Mini-test.... 5000K vs. 6500K flouro, during veg....

Okay, since these things survived a 10 day drought,(I got sick as hell, and decided to let them die.lol) I'm going to do a mini-test, comparing 6500K against 5000K, for vegging. They are 3 different strains of bagseed, with the 4th being a cross between bagseed male and a Crystal female, which I hope will turn out pretty good. After I quit watering them for 10 days, and didn't even check on them, I was surprised to see that they were still alive(I did lose 3 of them), and decided to water them and keep 'em going til my new seeds get ordered, and finish 'em out. Surprisingly, they bounced back pretty good, after a heavy watering.

Anyway, I just transplanted them into 1 gallon pots, from 16 oz. party cups, and put 7 of them under 5000K and 7 under 6500K T8 flouro, 6-bulb industrial lights.(each light is about 200 watts) The soil, is a mixture of my leftovers.... Happy Frog, FF Ocean Forest, and MG Potting soil, with about 10% perlite added(I ran out, or I would've went with 20-25%). It drains really well, an in that size pot, I'm not worried about any overwatering issues. They should dry quite nicely.

Yeah, they look pretty rough right now, because I damn near killed them,lol plus, they just got transplanted an hour ago. They should start looking pretty good in about a week, and then I can start training them. I don't plan to transplant to their 5 gallon pots til I can get the males outta there, which should take another 2 weeks or so.(on 19/5)

So,...let's see what kind of difference there is, between the 'almighty' 6500K, and 5000K, which is really close to the sun's natural color temp? And so it begins....lol (I don't know why the pics came ouit like that, but the middle one shows the difference in color between the bulbs, with 6500K on the left and 5000K on the right)

Okay, it looks like the 6500K is kicking ass, so far. It's only been 3 days, and the difference is clear,...the blue light is definitely growing healthier plants. They are growing faster, and generally,...have better color. I'll give it a little more time, just to be sure, but am switching the 5000K to 6500K, if they don't pick up pretty soon. I'm not risking screwing up 7 plants, I know that.lol

The first two pics are the plants under 6500K, and the next three, are under 5000K. The last two, are for easier comparison.

Also, I noticed a few VERY tiny female preflowers, but didn't take any pics, because they're too small to see. I'll give it another 3 days or so, then post some nice close-ups.

I also started training tonight, using "bending", as opposed to the other methods. I've tried the others, and this seems to work best for me, making for a nice bushy plant, and it doesn't stunt them much at all. Recovery time is fast, and results are quick.

I also gave them a foliar feeding tonight, right after I trained them. It was a weak done(approx 1/4 strength) MG reg fert, a couple grains of epsoms, and a splash of Protekt(silicon). Being that they already had deficiencies starting, before the transplant, they should like the foliar feed.

P.S. I ordered some more feminized 'Ice' seeds two days ago, and can't wait. Bagseed just don't cut it, unless I happen to get really lucky.lol

Nice little setup. I'm still planning mine out while I wait for tax time so I can get my patient and growers certs. I do have a question, though. What are these 5000k and 6500k numbers for? I've been seeing them, but haven't been able to find much about what the numbers represent.

the k numbers light scale 6500k veg 2700k flower supposed to be nearest to the suns colour temps at diff times (if that makes sense )

heresa link to the kelvin scale which is what the k stands for http://www.3drender.com/glossary/colortemp.htm

Cool, thanks for that zippy, interesting stuff. Didn't know they had a scale for measuring temps like that. I always thought Kelvin was just a more precise temp measurement for scientific pursuits.

Okay guys, here's the results.....

....I took these pics last weekend, right after I pulled the males(the were all showing sex by week 5), right before I transplanted to 3 gallon pots, from their 1 gallon pots. Happily, I ended up with 10 out of 14 females, but they're bagseed, so I gotta be careful and watch for hermies. Anyway....

