Senseimilla
Well-Known Member
Yeah but for me it's not the top leaves that are getting robbed... mg deficiency is starting from bottom fan leaves and working its way up one leaf at a time.
Im offically a LED grower. Spectra Im here.
- Thread starter Swiftowl11
- Start date
lagarrettBLUNT
Active Member
looks nice dude + rep. take care of that deficiencyIm going to put up some more LED VEG pics before I put up the flowering pictures today. Here are some more VEG PICS.
Thats 1 140w LED for 5 mother plants, I have 2 under 10 mothers.
THis is lst and removing top fan leaves, this is how you get your mom to produce clones.
my new mother
Tahoe OG Haze Plant, bought seeds from a dispensary in Downtown LA. DOnt care if its male or female, going to be making seeds.
Well my next pics will be the flowering update. Day 35 update, progress is getting better.
Yeah if any forum members want lights. Ill give killer deal 4 for $1000 Shipped. Ill see if anyone wants, if not ebay they go.
Happy Growing.
Senseimilla
Well-Known Member
Just realized where your handle references.... nice username
Swiftowl11
Active Member
Thanks, Yeah Ive been supplementing mg. To the point its getting annoying. Need to tweak my feeding formula around MG now because of these lights.
Senseimilla
Well-Known Member
I have just started watering with the 'small' dose of Ca-Mg every watering (1tsp/gallon). Not too much of an added issue for me as I usually am ph adjusting and adding stuff to the water already. I've mixed extra epsom salt and crab shell into my soil for the next veg/flower and watered it to prep it so shouldn't need to supplement next time. My supersoil has had almost no mg problems... just very faint starting in the 4th week. My plants in regular soil (either plain roots or roots + super soil for veg light amendments) all had varying degrees of Mg deficiency until I started supplementing.
Swiftowl11
Active Member
I usually only feed once every 1-2 weeks. Now im supplementing cal every other day, finally I said fuck it. Start over. I flushed the RES. ( WHICH I NEVER EVER DO, HAVEN'T DONE IT IN 3 YEARS). I cleaned the res out, re did fresh water, re did fresh nutes with much higher mg supp. After 4 days, im back where I started through out the whole grow. Plants looking terrible. Mind you Ive been using 3 lights directly ontop of the plants, the plants started to look bad at a very very fast rate.
WIFE even made the comment, those are small, they would be triple that size by now. Those cant be 35 days. You should go back to your Big bulbs (HPS). Then it hit me, WOW those are fucking small. FUCK THESE LIGHTS. After I smoked a big fatty bowl and calmed down. Reevaluated the situation. I got online, put 8 lights 4 sale. Ordered 1 xtreme grow 336x pro, from alibaba. Took all my LEDS down boxed them up, so they can be ready for ship off. Put up my T5s for my mothers and my 400w for my totes. I hung 2 spectra LED 22 inch above the plant tops in the middle. I will not move those lights. Those will stay till the plants are finished. I will stay on this grow and report, timely. After the grow is finished, with much much lower yields then expected. These 2 spectras are going to mainly be for vegging they do a hell of a job at that.
I will then start another grow journal on the new grow light I get, I will use one in a 48x48 tent, under 2 35 totes.
Posting pics soon. New expected yield from tote 5 o's . Thats bad, worst I ever got off this tote was 9 o's and that was off a friends bag seed from a convention. With this exact same strain and seed, I would pull a O a plant easy with hps same exact set-up. 600w vs 280w is not fair though. Only thing looking forward to in this grow is how frosty my small tight bud is going to be. Im still in love with LEDs, just not these LED.
Senseimilla
Well-Known Member
I'd never really heard about spectas before this thread I'm not regretting my blackstars yet -- we'll see how I feel in another 4-5 weeks when it's time for harvest, but so far they seem fine... granted I grow in soil not hydro so maybe why... sad to sell all those LEDs!
I'm not regretting my blackstars yet -- we'll see how I feel in another 4-5 weeks when it's time for harvest, but so far they seem fine... granted I grow in soil not hydro so maybe why... sad to sell all those LEDs!The Lurker
Member
Sorry to hear about your troubles with these lights, S.
