LED grow NO.3, testing the Pro-Grow 260 and Rhino Seeds. Blue Treacle & AK47 AUTOS !

Hey everyone,

So welcome to my third grow log which will be using the Pro-Grow 260 LED from Hydroponics Hut. In this grow I will be doing something I have not tried before... autoflowering plants.

The seeds I will be using are Blue Treacle Auto Feminised and AK47 Auto Feminised from the Rhino Seed website... I heard a lot about the Blue Treacle and expect it to yield some good buds for me ;) The AK47 is a well established strain so I am quietly confident in its genetic qualities.

So stay tuned as I will be germinating the seeds in the next few days and getting them started in their pots.

Take care all

S.L.

Hey leprechaun,

I've been following your journals with the PG260 and they've looked great man, propz to your skillz in such a small area.

I just got my ProGrow 260 and found that temps in my cab are over 31 with 4 cfls (6500k 23w). Anyway do you think your cfls did anything more than add heat? Your space was taller than mine so i think your setup is better to handle heat. Just wanted to know what you think of using just the LED throughout? I'm thinking even 1 cfl is too hot so I'm gonna test this thing out and see what it does by itself. Maybe if i get some spare cash later on I'll supplement another type of LED. But for now I'll just go PG260 and add some C02 during bloom.

So, you think that with sufficient temps the ProGrow will hold its own?

Sure, the Pro-grow 260 is good for 4 - 5 plants. Even on it's own without the added CFL it would get you some good bud.

I had a great yield in my first grow where I used just 80w of CFL. (4 x 20w). I really wanted the CFL for heating purposes.

My yield was a little less than the first grow in my second grow, I think because I used too much CFL (4 x 65w) and the temps were hitting 30+ degrees C.

Keeping the temps right is also very important. If they are too hot or too cold the growth will be stunted. Now that the summer is over the 4 x 65w should be ok.

I'll run the extractor a little quicker and vent out a window. I also use a carbon filter to minimise the smell.

With your issue with the heat, it might be that you are not getting enough draw from your extractor. What is the temp outside the tent ? One 23w CFL shouldn't heat up a tent.

Its been pretty hot where I'm at, so the temps outside along with my small cab space are the culprit I think. Im using a area 20 inches deep, 26 inches wide and 54 inches tall. Its small but good enough for just 3 I want to grow. I had 4 23w cfls in with the PG260 to start but when closed temps were up over 35c. I have a 80cfm fan blowin hot air out but its a booster and in reality only pushes half that at best. So i took out all the cfls and keep it open when on and temps are about 26-29c, outside been a steady 28-30c. I got a 6" inline 400cfm with speed adjuster on the way, hopefully I can control the temps then and put the cfls back. Got the larger fan cause Im testin the LED this round, if all goes well I'm gonna get a nice size tent and another PG.
One thing i found interesting though, is looking around the web nobody seems to have given the PG260 a run on its own, I was curious to how it performed by itself.

Update no 1.

So here are the ladies after about 1.5 weeks of growing, maybe.

I have 5 plants, 3 are AK47 and 2 are Blue Treacle, both feminised autos. I got the seeds from the Rhino Seed company.

The plants are just finding their feet and will soon begin to grow much stronger I'm sure. It is quite surprising how quickly they begin to bush out.

I had the seedlings on the veg setting of my Pro-Grow 260 until now. Today I switched to veg and bloom spectrum. Hopefully they will get a good boost from that.

The weather is getting much cooler here and the humidity is coming down too. I will wait until 2 weeks into bloom to switch on the 4x65w 2700k CFL.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos...

S.L.

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_0929.jpg

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Godspeed

Sic Semper Tyrannus

:s4:

First I would like to say thank you for posting your grow journals they have been very informative!!! I have read your first two grows and I saw in one of your post that your friends purchased the Pro Grow 400. I was wondering how things are working out for them? I was on the fence as to which LED brand to go with however after reading your journal it has pushed me twards the Pro Grow brand. So I guess my question for you is it worth purchasing the 400 over the 260 for my 4'x4'x7' grow tent? Or are they comparable?

Thanks for reading my grows Twisted. I'm glad they could be of some assistance to you. My friend has the same size space as you do and the light is working well on about 7 plants.

You should check on the Hydroponics Hut website for more grow logs. The Pro-Grow 400 is a great light, however, I think I will be heading towards the Pro-Grow X5 pretty soon.

The Pro-Grow X5 is expensive however I think it would be worth it. If you don't have enough funds for the X5 I would definitely go for the 400 over the 260 for your floor space.

Maybe go another step up from the 400 to the 550... It will make all the difference... Led technology really does work... I'm happy I made the change as electricity is expensive here.

Take care bro...

S.L.

Update no 3.

