HSS 90w LED Grow

KawiZZR said:

So although the manufacturer recommended 6" or less in flower, it seems like 8" is giving me the best blending of light without sacrificing too much penetration. I had the light at 10" before and the plants all stretched to keep it 8" away and then stopped stretching and resumed normal growth. The plan now is to keep the light at its current distance from the tops, moving it up as needed. The tops have slowly begun to develop over the past few days, the watering after next will be their first dose of flowering nutes at 1/4 strength to acclimate them. I'll get up some pics in a day or two to show progress.

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Hey man how your plants doing?

They've been doing alright, flowering is going very smoothly so far, unlike my last HPS fiasco. Temps are holding steady at about 82F after switching to just a single 30cfm computer fan for exhaust. I had been using a much louder 4" squirrel cage fan before, but now it is nearly silent and the temp only went up a couple degrees so I'm happy. Haven't been able to get any pics up recently since camera battery died and haven't found charger yet. If I can't find it this weekend I'll load some pics up from my phone.

organicfist said:

Wow. I've decided to get this exact same light for a 2' x 1.5' space. I like the fact that it is quiet and uses so little electricity. I was going to get a 250W CFL with reflector, but I'd need another bulb, then it gets hot....this light is so nicely made, like an apple. I think it should be good enough for that 3 square foot space, right? I plan to do 4 autos per square foot, with an indica variety suited for that...pink bud, methinks.

I will definitely be watching this one, and will post a journal of mine as well. Somewhere

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Yeah the light should do really well for you in that space, just remember that because there aren't any fans on the unit itself you'll want either a bit of extra height above it or a pc fan or two blowing cool air over the top. This will help the unit stay cooler and prolong its life. I'm really happy with it so far, looks like it could yield around 1 gpw if I were to use an indica dominant strain and LST or scrog. Even with autos, 4 per sq ft may be too tight. You might want to stagger them if you are going to do them that dense. Like start 2 and then after 4 weeks start the other 2 for a given sq ft area. That way you'll only have half as much canopy area to deal with at a time and still have the same number of plants going at once.

Sounds good sir just saw you havent updated in a bit and was just checking

Yeah man no worries, I haven't abandoned the grow and I'm gonna try to keep up a bit better on the journal too.

That is some great advice, thank you! I definitely want to extend the lifetime of the light, and computer fan or two won't be loud.

My eventual goal is perpetual, so your staggering idea is equally brilliant!

Would it be easier to like hook up a computer power supply and have that feed the fans? Or even a cheap motherboard and powersupply with USB for plug 'n play fans and things?

Smell will mostly be my main challenge, so a carbon filter is definitely being researched. I'll probably just buy one, it seems easier for me to spend my time working than trying to make things out of garbage, not that I mind recycling and being MacGyver, but I'd rather start with good components and have them pay for themselves in a large yield of the sticky.

Peace, bro. Look forward to updates. I know it's a lot of work, but since you're my evil twin, or I'm your evil twin, we should keep tabs on each other Haha. I'll try to start my new grow somewhere. Waiting on the nice guy at the shop to email me a quote on the light and some bio-goodness to get me started.

Not to mention I don't know if I'll ever get my Blue Himalaya...I will try the more grassroots route and get some pink bud ordered too. Hopefully lights, nutes, and the basic stuff will all be ready when the beans come!!

KawiZZR said:

Yeah the light should do really well for you in that space, just remember that because there aren't any fans on the unit itself you'll want either a bit of extra height above it or a pc fan or two blowing cool air over the top. This will help the unit stay cooler and prolong its life. I'm really happy with it so far, looks like it could yield around 1 gpw if I were to use an indica dominant strain and LST or scrog. Even with autos, 4 per sq ft may be too tight. You might want to stagger them if you are going to do them that dense. Like start 2 and then after 4 weeks start the other 2 for a given sq ft area. That way you'll only have half as much canopy area to deal with at a time and still have the same number of plants going at once.

