Dave's First LED Grow Using Area 51

daveroller

Well-Known Member
Visible new growth in the last 24 hours again. She must be taking in lots of nutes because after topping up my res the tds was in the low 900's (vs 1100 a few days ago). Here are a few pics I took today:



She is one healthy looking byotch! Those leaves are getting like elephant ears. I'll photograph a dollar bill next to her tomorrow for scale. It's the Indica genes doing their thing.

Here's that beautiful center of all new growth again:



Here's another comparison between now and 24 hours ago:



Different camera angle slightly, but this is the best I got today. You can see that some of the leaves are bigger, like a few in back and especially up top. No bad leaves in this green forest.
 

daveroller

Well-Known Member
Big totes=big root zone
Big root zone=Big trees
Big trees = Big yeilds ;)
They drink a lot!
There is no need for a large numbers of plants in a space that can fit just two big ones ;)

Your ppm makes sense now. I figured it was something with your meter settings. I know if I had that high of a ppm on a girl that young she would be toast, literally Burt to a crisp.
How tall do those trees grow in your house? I can only let mine grow maybe 3 feet tall or so above the top of the bucket. Do you have your system hooked up directly to your house's water so that you don't need to keep topping up your res by hand?

The difference in ppm settings accounts for some of the discrepancy, but when my pen was reading 1100 ppm another pen set like Mr Dawg's would read 785 ppm, which still seems pretty high. Which is why I thought that there's something "different" about Advanced Nutrients additives. Anyway, now I know how to use them properly.

:idea: I got an idea how to change the res water after my plant's really big. I think that because the bucket is sitting on top of a big shelf, I can jack up that shelf maybe a foot higher and pull the res out from under it. Before doing that I'd have to slide the whole works out of my cabinet so that the lights don't get in the way. And while removing the res I could slide another one in its place so that the wet roots don't mess up the floor too much. The objective is to wash the res out with soap and water to get all the sediment out. If I can pull it out completely, I'll be able to do that. I just need to find something to jack up both sides of the shelf with -- safely. Hmmmm...
 

daveroller

Well-Known Member
... I Also Use R/O Water And When I Plop My Seed Into My WaterFarms I Add 2ml Of Cal/Mag From The Get Go.Then In Week 3 I Up It To 5ml,Week 4 8ml Till The End Of My Veg Time.Then In Week 1 Of Flower I Lower It Back To 5ml Because I Add 1/4 Teaspoon Of Kool Bloom Its High In The Mag Dept.I Do This Because I Belive That Too Much Cal Locks Out The Mag And It The Mag Deficincey Thats Causing Our Problem.
Mr Dawg, were you talking how many ml you add to your entire res? Or ml/gal or ml/liter? If it's in your entire res, how much water is in there?
 

dude9000

Member
About 5-6 foot tall(including the totes) and touching the walls in an 6'ish wide closet. They were more like big shrubs. Usually pull 28-32Oz off both together, 2 vertical HPS with plenty of scattered T5s and CFLs hitting shadow spots.
There are people that do similar setups that pull 2Lbs per Tree. If I was able to keep the temps down for the added lighting and had the space I'm sure I could do something similar. That was more than enough for me though! This was with LSD BTW ;) and super lemon haze

I had too manually fill it up, the total system had 40gallons so it wasn't terrible if I missed a day. I purchased everything to put a floater valve connected to something like a garbage can but never got to hook it up. Had too stop the grow :/

I'm looking into LEDs for suplimental lighting to try and use less HPS to cut down on the AC and dehumidifiers running constantly, I like low RH, makes for tight corn cob like buds!
 

daveroller

Well-Known Member
Maybe just get an identical rez so its just a simple swap? You can rotate between the two
Oh yeah, I got another one just like it, so that's covered. That's exactly what I was thinking. But I was wondering whether I needed some kind of a device to go under the shelf to lift it up on one side at a time. But maybe that's over thinking it. Maybe I can just have a little square stool on either side and slowly lift the shelf up one side at a time and rest it on one of the stools. Then do the other side. I use a wheelchair, so I don't think I can just lift it straight up when it's big. So I need to think of a safe way to lift it. I think that might work as long as I'm able to prop it up high enough to spare the roots any injury while swapping the reservoirs. I'll have to be careful the first time I attempt it.
 

