Home of the Old Fart's Club part 2

[novitius]

Heya Keef! - Yeah LED's are the plan! What I have shows me they are plenty capable enough given you buy the right stuff. I'm looking at going with BestVA brand lights. They're in my budget as are the King LED. When I compare the two brands the BestVA seem to perform a little better as far as the umols gn paper of course. I see a lot of growers here using the Kings tho. One other thing, many smaller lights or a few big lights? I can possibly work out the $155 that the 1500w's cost. But I was thinking if I could just buy a small light once or twice a month I could have a light for each sq ft, give or take a few inches. My thought was to obviously get as much of the umols down to the canopy without losing much to spread. If I'm not mistaken the more you get to those buds the more resin the produce? What does a 1500w lamp from the budget lines compare to in HPS? 600 or 800? Who thought they would give us such crazy tech? Hell, we were looking at mini wind turbines on Amazon last night to power the tents. I'm rambling, sorry.
Can anyone kinda clear up my understanding of LED's? I get the feeling with them that ScroG's are gonna be the way to go most times because of all the shoots I have on everything.

 

[Keef]

U could use lots of little LEDs--I started that way - Gloman got some CFLS that ran too hot for me -- Talk to RE about some those strip lights he uses ?-- I was running under power at 600 watts per square meter !- SOG or SCROG would work well with them but 3 -4 foot plant wouldn't be a problem but U got to flip to bloom at the right height or U run out of headroom and they'll get close enough to the light and burn the tops-

 

[burnin1]

I have a 5x5 grow tent with a 2000 watt King LED. I ordered another King 1000 watt LED to add to it. I was reading reviews on LEDs and most say the best budget LEDs are made by Roleadro which also makes Mars Hydro lights. I have not heard anyone here mention this brand. (Roleadro) So I went with another King. Most lights say they are good for 50,000 hours. King says their LEDs are good for 10o,ooo hours. There are soo many brands of LEDs for sale now it is confusing to choose one. ha ha I think a bunch of smaller lights may give you more coverage than one big light. I am new to LEDs and MP has helped me learn a lot.

 

[ness]

Good morning OFC

 

[2RedEyes]

Well a whole lotta stuff starting to look like flowers coming along...every day I go in and start bending and pulling things back down and every day something new stick it’s head up...I’m about 2 weeks into flower lighting I guess...
Hey Nov, these lights come in strips about 2 feet long...each one can make 48watts but this is actual consumption watts not some made up comparison to some other kind of light...I find that it is more economical to get more than you need and run them at slightly reduced drive to get the wattage you may want...they attached to a frame to accommodate what ever your grow area is...some folks build with 2 rows of strips, my cabinet is only 32” deep so I have just one row...they are open as you see so air passes thru them and around them keeping them cool, also each one has a heat sink...I have 5 3500K colored strips on one driver and 4 2700K strips on another driver....I could run 430 actual watts but in My small cabinet, just under 7sq ft, I’m under 400 watts...there is no heat buildup and in fact have to use a small heater because the grow is in my unheated shop...they are $30/strip including the heat sink or $19 if you supply your own heat sink...plus a driver once you’ve worked out how many strips you’ll run...more strips and drivers can be added whenever you like...they are made with Samsung LM561C chips...9000 lumens/M2 full spectrum white light...
Solstrip.com I got no affiliation, just like’m...

 

[St_Nick]

I run two viparspectra 900s in a 3x7 flower room and am getting excellent results but they do not give a lot of spread. My old grow room had 7 600 watt units in it and the room was 8x8. I think with anything below a 600 you just about have to run 1 light per plant. I once ran two 600's and a 300 over one plant. That one plant yielded 18 oz. but it was a huge thing 12 ft. in circumference. One thing you can't do is believe the power ratings of those companies. My opinion of the bestva lights is they run to the lower edge of the performance range for that price range. Probably a good starter light though.

 

[Keef]

I still got a bunch of Mars Hydro 300 watt light -They starting to age and probably need to be replaced - My aero boxes are about a half a square meter and I ran one over each box - They have a trick switch on them - 2 switches --One for bloom and one for veg - Either one is turned off U got a 150 watt light - I got what I need go get up and running again but I want more better lights--

 

[burnin1]

That is a sweet set up 2Red.

 

[burnin1]

My second grow has one plant stretchingto the light. I need one more small light there. I need a budget light to cover it. I think I may buy one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/Giixer-Doubl...F3R5M4GQVWG&psc=1&refRID=BDMQ74XM7F3R5M4GQVWG

 

[novitius]

Thanks for the replies guys! I guess I'll go with the 1500 and being that lots of people here use the King's I guess I'll use those too. I like the solstrip setup 2RE has but even adding a driver to a premade puts me over and the one I built on the website got expensive fast!But, I can piece by piece one nice light, even repairable, that way instead of buying several.

St. Nick- The power ratings are annoying. They vary by manufacturer and don't even represent the true watts! I looked at viparspectra but they're just out of budget for now and I kinda need a quick fix. That big one you grew out, was the bud quality pretty much the same throughout the plant? Were the outside buds noticably different from the area that gets the best light?