...as you can see, the 6500K plants are much nicer than those under the 5000K, which are closest to the back wall. They are taller and wider, and have a darker color green, as well. So, at that point, I switched the bulbs back to 6500K, so they would keep up with the others. It's a pretty big difference, if you ask me. Agreed?

yeah man definitely, good job. for my setup i have a mixture of 5500k and 6500k seems to work out well. how old are your plants?

scott johnston said:

yeah man definitely, good job. for my setup i have a mixture of 5500k and 6500k seems to work out well. how old are your plants?

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Thanks man. They're a little over 5 weeks, in those pics. Considering I thought I killed them,lol they don't look too bad. That was a week ago, and I plan to throw them on 12/12 in the next couple days, because my 'Ice' seeds just arrived, and now it's time to get serious again.lol

Well, I snapped some pics yesterday, so I guess I'll post 'em here, because I didn't journal this grow. I just flipped them to 12/12, as well, so maybe I'll start some kind of mini-journal, to see how these turn out. Kinda cool having 4 strains, because I have no idea what kind of quiality they will produce. I'm kinda hopin there's a sativa-dominant in there, somewhere.....

7 days later, and they're really starting to stretch. Kinda fun going with bagseed, because who knows what I'm going to end up with. At any rate, out of 4 strains, there *has* to be some decent smoke in there somewhere. Growing bagseed, is like a box of chocolates...lol


Um, yeah, the test is pretty much over, I just had the camera out, and felt like posting some new pics.lol

Wow great stuff man. I hope I can one day have something as big and clean as yours. Anyways you helped me awhile back and I had a survivor! She is currently in her 2nd week of flower and looking good so far. Check it out if you ever get a chance. +rep

I was actually about do a similar experiment, between 5500k and 6500k
Apparently the 5500ks have the most chlorophyl activity.
Check out this graph


Nice setup though Fosho,
+rep.

Thanks guys. Like the chart, too, looks liks 5,500 might be a sweet setup, if it goes as planned. I'd like to watch, if you get one started, so keep us posted.


Also, now those plants are nearing harvest, and reminding me why bagseed isn't such a great choice.....the damn hermies.lol I got rid if 4 'supposed' females, earlier, because they hermied, and found another last night. I actually think they might've been pollinated, so might be pulling them soon. Idk, we'll see. At any rate, I know i'm glad to have 5 Ice plants vegging, and 1 Big Bud + White Widow, all feminized, ready to move into the bloom room. My buddies will be getting some early-harvested, pollinated smoke, me thinks.LOL

Damn, that sucks, atleast you got some backups though.
Hopefully you can figure out what's stressing the plants before you throw those feminized in flower,
Apparently they hermie a lottt easier then bagseed.

Once my plants finish I should have a little extra cash flow to do my test, I'm excited,
On the other hand my plants are 12 days into flower and still not showing sex. -.-

^I think it's just crappy genetics,'causing the hermies. There's 4 different strains, and two of them hermied on me, with no light leaks or any other disturbances. It's my belief that many of the seeds in bagseed, come from hermie pollen, giving them a tendency to hermie. Think about it, a pro grower with a shitload of plants, is never going to be able to find hermies mixed in with his field of females, so he just lets them go, pollinating everything. Otherwise, most of our bagseed wouldn't have any seeds at all. Agreed?lol

We tried something similar with GE daylight (6500k) and Sunshine (5000k) fluorescents. Plants lined up between the lights all leaned toward the Sunshine bulbs.

i always wondered what kind of yield a plant gets with them saying you switched to flower at 20 " height

Agreed.
(+ rep when I can, gotta spread the love)

I'm curious, do you know if the ones that hermied were the ones under the 5000k?

PotConnoisseur said:

Agreed.
(+ rep when I can, gotta spread the love)

I'm curious, do you know if the ones that hermied were the ones under the 5000k?

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I'm not positive, but am pretty sure it was random. I used those same 5000K bulbs for over a year, before buying the 6500K bulbs for the fixtures, and never had a problem with hermies. I think it was just bad luck, in my case. Ya know, I seem to remember my plants being 'fuller' under the 5000K bulbs, when I used them exclusively. Kinda makes me wonder if the 6500K bulbs just appear to make the plants grow faster, because they stretch more. Hmm....might be time for another test, eh?lol