Autoflower first 400 W LED grow

Hello everyone,

This is my 4th grow did CFL only before now doing Mars II + CFL

My setup:

1x 400W Mars II light
2x 125W large CFL 6300K
3x 105W large CFL 2700K
2x small fans
Tent stays open for circulation
AC will be on in the summer to regulate temp.
No extraction fan due to space issues


My plants:

2x AutoXtreme from Dutch Passion about 13 days old

Autoflower Seeds


Question:

I know my setup is ghetto but i would like to hear any improvements.

1.) Is the light far enough from the plants?
2.) I noticed there is no way to ajust the hight of the Mars II what can I do once the plants grows higher?
3.) Is the CFL + LED a good combo in order to increase my yield?
4.) How far away should the top leaf be from the light?
5.) 78F to 82F temp atm too high?



Thanks for the help and for reading

Best regards,

Cyklos

Your setup is far from ghetto.
Actually its pretty nice.

I have something similar and would also like to know if adding CFL's to LED would make a diff?
Should be used the entire cycle? or just flowerin?

If you think this is ghetto, look at my setup XD

Regardless, the only reason to put plants far away from light source is to prevent heat issues/burning. With LEDs and CFLs you can put your plant as close as 2-3 inches away from light.
If your baby outgrows the led, just add a cfl specially for the top - seen it done many times.
You can mix and match pretty much any lights together. Almost always it is said, that if half of your grow is on one source and half on the other, the strongest plants are those that stood in the middle and got a bit of both.
And temperature - don't worry. If it gets hotter, you should just promote better air ventilation and possibly water more often, depending on how fast the soil drys. Other than that - in my area here is much hotter with temps already going to the 100s, still my flower is good and healthy

Hope it helps.

OingoPoingo said:

I would also like to know if adding CFL's to LED would make a diff?
Should be used the entire cycle? or just flowerin?

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It depends. If you're growing autos, they pretty much don't care. Just grab a "warmer" lights and use them seed to harvest 20/4 all the way.
If you're talking 12/12 plants - you'd probably want to start with more "cold" color lights and then switch to the warmer ones as you go into flower. This helps light-cycle dependent plants flower more efficiently, simulating the sun's color change towards the winter. At least this is what I read.

And yeah. As far as I know, you can use led+cfl without any issues.

I have a setup where I have my led and cfl lights. If I could I would get a better light setup, but with what I got I am working with it. I am about to get a cpl more cfls though! So far they are growing, and I am hopeful!

Unfortunately this is a common misconception with led lights. You cannot place led lights within a couple inches from canopy. It will light bleach the hell outta your plants and have leaves looking like tacos. This is from personal experience. Look at the manual and it will tell you 24 inches in veg and 18 inches in bloom. But I like how you mixed the led/ cfl together. Plus LEDs put off a little more heat than you think. Especially 5 watt pieces. Good luck.

hotshotisdashit said:

Unfortunately this is a common misconception with led lights. You cannot place led lights within a couple inches from canopy. It will light bleach the hell outta your plants and have leaves looking like tacos. This is from personal experience. Look at the manual and it will tell you 24 inches in veg and 18 inches in bloom. But I like how you mixed the led/ cfl together. Plus LEDs put off a little more heat than you think. Especially 5 watt pieces. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Yep, what he said... 5w LEDs cannot be close to the plant. 3w can get pretty close.

I found that adding cfl to LED makes the plant sturdier and healthier. It's just what I have found. The LED seemed to be lacking some element. Use the CFL and extra Home Depot LED's for side lighting and you can get a great crop. Here is my setup. i keep the tent open because heat does become an issue without my vortex fan running. If I had that on low heat would not be a problem, but the fan is 150w so I try not to use it until late flower.

sunny747 said:

Yep, what he said... 5w LEDs cannot be close to the plant. 3w can get pretty close.

I found that adding cfl to LED makes the plant sturdier and healthier. It's just what I have found. The LED seemed to be lacking some element. Use the CFL and extra Home Depot LED's for side lighting and you can get a great crop. Here is my setup. i keep the tent open because heat does become an issue without my vortex fan running. If I had that on low heat would not be a problem, but the fan is 150w so I try not to use it until late flower.


View attachment 3402520

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Nice setup you got going there Sunny. What are you growing? What brand led? What size pot?

You're doing a good job Cyklos. Love those air pots. They kick ass. Grew Nirvana Northern lights auto in a 2 gallon (1.2 actual) and got over 60 grams off of it. It and 3 others were under a solar storm 440. Your temps are perfect. In fact it seems to me that plants are comfortable in the low to mid 80's unlike using his lights. I'm sure you'll have a kick ass grow. Good luck.

hotshotisdashit said:

Nice setup you got going there Sunny. What are you growing? What brand led? What size pot?

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Cyklos, I hear good things about the Mars II.. I think that may be my next light.

Thanks. Hotshot. This is my summer setup. I was so sick of heating up my entire room with the HPS. This setup work great for someone that just likes to grow and doesn't need much harvest..
Fox Farms and fox farms happy frog bloom and flower dry organic nutes plus some Grow Big. RO water
Sugar Mango Ryder
3 gal pot
Running 24/7
Temps high 70's
75 watt (50 w true) Apollo UFO
3 Phillips slim style 60 w equivalent LED 2700k
1 26w cfl 6500k
1 carbon Phresh filter rigged to a small fan.
tent 16x16 pvc and panda

Total power = about 115 watts

Here she is at 5 week. Flowering Just fine.

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