Two 550 Watt LEDs on a Light Mover in a Tent

Ok, here's a quick video update to show where things are today.

Since I had to move the camera for the time lapse shots, I decided to put together a teaser video of the first 24 days of flower. It's not really as cool as I thought it would be, but still worth a view I guess, if you don't mind bad spelling. I'll try to be more steady with the camera and line up the shots better going forward and hopefully that will make the last 5-6 weeks look better for the final clip.

Update
YouTube - LED Grow Journal 12/24/2010

Time Lapse Teaser
YouTube - Time Lapse Teaser
 
Leonardo, great job on the grow man, & love the time-lapse. Happy holidays & best wishes for continued success!
 
Its looking good man, the time lapse video shows the growth a little better because you can see when you move the lights up, as opposed to your video blogs where the lights are all ready set. Also i just thought that you might not want to leave that still shot camera in the grow tent i fear the moisture might ruin it
 
I just giggle every time I watch that time-lapse teaser. That garden looks like it is going to explode very shortly. Add me to the list of the "can't waits"!
 
OK, well I fucked up, and I fucked up bad! After getting suspicious that we haven't seen any buds yet, I realized there was a problem. The air, temp, humidity are all dialed in, there's no sign of any mold, mildew or bugs of any kind, and the girls look nice and healthy, so I figured it had to be the lights. But that's not the case, I've discovered that the timer on the lights wasn't programed properly and they've been getting 16 hours of light every day. This is a colossal failure, and I don't know if I'll be able to recover. I'm at least a month behind now and out all that cost (about $600-700/month in rent and electricity alone), and I don't even know if I can finish. There's no doubt I'm going to run out of money now, so I don't know what I'll do, but rest assured I will be doing everything I can to make it happen.

So, here are the questions going forward...
- Can I recover and get a decent yield?
- Will these 3 gallon pots hold up?
- What's the best way to switch them into 12/12 so they run at night? Right now they're running 4am-8pm and I would like to do 8pm-8am to try to save on electricity.

Any help or advice you have would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
YouTube - LED Grow Journal 12/29/2010
 
Leonardo...sorry to hear about your mis-hap and hopefully some more experienced growers than myself will chime in, but here is my current understanding:

The extended veg times will not hurt your yield, in fact, it should help increase it assuming you have enough room to accomodate all the extra growth you can expect when you start to flower. I would expect at least a doubling in size.

As far as light schedules, it should be no issue changing to night, especially since you haven't started flowering yet. I would make their next dark period extended until the first light period of the new schedule. So, in your case, go from 8:00pm and stay dark to 8:00pm the following night, then start the 12/12. If nothing else, the extended dark should help signal the "season" change of starting to bloom.

Again, it would be good to get confirmation from some others with more experience, but I think you'll be OK if you can hang in financially.

Best wishes!
 
leonardo said:
So, here are the questions going forward...

- Can I recover and get a decent yield?
- Will these 3 gallon pots hold up?
- What's the best way to switch them into 12/12 so they run at night? Right now they're running 4am-8pm and I would like to do 8pm-8am to try to save on electricity.

Any help or advice you have would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
Click to expand...

My 2¢

- Yes, they look so good, I think your yield may even be larger.

- Maybe. They will bound up, but just focus on keeping the pH balanced and the roots well fed.

- Prior to the switch, when the lights go off at 8pm, keep em off for 24hrs (24-48), then switch them back on at 8pm and set to shut off at 8am (or adjust as needed).

You may even try 12/12 for two weeks, then drop to 11/13, then followed by 10/14 the final weeks. It will diminish quantity, but I've heard it can speed up harvest time.

I hope you can hang in there just a while more. I think it'll be more than worth it!
:peace:
 
That's not a big fuck up unless you have a time limit.

I too think you could just shut it down for an extended dark period to trigger the bloom cycle.

I'm guessing you have already shut it down to make the transition.

hahahahahahaaaaaaa,,,,,,,,, now it's gonna be an even bigger jungle. :thumb::slide:
 
leonardo said:
OK, well I fucked up, and I fucked up bad! After getting suspicious that we haven't seen any buds yet, I realized there was a problem. The air, temp, humidity are all dialed in, there's no sign of any mold, mildew or bugs of any kind, and the girls look nice and healthy, so I figured it had to be the lights. But that's not the case, I've discovered that the timer on the lights wasn't programed properly and they've been getting 16 hours of light every day. This is a colossal failure, and I don't know if I'll be able to recover. I'm at least a month behind now and out all that cost (about $600-700/month in rent and electricity alone), and I don't even know if I can finish. There's no doubt I'm going to run out of money now, so I don't know what I'll do, but rest assured I will be doing everything I can to make it happen.

So, here are the questions going forward...
- Can I recover and get a decent yield?
- Will these 3 gallon pots hold up?
- What's the best way to switch them into 12/12 so they run at night? Right now they're running 4am-8pm and I would like to do 8pm-8am to try to save on electricity.

