LED grow 1st for newbie

L

ledmcbucks

New Member
This is my first grow with good seeds.

Illuminator UFO 90W on 24
Illuminator Pro 300w 12/12
Temp is 78-90
Humidity 55-60% I had to buy a dehumidifier (its collecting 4 qts a day, I have been using the water to mix with my nutrients. )
I have a bath fan that clears the room in 4-5 minutes ( I want/need a 6 inch fan.)
All the plants have a small fan on them
Seeds are Burmese/420

Planted 3/5 Transplanted to 2 gal pot on day 23
Soil is 1/3 FF ocean 1/3 mirclegrow perlite 1/3 ff planting mix

Advanced nutrients
Iguana Juice grow
Iguana juice bloom
Plus all the freebies, Pirrana,Big bud, budblood, and carbload when I remember.
Plants are about 6 inches below the 90w ufo. I have some bag seed plants that are in the flower stage grown under the LEDs, but this is the first grow with good seed.
I took pics today and will post them when I figure out how to.
Lets grow!
 
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Day 36 since seed came to life. Plants are slowly moving up. Biggest is 8 3/4 inch smallest is 5 inches. I havent watered them since before I transplanted them. The moisture meter still says 3 on a scale to 6 . I notice some small burns on a few leaves.
Plants at home
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Here is some pics of my first plant ever. It was grown under LEDs. and I used the same fert as the grow Im working on now.
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The plant is from a bag seed. Its 26inches tall I started to flower it when it was 11 inches. Its at day 47, I have to deside to harvest at day 53 or wait till day 60. Im going on a trip and hopefully find a good hydro store.
Cant wait to see the diffrence in all the plants after being gone a while.
 
I think I have gnats. I see little bugs flying and a bunch of bugs came flying out of the drain holes when I flushed one of my other plants. Getting any of the chems i have read about isnt going to be possible till i get back. I saw somewhere someone talked about sand for control but I cant find it.
I have panty hose over my vents and I never noticed any thing where I mix my soils. Any Ideas?
 
Diatomic earth - sprinkle on top of your soil in all your plants.
Sticky yellow insect strips - hang them up everywhere and don't run your head into one (they really ARE sticky).
Praying mantis, ladybugs, other helpful insects - bring them in, turn them loose. Leave a window cracked so that after they eat all the nasty bugs in your grow room they can go get takeout.
 
No such luck on the diatomic earth. My supplies are very limited here.
I have a ace hardware where I found the glue strips. The nursery
is in a guys back yard and he never heard of diatomic earth. I had to look it up in my dictionary. Lets just say Im on a island in the middle of nowhere and I can get sand which sounds a lot like the definition of Diatomic earth without the ions. I might be able to snag a praying mantis and some ladybugs.
Thanks for the tip, I better get hunting or surfing :surf:
 
Hard to believe that anyone who operates a nursery has never even heard of diatomaceous earth (whether he sells it or not). It's really great for the "crawlie" soft-bodied insects, they craw across it and dehydrate & die. No pesticides or poisons needed. The food-grade stuff is what you'd want of course and it works well even outside in the vegetable garden (it's death on slugs, for example). The only health-type concern is the same one with every other finely-ground gardening substance: Don't breathe the dust or try to apply it in a windstorm (lol) and wash your hands afterwards.

Might check with one of the sponsors, it's pretty cheap and although a bag of anything costs a little to get shipped, it lasts a LONG time as you just have to sprinkle it on the surface of your soil(sic).

If none of the sponsors carry it, if you can find a Mom & Pop type gardening, landscaping, or hardware store you would have a pretty good chance of talking them into letting you sit down with their ordering books/catalogs/CDs to look for it. You might even find other things that will come in handy and I'm certain that they'll appreciate your business a lot more than say Home Depot, Lowes, or WalMart would. Most of them have yearly minimum-buys from their distributors and in a good year every little bit helps, and in times like these...

[EDIT: I just read that the saltwater (industrial) type contains silica so you would want to wear a mask if using it so you don't inhale it. Silicosis isn't fun. Always wear a mask when using/applying anything containing silica.]

PS I believe it is an "all-natural product."
 
I watered for the first time. I flushed the two plants in the pictures below and gave the other two full dose of Iguana grow. I moved the light to 16 inches away from the tops of the plants. Last 24 hour period the plants grew 1/2 inch. I got glue traps all over and of corse got a plant stuck on one when the fan hit it.


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ledmcbucks said:
I think I have gnats. Any Ideas?
Click to expand...
You have to break the cycle of adults laying eggs in soil - to hatched larvae - to new emerging gnats, which requires a multi-pronged attack.

For killing larvae, check out Mosquito Dunks. They contain the same active ingredient as gnatrol (Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israaelenses). They are cheap and available just about everywhere (Lowes/Home Depot). One dunk can treat 100 feet of water surface so a little piece of a dunk will go a long way. I drop about a 1/8 of chunk down in a gallon of water and let it sit for 48 hours, then mix that at a ratio of 50% fresh H2O. You can remove the chunk, let it dry and use it again. Use every two weeks to kill the larvae and break the cycle.