Hey all, so there have been some big changes in my tent. My friend with the larger tent couldn't accommodate 4 of my ladies so I had to take them. There are 8 plants in my tent now.

To tell the truth I had a problem with the first attempt at germinating the seeds. All went great in the paper but the small peat cups I put them in dried up beside the fan.

I was sure these plants were doomed as the soil dried up even before they broke the soil... I watered them again and gave them to my friend, and they survived !

So I had already planted the 4 new seeds. I figured that I would only go 4 seeds at a time but as these autos are far behind on development I decided to keep them.

They will stay good and short and should not get in the way too much. I have heard that SOG is a very good idea when dealing with auto strains.

So here are the pictures to date. Most of the seeds turned out great, except the 2 plants at the back of the main photo. They are a little deformed but I saw this before so no problem.

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...psdc7990ff.jpg

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So hope you enjoy the pictures... I realise that this will be an interesting grow. I might lose some of the under-developed plants or maybe they will pull through... watch this space ! :)

S.L.

Update no 4.

Hey all,

So here we are just 36 days from sprouting and my ladies are already showing some great promise. They are only 2 weeks or less into bloom and there are pistil everywhere :)

Also trichome production has stepped up a gear. The original plants that were in the tent are now between 1.5 to 2 feet tall.

The plants I took back from my friend are coming along very well and are catching up on the more mature.

I think I'll be hooked on growing autos for a while. They are finished much quicker than regular plants. My lights stay on 20 hours per day everyday and this really beefs them up quickly.

So here are some photos for your pleasure. In case you are wondering where I got the seeds they are from the Rhino Seed company. Just talk to the member 'Cannabis Seeds' on here.

The light is from the LED manufacturer 'Hydroponics Hut'. It a great light and works well from veg to bloom.

Oh, and the last picture below is of my friends set up. The Pro-Grow 400 and 7 plants all doing well. The tent is 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m.

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_1056.jpg

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Looking good! I've been watching your journal very interesting and helpful information.Keep it up.

Quick update no 5.

Thanks for the rep Billy, glad I could be of some help.

I had to take another few pictures to see for myself how these plants are growing. They are animals ! :) I think I'll be forever an automatic/feminised grower.

It all just makes too much sense... They finish faster, I can grow more in my 90 x 90cm space than regular plants so I'll get a very similar yield to growing non-autos.

As the plants are shorter the light is penetrating much better than before. I don't need to LST them either which saves me some space aswell.

I have 7 plants in my tent and there is no over crowding ! This is a first ! And they are packing on the bud so fast ! I am betting that everyone here can see a difference in bud size...

The 4 plants that came to the tent at about 1 inch in diameter have now fully caught up with my much more mature plants and all are doing great, great LED light and great seeds :)

These ladies are going to turn out great ! Does anyone have any auto strains they would like to tell me about ? As long as they are on the Rhino Seed company website.

The reason I want them to be available on the Rhino Seeds website is simply that they post discretely and I never had any trouble.

Anyway, here are some pictures for your pleasure... Let me know if you see a marked difference from the last post 4 days ago... I think I do !

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_1084.jpg

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How far along are you plants now? Im beginning to wish I got autoflower strains. Im using an MH/HPS combo and my last light bill for vegging wasn't too bad im expecting this one to be up there. How much did your electric bill jump up running them 20/4 if you don't mind me asking? Good job by the way.

def dude you can see a difference and you have made me so impressed with the auto flower and led's. My next grow i will be doing both, thank you, uploading pics of mine today check em out

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drew225

How far along are you plants now? Im beginning to wish I got autoflower strains. Im using an MH/HPS combo and my last light bill for vegging wasn't too bad im expecting this one to be up there. How much did your electric bill jump up running them 20/4 if you don't mind me asking? Good job by the way.

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Hey, the plants are 41 days or so from breaking ground. In a normal grow I would veg for 4 or 5 weeks and wait another week to see signs of sex.

Looking at he plants now I see buds popping out of everywhere ! These guys will be good yielders for me I'm sure.

Regarding lighting, I am running 190w of LED and 260w of 2700k CFL @ 20 hours per day. I think my entire set-up is costing about €30 to run every month. So a Euro per day or so.

It really doesn't bother me too much on electricity. The LED is a beast for the result of just 190w... You would be amazed... You can hear the plants grow under it !

So I'm glad you are getting some tips from my grow. I'll be looking forward to seeing your grow soon.

Take care dude.

S.L.

Update No. 6

Hey all,

So things are looking very good in my 3' x 3' tent right now. I'm very impressed with the vigour of these autos... They are about 52 days old by now and looking great !

But remember that I picked up 4 plants from a friend that were very far behind in development. They have caught up in stature but not in bud production.

