Flowering with Cree bulbs

bondoman said:

Looking great! so healthy looking. Great to see such great grows and so few bulbs and wattage.

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thanks again! I really lucked out this time. Last few grows I did in this cab had been plagued by mites, but not this time! Interior ventilation almost seems to cure that, lesson learned!

I'm still looking good here- the autoberry is looking much 'bulkier', but both are looking good IMHO, at least for day 43 of my first grow anyway.

Abiqua said:

thanks again! I really lucked out this time. Last few grows I did in this cab had been plagued by mites, but not this time! Interior ventilation almost seems to cure that, lesson learned!

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next time if that happens again get lady bugs. I started using them halfway through last batch. I kept getting mites. I'd get rid of them and then they would come back 2 weeks later. The ladybugs ate them and the eggs and got rid of them completely. That was first time in years I had any sort of pests. I had only used ladybugs on outdoor plants prior. Now I keep them in there regularly. if they take off i add a few more and do a foliar spray and that makes their wings stick so they cant fly away for a few days.

^ Yeah, I saw the tip you gave someone else just the other day about spraying their wings to keep em' around. Pretty good, that's a new one!

Have any links.....I have been searching for a bit and can't get an answer or can't seem to find any in the pNw.....ever messed around with predator mites?

I am such a tinkerer, if I get ladybug's, I wanna breed them too!




[Edit]
Found one in state at least...
http://www.naturescontrol.com/

I'd like to use some cree bulbs for my veg tent and my mother tent since they obviously work great. Couple questions though, would just the 5000k be good or should I throw in a couple 2700k's too? Also, how far apart should the bulbs be for good coverage and intensity? (remember, this is only for veg not flowering) Thanks for your help.

^ How big is your tent tallen? I think ganja queen is using them in a 2:1 ration: 2x 2700k and 1x 5000k. I vegged under 4 2700k's and a single 6500k 26watt cfl bulb, no complaints here.

hyroot said:

next time if that happens again get lady bugs. I started using them halfway through last batch. I kept getting mites. I'd get rid of them and then they would come back 2 weeks later. The ladybugs ate them and the eggs and got rid of them completely. That was first time in years I had any sort of pests. I had only used ladybugs on outdoor plants prior. Now I keep them in there regularly. if they take off i add a few more and do a foliar spray and that makes their wings stick so they cant fly away for a few days.

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So took the girls out of the cab completely and mites have hit. My own laziness, I didn't spray them the 1st few days in flower, when I should have hammered then just in case.

I sprayed my habanero/ginger mix, previously have had good luck even during flower with this. But definitely stepping up and seeing what some predator bugs [ladybugs] can do.......

Also top dressed with diatomaceous earth to cut those bastards.

Abiqua said:

^ How big is your tent tallen? I think ganja queen is using them in a 2:1 ration: 2x 2700k and 1x 5000k. I vegged under 4 2700k's and a single 6500k 26watt cfl bulb, no complaints here.

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They're both 3x3's, I've got a couple old 90 watt ufo's in the mother tent and they're doing ok but would like to at least add a few in there with them if not replace them completely. I'm vegging under an 8 bulb t5 at the moment in another room (won't fit in the tent) but only need to cover about a 24"x30" for that. I veg in a mortar mixing tray (flood and drain) in 7" round pots - 3 rows of 4 packed in tight and get them in the flower tent at around 10" to 12" tall.

I've got some old non-working fluorescent lights I can use to retrofit as reflectors for a row of crees too. Do you think 3 rows of 3 would be good over the tray or would I need more? Thanks for your help!

tallen said:

They're both 3x3's, I've got a couple old 90 watt ufo's in the mother tent and they're doing ok but would like to at least add a few in there with them if not replace them completely. I'm vegging under an 8 bulb t5 at the moment in another room (won't fit in the tent) but only need to cover about a 24"x30" for that. I veg in a mortar mixing tray (flood and drain) in 7" round pots - 3 rows of 4 packed in tight and get them in the flower tent at around 10" to 12" tall.

I've got some old non-working fluorescent lights I can use to retrofit as reflectors for a row of crees too. Do you think 3 rows of 3 would be good over the tray or would I need more? Thanks for your help!

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Maybe you should look at LED spotlight bulbs too, like the Phillips versions and Cree is starting to make some, but the Cree 9.5W bulbs, either color temp, are omni-directional and will yield more light when hung from the side. If you reflector is straight up and down, it could lend itself more to the spots and getting all the light to the girls.

I vegged 3 plant under those Crees in a 28x19 space and got them over a foot tall easily even in 2 gallon pots.

The Autoberries (purplish cola/orange hairs) in the forefront are just adding bulk at this point. I'm getting some (some) amber colored pollen so I don't think she's far off. Some leaves are yellowing towards the base too.

The AutoAKs in the background are still stretching while getting some bulk and putting out lots of white hairs. I have 4 main colas (one is hidden behind the other).

Only nutes used so far have been FFTB & molasses. I did want to do LED only, but too cold right now and need the extra heat in the tent.

