Quote Originally Posted by oldmac
Hi Apollonia,

First let me say what a very nice grow you have going there. Looks like you put a lot of time and effort, and probably a lot of research and thinking into building a very nice aero system. Nice work! :thumbsup:

I also mark my plants when I'm growing out larger plants but I put a plastic nursery tag around the stalks, and that follows the plant right thru trimming.
You are absolutely right about trying to avoid confusion, I go so far as color coded 5 gallon jugs we mix nutrients in. I use blue for grow nutes, red for bloom nutes, white for RO water and yellow as a waste jug. (I do aero/fog to waste) Nobody gets an excuse (not even me) for using the wrong item at the right time.

I had a pair of Procyon's for almost a year doing veg and mothers, mounted on a light rail and they worked extremely well. Like you point out the height above the canopy makes a big difference in performance, too close and you can stop growth and too hi creates weak plants that stretch. But get that sweet spot and the coverage vs. penertration is good. I also love that you are quantifing the light levels, that is a very nice touch.

Continued success and good growing.
Hey there OM! So glad you stopped by - I've been reading your posts before I even joined the site, I'm honored to have you here.

Yeah, I'm an animal with research. I don't think anyone with no real prior experience (me) would have a chance of pulling off a grow like this with all these separate, unknown & difficult elements unless they put a ton of research and preparation into every little aspect and know their shit backwards & forwards and even then they'd have to keep observant as the plans hit reality. Outside the research I've done, a few simple backyard vegetable/flower plantings is the extent of my growing experience. I never even used hydroponics before this - but I take this seriously and I am going to try to make the very best of what I have.

About the Procyons - I plan on trying to get more & better numbers/data on the light readings as I haven't seen anything like that out there really. Well I've seen it at greenpinelane.com but again, he's growing cherry tomatoes.

I'm happy with what my lights are doing for me - to my untrained eye, the plants look very healthy & green and I think they look like they're in near optimal health (please, anyone, give me your opinion on this esp if you think I'm wrong). I credit this to the fact that heat isn't an issue and the LED is a "gentler" light in ways, plants grow a little different under them - it's a very subtle thing, but I've noticed they're a different shade of green - more yellow-green than the gray-green you get under an HID. There's also less of a sheen on plants grown under LEDs which I believe means they are not building up protective wax (not the proper term, I know) on their leaves to block intensity & certain frequencies that can "damage" them - but this is all conjecture from me.

I'd say the "worst" thing about my LEDs is the penetration issue - it goes not much farther down than 3 feet - but I have heard HID isn't that much more effective after 3 feet either so, not a biggie. I'm not growing anything I want to get larger than 3 ft anyway. If I may ask, why did you stop using your Procyons? Do you remember where the "sweet spot" was above the canopy for you? What would you say the biggest difference is in terms of Procyon veg/growth vs. HID grown plants?

It's funny - categorizing/organizing the nutes, the plants, etc is one of my favorite things to do. Maybe weird, maybe a little OCD, whatever, I'm happy. I like to color code too. There's something satisfying about the process. Plus I think I'd lose it if I were confronted with 50 odd "mystery" plants of indeterminate parentage/strain b/c they weren't properly labeled.

I thought I'd included this in my grow description but if not, now's a good time to say it. My system is largely modeled after Stinkbud's generously provided plans. Just giving the credit where it is due - the only reason my grow is where it is is b/c I get the privilege of standing on the shoulders of giants who came before me and slogged it out for the first time, like you & Stink & everyone else on these forums who made their own additions to this huge community resource. So I'd just like to take a little break in the journal to acknowledge all those folks - I am sincerely grateful. Now let me stop myself before this gets too shmaltzy & I start thanking my parents & god like it's the Academy Awards.