The buds are beginning to fatten up at an ever increasing rate. I think this harvest will be a very good one !

One plant is already beginning to suck the nitrogen from the leaves and is starting to yellow, but this is quite normal.

Two other plants are showing signs of an issue. I believe it is a PH problem which I have to send away for a PH meter. I have the Litmus Paper but I want something more accurate.

I can't believe I made it this long in growing without a proper PH meter... Other than that everything is going great. The 5 other plants are looking healthy and green.

So here are some pics for you. I added the AAA battery so you can have an idea of the size of bud I have.

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_1118.jpg

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your doing awesome bro, I am so surprised how good they are doing with mainly cfl lighting. That led light is working wonders, keep it up!

Looking great SL. You inspired me with your first LED log to buy a Pro Grow 400 and I like it, but my grow space is 4.5 feet X 4.5 feet and I don't feel like its adequately covering more than 2.5 feet X 2.5 feet. I hung the light in the center of my 4.5 X 4.5 area and I'm just not happy with its coverage. The plants in the 2.5 X 2.5 area are growing very well under the 400 alone, but I want to utilize my entire area. I have debated buying another 400, but I still don't feel like it will cover the space right. Any suggestions on how to cover the edges better? I want to stick with LED to keep the temps and electric bills down. I think maybe I should have bought a 550. I have thought about maybe some LED spotlights. I am also toying with the idea of running my aeroflo2 30 site which if I bought another 400 that would work perfect, I just haven't done hydro in a long time and haven't had much practice with the aeroflo. Also being as I grow in a tent I am restricted on height and the aeroflo sits at almost 2 feet tall with only 4 feet to the top of the tent from there. I would have PM'd ya but I couldn't figure out how to...

Hey Sticky,

I have never used the 400 myself but a friend has.

I would have thought the 400 might cover that area. I think the LEDs are set to 60 degrees so the lower the light is the tighter the footprint.

The only way I see of getting more coverage from an LED light is to raise it, but low enough to prevent too much stretch.

Maybe you should go down the road of autos like me. The buckets are very close together, this lets the light cover more plants.

In your space you could have maybe 9 - 12 auto flowering plants, 1 foot sq of space per plant. I would go with 9 to start with. I think you will do well from that.

I tried the AK47, auto, feminised and the Blue Treacle, auto, fem in this grow, from Rhino Seeds. I think I will always be an auto fan from now on.

I think another Pro-Grow 400 should cover that space. But try the 9 auto flowers and your Pro-Grow 400 on the next grow. You only need to cover 3' x 3' then.

If you want to fill the tent with more than 9 I think you will need the extra PG 400. There is a new PG X5 for sale now I think. If I had the cash to spare I would get it, maybe after Xmas.

My plants are about 2' - 3' tall by now and they are fully grown. The autos also help when there are height issues, My tent is only 5' in height and I have no issues, I didn't LST this time.

Anyway, hope this helps. Cool that we have another LED grower here. I've also added 260w of CFL to my tent. I think this makes a difference. Maybe fills the spectrum the LED can't.

Take care

S.L.

Looking awesome bro. I just started an auto N Lights and will be doing 5 more. Im going for 6 total plants this time as to focus more on quality. The 12 that I have now in my 4x6.2.8 feet is a little much for a newb like me

Oct 28th, 2012

Update no 7.

Hey everyone. So here is an update on my grow. The plants are doing great and I had no major issues with this grow. The are about 60 days old from seed.

Some plants are beginning to show some loss of nitrogen in the leaves and maybe 3 are showing a slight PH issue but nothing too bad. My PH metre is coming in the post soon.

I have had no problems with mould or pests so I am very happy with the outcome so far. I think the plants have about 3 - 4 weeks left in them until harvest.

I have switched the Pro-Grow 260 LED light into the red spectrum as it offers the choice of just the blue/white spectrum, just the red spectrum or having both spectrum on together.

I think the plants enjoy basking in the slutty red light during the final few weeks of bloom. The LED is using about 140w in the bloom spectrum and I have 4 x 65w CFL too.

I'm sure you'll agree that the buds do look very nice under the red spectrum Nice and slutty So enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think

Take care

S.L.

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_1149.jpg

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Would you mind telling me what your CFL set up is? Individual lights, sockets, extension cords, etc. Im trying a similar set-up in my closed with auto Northern Lights with LED's and CFLs. Thanks. And your set up and results looks bitchin!:thumbsup:

Hey Drew

The CFL set-up is quite simple. From the electrical socket I used 2.5mm, 3 core, heat resistant flex to a junction box on the ceiling of my 5' tent.

From the junction box there are 4 x 1.5mm, 3 core, heat resistant flexes, each going to a 65w, 2700k CFL.