Haven't looked at the latest versions, but for one of their earlier models, my initial assessment was that they contained entirely too much high-energy blue light as a % of the total, which required significant distances from the plants to avoid light burn and stunted growth, and (beyond which) reduced the effective distance for the lower-energy red light they were emitting, which would've helped a bit during flowering - if they could have been used closer to the plants. This problem is only exacerbated with Indica-dominant/blue-sensitive strains, like Blueberry and Williams Wonder.
Also, any LED light that requires 40-50w+ per square foot for decent growth - just isn't all that efficient, to be honest. Where's the purported savings in that?
The problem (or culprit) is usually: manufacturers using lower quality, low-bin emitters (that produce less usable light per watt) and then having to run more watts to compensate, which saves on their cost, but ultimately adds to yours.
---
Which is why (outside of the Spanish-made EVOLEDs), I'd recommend most folks try their hand at doing DIY in smaller gardens, where these elements are ones which you can at least exert some measure of control over, rather than be at the mercy of snake-oil salesman, 'marketing', and false advertising in general.
You never really know unless you build it yourself, folks.
(Unfortunately.)
Cheers,
-TL
P.S. Oh, and the increased CalMag is generally a good thing. It means the plant is creating more efficient leaf structures (link), which do not require nearly as high levels of PPFD in order to be effective, as long as the intensity one can deliver is consistent.
Haven't looked at the latest versions, but for one of their earlier models, my initial assessment was that they contained entirely too much high-energy blue light as a % of the total, which required significant distances from the plants to avoid light burn and stunted growth, and (beyond which) reduced the effective distance for the lower-energy red light they were emitting, which would've helped a bit during flowering - if they could have been used closer to the plants. This problem is only exacerbated with Indica-dominant/blue-sensitive strains, like Blueberry and Williams Wonder.
Also, any LED light that requires 40-50w+ per square foot for decent growth - just isn't all that efficient, to be honest. Where's the purported savings in that?
The problem (or culprit) is usually: manufacturers using lower quality, low-bin emitters (that produce less usable light per watt) and then having to run more watts to compensate, which saves on their cost, but ultimately adds to yours.
---
Which is why (outside of the Spanish-made EVOLEDs), I'd recommend most folks try their hand at doing DIY in smaller gardens, where these elements are ones which you can at least exert some measure of control over, rather than be at the mercy of snake-oil salesman, 'marketing', and false advertising in general.
You never really know unless you build it yourself, folks.
(Unfortunately.)
Cheers,
-TL
P.S. Oh, and the increased CalMag is generally a good thing. It means the plant is creating more efficient leaf structures (link), which do not require nearly as high levels of PPFD in order to be effective, as long as the intensity one can deliver is consistent.
Senseimilla
Well-Known Member
Nice to know it's not just me... I had noticed the heavy indica dom strains are more prone to the camg deficincies with LED. Hybrids fare much better but still have to supplement for it once they get to a certain age. Hasn't been a problem so far for me with small seedlings/clones.
Swiftowl11
Active Member
DAY 34 PICTURES.
Well these are pictures from DAY 34. Just been dealing with problems day by day. Leaves burning up. Thats what i get for trying to do 3 lights. Oh well this grow is going on my hall of fame as BEST BAG APPEAL QUALITY lowest yield. Ill be booasting to all my friends how this stuff is Led grown bud. Wont say shit about yield until asked, then go into detail about lower watts, no heat, electric bill, cops dont see heat, and on and on. HAHA
Anyway here are the pics.
Thats was the set-up for almost 14 days, its changed now, lights are down to 2 lowered to 22 inches. 3 lights burnt the shit out my plants.
Bud sure does look nice under LED
Here is a shot of bud growing, it wont be that small, I mean ive never grown with a 250hps, but it got to be comparable. Or even 250w of cfl.
34days of bud growth 40 days to go.
Close up of frostiness.
All in all for the wattage im using i do love LED. THats why I ordered a new higher wattage LED with X LENS. For spectra they do grow frosty, but all LED do that, so for the spectras, if you can get them for cheaper then the blackstar 180 get it. Other then that leave it alone. To many better lights out there to get. On that note, these are on ebay. I have kept 2 to finish out grow and then for vegging mothers. So all in all they are not a huge waste.
Happy Growing ALL
Well these are pictures from DAY 34. Just been dealing with problems day by day. Leaves burning up. Thats what i get for trying to do 3 lights. Oh well this grow is going on my hall of fame as BEST BAG APPEAL QUALITY lowest yield. Ill be booasting to all my friends how this stuff is Led grown bud. Wont say shit about yield until asked, then go into detail about lower watts, no heat, electric bill, cops dont see heat, and on and on. HAHA
Anyway here are the pics.
