Moody's first LED grow....

[moody420]

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...

Hey bigsby! thanks!

how close did you have your lights to the plants? I have mine sitting pretty much right on top....seems to help avoid stretching. And you can have them close since there is no heat emmitting from the lights. Also, I tried a coco/soil mix which seemed to help alot also. Don't give up on LED's yet....you just gotta practice different techniques to see what works best for you and the environment you have. :jointsmile:

hit me up on yahoo sometime...we can chat about it!

[bigsby]

My room is done. It came out very well although it took me a long time to complete the build. Thanks for asking. I'm really pleased with it. Purpose building from scratch is definitely a great option. I had lots of time to work on the layout, wiring, etc. which really helped. Everything is right where it needs to be allowing for a very efficient use of space. It is wood frame with drywall making it just about air tight. I located intake vents just under the plant canopy together with an overhead scrubber / fan for exhaust. Keeping temperatures under control is much much less of an issue than I feared. The room is 7.5' L x 5' W x 6.5' H. I have a 3' x 5' scrog for flower and a 2' x 5' x 3' cabinet built under a counter top for mothers / cloning / vegging. Plus I have a 2.5' space between the two allowing me full access to plants on either side. The counter top has proven especially useful. It's a basement room with no external exit for heat so I pull the air from one room and vent into a separate room.

I'm not giving up. The plants vegged really nice and I am sure that I can get where I want to be with some effort. And I still don't like the idea of a HPS burning away in the basement but I'm thinking that a 400w or 600w bulb would significantly improve my grow while also freeing up one of the panels for veg / mothers. I'd keep the other as supplemental. I probably should do another run before I decide. The lights were 10" - 12" above the canopy. And with the scrog setup I was able to keep the light pretty uniform.

[Zeffer]

Greetings, even though i'm not that " experienced " with the indoor grow,
i've done an untouchable amount of research, which has put me on the path,
of an amazing crop. So, i want to congrads you, on your set-up. I believe you
have a great set up going there and would suggest going with the 600w HPS.
Cuz'n you have just a bit larger space than mine and i run the 400w HPS for
this flower phase.

You can get that set up with the new Digital, ( dimmable ) ballast for under
$ 175. If you need the website i can look it up for you. That research
( price comparison ) took me hours, so if you' re interested i can find it again!
The beauty of the these new ballast is, they run cooler, the warranty is awesome, you can lower the output if you are working in the G-Room,
If you run the lights during the day and run into a " hot week " you can
also combat the heat by dimming the power out put ! The plants don't mind !
Running the lights at " night " ( off peak hours )
should save you, $$ / month too.

Zeffer

[bigsby]

I appreciate the input. I've done a ton of homework too. If I do go with a light then I'll do a dual 400w - 600w and only run the 600w for two weeks during peak flower. But I'm really more interested in an all LED grow if I can get it done right. And if I need to run the HPS for a few weeks then so be it.

But enough of me. I did not set out to thread jack Moody's log. Sorry Moody! I'm more interested in hearing how you did with this grow, and to learn from your experience. Can you give us some more info on the coco/soil mix? What proportions? Any other amendments? Did you use perlite as well? Any other amendments? Why do you think this mix helped? Besides the coco/soil mix and the shishi high end water, what other steps did you take to dial it in?