I just coil up the excess when the plants begin to get taller. The 4 flexes are long enough to nearly touch the floor, with CFL attached, when let full down. That's it really.

You will see 2 cables coiled up on the ceiling too. They are just a couple more flexes I put in but I'm not using. I might use them for a couple of fans some day.

The LED and CFL lights stay on 20/4 via a timer for the autos. I'm really loving the autos. I think they are the way forward for me. Quick finishing plants to keep the stocks going ;)

Anyway, hope this helps.

Attachment 287564

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silent leprechaun

Hey Drew

The CFL set-up is quite simple. From the electrical socket I used 2.5mm, 3 core, heat resistant flex to a junction box on the ceiling of my 5' tent.

From the junction box there are 4 x 1.5mm, 3 core, heat resistant flexes, each going to a 65w, 2700k CFL.

I just coil up the excess when the plants begin to get taller. The 4 flexes are long enough to nearly touch the floor, with CFL attached, when let full down. That's it really.

You will see 2 cables coiled up on the ceiling too. They are just a couple more flexes I put in but I'm not using. I might use them for a couple of fans some day.

The LED and CFL lights stay on 20/4 via a timer for the autos. I'm really loving the autos. I think they are the way forward for me. Quick finishing plants to keep the stocks going ;)

Anyway, hope this helps.

Attachment 287564

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Do you have a pic of your CFL's? and LED? Just wanted to see how you had them placed. Thanks again

hey man sorry to bother you on your grow log I have no idea how to pm ppl. Could you please check out my log and offer your insight on one of my problems I am having I have posted in forums 1 week ago and no one is interested in helping, I would really appreciate it man. Thanks

Hey SL, I ended up ordering a second PG 400. I e-mailed the company about how I was a bit disappointed with the coverage and they gave me a $40 discount on the second unit, which is basically the same as if I bought the two at the same time and got the bulk price. Anyway I am happy they did something for me. Maybe after I clear out my flower space I'll start a log of the clones I am going to run. I have DP Blueberry, G13 Pineapple Express, and Barneys Farms LSD. I'm going to run 6-7 of each under the two PG 400's. It should be interesting. I am also thinking about breeding a male BB with my two different LSD's I have. I think if I can grow out a bunch of the resulting seeds and take two clones off each plant I will find one of them to be pretty damn amazing. Anyways, I still have about 4 weeks till I can begin flowers on the clones so keep an eye out for the log.

Hey SL, as you know already you have inspired me to try the auto flower seeds. I was just wondering what your estimate of what you will harvest will be or if that proves to be too difficult too figure out what do you think you have as of now in grams. I would just like to know so I know what to expect. You are what 70 days in got a few weeks to go so just trying to figure out what the final yield will be in that a little less than 90 day grow cycle. Thanks, keep up the good work

3rd of November, 2012

Update no. 8

Hey all,

So I have decided to cut down one plant and I did a little lolly popping on 2 plants to give more light penetration through the canopy.

From the lolly popping (7 - 8 lower branches) I got about an ounce dry. The buds are sticky and stinky, just the way I like them

Here is a quick photo of the main cola of the AK47 I cut down this evening... And this is one of the smallest plants in the tent.

It weighs 112 grams just the way it is before drying so I think I'll have maybe 40% of that dry. The pots are very dry now as they all need a good watering.

This is not the entire plant as it is also one of the plants that were lolly popped a few days ago. I think I made about 1.5 to 2 ounces dry from this plant alone, yummy

I think I'll be a big fan of the autos from now on. A good tip is to always go with second generation or more in the auto strains. The AK47 genetics are strong in this one Obi Wan...

I'll have a good update soon for harvest time...

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...stmaincola.jpg

Take care all

S.L.

That looks so fucking scrumptious mmmhhmm, good job dude. Your the shit, let me know what you end up with in the end

Some pics just before harvest:

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_1174.jpg

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by silent leprechaun

Some pics just before harvest:

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/...r/IMG_1174.jpg

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Hey check out my grow log and tell me what you think. Ive just got 3 plants (one is only a few weeks old) and im growing under 1 300w CFL and a Sunshine Systems LEDGP45 GlowPanel 28 Watt 45 LED Grow Light. After about 3 weeks of growing under these 2 light my girls appear to be turning into real monsters. Its only a closet grow so ill have to switch them to my flowering tent soon but im impressed with the LED and how little heat it puts out. The price is a little high though.

http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/...y-strains.html

hey einstein,im doin a second grow soon and thinking of using led,itll be a sativa grow with 2/3 plants in a 3deep x 4wide x 6high tent in a closet with a silent extractor fan.should be good as itll be my first proper grow,did lowryder 2 a while ago in a cfl cabinet grow.
how do you find the led grow light and which would you recomenf for2/3 plants?