Fall '09 PURE LED GROW SHOW - Red Diesel!

[DieAbetic]

Hello everyone. Isn't it a wonderful day to start a new grow? I think so.

Ok what we have here is a home made micro cabinet grow. The cabinet was bought at Walmart for $30, its roughly 32" tall, 24" wide, 11" deep. It is lined with panda plastic, the back has sections cut out for 2 15cfm 'Silent' 4" intake computer case fans (in the middle), and 1 30CFM 'Silent' 4" exhaust fan.

The lights are 1 - 90w ProSource Illuminator 5-band LED UFO (which has already arrived and is set up now as you can see), and also 1 - 90w cheap Chinese eBay 'Illuminator UFO' knockoff (about half the price and has not come yet....in fact the company has yet to send me a receipt even which worries me). ProSource was nice enough to give me a LARGE discount on the Illuminator as long as I make this grow log and a grow video comparing the two products. I will not show ANY preference to either, we can all watch as it goes. There will be a panda-plastic divider between the two light areas once the other light arrives, until then im just going to rotate these two plants everyday under the light to give them some energy for those new roots.

This is a DWC system, using kitty-litter tubs that fit in nicely. I may have to cut out the bottom of the cabinet to allow more grow space, we will see i'll prob have to SCROG. Filled up to about an inch or two from the bottom of my 5" net pots it holds almost 3 gallons per bucket. There are air stone pucks in the bottom connected to EcoPlus 2-outlet air pump. All the nutrients, and other supplies I got from HidHut, who also gave me a generous discount and a couple free things (extra net pots, a timer) just for mentioning GreenPassion, thanks Hidhut.

And now of course for the strain. After looking through my local dispensaries strains (of which there were Hash Plant, 818 OG, ATF, NYC Diesel), I finally picked out two healthy clones of 'Barney's Farm RED DIESEL". A nice mix of NYC Diesel x California Indica (often called California Red), its sativa dominant but can stay low and has thick side branching (which is what i'm looking for with limit space and SCROG)

Nutrients: GH 3part Flora (with hardwater micro because my tap water comes out around 400, and pH of 8). I also have SuperThrive, SM-90, and Botanicare Sweet (my free one should come in soon!).

Curently both were just put in. They are in rockwool cubes buried under the hydroton. Hydroton was cleaned of course, and run through with pH-d water with a drop of Superthrive and SM-90 in it (and some hydrogen peroxide). Neither of them had roots outside of the rockwool yet, so I will continue to top feed with water for a week or two.

Temperatures are very high during the day its very hard to keep them down. My thermometer is broken too, it says its 85 in here right now and its night time with the A/C running next to me. During the day it said it was over 100 in my place so I know its wrong. Either way I'll keep the plants on 18/6 schedule, turning off the lights during the 12-6pm or 1-7pm time period because that is the hottest time of the day.

As you can see I do have a CanFan, I think HidHut sent me the next biggest size, because this thing definitely wont fit in my cabinet. I'll find a way to hook it up outside the cabinet. I also have an Ona Gel Block to help with any kind of smell.

Any other questions/suggestions please let me know. I know this is a long post but you guys gotta have all the details right? Especially since we will finally see what a LED stand-alone light system can do.

Speaking of which the plants are at 5.9 pH and 300ppm (I mixed distilled water with 400+ ppm tap water). Hopefully they survive and dont dry out too much in between top watering. Wish me luck! Enjoy the pics!

[sabasi]

Oh I wanna watch!!!

[DieAbetic]

I think I've gotten the timing down so temps stay below 80 most the time (jumps a bit during the end of the afternoon)

[Deb-HAS-grn]

Great idea on the grow cabinet, I dont know much about growing in this way and it's time I do, so it will be interesting for me to watch your journal...

[Hatch]

Looks Very Nice & Clean, You Did A Great Job Getting Set-Up..Best Of Luck Wishes & Karma On Your Test!!!!

[I8ntLucky_UR]

Gr8t "wok" Die and I hope the other light gets to you soon.

Wish you the best with your new grow and thanks for doing the comparison grow with all of us watching.

[Zigzagman]

On your mark, get set... Grow...

[theOMINOUS_BOTANIST]

Very nice broham,, please can u tell me a place to pik up the panda plastic?? Ive looked a few places an cant find it..

[ileso]

finally we get to see a 100% led grow from scratch

[DieAbetic]

Originally Posted by OMINOUS_ICABOD

Very nice broham,, please can u tell me a place to pik up the panda plastic?? Ive looked a few places an cant find it..

Hey man you can get it here: http://pchydro.com/

its $1.20 plus shipping for like ten feet i think. I got 20 square feet. Make sure you call them if this is all you are ordering. There is something messed up with their online shipping for panda plastic, it will say the shipping is like $20 or something like that, when panda plastic is very light and can fold up into a very small padded envelope. So call them and see if they will lower the shipping cost compared to online.

