so I've been growing for about 8 months now, had 4 autos to start and 2 regular chemdawg plants that i had harvested already. the autos turned out really airy but I really didnt have anything but soil and a light to start. chemdawgs got infested with caterpillars and i had to pull them a little early. salvaged most of the crop and they turned out more dense than the autos. after a month and a half i had thrown them outside until harvest. I officially have a room set up still needs a couple minor tweaks. the grow room: 6x10 with 9' ceilings TPO roofing material on the walls for reflection.(I'm curious if anyone has ever tried this feedback is appreciated) its the white material they use for roofing alot now a days i had easy access to it which is why i went that route 16" hurricane oscillating fan 1 ton mini split ac system 440cfm intake bringing in air every other couple hours on a timer low cfm exhaust running all day 300 watt mars hydro LED lights x2 currently i have another couple i have yet to utilize currently been using general organics veg and bloom nutes calmag humic acid kelp greatwhite and terpinator also I have been recycling my ac condensate water lately, does anybody have any experience doing that??? I've been keeping the room at 78 for the most part. humidity is in between about 55% and 65% usually I'm still extremely new to everything that being said though I feel i have made drastic improvements since the beginning. I had 2 lemon kush/kosher kush plants i was givin by my uncle that ended up being males so I just popped 13 seeds after trashing the males to test how i can handle some more plants. this cycle will be double what im used to but I think I got it. I will post pics of the set up as well as the males and new pots i popped. I currently have 10 mimosas seeds from symbiotic genetics, grabbed them from TLC out here in LA (jungleboyz collective) 2 west coast OG autos and 1 crystal meth auto any insight, tips, advice whatever opinions suggestions all are appreciated let me know what you guys think!
Such a great room. Why mars 300s? Get better lights. Cmh hps or top end leds. Man I wish I had a room like that. Lol
thanks its been alot of work puttin it together the mars were cheap to start i only paid 80 each light bought 2 myself and my cousin bought 3 he stopped growing so I got to take them on they just aren't in use currently lol. I've dumped a fair amount of money into the room at this point and i was actually saying my next big investment will be in a better light... wanted to stick with leds due to cost effectiveness and theres no heat from them i live in a hot area as is... was thinking of going with spectrum king as ive seen some good reviews and was actually speaking with a commercial grower who swears by them... any thoughts on those? I would like to try cmh or hps but the cost to run them is what makes me hesitant Sent from my SM-G928P using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Spectrum King are good lights. I've heard a lot of people say they are some of the best veg lights you can get. Not as good for flower. But they get the job done just fine. But for the price I think you could get better lights for the same price. At least you're looking in a good price point. Unfortunately for leds cost is still up there for top end stuff. Top shelf light, pacific light concepts, chilled are all good lights for leds. I run cmh now. They have the best overall spectrum for bulbs and they do a real good job. But they do throw some heat. I saw a difference of about 3-5° when I replaced my 2 mars 300s with a 315 in a 4x2 tent. So not a ton of heat. But some. As far as price, a watt of led and a watt of hid are still just a watt. You'll maybe save a little with leds but you'll need more of them to cover your area. Less spread. I doubled to tripled my yield going from 270w of mars 300 to 315w of cmh. It's really not a big difference cost wise but yield is huge
my understanding of the lights and energy they pull is still a bit hazy at this point... to my understanding the 300 watt MARS lights dont really pull 300 they are more like pulling half that correct? so, my thinking is if i have both of those MARS lights only pulling half that then together with that coverage its really only pulling the 300 watts combined or just about no? whereas the CMH/HPS setup would be pulling a true 300 watts off of one light with however much coverage? or is that completely off lol? again im new to this so bare with me! whats the difference of coverage with the setup you said compared to the MARS LEDs? the increase in yield is definitely appealing to my lungs haha
thats an interesting thought.... i think ill look into that right now... just to ask i take it youve done it already? is it worth it in terms of Cost and effectiveness/durability? im good with my hands and im sure i can probably do it no problem just wonder if its worth the trouble or if i should just invest in a brand name...
