2.5 Gal DWC x White Diesel x 150w HPS Second shot at it.

Hey guys. Round two for me. Who doesn't love this site? I have learned so much it's really incredible. Thank you RIU!

Anyways, I had Struggled with:

-Spider mite takeover!

-Multiple Nutrient lockouts

-Summer Heat

-Root slime/Rot

-Low lumens

Well now I have tweaked the setup a little, and to say the least I am very excited!

-GH 3 Part Nutrients Grow/ Micro/ Bloom

-Flora shield

-150w Sun systems HPS

-Atmospheric Temps in 63-70!



First day of Flowering after 6 weeks of 24hr Veg with 3 23w CFL's

I love getting feedback from the pro's, thanks to all!

Nice, subbed, will be watching as this is similar to what I want to setup myself

If I may suggest, you might want to top those girls before you flower. Also with a 150w hps you are going to need to focus on keeping an even canopy because of light penetration issues, remember your light will only get down to about foot or so. IMO you generally want to focus on keeping your plants short and very bushy under that 150. For your first grow and with the problems you listed I think your doing alright though and I would say steady the course just keep a journal so you can fine tune your next grow even further. This light chart might help you understand what I mean and I wish you the best of luck and happy growing.
KnB
View attachment 1854477

I totally agree with Kush. These girls could get out of hand in flower. Topping just might be what the doctor ordered.

Six weeks of veg for any light, especially the 150, is a long time. when you read about long veg times, those folks have massive wattage. The 150 is really only suited for one or two plants and even then they must be kept short to prevent wispy buds and, as Kush says, allow for better light penetration. Your best bet with a 150 is to SCROG. This way you can keep the canopy even and maximize your light.

I don't know if you mentioned it but I didn't see it in your pictures... a small oscillating fan to blow on the plants is a great way to strengthen them. My first grow I didn't use a fan and the plants were very weak. When I tried to train them, they bent and broke easily. If you SCROG, you're going to bend them all kind of ways, in this case, a fan is mandatory.

hope this helps and you have a great harvest.

-hg

<-- big fan of scrog using lower powered HPS to keep an even canopy...i'm having a hard time keeping my canopy level with 2x150's with 5 plants under it...vegged too long...now im bending the shit out of the stems and having to adjust strings all over the place daily to keep as even a canopy as possible...next grow will definately be topped and LST'ed and possibly screened, if i can find one that i can get in there

Thanks for all the info guys!

It should be noted that I had to VEG them in a separate area. The area it's in is only flower, so SCROG wasn't int he cards this time.

Unless you think I can bend them over now? They are not wooded yet, but I don't want to snap them.

Apreciate all the help!

chicken wire works good and you can make any size you need

very similar to what i plan on doing quick question about how much heat dose that hps kick off still stuck between cfl's n 150 hps anyways nice plants subbed+rep

looking good for 3 23watt cfls, keep it up

Thanks guys!

Right now in the crawl space I am using, which is close to the roof line and not insulated too well, it is 63F in the day with the light off, and 70F flat all night when it is on.

I'll have to LST them, but bending them over for a SCROG setup this late in the game will probably kill them.

But that's good, now it gives me a reason to SCROG under a 400w HPS next time!

Since your flowering I would try to keep it as low stress as possible, LST early in the game will pay off big for you if done right. Also some lolli-popping very early in flower is ok as long as you don't take too much leaf matter. Just try to cull any lower growth that will not reach far enough into the light when they are finishing. Scrogging under a 400w hps will be much more rewarding in the end and makes for faster growth IMO. Also you may want to consider a 600w hps if you can because the extra light is worth it in efficiency if you can keep it cool, which for me is not much harder than a 400, in any case though you will never want to look back once you go bigger! Good luck and happy growing!
KnB

Might as well go for a digital 600w hps/mh setup. The 600s are allegedly the most lumen per watt/power consumption unit. Ive got one with a cooltube and my buds are sometimes touching the cooltube and there has yet to be signs of stress or damage.

Vumar said:

Might as well go for a digital 600w hps/mh setup. The 600s are allegedly the most lumen per watt/power consumption unit. Ive got one with a cooltube and my buds are sometimes touching the cooltube and there has yet to be signs of stress or damage.

Click to expand...

What kind of fan you got running on your tube Vumar?

a Cool 600w HPS/MH setup at my local shop goes for $300, next round I think I am going to have to do that.

This way I can LST under MH, and simply change the bulb when it's time for flower, keep them girls as stress free as possible.

Yeah Vumar, 4", 6", squirrel cage fan?

Hey Strawberry I have two 600's that are linked together with air cooled hoods (IMO not as efficient at cooling as the tube somewhat better at spreading the light) which I use a valueline 6 inch inline that pulls air from outside the tent into the lights and out my roof. Probably a 15 long duct run but my tent is always 4 degrees above ambient room temp. I run this fan without a speed controller as it is only on when the lights are on and stays on for 30 mins after they shut off. I have another 6 inch inline on my carbon filter which runs at like half speed most of the way through flower but gets the knob turned when they start to stink!

If you consider a squirrel cage fan or blower be careful cause some of those suckers are loud, when I setup my big tent I tried one of those for a day, then it went straight back. Sounded almost like a damn leaf blower or a jet about to take off! I think you will be pleased with the 600w setup and if you find one that is dimmable you can use it for veg as well. I like to use my dimmable feature on my quantum when I transition into the bloom room for a few days to get them used to the high lumens and give a quick last burst of veg. Once I start to turn back the veg hours to flower I crank it up. I also use this to help control stretch if I found that I have vegged for too long. Of course this is just what I do and by no means is a guide to follow really it's all just food for thought. Good luck and happy growing.
KnB

Are the switchable ballasts reliable? I have heard they aren't so much from a couple of people.

Which ones do you recommend?

Rez change today.

StrawberryKough said:

Are the switchable ballasts reliable? I have heard they aren't so much from a couple of people.

Which ones do you recommend?

Rez change today.

Click to expand...

All a switchable ballast is an HPS ballast that takes the ignitor out of the loop to run a MH bulb...so its a pretty simple switch...you just don't want to get a shitty ballast to begin with

I run a 6" hydrofarm cooltube with a lumatek dimmeable 600 watt digital hooked up to a phat filter (450 cfm max) all cooled by a six inch centrifugal fan (435 CFM). Its a lil loud... Def not for stealth cabinets or anything. Its not an obvious noise though, faintly heard in the next room. I sleep with my fan on ( my room is the grow room)..... If that paints a picture for ya. Im honestly impressed and happy with it... I feel it was the only pro thing i did for my first grow (yes... I dropped 800$ just for my lights on my first grow)

Good advice above IMO. You may be questioning also whether you want to run digital or magnetic though, which there are plenty of arguments as to which is better. For me magnetic gets the vote for longevity downside is it runs a little hotter, digital runs cooler but may not last as long. Sounds like Vumar has a nice setup, my only question for him is does he have a speed control for his fan? That can help keep the noise level down pretty well and if you have the cash having two fans, one for lights in closed loop (no stinky air and exhausted straight out of the room), and the other for your scrubber, can be pretty quiet.
KnB

I dont have a speed controller, im saving up for a ec/ph/temp wall mounted monitor next . Speed controller is just an added accessory... Id personally get the temp controlled speed one. Has day and night temp settings.