daveroller

Well-Known Member
About 5-6 foot tall(including the totes) and touching the walls in an 6'ish wide closet. They were more like big shrubs. Usually pull 28-32Oz off both together, 2 vertical HPS with plenty of scattered T5s and CFLs hitting shadow spots.
There are people that do similar setups that pull 2Lbs per Tree. If I was able to keep the temps down for the added lighting and had the space I'm sure I could do something similar. That was more than enough for me though! This was with LSD BTW ;) and super lemon haze

I had too manually fill it up, the total system had 40gallons so it wasn't terrible if I missed a day. I purchased everything to put a floater valve connected to something like a garbage can but never got to hook it up. Had too stop the grow :/

I'm looking into LEDs for suplimental lighting to try and use less HPS to cut down on the AC and dehumidifiers running constantly, I like low RH, makes for tight corn cob like buds!

Not too many people are able to get one pound per plant, so that's impressive. Sounds like you've been growing a while. I'll be happy if I get a 1/4 lb now that I have better lights. But what I really want is better quality along with a decent quantity.

How did you like that LSD stuff? That was the first homegrown that I ever grew myself and I thought it was one of the most kick ass batches of pot I ever smoked. My friends were really impressed and wanted me to grow more of it. They still talk about it 2 years later. I never tried lemon haze, but heard that's really good, too.

About LED panels and heat:

I was using T5's in my main light box and big CFL's to fill in underneath. That was my lighting for 6 semi-successful grows up until now. But the temp in the cabinet was always in the low 80's. Now using the LED panel, it's definitely much brighter and the temp is around 70 degrees. That's exactly room temperature in that room. When I touch the panel and even the LEDs everything feels cool. The LEDs have a heat sink behind them and 2 PC fans blowing on it, so all the heat goes right up my cabinet's exhaust vent.

So if you get an LED panel, I think you'll be very impressed with the lack of heat coming from it. I was surprised. I'd recommend Area 51 very highly based on my experience with it so far and everything I've read about it.
 

The Dawg

Well-Known Member
Mr Dawg, were you talking how many ml you add to your entire res? Or ml/gal or ml/liter? If it's in your entire res, how much water is in there?
Sorry Brother Roller.I Keep Forgetting About Our Candian And European Friends.I Mix By The Gl.:weed:
 

dude9000

Member
Yeah, it feels pretty good to hit 1 pound on one plant, the most I got from 1 plant was 1.25. I've had great success with my roots in h20. A couple complete stomach dropping failures due to root and stem rot also.

I really like the area51, also like what the little Hans does also.
I might start out with a diy with Cobs suplimenting hps or a panel and a micro grow. Not sure yet.
I'm sure you will get at least a 1\4 lb if she's healthy the entire run.

The LSD was great! All of my friends loved it! I'm overly paranoid so not many Knew I grew it or that I even know how too. That was some insainly stinky stuff!
 

Ganja.Queen

Well-Known Member
Just noticing this thread, read from the beginning and am already getting all kinds of ideas for a future grow. Like what you did with the hempy and it looks like your girl is loving the A51. She's nice and squat, not stretchy in the least bit. Subbed :)
 

daveroller

Well-Known Member
Good morning, Ganja Queen! Welcome to my thread. I'm learning as I go and trying different systems. If other people can learn from my trials and errors, that's a good thing! I love that avatar of yours.
 

Wyckoff

Member
Is that yellow tub you are using light tight off the shelf? I've been looking at those for a RDWC but would get something else if they need to be taped. Your girl looks extremely healthy.
 

daveroller

Well-Known Member
Is that yellow tub you are using light tight off the shelf? I've been looking at those for a RDWC but would get something else if they need to be taped. Your girl looks extremely healthy.
It's a feed bucket for livestock, so no it isn't light tight.
 

daveroller

Well-Known Member
This plant's growth might be speeding up a little. There's a big difference in the last 36 hours as shown in this photo:



She just doesn't want to get taller. Can't beat the tight node spacing of this Critical Kush strain:



Some people think it's the Area 51 light that's forcing the tight spacing, but it's just what this particular strain is good at. It's not the light. I saw the same thing using fluorescent lights.


Here's a dollar bill next to her to show how fat the leaves are. To be honest, the dollar is in background, so the leaves aren't quite as big as they appear, but they are big, fat Indica leaves.


 

Rubix

Well-Known Member
That's looking like at least as much light as the cfls put out, I can't wait to see them in full stride with the reds on.
 
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