should be good to start first grow next week

[Mal420xl]

my tents will be in fri. my heat and lil stuff will be in on sat. and my light will be here tues. cant wait. my phototron girls are just about dead tho. not sure whats wrong
i thought they were coming back from lockout but it seems like something else got to them. i tried everything i know to help them. replanted them(absolute nitemare that was)
did my best surgically separate them, wash their roots in nice filtered water, gave them nice clean soil. made sure the ph was ok. They just arent responding tho.
on the upside, the light i ordered was backordered after they said it was available. They actually called me to let me know and that because i was told it was available and they didnt have it
they would be willing to let me have the next one up for the same doh!! joy! its not a huge difference for output but big enuff for me... and i didnt have to spend more money thats always good.
ill get some pics when its up next week.

Mal420xl Reviewed by Mal420xl on 01-10-2013. should be good to start first grow next week my tents will be in fri. my heat and lil stuff will be in on sat. and my light will be here tues. cant wait. my phototron girls are just about dead tho. not sure whats wrong i thought they were coming back from lockout but it seems like something else got to them. i tried everything i know to help them. replanted them(absolute nitemare that was) did my best surgically separate them, wash their roots in nice filtered water, gave them nice clean soil. made sure the ph was ok. They just arent Rating: 5

[Mal420xl]

got the tents set up. found a small heater with a thermostat. added a 4" inline fan so it will transfer the heat from one tent to the other, needs some tweaking tho. dismantled the phototron, hack engineering for something so expensive. still have some wiring to clean up and tape and extensions to make but it will do for now. the plants i started in it are still hanging in there somehow. I had to add some regular light so i can see what they really look like. led light really messes with you lol!
started some seeds today i got from a friend no clue what it is but it was good. just need to make a run to htg tomorrow a grab a few things and its good to go. will get a few pics up later.

[Mal420xl]

got the light in today, it's pretty awesome. So heres what i got set up.

veg tent- 4'x4'x6'
320w(100watt light with 100 2w leds, pendants are 6- 10x 2w leds each) led out of a phototron with 6 pendants for sidelighting.
im starting with 4 plants i think until i get my process down.
nothing special just seeds from some decent smoke.

flower tent- 4'x4'x6'
blackdog bd700-u 600w(240 x 5w leds=1200 led watts)


had to add heat since it gets so cold but i put in a 6" inline fan to transfer the heat from one tent to the other and use the 4" to recirculate.
keeps it in the low 70's near the floor and mid 80's as you go up. should work nice.
tents are nothing special they were sorta cheapish and i have some light leaks to chase down
but nothing drastic and all in all they are good enough for the money. plenty of vents and places for cords etc.
started the seeds monday, picked up some seed starter and a couple bags of ocean forest for when they get bigger.
this is gonna be awesome hard to wait sometimes. but in the meantime i still have the plants i started in the phototron.
still kinda sickly but way better than they were. they were almost totally yellow.

[Mal420xl]

just thought id toss a couple new pics of the phototron plants. amazing how much better they look today than just 2 days ago.
looks like theyll make it after all. now the challenge will be keeping them from dying of rootbinding or rot before i can bud them.
first pic is from maybe 3 weeks ago

[Mal420xl]

after seeing how much better the plants are doing under the blackdog im thinking of shifting the phototron light to
flower tent as an augment or as seedling starter. it has a pretty limited spectrum, maybe three red/orange and one blue as far as i can tell.
i dont think it has enough blue leds to be really effective as a veg light but may be better for flowering due to the amount of red.
since im still way under budget i think i may grab another blackdog for a couple reasons. one it rocks, two when its on it puts out enough heat that its warmer than the tent with heater in it. three it uses less power than the heater
so i would only have to run the heat when the lights are off and it will only be for 6 hours as opposed to 24.
the tent with the blackdog stays at 82 when the lights are on and drops to 72 until it comes back on the heater is circulated to both the tents so it never gets colder than 72 in either of them.
summer will be interesting for temps but far more manageable than if i was using hid. the max temp i have gotten off either of my lights was 98 on the phototron and 101 on the blackdog. and both of those came from the air being exhausted from the heat sinks. the highest temp in the tent with black dog was at the ceiling and that was 88. the phototron light doesnt put out enough heat to make a difference.

[Mal420xl]

seems like a couple plants have some led burn going on. wasnt really expecting that. thought for sure it was nutes issue but once i moved the light up it seems to have eased up.
even tho the blackdog spectrum is better its still a little hard to see exactly how the plants are doing unless you get closer or they are in dire need of attention.
cant imagine how the people at photoron managed to sell as many as they have and stay in business at least 20 years with such a small rig. 6 plants in that thing would be excruciating
to maintain. glad these are just a test. as much stress as they have been under i am expecting all males if they survive that long.

[Mal420xl]

the led burn seems better or i should say it doesnt look any worse. that bd700 is a beast. even tho they got toasty they are still growing pretty nice.
thats a testament to endurance. im sure they are gonna be males with all the stress they have been under.

[Mal420xl]

was hoping id these things a little closer to stable but im not sure its gonna happen. between the soil, transplanting, led burn i dont know if they can make the turn around.
besides flushing them and feeding them once a week or so ago i havent done much to them. the three on the left look like they are doing a little better the three on the right are goin down hard it seems. weird.

[painretreat]

Interesting grow. Are all your plants in one pot?:stoned: pr

[Mal420xl]

yeah the tub was part of the phototron i was trying to follow the their process. i would normally not have more than one plant per pot... well thats not strictly true i start off with 2 usually to try
to make one stronger over the other but i take one out before replanting them., but their process is for 6 in a 21 x 51 space??
i just wanted to see if it works but as you can see it lends itself to failure. it was totally enclosed, no means of drainage, more or less a nitemare really.
i tore the phototron apart and put them in a tent in hopes of saving them and they are trying but 6 plants in there is asking a lot.