Any help or advice you have would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
YouTube - LED Grow Journal 12/29/2010
Click to expand...

Rule of thumb is 1 gal per foot so as long as they do go over 3' u should be fine. you might even be ok since you have the smart pots?

you will save more money at night from 7pm-7am on power. also nights are good because when its summer its allot cooler to run the lights at night when the temps drop. in the colder months its allot warmer to run the lights at night when temps are even colder then the day.

give them a few weeks of 12/12, you should only alter the time if their a satvia or wont flower under 12/12. on my last grow i had to run a 10/14 and it turned out great but i am sure i lost yield with that time.

It's fucked up that happen, but it is what it is, nothing you can do but try to finish that and harvest. try to figure out a way to pay the bills so u can finish it.

i will say i am shocked you put all of ur faith in leds when on a important budget like that.lol. very risky IMO because from what i know you dont know how that brand of leds is going to do? HID might have been a safer option in ur case.

hit them with 12/12 though for a few weeks then take it from their. Maybe a 24hr dark period before flowering to kick them into gear then 12/12 after that. when lights go out at 8pm have them come on the next day at 8pm then they will run 8pm-8am in 12/12.

You have to be very careful with those Digi timers! they will get you. i use the old school ones for the same reason, ive done the same thing before but just with fans and that stuff.

good luck bro
 
Thanks for your advice everyone, I really appreciate it! I know I might be trippin a little more than I should, but that's because losing this time is going to make things really shitty for me. And I really wanted this first run to go perfect because my next project is going to be so much more difficult, it will make this one look like a walk in the park, and I wanted to go into it with as much confidence as possible. But it is what it is and will overcome any other obstacle the universe wants to throws my way!

So this is what I've decided to do... I think I need to run the 12/12 lights during the day instead of the night because I have that small veg room in there and the only time I can really work on things is during the day, and that will be hard if I always have to have the veg room closed when the flowering girls are sleeping. So 12/12 during the day time it is, fuck PG&E...

I just went over there and turned the lights off 4 hours early, I'll go back and wake them up again tomorrow morning at around 9 or 10am, then shut them off at 8pm and then we're on 12/12 from 8am-8pm going forward. That gives them about about 16-18 hours of total darkness tonight and then 12/12 for the rest of the run. I hope that's enough to send them into flower mode, I have a feeling it will and these girls are going to be rocking by next week or so, but we'll see...
:thankyou:
 
@ 12&12 they will show signs of flowering in aprox. 15 days.

If the pot size is on the small side then you'll just have to be more attentive to the watering.
 
Is it possible having both White and Red leds on at the same time? More light will help getting deeper penetration also the white will supply some red light too. It will consume more watt but may help.
 
Since you had it on 16 per day it will go into flower faster.

You're not that far behind.

I think the biggest mistake is estimating flower time. Everyone thinks theirs will mature faster and that is not the case.

Hope you can hang as long as needed. :thumb:
 
Yeah you do have quite a bit going on.It is neet to have everything running in a lab type environment but its not necessary and elec.cost is not worth it IMO.Remember MJ is a hardy plant and grows natural and things do not need to be so precise.As for you lights I would go ahead and just set the timer where you want things set.I would also just use red spec alone I think on my grow there was less stretching and flowered a little faster.I would completely turn off your ac$$$ and put your exhaust on a timer to save electricity.Pretty cold outside.I am at 1000ft and we have snow this morning?All in all your grow looks great:bravo:
 
Thanks again everyone for your advice and encouragement! Here's another video update to show you how things are going. RoorRip

shovit said:
Is it possible having both White and Red leds on at the same time? More light will help getting deeper penetration also the white will supply some red light too. It will consume more watt but may help.
Click to expand...
Welcome Shovit, yeah I have both veg and flower mode on the lights going, and I believe there is UV and infra-red chips on them too.

YouTube - LED Grow Journal
 
Looking fantastic!

That closet will be full for sure.

Why not make mothers out of the headband plants? Doesn't take much to do.

It's hard to tell if they are flowering or not, but rest assured they are making the switch.

How many days is the flower cycle on those strains?

You may want to move your 12/12 start date back a few days because of the 16 hour days. Not sure if they will bloom at 16 per day but they will on 15 hour days. So you had them ready to go at least.

I realize you're on a tight schedule and the 16 hour days may not have set you back as far as you think. It will just mean a bigger harvest if you can stick it out. The hard part now is going to be waiting to harvest. Check tric's to be sure. :goodjob: :thumb: :popcorn:
 
Hey Saturn, I didn't keep the HB's because I dont want to go out of my way to create room since I'm not a big fan of HB anyway, plus they're a 12 week flower and will only get in the way and overstay their welcome. The others I hear are 8-9 weeks, and yeah I will be watching the trics closely at the end. For the last couple of days the flowers seem to look nicer each time I look at them, maybe the 16 hour light schedule fuck-up wasn't such a bad thing after all, who knows...
 
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