD - Copy.jpg BCSOG - Copy.jpg BCSOG2 - Copy.jpg
Some TD, a BC bud and a SoG of BC finishing hard.

So hopefully I'll be back next time with some better news and bigger buds. And watch out for tigers folks! Little bastards are everywhere it seems .

2012-06-01-1615 - Copy.jpg

Originally Posted by FranJan

Got a little taste of summer this week and the cooling system barely kept up.
Temps were peaking this week at 88F with lights on and basically my cooling system
that worked so well last summer at keeping everything at 78F does not seem to be able
to handle the heat running 2 5x60s, 2 BS240s, and 2 5500K LED wash lights can put out.

Hey.

Can you elaborate on that, where you running HPS last year?
and are you using more electricity than last year or less. Or what's going on.

your a funny guy franjan ... gota watch for them tigers!

Originally Posted by Rasser

Hey.

Can you elaborate on that, where you running HPS last year?
and are you using more electricity than last year or less. Or what's going on.

Hey Rasser what's up? Thanks for stopping by. I also forgot to add I'm running 4 x 32 watt T8s with this setup too and added that to my last post.

Actually I've never used a HID though I've been around a few grows using them so I have a clue about their heat. And I am using a bit more electricity this year it seems but I'm also always trying to cut consumption by upgrading equipment or removing/simplifying things. Let me also add that my apartment gets extremely hot in the summer, so if it's 96F(35C) it's easily over 100F(37C) in the grow room without AC. Add my grow lights and you'll see that cooling is a very important part of my grow during summer! Last year around August I was running 2 x BS240s, 4 x 35 watts T8s in my flowering tent and 12 x 32 watt CFLs in my veg cab. The CFLs ran hot as hell and were shortly replaced by 12 x 23 watt CFLs. So now I got rid of the CFLs but added 2 5x60s and 2 x 20 watt LED wash lights (these run pretty hot actually) in the grow room and it seems to be a struggle to maintain my temps when it hit 90F(32C)+ this week. I've got plenty of air movement so I do have that on my side but the 5x60s and the wash lights seem to be really adding to the temps in my room and since the room is not 100% sealed the air conditioner works overtime and may be getting old. I really should just suck it up and go get a CO2 setup, but I'm just not liking the idea of running out and buying something that I'm not familiar with and the grow shops around here are run by people who love money more than taking care of people so I don't trust them to help me. Anyway I hope that answers your questions and I'll "see" ya round Rass .