First time with LED and Indoor. Autos. Using 70W unit from Plantphotonics

Hi
This is our first time growing indoors. We have been spoilt in Spain with great weather and have had some amazing yields. Now back home for a bit and cannot pay silly money for rubbish or a lot of money for anything half decent! My friend has stayed in Spain so am on my own.......oh....so after a lot of research and asking questions this is the set up:

Box is 45 x 45cm and 1.2m high, MDF and built using things from the garage or pulled from skips. There is 7 inch extractor at back of box, it can extract or intake. ventilation holes on top of box. currently light is fixed and the plants move up or down as we found a shelving slot system so screwed it to the sides. All lined with Mylar. A large box fan is also used to move air around. At moment just using the box fan as no need for the other yet.

Light is the plantphotonics 70W dual spectrum unit, you can switch from veg to flower modes. The spec is on the website, its very sturdy and well made unit, solid, and quiet, fan makes no noise, a little heat is generated, as expected. Richard is also very helpful and loves his products.

Coco is the grow medium

nutes dutch pro, very weak solution given to 2 plants at 2 weeks, burnt them...oh....

Pots are large and either airpot or regular style.

Plants are royal queen northern lights auto fem, OO sweet skunk auto fem. 4 plants total at slightly different stages...

Lights are 18/6

Background: all but 1 plant were started off using other lights....A ufo 90watt unit lent by a friend and a blue cfl 45w. this combination produced too much heat. few tips got bleached also. plants have been overwatered, recovering and some were given too much nutes, also recovering. will wait until really dry and then just rainwater i been collecting for months. Pictures are not too clear, i will do some better ones as i will need advice about the leaf colours. Its going to be difficult to be accurate as only have one seedling started with this light and set up. other plants were 2 weeks and 3 weeks under the ufo and cfl... It day 8. all plants. Light is appx 16cm from plants.

Will do a weekly update.....all help and info is appreciated.......


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Looking good. I'm looking for lights but all of them are sold out on their site...

MysticMJ said:

Looking good. I'm looking for lights but all of them are sold out on their site...

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Have a look today, new items on site and new site coming soon..

Always happy to get new info, i am happy so far. We dont have any problems with heat or noise where we are....its the cost of the electric so went for led system.

So its now 10 days on....all going well more or less....the seedling has come through and progressing well along with the other small plants. There does seem to be a problem with the small plant that is showing signs of flowers....is it nute burn again..? or is it related to heat..?? it is getting very hot here and hotter than usual. The leaves are browning in places and curling...it was fed with a 1/5 dilution of nutes so very very weak...i have flushed it to see if it makes any difference....any help would be appreciated as this one is starting to flower and dont want to lose it....

Can anyone advise on the leaves......? would be great for some help................

You've only ever fed it 1/5 strength? What kind of ppm is that, do you know?

I'd say it looks like severe cal/mag and/or N deficiency, feed them with ~300-400ppm depending if you use R/O or not, respectively. Every watering (with weekly flush), or alternate feedings with waterings.

OP, you'll get better efficiency if you remove that glass/plexiglass...don't understand why they would cover it up like that, not sitting over an aquarium.

Highocaine said:

You've only ever fed it 1/5 strength? What kind of ppm is that, do you know?

I'd say it looks like severe cal/mag and/or N deficiency, feed them with ~300-400ppm depending if you use R/O or not, respectively. Every watering (with weekly flush), or alternate feedings with waterings.

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Thanks for your point. If you read my intro, its first time indoor with nutes. we are using Dutch Pro. suggested dose is 2.5ml to 3.5ml per litre. i am mixing at 1ml or even .5ml per litre due to previous nute burns....

Yeah, I read it.. And there wasn't enough info to diagnose, so I asked questions.

Are you sure you burnt them, though? Maybe it was a PH issue, or chlorine?

I once let a perfectly healthy but super tiny, flowering auto in coco die from underfeeding, and it looked exactly like what you've got there. I would highly suggest investing in a PH pen/ppm meter. But before that I'd give them a little higher dose of nutes.

Thanks for reply...the water is at 6.2...i just borrowed ph tester from a neighbour.....i flushed plant again....only because i used some left over nute mix on some tomato plants and they have dark crispy curled up leaves after......i will see how the plant is tomorrow and maybe feed some nutes in a few days......

Have sprayed under leaves with feed yesterday and today things are looking much better so i guess you were right....didnt want to add more water and nutes as still wet but will up dosage now i now whats going on........so thanks.............

Highocaine said:

Yeah, I read it.. And there wasn't enough info to diagnose, so I asked questions.

Are you sure you burnt them, though? Maybe it was a PH issue, or chlorine?

I once let a perfectly healthy but super tiny, flowering auto in coco die from underfeeding, and it looked exactly like what you've got there. I would highly suggest investing in a PH pen/ppm meter. But before that I'd give them a little higher dose of nutes.

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How far are you into these from popping up? They look only a week or so old. Personally if this was my grow I would'nt add any kind of nutes for atleast the first 2-3 weeks, atleast until the plants are on their 3rd set of leaves. I've been growing under LED for years and have never had any babies look like that. I think the best thing you can do is stop feeding them nutes and let them get a bit bigger first. I'd recommend when your finished using the nutes your using now to look into something organic like general hydroponics GO box since organic nutes makes it alot harder to burn your girls, atleast in my experience. Something in the coco may be messing up your PH to the point that its hurting them but im not sure, have never grown in coco. Might want to try a mix like 1part perlite, 1pt vermiculite, 1pt worm castings. Thats what i've been using for a long time and has never let me down. Good luck with your grow, i'll sub.