Yeah. My mars 300s were good for a 1.5x2 area in flower. 135w each. So 270. The cmh is 3.5x3.5 according to the company but it does great in a 4x3. If say 4x3 is close to true. But yeah your thought process is on point. And diy leds are the way to go. If you're gonna go led. You can basically build a 1200 dollar light for 5-600. It's not too hard from what I've known as long as you can turn a wrench. Lol. I'm just not ready to start to learn that. Still figuring out the plants. Haha
just for the record bro i didnt do that on purpose lol i just noticed your comment right now and saw that i didnt even know what the disagree thing was i just saw a button that said "undo rating" right now i didnt disagree with you lol like the post says above any and all insight opinions advice are all welcome it was an accident lolol so thank you for the advice no need to get worked up for a block
Well atleast my thoughts on the energy are correct... i looked into the DIY lights idk sounded like chinese too me lol. i bet i can figure it out if i take it slower and watch the vids plus read up on it more... may be my next venture... for now like you said while i figure out the plants better i think ill just stick with the lights i have and start a project on the side to build a better light. still the yield you were talking about from the CMH is enticing and i just found out we have a contract with our solar company, no matter how much power we use we are at a flat rate for the next few years.... im no longer worried about power LOL
11 days later this is what the plants look like all are between 3-6 inches im curious to know what anybody thinks about there growth rate so far? are they doing ok or could they be doing better??? ive been giving them plain recycled water from my ac unit only and things are going well so it seems! thoughts anybody? thanks again for any feedback! Sent from my SM-G928P using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Be careful using that reclaim from the ac. There's bacteria and mold that forms inside those things after time and it can be very bad for the plants. No clue how rare or normal it is but I've heard from people that have had issues from it. But the babies look good.
just saw your response, totally ironic because I did notice like an algae or mold forming... i noticed some floaties in the water and after closer inspection i realized I was draining into a clear ribbed hose that caught water in the ribs and the light from my grow was obviously going through the clear hose so the algae started to form.. pretty sure thats why it formed right? anyways i stopped using the reclaim and went back to filling up a 5 gallon bucket n let it sit out for a day or two lol. thanks for the advice i got lucky enough to catch it early and it didn't affect my plants negatively! Sent from my SM-G928P using Grasscity Forum mobile app
so update: 9/8/17 i flipped the light schedule for the girls to 12/12 and gave them there first feeding of bloom nutes 1tbsp/gallon bloom nutes 1tsp/gallon calmag 1tbsp/gallon terpinator 1tbsp/gallon humic acid I need to look more into a legit feeding schedule and line of nutes... any recommendations are greatly appreciated to my knowledge all the nutes ive used minus the terpinator are organic... the plants are coming along pretty nicely in my opinion compared to all my other grows...only a few are showing signs of sex 3 of the 10 regular seeds are showing female preflowers. and i have 3 autos in the mix that are already a little further along with the flowering stage also you will see in the pics they are a little tightly packed im waiting for any males to pop up so I can cut them out and open up some more space for the females just as I said not all have showed sex.. I also did some LST and pulled open the branches on all plants to open them up and allow more light penetration inside and for about half of them I topped them a week n a half before I flipped the lighting schedule! OH my phone currently blows so pics are a bit hazy once im home i will try to pull out the good camera and take some better pics! any comments, tips/advice are welcomed and appreciated! as I said in the beginning still a noob everyday and everything is a learning experience so don't talk shit lol. last pic i took a shot of some of the fan leaves i had cut off to allow some more light down in the plants Sent from my SM-G928P using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I forgot to say that i currently have the room operating between 73-75 degrees Fahrenheit throughout out the day and night... is it cool to have a constant temp versus having that night time drop by 5 degrees? i also read something about a negative DIF where you actually increase the night time Temp by 5 degrees from the day time temp... anyone tried this out? i have an oscillating fan set on a timer to turn on every 3 hours for 20 minutes at a time. is that ok or would it be more beneficial to have it running 24hours? Sent from my SM-G928P using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I have my oscillating fan run 24 hours. I think it's better this way as you don't get hot spots building up and a nice breeze over the leaves is a good thing. Sent from my SM-G930F using Grasscity Forum mobile app
i dont think i really have any hot spots because i have a mini split blowing 24hours a day to maintain temperature plus im just using LED's however i could be totally wrong haha ill feel it out again today when i get home. regardless i'll take your advice and switch that fan on 24hours now plus itll free up a timer for something else i planned on installing this weekend lol. Thanks for the tip!