8 days later and I harvested some of the auto blueberry last night w/ the balance likely tomorrow. If I had to guess, I'll say about 3/4Z from that one auto.

The AutoAK (in the background) is still stretching and putting on weight. I gotta say- she really seemed to lag, but is definitely surpassing the Blueberry.

Both harvested this morning. The AutoAK far surpassed the Auto blueberry which kind of surprised me as the berry started flowering much sooner, but I soon found out why when I examined the root structure. The AK just put out a solid root mat in the 3 gallon container- all this from a seed that broke the surface on 10/27.

I have roughly 2.5Z wet weight hanging right now. All from 6-8 off the shelf Crees (depending on cycle) & 3 CFLs.

anyone decided between the crees and the philips a19's. I plan on maybe adding some for side lighting using reflectors though. 1 bulb per.. when tags measure them using a single bulb vs 2 in a reflector, 1 had higher µmole/s with the crees. i was thinking 4 reflectors on each side (2 sides). philips are much cheaper and still have a very good warranty and lumileds are still very good quality.

bondoman said:

I've been growing with nothing but the Philips 2700k(mainly the remote phosphor ones) and they've outperformed my 6500k CFL's, they were pretty big at 2 weeks so I flipped to 12/12 and they're really taking off. Can't speak for Cree as I just don't use them due to the LED arrangement. The older bulbs have the Luxeons which IMO are better than the Cree bulb LED's.

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Im curious about those but have lots of questions. Are you removing the lens or leaving it on? How do you position those in orientation to the plants?

hyroot said:

anyone decided between the crees and the philips a19's. I plan on maybe adding some for side lighting using reflectors though. 1 bulb per.. when tags measure them using a single bulb vs 2 in a reflector, 1 had higher µmole/s with the crees. i was thinking 4 reflectors on each side (2 sides). philips are much cheaper and still have a very good warranty and lumileds are still very good quality.

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I have 6x Phillips 10.5 3000k a19's mixed with 4x SW/WW Cree 2700k bulbs. 10 bulbs. And I have a smaller cab with 4x Cree SW 2700k's and a single 3000k Phillips A19. Like this ratio a tad better, the plants love those Cree's. The phillips just put out a lot of light and at just a few inches it is overwhelming. I have been trying to back off to find the best distance. Starting at 12" and feeling good....
The phillips have been rating the same as the Cree or just a notch below at 80 to 81. I think based on the reviews the cree are best bang for the buck, but did I say the phillips put out a shit load of light?

Me personally if I had the scrolls, I might check out the Cree Spots, but they are so damn expensive for 650 lumens. They have the bigger Cree 75w Equivalent 2700k[13w?] coming out too, but they seem to be 3x the price as the 9.5w's! Probably drop a bit, but when?


These are the best reviews I have found pretty much hands down>

Cree DW
http://www.ledbenchmark.com/display.php?id=126&name=Cree,+Inc.+9W+Dimmable+DW+Globe

Cree SW
http://www.ledbenchmark.com/display.php?id=118&name=Cree,+Inc.+9.5W+Dimmable+WW+Globe

Phillips A19 3000k
http://www.ledbenchmark.com/display.php?id=127&name=Philips+10.5W+A19+Globe

@bondoman

Think it is the phillips more than the Cree although several scenarios run through my head. Since the phillips are really top down they have penetration, more than I expected. Not like a cfl at all, which is good, just not quite what I had expected.

Not enough time to really start making claims, hopefully more answers will arise as time ebbs

yeah it's hard to get used to. I was used to messing with CFLS and I could put those right on top of the leaves no problem. What I don't get is there's really not a lot of heat coming from the philips either, so you'd think you'd be able to get them really close which isn't the case.

bondoman said:

yeah it's hard to get used to. I was used to messing with CFLS and I could put those right on top of the leaves no problem. What I don't get is there's really not a lot of heat coming from the philips either, so you'd think you'd be able to get them really close which isn't the case.

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So the philips penetrate really well? I think I'm going to grab 2 4 packs of 3000k 10.5w and then replace all the house hold bulbs with 5000k 6w ones. The 10.5w will be the side lighting.

Anyone know of any great deals on reptile reflectors?

hyroot said:

So the philips penetrate really well? I think I'm going to grab 2 4 packs of 3000k 10.5w and then replace all the house hold bulbs with 5000k 6w ones. The 10.5w will be the side lighting.

Anyone know of any great deals on reptile reflectors?

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They should work as side lighting, it will be an interesting experiment. They definitely throw light forward more intensely than the Cree's with that side lighting shizz.

Be careful about spacing, they should penetrate fairly well @ 12" but only in a narrow angle.

Has anybody scraped their diodes while removing the globe and still used the light????

I just tried to take off the globe on my last 9.5w WW with the Xt-E's and busted it all to shit and scraped the little bubble layer [phosphor Im guessing] off. Not all the way down to the light but enough to take the tops off....


Here is the close-up of the SW 2700K [notice the square diodes] and I found an older WW 6.5w light, so I picked it up, but only has a single row of Xt-E, bummer.