Moody's first LED grow....

[irydyum]

You should start a thread for the lil' xperiment ur runnin St. Wingnut. I'm sure we could think of plenty more for you to test :thumbsup:

[khyberkitsune]

"I would think that bouncing it off the ceiling in addition to normal lighting up top in it's normal position, would increase overall photo density if anything.

Weez: I appreciate you giving this a trial with your meter, I don't have one at the moment that I think is accurate enough and I don't have a setup at all at the moment to try it :-) Like you said, I think any gain is a gain worth having if all you're investing is a few extra dollars in extra mylar or foil or paint or paper!"

So much for wetware!
I was fuzzily remembering some Inverse square law measurements from last year.:stoned:
I was happily wrong about reflection stats.

Huge difference!

Started with a white bucket and a yellow bucket.
[attachment=o252039]
I reasoned that the white would reflect the red and the blue well enough.
[attachment=o252040]
And, that the yellow bucket would reflect quite a bit less of each since they are narrow bandwidth sources.
[attachment=o252041]

Now for the numbers;
White bucket started at;
[attachment=o252042]
and dropped to 1570 LUX as the leds heated up a little.

The yellow bucket was 1030 after warmup.
Dang!

Got curious and stuffed a black, plastic bag into da white bucket.
It dropped to;
[attachment=o252043]

A photon absorbed, is a photon lost.


Hmm, I says, what about tech reflect?
I put 3 4" squares of relectix at a 30 degree angle in the bottom of the white bucket surrounding the photodetector, (kind of a triangular funnel);
got 1640!
Woohoo! Now I knows what to do.:thumbsup:

Next time I buy a roll of reflectix, I'll line the whole bucket and take a reading. I'll bet a penny that it tops 1700.

Thanks for gettin' me rollin' on dis.

Aloha and mahalo,
Weezard

Just to add - this is proof that mirrored materials work better than plain white. Tons of misconceptions about that and here's the solid low-down in this very post.

However, lighting from the bottom is still wasteful. With LED, you could just take a smaller panel and nestle it below the main canopy and do a bang-up job. Not like you're really going to burn the plants.

[moody420]

Hey guys....sorry I've been lagging on posts! I just wanted to let everyone know that my first LED harvest is done! Everything has been cut and dried....and I've already smoked through the Shuga. I'm curing the blue dream and strawberry kush still (even though I have no patience and am smoking it). :jointsmile:

final yields:

shuga - 1 1/2 oz off of 4 plants (those were the last to go in). The smoke was very good, good flavor and good smell. I enjoyed it...don't know if I would say it's a favorite though.

Blue dream - got about an 1 1/2 oz off 4 plants. I should have vegged them longer and been more aggressive when it came to trimming the bottoms when i flipped to flowering. I also had alot of ph problems with this one in the beginning and wasn't able to correct it till about 4 weeks into flower. Live and learn....

Strawberry Kush - got about 1 oz off of 2 plants. This was one of the most interesting plants I have ever grown. Very fast in veg, slow to flower and tons of ph problems. BUT, it grew some good dank! I was really surprised after cutting and curing it for a week how good it tastes and smells!

So all in all, I would say my first LED experience was successful. I am still a new grower and am learning every day. I feel like alot of problems came up as I was already in the middle of flowering, so hopefully this time will go smoother!

I will say the LED's have been fun to work with. People who say you can't grow bud under LED's are wrong. I am still an ameteur and was able to pull over 4 oz off of 10 plants that were only 8-10" when i started flowering.....not bad if you ask me! :jointsmile:

I've already got my grow room back in action. I am trying 3 different strains this time. Super Silver Spur, Sierra Kush, and good old purple kush....I'll try to start a new log soon. Thanks for checking in! :jointsmile:

[Weezard]

No worry Moody,

We been "talkin' story" while we wait.

Congratulations on the harvest, and thanks for the use of the hall.

Aloha,
Wee

[dopet4h2c0]

thanks for the update and lets see some dry pics of the buds on your next grow are you going to be adding more leds? and are you gonna do another thread casue i hope you do and i know everyone else does it was fun to whatch and learn i think you did a great job:thumbsup:

[moody420]

Loooong time....no updates! I haven't had a lot of time lately to keep on this board....and I miss it! My laptop at home has gotten some virus and it's not the easiest site to be on while in the office! :jointsmile:

I just wanted to say that I'm still growing and still using just the LED 150w panels. The only changes that I have made to this grow is that I used 50/50% coco/soil. And I'm not messing with my tap water anymore....I've gone all distilled water. It's a bit more of a pain having to constantly buy distilled water, but I don't have a hint of a yellow leaf....so I'm guessing it's working! :thumbsup:

I'm about 2 1/2 weeks into flower and they are looking great....i'll try to get some pics up soon! Happy Growing everyone! :jointsmile:

[stra8outtaWeed]

glad to hear everything is going well with the new soil/coco mix :thumbsup:

[moody420]

So I am completely done with the 2nd harvest using all LED lights. I had 15 plants. I have been clipping them down and hanging them in cycles....but let me say they are BEAUTIFUL!!!! I mean there is not a yellow leaf in sight! I used distilled water the whole grow and for me it made all the difference in the world! I have huge tops that are the size of my forearm! For me, considering my grow space, is pretty damn good!

I'm still having laptop issues and only can access this site from work periodically....but as soon as I can, i will post some pics. I'm very happy with this round as it has been my best yet. The buds look like they were rolled in sugar....so crystally! And they small AMAZING!!!! :thumbsup:

It's just funny to me, because I still have people tell me that you can't grow under LED lights....people are really still that close minded! I've seen the benefits of not running all that hot energy and it's been a great experience for me. NO heat, way less energy....great happy buds! :jointsmile:

[bigsby]

First, congrats! I'm interested to hear more. Second, I'm not thread jacking here. We're in similar situations and I'd like to compare oranges to oranges with you.

I completed my first run a few weeks back - 2x 150w LED panels same as yours. (Yes, it took me forEVER to complete my rooms.) I was a bit disappointed with the way they stretch which resulted in pretty smallish buds. The stretch made me think they were starved for light. They looked a lot like your first run. I'm thinking to move one of the panels to my veg / mothers and adding a 400w HPS to my flower room. I still have the heat issue to deal with but I'm confident that my fan can do the job @ 400w or even 600w. Or perhaps I should do a second LED run to see if I can dial it in? I grow in soil but could easily add some coco.

No pics and no log. I'm not in a grow friendly place and I'm highly risk averse by nature...

[GetThisOrDie]

Grats on the good buds man...

I started indoors with LEDs and I did grow some dank shit with just some panels I got from ebay. Its definitely possible to grow with them. Then I got a 600w hps and by god... it was like night and day difference. I still use the LEDs for supplimental and for veg.

Bigsby I think it would be a good idea to use them like so. Supplimental and for veg.