My LED DWC

Here's where I will keep my journal for my first grow.

As mentioned in Newbie Central, I picked up the following equipment:
600W LED
36W LED
20W / 45L ActiveAQUA Air Pump with 6 outlets
1-way check valves, air stones, buckets
12 seeds Himalayan Cream (sativa), regular / non-feminized
12 seeds China White (indica), regular / non-feminized



I started 4 of each to ensure I end up with females; so far 7/8 have sprouted, and I just planted them in "fine herb" soil in small clear cups (with drainage holes added) and watered them.

I've got them under 18 hours of the 36W LED for now until I can hang the 600W:

Roots don't really dig lights, so I'd ditch the clear cups next time. I don't know if that applies to led's. 7/8 might be too many. Either way I'm jealous! I'm on the fence with led, only because of initial cost. You got a pretty sick set up there, definitely the right tools. Good luck!

Ya I'd cover the clear cups with something before you kill the roots

OK thanks guys! I was just going by a guide here where they used those clear ones to gauge root growth in order to transplant to bigger pots / light. Either way the whole setup is quite temporary, and I doubt I should wait long to get to bigger pots anyway.

Beginning of day 2 and there are already leaves! I just hung the "600W" and it's clear it will be perfect for clones & smaller plants. It's been on hours and the metal bezel is cool to the touch - so it would work well for the little clone containment unit I'm building out of a large tupperware bin. I want a light mover for the flowering room but even if I had one I think I'd still go a bit bigger than this anyway, like the 1000W version of this LED.





The way my brain has mythed out the math, my "600W" (which uses about 130W roughly) looks something like a 350-500W HPS worth of lumens, but in a more strict and direct area, which constricts how much floor space I can use i.e. how many plants I'd fit under it. Therefore a larger light with mover would really be awesome and still generate little heat / use less power, and my 6-8 plant goal could be realized.

You should keep a running cost, for the eventual cost/benefit (weed) analysis...check out that herb IQ program it has costing built in.

SilverSerf

That's a good idea. I think considering it will be ongoing, any cost will eventually pay for itself compared to street prices and how much we consume (not crazy but it adds up to be sure).

Just realized I'd fucked up - going to re-hang the light now. The guide says put the light 24 inches (2 feet) from tender seedlings, so I thought "huh 24 inches is about this" and hung it 2 inches above.... duuh. I realize though buddy was talking HID so I didn't quite bake them to death (yet) and I can get closer than 2 feet, but 2 inches is certainly pushing it.

I snuck in while it was dark, blindly lifted the tin pan of cups into the tupperware and put the lid on, then dropped the tarp so I could see. I hung the light from a better nail and added a chain so I can easily adjust, and put it just over a foot from the plants. Replaced the tarp, blindly removed the lid and left to go help a bro move. Now that I'm back the light is on so I was able to check them out... They are looking a tiny bit stressed but I may have slightly overwatered so I'll leave them as is (no more water or misting) with the light higher and see how they do. I don't think I would need to be further than a foot away as the LEDs are quite cool.

Alright so they desperately needed to be transplanted into bigger pots. The clear cups were too small anyway, but being clear did at least clue me in earlier than I would have thought to get them to bigger pots (my first grow don't forget). I got a pack of eight 10cm pots at the dollar store for $1.25... Should be the dollar-twenty-five store /facepalm. They smelled like a Chinese plastic factory, so I gave them a quick wash and good rinse.

I freaked out while doing it - felt like I was abusing them. I tried to be as gentle as I could, watered them plenty until it drained out, and raised the light so they can relax. "They" recommend transplanting right before the night cycle so plants have all night to get over shock, but it wasn't really an option because of work unless I waited until Saturday, which would have been way too late I'm sure. Therefore I raised the light a bit and will lower it again tomorrow.

The new "dollar" store pots are perfect for starting seedlings in the future - not clear, and at 10cm they are just right that I'd only have to do one transplant to whatever final growing medium.

The other thing was despite the tarp, which helped not make it obvious from the street that there was a fairly bright light on all night, every crack in my stairs and around the tarp glowed with a eerie, ominous purple light as if some mutant alien was giving birth - dead giveaway if anyone shows up. I'd also picked up some black and white bristol board at the "dollar" store to make a little hood for the tupperware clone containment unit, so tonight I temporarily wrapped the black ones around the light and box. It's much better but still needs to be done "properly" as soon as I have an hour or two to get crafty.

Don't over think transplanting. It's nothing really. Personally I find it easier to let them completely dry out before doing it.