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organicfist said:

That is some great advice, thank you! I definitely want to extend the lifetime of the light, and computer fan or two won't be loud.

My eventual goal is perpetual, so your staggering idea is equally brilliant!

Would it be easier to like hook up a computer power supply and have that feed the fans? Or even a cheap motherboard and powersupply with USB for plug 'n play fans and things?

Smell will mostly be my main challenge, so a carbon filter is definitely being researched. I'll probably just buy one, it seems easier for me to spend my time working than trying to make things out of garbage, not that I mind recycling and being MacGyver, but I'd rather start with good components and have them pay for themselves in a large yield of the sticky.

Peace, bro. Look forward to updates. I know it's a lot of work, but since you're my evil twin, or I'm your evil twin, we should keep tabs on each other Haha. I'll try to start my new grow somewhere. Waiting on the nice guy at the shop to email me a quote on the light and some bio-goodness to get me started.

Not to mention I don't know if I'll ever get my Blue Himalaya...I will try the more grassroots route and get some pink bud ordered too. Hopefully lights, nutes, and the basic stuff will all be ready when the beans come!!

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Autos seem to be a great way to go perpetual, especially on a small scale. This winter I'm thinking of doing a seed run with some Mi5 seeds I have left, that way I have something for outdoor next year or just to set up a more perpetual thing as well. I was gifted some very nice strains this year though so I may opt to grow them out next.

You could power the fans in a few different ways. I've used an old phone charger before and it worked fine for one fan, but when I added a second it couldn't power them both very well. So now I use a 12v 1.5amp adapter from RadioShack and it works fine. If you already have the computer components that would work equally well, it's all just in what is available to you for least cost and effort.

As for a carbon filter, they're really nice but inline fans are loud. I went with a cheaper fan and from the hallway it sounded like I had a washing machine or something in my room. I'm going to get some ONA to try at some point, have heard both good and bad things about it so kinda curious as to how it'll work. Since I don't have huge plants and it's only a small number hopefully it will work well.

Great information... I am gonna make the plunge and use LEDs. Any way to reduce heat in Arizona is a bonus. I was wondering how you bought your light so cheaply? On the Haight site, it lists for $299.. I am trying to save every penny I can on my first grow. And the use of autos is brilliant! I just ordered my first batch of seeds and one is an auto. And I was thinking about a hydro SCROG grow. It seems the way to go with a 2'x2' space and 90W LEDs. I am very close to ordering http://www.prosourceworldwide.com/default.asp. It's the same price, too. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

senorfrisk said:

Great information... I am gonna make the plunge and use LEDs. Any way to reduce heat in Arizona is a bonus. I was wondering how you bought your light so cheaply? On the Haight site, it lists for $299.. I am trying to save every penny I can on my first grow. And the use of autos is brilliant! I just ordered my first batch of seeds and one is an auto. And I was thinking about a hydro SCROG grow. It seems the way to go with a 2'x2' space and 90W LEDs. I am very close to ordering http://www.prosourceworldwide.com/default.asp. It's the same price, too. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

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I've heard good things about prosouce but never tried any of their lights. I actually got mine from gianthydro.com since it's one of their items that gets free shipping. The price is only a bit more same at greners.com too. Other brands that do well are kessil, blackstar, and GLH. I just recently ordered a spectra (GLH) and it arrived damaged due to shipping today but I called Mike and the he has already shipped me a replacement with a return label for the damaged unit.

I agree that using autos or a scrog are definitely the best ways to maximize potential under LEDs. An don't worry about heat with a low wattage LED, I just rearranged my cabinet yesterday to make one big space instead of two smaller ones and without any exhaust fans running my temp is holding at about 2F over ambient.