For adults, just use victor fly ribbons: Victor Fly Ribbon 4 pack
They work well on lots of other flying insets as well.

You can also form a barrier over the soil surface to keep the adults from landing, tunneling and laying eggs. Some people use a layer of sterile aquarium sand but that may cut off some oxygen to the roots. I've found a layer of perlite will work about as well and provide more oxygen to the soil. I've read where some people stretch pantie hose over the buckets to keep the adults out so that may be another option for you.

Another organic approach is as to apply Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth ( DE ) Powder - 6 oz. to the surface of the soil. The shell particles of the DE are sharp enough to cut the adult and emerging gnats to pieces and kill them. You really don't want to inhale this stuff or get it in your eyes so be careful when applying. It's non-toxic though and can be ingested by humans and animals to kill worms and other parasites.

I'd have excellent success using a combination of the BTI (dunks) for larvae and fly traps for adults. Sprinkling Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (as TorturedSoul suggest) and/or covering the pots with pantyhose is also plus and can break the cycle.

That's about the end of my experience and research on the topic. Hope it helps and good luck!!

Nice job on the LED grow. You're getting some of the better results from LEDs than I usually see.

:peace:

Harry
 
Thanks for the tips guys! I have a mosquito dunk in a bucket, and most of my plants are covered with a nice layer of perlite. Hopefully I will find dietomaceious earth and other supplies when I find a hydro store on my trip. Today the sun was out and it got hot in my room. The temp hit 99 the humidity was at 40 % but the dehumidifier was working over time. I bought a small a/c unit and hooked it up but the noise, heat and moisture that it generated was unexceptable. I ran a new fresh air vent and doubled my flow in. Im thinking about going to 18/6 for my veg room to cut down on heat. I also turned the cycle time my dehumidifier runs down. I hope a new 6 inch fan will help with the heat.

My LED babies are still slowly chugging along. Only 1/2 inch in growth per 24 hours. They seemed to like being further away from the light. The stalks seem to be filling in with leaves. The problem is my veg room is only 36 inches tall and the light takes 6. The plants are about 12-16 inchs away now.

Here is one at day 39
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These are other bag seed plants
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Leds all the way.
The tall one is on day 49
Second one is on day 49
third is on day 40
and last id on day 46
(left to right)
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Sorry the pics suck I dropped my camera in the dehumidifier holding tank whlile I was fighting off a sticky bug strip. It just dried out and is kinda fuzzy im sure it will die soon.
 
I grew 2 of my cheez plants under a 110 watt LED grew board which is the equivalent to a 400 watt hps system and the weed was in a word SHIT!!! It had no resins. Two other growers have had the same results just a heads up good luck with your grow
 
Thanks for all the comments good or bad. I am pleased so far with the led grow but I do not have anything to compare it to. Not much growing upwards happend in the past 2 days. The plants are getting bushier but not taller. The extra vent I put in helped but I still need more. Ill get another vent in tomorrow. I wonder if the heat stopped the vertical growth. I got to get it figured out because I will be out of town and a buddy will be watching my babies. I will just be happy if my plants are still alive when I get back.
Im really starting to hate the fly glue strips.

I have a little test going between a couple plants 2 under the LED and 2 under a 2' t12 agrosun fluorecent. Its day 35 the plants are about the same
in height and stock size but the LED plant has more leaves. They are 7
inches tall. The fluoresent light fixture puts out a more noticable heat vs the LED fixture.
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LED Plant
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Fluoresent Plant

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I know its not a great test but ill keep you posted.
 
They are growing again. The plants are gettin bushy instead of getting taller They are 11, 9 1/2, 8, and 6 1/2 inches. I almost feel like putting the tallest into flower and see what Happens my room can only handle a plant 4 ft tall.
Im not going on my trip to visit a hydroponic store Me and the chick split yesteday so im staying home with my new girlfriends. Good thing I never told her about my other gf's,. I ordered a 420 scope today to check the progress I was hoping to hit the hydoponic supply store but that aint happening :bong::bong::bong:does anyone have a recomendation on a online supply. I need a fan and some mylar and some stuff to kill the gnats.
 
I, personally, have had good service from HTG Supply. I would recommend them. Their prices seem to be quite reasonable, but I'm sure you could save a dime or two by searching around the net for specific items. I've found some real deals on ebay of course... but there's no warranty (usually) and shipping/payment can be problematic. Many times I make purchase decisions by searching the more expensive stores for a specific item, then seaching for cheaper deals on the same gear.
I had quite a few gnats. I have an "indoor" grow running in an unsealable outside shed. Neem oil applied to the soil and leaves seemed to have knocked all the gnats right out.

So, are the new gf's less "needy" than the previous one?

Cheers!
 
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