2RE- Thanks for the info! I had looked them up before following a post you had made. Your explanation cleared some questions about them up. I'm assuming you flower in that cab too? Do you turn up the wattage for flowering?

Burnin1 - I'll be in the same space for flowering soonish. By June I hope! Do you think you could use more than 3kw in your 5x5 or is that a good spot to be at?

Keef- I want more better lights too bud. Actually, I wish a 1k hps cost what a low budget LED does to run!

 

[novitius]

Keef- I forgot to add- Do you flower in your aero's under those 300w Mars? How did they do if you did? HOw do you grow, do you bush them out or keep it to a cola?

 

[2RedEyes]

2RE- Thanks for the info! I had looked them up before following a post you had made. Your explanation cleared some questions about them up. I'm assuming you flower in that cab too? Do you turn up the wattage for flowering?

I started with 5 of the 3500k strips and added 4 of the 2700k strips just before this grow...I vegged with the 3500k and then turned everything on for flower...

Just looked it up, I’ve spent $423 total on my light setup including shipping and sales tax...

 

[Rosebud]

Good morning all, I am tardy. It is a beautiful morning in my hood. Hope you are all well stoned.

 

[Keef]

Morning Rose !- Gonna be hot again today - 77 in the house - I'm good !
Nov - It's complicated so let me hit some high points--I was in dirt-- Dam Dog Pecker Knats moved in -- Their larvae eat your roots -- I was upset and didn't know what to do ?-- I found something called an aero cloner and ordered one - it is just a box with a pump and some spray heads inside sprays the cutting or roots --I chopped the tops off my plants and followed thier instructs best I could-- The tops sprang roots - I did some quick research and ordered some nutes - It was a painful learning experience- The aerocloners was designed badly and only held a couple of gallons of nute water - I went to the home building supply and bought me a couple those 35 gallon black and yellow totes with snap on lids - The lid has a checker board pattern made laying out the grow holes easy --bought me a 2 inch door knob drill cause the 2 inch aero baskets need to fit in the hole - I had trouble with the pump heating up the nute water - The micro sprayers heads were plugging up - Having 12 gallons or so of water in the box fixed the heat problem - I found a filtered pump glued it to a ceramic tile to stabilize it -- Built a micro sprayers manifold out of PVC-
There's some pics back there sometime of my midgets - I had to keep them small because they would get top heavy in bloom and fall over - I decided to keep them that way- For my new Veg - My plants never knew any kind of dirt - Now it's time to apply what I learned and build me a real grow !--So I built me a dozen or so of them cost bout $50 each ready to work - That and a light !
They empty but I'll post a pic of them if U want ?- let me see if I got one on my phone already ?

 

[Keef]

 

[Keef]

The roots just hang down into the box and I run the pump 15minutes on and 15 off !-- These got 5 rows of 7 grow holes - 1 for pump cord and airline to bubbler stones !--leaves a 34 spot cloner !- I be using the same concept when I set back up - but no boxes- Long angled trays !

I ran that white widow of mine cloning from clones for bout 4 1/2 years -24/7/365 Bugs finally took her from me or I'd probably still be running her !--

 

[novitius]

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I don't have a lot of room so I would want to root and flower right there in that same tub with a 600w over it. I remember a picture in one of the Ed Rosenthal books. Probably the Handbook. Anyway, there was a patio in Spain somewhere that was covered in a miniature forest. There was, I think, 160 10" tall single stemmed buds.They might've been shorter. I vaguely remembering the caption saying that each lil tree yielded an 1/8th. I might want to try that in a sort using shelving inside a tent. The options available get me running in circles sometimes. I do plan on going back to hydro Keef. I think Im going ot end up with 2 seperate flowering tents.

 

[Keef]

Yes Cuz 2 grow areas so U can veg one crop while U bloom another - When harvest comes U clean up bloom and move a fresh crop in from veg !- Umbra harvest 5 times a year like that - I was working out the kinks to a 4 part rotation - Move something to bloom every 2 weeks and after 2 months they start coming out bloom for harvest every 2 weeks - I am not up to getting slammed having to trim a garage full all at once - So instead of spaced out big harvest I just lot a bunch of smaller ones !- I knew I couldn't do here what I was learning I wanted to do - I pretty much got it straightened out my mind !- Probably use those drip rings like RE and drip my nute water thru then let it drain and do it again

 

[zigggy]

good evening OFC,,,,MR keef I'm not sure what strain they are because the stoner buddy of mine that I got my clones from messed up labeling them ,,,they are from good stock ,,,,the guys been growing for years ,,,,his labeling stinks but his clones are great ,,,,we have been exchanging weed for a good long time ,,,I miss you people ,,,its not the same logging in at night ,,,I miss the wake n bake feel for some reason its not the same at night

 

[Keef]

Hey Zig -- U good to go then--Mane U got to keep up with stuff - Everything must be labeled !-- I want clones I got to raise the mother from seed before I really get started cloning good --I want the consistency of clones - If U can get clones U can work one grow area !- Veg them up some - Flip to bloom- Harvest-- do it again !- I been leaning toward a small commercial grow - So I had some stuff to figure out !-- They weed must flow ! -