^ The worm castings are why you can make it 2-3 weeks w/o nutes.

oh btw, just a tip since your growing autos, turn your lights to 24/0 so they can get maximum amount of light to grow on. Whenever i grow auto's i leave my lights on atleast 20hrs. Seems like some of yours are already flowering which is surprising that they would flower so fast, its rare but it does happen. Don't give up, its always tricky during your first indoor attempts but you will dial it all in and start growing some really nice dank

Aaaah you noticed....one is flowering...its 6 weeks old, its getting some nice flowers all over....and smells good....it was started under cfl, then a ufo light.....its been messed about a lot....the others are 5 weeks old and the seedling is now 2 weeks old...this is only plant from seed under this grow panel....i will post fresh pics tomorrow with exact ages...i will look into the organics.....but they have all perked up since i sprayed them with a 1.5ml to 1 litre mix...i would put the light to 20/4 but its so hot here and totally unexpected...its hitting 33c for ages and its usually 19 or 22c...good air con units here are very expensive and eat the electricity....its all a bit of mess...cos i will want to switch to the extra red light mode at some point but the others wont be ready so may just focus on a few and move the others to a cfl box and see how it goes.....am learning lots........thankyou for your points...i have ordered the worm castings....

HankDank said:

How far are you into these from popping up? They look only a week or so old. Personally if this was my grow I would'nt add any kind of nutes for atleast the first 2-3 weeks, atleast until the plants are on their 3rd set of leaves. I've been growing under LED for years and have never had any babies look like that. I think the best thing you can do is stop feeding them nutes and let them get a bit bigger first. I'd recommend when your finished using the nutes your using now to look into something organic like general hydroponics GO box since organic nutes makes it alot harder to burn your girls, atleast in my experience. Something in the coco may be messing up your PH to the point that its hurting them but im not sure, have never grown in coco. Might want to try a mix like 1part perlite, 1pt vermiculite, 1pt worm castings. Thats what i've been using for a long time and has never let me down. Good luck with your grow, i'll sub.

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Well i'll tell you, ive been growing indoors under LED's for about 3 years now and i've gone through alot of trial and error before i found a formula thats worked best for me. I do keep my temps in my box around 75 degree by keeping the a/c in my grow room around 70. Some people this isnt an option for. When growing in warmer temps its sometimes wise to invest in a Co2 setup, but not necessary. My grow medium is just what i told you earlier, equal parts castings, vermiculite, and perlite. What ive found that works the best, atleast for me so far, is to take that mix, fill your pot (i use superoots airpots and love them) water it well, then add a 1-2 inch layer of vermiculite on top and water it with warm water. Take an ungerminated seed and bury it about 3/4 - 1 into the top layer of vermiculite and cover. Then take a spray bottle with warm water and mist the top layer fairly well, cover it with saran wrap and put in your grow box with the lights off and wait about 3-5 days you should see a sprout - ive had 100% success rate with germination since i started doing this method. Once you see the sprout let it go a day or two with the saran wrap still on. No need to water or add nutes just let that baby grow until the pot gets light - usually takes atleast a week or two before you have to water again. Go by feel of course. Doing this lets the tap root immediately work its way down nice and deep giving the plant a nice healthy start. Depending on your type of lighting keep it distanced accordingly. I usually keep mine about a foot from the light source until it gains its 2-3 set of true leaves. Working with LEDs you can get basically an inch from the plant but with HPS/MH you need to keep it far enough away to not burn but as close as you can beyond that point. You should only have to add nutrients at the earliest signs of seeing the babies becoming lighter in color which usually takes place about the same time you need to water the second time. Again its all by feel and sight, each plant is a bit different but over the years this seems to be the "standard" for my grows. Using the GO nutrients is quite nice too because it has some options like diamond black , and a root suppliment you can add early on to help your sprouts grow strong without any kind of nutrient burn to worry about

Thanks...yours are looking great....mine seem to be back on track again...NL .seedling is doing well and so is the OO auto..the sweet super is budding everywhere and smells very nice...but its very small and its 7 weeks old....so still have light in veg mode to get it bigger....interesting that i have started the NL seedling with your method and pot...now have proper water and have ordered guano and worm castings...will add to top soil...and only use nutes if necessary....we dont have GO products here....looks like the heatwave goes on for a week and then rain and cools down.....thats good.....

We have changed to an organic system now...only feeding with worm castings and guano and the rare nute feed only if a deficiency shows in the leaves. The small sweet skunk will be ready in a week or so, many pistils changing to amber but still white underneath. The OO skunk are doing well. One is small but has nice buds coming on. The other has grown lots...and lots of flowers everywhere so this should be a real test for this light. The northern lights seedling is doing well, no huge growth but i am noticing that growth suddenly happens and they take off!!...So far we are really pleased with the unit....we will harvest and post weigh in when done......

There is discolouration to leaves on one plant, i am not sure if this is because its ending its grow life and so using up its store of nutes or maybe it has a deficiency?? will check tomorrow and may add a worm and guano tea mix to top soil.....but due to its age i feel its just had its day.........