Apollo 8 LED Wardrobe Stealth Grow

So here it is. I started a thread when I had first ordered the light, and am now updating it with some pictures and further updates as I finalize my setup, and am starting my seedlings. So pretty much, I bought a Ikea Hemnes wardrobe used of of criagslist for $120. I needed something that could be disassembled and brought down the stairs (which suck for full pieces of furniture). I proceeded to order up some mylar flu tape, the high heat stuff, and taped over the entire cab. From that point, i strengthened it, all in the interior, to keep it discreet. I replaced the shoty cardboard back with some 1/2 plywood, and that made the whole thing solid. I'm running an S&P TD-100X fan out of the top, ducted to 4 inches, and waiting on the carbon filter for delivery. I had some pretty cool left over pieces of equipment from a "Fungus" experiment, from a few months ago. That includes a temperature, and humidity controller, an ultrasonic fogger for humidity, and a terrarium i've been using for my sprouts. That's what the green LCD display on the back is. I made sure to not have any electronics on the ground, so all the power is secured to the top of the cab. I planted 16 medical bag seeds last week, and there are 13 up and growing now. I'm excited to see where this goes. The LED I'm running is an Apollo 8 from CIDLY, pulling an actual 274 watts. The experiment portion of this is more a goal, grow premium quality buds, in a small size grow, no corners cut. I'd love to hear some feedback! And apologies about the pics. The light is straight up too bright for my DSLR to accurately capture all the detail. I edited them the best I possibly could have. So when I first created my journal, it seems that there was a glitch that kept me from attaching any files or attachments to my post, so I have no edited my first post, and have got them all nice and uploaded. Anyway, on to my second post! So as of now, it seems I'm talking to myself, but hey, isn't that what journals are for? So things were going great over here, up until recently. right around thanksgiving, I noticed the seedling growth had slowed almost to nothing. Slightly, concerned but what ever. Then after coming home after turkey day, I noticed my leaves were turning purple, curing under, and the stalks were turning red. With this being my first grow with this light, I thought, "well shit, just because heat isnt an issue, maybe light intensity is." So i backed it off. Nothing, and I mean nothing happened for the next three days. It got me wondering, why in gods name would I be having issues like this 2 weeks into growth? Comes to find out, my "fancy" organic soil i chose to use (trying and organic grow up till that point) was void of all nutrients. Well shit. So comes to find out, phosphorus deficiency. Went out and bought some nutrients, watered everything up nice, and here I am, two full days later. I can say they are making a recovery, but man, i wish this stuff was instantaneous. I'm going to upload a couple of pictures. Keep in mind I have also installed a hood for a 45 watt CFL off in the bottom left corner, and have been growing two seedlings off of that, still not being too sure about an all in one LED panel. The temps are exactly 78 degrees with lights on, and 64 degrees with lights out. Humidity is a set 55%. There wont be ANY variation in the climate at this point. That is, unless someone has some suggestions. One picture is what I'm talking about with the phosphorus, the other one is a late bloomer that seemed not to be effected, because the situation was corrected by the time it was relying on the roots. As always, I'd LOVE your input.

 

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Hey LED. I'm not home at the minuet to say for sure, but I'd probably say right about 40 inches up. Do you think that's still too much?
 
Yippie! The girls are doing great after I nailed their deficiency. I'm sad it happened in the first place, but I'm glad I solved it in time. One thing to note in the pictures of the cab, is that its hard to see the plants that are under the LED at this point, I guess it makes sense with the magenta light that it emits though. Also, I have to say, there is also NO STRETCHING in the least! I attached a picture of the same plant from last time, and she's still keeping herself short!
 

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Not too much to say today. Growth is still going great since the soil issue got sorted out. But man, I'm surprised just how short and stocky these things are staying! Sounds good to me!
 

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So I have to say, the light seems more then sufficient! There still is no stretching, to the point where i decided on keepers in a few pots by which ones actually bothered to grow up. They are nice a dense, node spacing isn't over an inch on any of the plants. I guess in the grand scheme, this is good for my size of grow, but I see a lot of pruning in my future after Christmas. And on that note, happy holidays to all! One of the photo's is true to the color of the cab, but maxed out the camera sensor being so bright. So the other one is tweaked to show better detail, but is essentially a grey scale.
 

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Chronikool

Well-Known Member
Hey Philly. Im not sure, but you might have the start of a Magnesium deficiency coming on. Other then that...looks great. :)
 

LEDmania

Active Member
One of my friends was using the same unknown lamps, he had the same problem at the very beginning, but after three weeks, the plants grew fast. And now he is in the flowering stage.
GEDC0248.jpg
 
Hey guys! Sorry about the hiatus momentarily. Anyway, I have to say, I am beyond pleased with the light. Sadly though, I must say, a hasty decision really limited my grow. I ended up with two females, and everything looked great. I had a roommate take care of watering for me over Christmas while I was away, and well, the girls went swimming. I came home to some nice algae in my pots. Now where my hasty decision comes in was with the containers I chose due to the lack of anything good around town in the middle of winter. Hindsight is 20/20, and clear containers were a terrible idea. I ended up taking a loss, and hacking them 3 and a half weeks into flower before I lost the whole plant. But I must say, for the hard life they lived, I was beyond surprised what I got. The buds were anything but full, but at the same time, between the two little ones, I netted 1.31 dried, cured ounces. The light did wonders. I truly couldn't be more happy with it. Anyway, I have redone the whole let up after the last grow, and am now running a 14 gallon DWC, with 6, 3.75" net pots. I transferred my babies and their rockwool into it last night, and am excited to see where this one goes. And uh, good news, this time, the tub is black as can be. :)
 

LEDmania

Active Member
Well... so it's less than 20grams you got per plant. If you hadn't got so many problems you would have got some more buds.
 

bcb420

New Member
what are the specs on the led ratios?

currently talking to someone who works for the company and they asked what ratios id prefer, any suggestions?
 
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