It can definitely help hold the dirt together if it's dried out a bit.

Invert pot while holding the plant between two fingers and covering the top of the pot as much as possible with the rest of your hand.

Lift off pot, squeeze sides as required to release.

revert into partially filled larger pot.

finish filling new container

water

Miller time.


It can be very tricky with seedlings. It really sucks when you pull the pot off and all the dirt just crumbles off all over the place because there weren't that many roots holding shit together.
On the other hand it's nice and easy to transplant a real root bound plant...i usually break the roots up along the sides and bottom in that case.

SilverSerf

silverserf said:

It can definitely help hold the dirt together if it's dried out a bit.

Invert pot while holding the plant between two fingers and covering the top of the pot as much as possible with the rest of your hand.

Lift off pot, squeeze sides as required to release.

revert into partially filled larger pot.

finish filling new container

water

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This is exactly how I did it. I started with one of the two China White indica seedlings that had died (after starting a root in the paper towel but nothing more than that once planted) in order to practice, and it exploded like Alderaan all over the place. Did the only other dead one second and it wasn't as bad, and then got to the living ones. Their roots helped hold it together a little, but even then in a few cases a lot of soil started crumbling out as I flipped it so I worried I was breaking roots cramming it into the new pot. I'm sure they're probably fine. I'm excited to check after 7 when the light comes on; I'll post a pic or two!

Your grow is looking great so far! I'm also doing my first LED grow with a ViparSpectra 600W(pulls 270w). I'm looking forward to keeping up with your grow, keep it up

Here's a family shot. The smallest two are the 2 China White's remaining in the race.

OG_Dreams said:

Your grow is looking great so far! I'm also doing my first LED grow with a ViparSpectra 600W(pulls 270w). I'm looking forward to keeping up with your grow, keep it up

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I can't wait to see what my 600w vipar can do also! Do you have a journal? I would really like to reference it =)

How big is the space you're growing in? I'm currently using a 300w (uses about 140w) Galaxy Hydro led plus a cheap 24w led (13.8w supposedly) to grow in a 2x2 tent right now. Didn't find too much online about watts/sq ft for LED grows prior to buying the LED's but it seems like its working in the space so far.

MassHeads said:

How big is the space you're growing in?

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For the moment, my temp setup is in an area of about 1.5 or 2 square feet or so which is practically the size of the light. I'll have to figure out the plan for the near future - the intention is to put a wall up in the basement soon (all to be documented here) before size or smell becomes an issue. I was planning 12' x 3' but that might not give me much room to maneuver so I'm still trying to figure that out. It's a 7' ceiling. I'd like to do at least 5 plants space & light allowing - if these 6 are all female, no reason to ditch any! I've got an old 150W HPS just in case to add to the LED if needed until I get it all sorted out.

MassHeads said:

Didn't find too much online about watts/sq ft for LED grows prior to buying the LED's but it seems like its working in the space so far.

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Brighter is pretty much always better, just don't burn the plant with heat when not an LED - and, if LED, if it's like mine with separate red, blue, IR, and UV bulbs it isn't good to get too close over more than one plant because one will be under a blue light while one cooks under the UV one etc... mine is pretty focused overall so like I say I'm not convinced I can fit too many plants under it later on the later stages without a mover at least, and even then it probably won't penetrate to lower leaves (better yet buds!) as well as an HID would.

Just Let Me Be Faded said:

I can't wait to see what my 600w vipar can do also! Do you have a journal? I would really like to reference it =)

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I do have a journal going right now, I think you can view it by looking through my user profile, I'm still kind of new to all this though haha

staticzero said:

For the moment, my temp setup is in an area of about 1.5 or 2 square feet or so which is practically the size of the light. I'll have to figure out the plan for the near future - the intention is to put a wall up in the basement soon (all to be documented here) before size or smell becomes an issue. I was planning 12' x 3' but that might not give me much room to maneuver so I'm still trying to figure that out. It's a 7' ceiling. I'd like to do at least 5 plants space & light allowing - if these 6 are all female, no reason to ditch any! I've got an old 150W HPS just in case to add to the LED if needed until I get it all sorted out.

Click to expand...

Very envious of the future setup... Wish I had 12X3 ft to set aside for growing. 3 ft might make maneuvering tough, but you could always keep the plants somewhat small and well trained to create a path behind them. Stretching one light in a long space like that might be tough with one light, too. Could be fun to do a side by side journal of the LED and HPS though!