*edit* when looking for it on that site, type 'poly' into the search box and it will show up as "B & M Poly Plastic" or something like that

[tokecrazy]

You can check out HidHut one of our sponsors. http://www.hidhut.com/catalog/panda-...863ad070351f6e

But it's a whole roll of 10' x 100' $90.00 bucks.Get a couple grow buddys to go in on it.Or sell the what left of the roll on e-bay or cragslist. Peace

[DieAbetic]

Hey all. Wanted to give you all some pics without the blinding LED being on. I cant imagine how bright it will be when the other one arrives (which should be in a week, shipped out yesterday).

Anyways having some trouble. As you know I had about half distilled water half tap water at around 300 ppm before. However, lately i've been using more tap water (some of it bubbled out for a day to remove chlorine, some not :-/). And with pH fluctuations and a bunch of pH down the ppm jumps above 400.

One of the plants is doing better, this was the one that already had roots showing outside of the rockwool they were cloned in - it even has roots dipping into the water. the other plant has some small new green growth but havent seen any roots out the bottom yet. the plants are a little light in color, and some of the top leaves are curling up.

so i guess i gotta do some diagnosing:
the temps are pretty stable now that i've worked out my AC unit. stays around 79-82. not as low as id hope....but not bad enough to really hurt the plants. light is about 5-6" away and air intake is right next to plants.

pH does fluctuate, but I am thinking that may be because of the rockwool. maybe the grower didn't pH water it before hand? Many of the clones there had a little yellowing on the tips/leaves that looked like a pH problem. ph problems could also be from the tap water, but i pH it before i put it in. what else can raise pH? i guess i could buy more distilled water, but i dont really want to.

nutrients are very low amounts (drop of SuperThrive and a drop or two of GH FloraGrow), but with the tap water the ppm is 400-500 already (a bit hot for babies i know).

airflow shouldnt be a problem since i have two 15cfm comp fans on each of the plants and the 30cfm fan on the top left.

so any suggestions on what to do? i can expect a few: "get distilled/filtered water!", "lower temps", "more airflow", "raise nutrients to appropriate 200-300ppm AFTER getting the distilled water"

any others? and does anyone know what problem the curling up 'taco-like leaves' could be? there is also some general yellowing on selected leaves. thanks enjoy the pics!

[I8ntLucky_UR]

Hi there Die I'm no expert with hydro but the roots look nice and bright white and healthy they should be alright. They will veg a bit longer with the other light before flowering?

[DieAbetic]

oh yes they will veg for at least another month. I want both the plants to be trimmed and the exact same size before i put them under the different LEDs for flowering

[kultivator]

looking good die. keep up the good work

[Hatch]

The Taco 'ing Of The Leaves Could Be Heat Related.

??,,Are These The Only Two To Choose From???,,Just A Thought, But Would The Test Be Better With More???There Would Be More To Compare From, & You Wouldn't Have To Worry About These Two Being The Same To Start With..

[6951A]

any way you can get an RO filter or filtered water? At some point (right now, when they are small and when you flush in flower) you want that 0ppm (or close to it) water.

That yellowing and curling could easily be from too much stuff in your tap.


Best of luck

[DieAbetic]

Hatch: no these werent the only two clones to choose from, but they both looked the healthiest. they are guaranteed by the dispensary to be female Barney's Red Diesel from the same mother. its fine that one of them is a little slower. since i have very limited space, I'm going to have to trim the plants back anyways. and i'm going to SCROG them under the two different lights after both are the same size. that way the plants will start flower at the same height, with the same scrog area (approx. 1ftx1ft), the same distance from the lights, the same heat, the same air flow, the same nutrients. im trying to make as many constants as I can. this grow we may not be able to fully compare the Veg powers of both the lights since one plant is a little slower and the other LED is late to arrive. but we will be able to see flowering process fully under equivalent conditions....and the buds are what we really care about right? next grow with self-made clones we can compare Veg rate in an ideal experiment.

69: im going to check out what cheap filters i can get at wal mart this weekend. A brita or Pur should take out some. i know i have to make sure i get a tap filter that doesn't add flouride or any other chemical to clean. basically need one with filter.

*edit* oh yeah PPM 500, pH 5.9. A bit high on the ppm still, but the plants seem ok, got some nice new dark green growth on both of them

[Hatch]

That Sounds Like A Good Plan!!That Also Sound Like A Good Strain!!!

[DieAbetic]

Originally Posted by Hatch

That Sounds Like A Good Plan Sister!!That Also Sound Like A Good Strain!!!

Sister? lol.......