Hey KawiZZr. Been a bit since I last posted in here. I am starting to become a believer in the 13w LED panel. They seem to love it and I don't have to mess around with their lights with it being to close or to far. They also are starting to bush out a bit more and the ones that aren't strong (Can't handle different kinds of light have died off so I only lost 5 to 6 of them because 1 or 2 of them weren't strong enough under any kind of light that I gave them and not even flushing before transplanting them to get rid of any salt build up but also to help get the PH of the soil more to the 7.0 range then what ever it was before and giving them a light feed the 2nd watering didn't help. So the numbers that lived isn't to bad. I found out that the PH of the water that I was using might have been to high but also the guy at my local hydro store says that the cloning gel might be bad so I still have 2 other kinds to use. I will be investing into a EZ Aerocloner from there. I know that I can build one for less but I want more of a fool proof way and the guy also says that they have gotten in the high 90% range for rooting.

What's good man? Haven't seen any updates from you recently, get some new pics up I wanna see how your LED ones are doing. I've heard good things about aerocloners, but honestly you could increase your success rate without that. I've never lost a clone of anything the way I do them, any I've tossed have been rooted but were smaller or had a worse structure than the others after their fourth week. pH shouldn't matter too much for cloning, I only water and spray them right when I cut and then I spray again after the first week.

ive heard good things about the odor control cfls they make, they could help supplement the leds and help with odor. just an idea, im going to pick up 10 or 12 myself soon to give em a try.

darkdestruction420 said:

ive heard good things about the odor control cfls they make, they could help supplement the leds and help with odor. just an idea, im going to pick up 10 or 12 myself soon to give em a try.

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I like that idea man, just be careful which ones you get. I read somewhere that a lot of the cheaper ones don't do anything for odor during flowering. Also, what are your thoughts on ONA man? I've heard that it has to be kept away from the plants but don't really get why or even if it's true?

Update: Had to move the plants out of the cab since my new light is coming in this week and will go in there. The light and plants fit decently in my aquarium stand, but think I'm gonna pull out the two in 6" pots since it only effectively lights 4 in the new area. The width is only about 11" inside the stand so it really decreases my options. Also need to add a small fan in there to keep the air from getting stagnant. Still working on finding the camera charger, sorry for the long ass delay on pics.

ive never used it personally. ive heard contradicting reviews on it and if its a good idea to use it. some people say it doesnt completely cover the smell as long as indicated and needs to be replaced more often than they say. ive also seen people say it works perfectly and all they do is put it by the exhaust fan. I wish i could be of more help.

It's all good, definitely let me know how those CFLs work out for you. One of them on each side of the light would almost certainly help balance the spectrum and get a bit more light to my side ones now that I've moved everything around.

Cool light, love their designs. Plants look good! Interested to see results, subbed +rep for 'taking the plunge' with HSS! Excited for pic updates!

so, updates on the grow???? lol

KawiZZR

Thanks again for the advice. My light arrived Sat morning, straight from Haight. I could have ordered from a retailers, but these guys were super quick and did everything possible to help me with my order. They matched the lowest price I could find, ~$265. Their shipping was totally reasonable, unlike Greners.com....but I'm worldwide, so I think anywhere you find the best deal is good.

The light is so small and light!!! I almost thought the box was empty and customs left a note or something in there. I had also ordered a scientific balance (read: scale) and it happened to come at the same time as the..."LED grow light" which was written on the customs form. HAha. Nothing shady there Mr. Postman!

weed-seeds.net is re-sending the Blue Himalaya's that never arrived, so I should be good to go. If they do arrive I will recommend them for doing the right thing, even though it's probably not their fault. I will be doing a seed run too, as I like to make things from scratch sometimes, and I want to breed a strain that fits the needs of my environment. Something that likes LEDs and just grows like a cube of buds!!!

I can wait a few weeks on the ozone and Ona since my last autos didn't smell until a few weeks into flower.

Will be keeping tabs here...hope you finish out with some beautiful buds!

KawiZZR said:

It's all good, definitely let me know how those CFLs work out for you. One of them on each side of the light would almost certainly help balance the spectrum and get a bit more light to my side ones now that I've moved everything around.

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Whats up man, been awhile since you posted. I actually forgot about this thread till It showed up in my sunscribed threads w/new posts area. Update requested........