Thats was the set-up for almost 14 days, its changed now, lights are down to 2 lowered to 22 inches. 3 lights burnt the shit out my plants.
Bud sure does look nice under LED
Here is a shot of bud growing, it wont be that small, I mean ive never grown with a 250hps, but it got to be comparable. Or even 250w of cfl.
34days of bud growth 40 days to go.
Close up of frostiness.
All in all for the wattage im using i do love LED. THats why I ordered a new higher wattage LED with X LENS. For spectra they do grow frosty, but all LED do that, so for the spectras, if you can get them for cheaper then the blackstar 180 get it. Other then that leave it alone. To many better lights out there to get. On that note, these are on ebay. I have kept 2 to finish out grow and then for vegging mothers. So all in all they are not a huge waste.
Happy Growing ALL
Swiftowl11
Active Member
I will average out about 6 grams a plant, smallest plant looking like its going to give me 2 grams tops (stunted plants). 21 plants total. So total dry yield will probably be 4.5 OZ of some Platinum Og cross.
Guessing 126 Grams total, 280w used, 0.45g per watt. Maybe changed closer distance and aslo removing one light will start beefing up the plants we will see.
Swiftowl11
Active Member
DAY 44 FLOWERING
This is day 44 of flowering and yes my plants are small, looks like ive been using some CFLs, atleast with cfl I would have some healthy plants. Sort of in the spectras defense, not all he plants are 44 days flowering, some are about 14 days. I had half of the plants happen to be male.
Just have to start off by saying SPECTRA LED are a pain to grow with. With my experience, I thought I could take on the challenge of growing with difficult lights. Not actually listening everyone post on these lights and how hard it is to grow with them. All in all, Im dissapointed with these spectras, really cant say much more then that. Vegging I love them, keep some for that. Flowering, I would use one and one only for flowering, No burning, no problems, 140w of grown LED bud, you wouldnt yield much. So take that for what its worth. On to finishing this grow up.
PPM at 1100, Humidity at 38, P.H 5.6 Temp at 77. 2 lights = LED 280W, Height 22 Inches. Maxibloom Nutes for flowering, 70 LT air pump, 8 air stones. 70-77 DAY strain Platinum og x coconut kush
You can see the problems Ive, been going threw, spectras will suck the life out your plants with to much watts.
THis is one of the stunted plants I keep talking about. Its about 3 inches tall. How much you think im yielding off of that.
HAHA short stuff for real.
Some flowering pics
Budding plant
More flowering.
Lights off flash on pics, I mean they are frosty but they are small. A 250W HPS would pack on more weight then this. Really cant recommend these spectras to anyone. For vegging yeah, but who wants a expensive veg light. YOu could get a sick ass 16 T5 PAR LIGHT, for the same price.
Look at those leaves, yuck!
Heres a picture so you can really see the damaged the fan leaves are taking, I should of never did 3 lights, nevertheless 4, 2 seems good, until 2 weeks from now I will probably be down to one. We will see.
Bud looks good though, plants will be back to normal AGAIN, in about a week, back to 2 lights AGAIN, only 280w of power. WEAK.
My VEG AREA, My mother plants, different strains, that is 8 plants all growing under 1 spectra led 140w. That shit is impressive, I mean for the wattaged used, I no longer use my 8 bulb t5, that use to burn 432 watts, even if I used 4 of the 8 thats still 215 watts for the same amount of plants. Atleast I found some use out of these DAMN spectras.
Spectra is at 37 inches high in the middle of the plants.
Alright after this pathetic grow, atleast we learn again to stay away from spectra, I am doing another grow with my new light I ordered. Its like the xpro 336 its true power draw is like 620 watts, its 24x24, and it has the newest generation lenses, they talking about at 24 inches this thing is doing 1600umols. So once it gets here it will go in this tent. Might order another, will see quaility once its here. That is 3 totes w 110LT air pump 4 air stones per tote, in there. Right now the babys are under 1 spectra 140w, about 40 inches high. Same strain. These started and sprouted from seed under LED.
Reason Im doing same strain is because I want to show, almost same growng environment different light. Want people to see what LED can do. SPECTRA wasnt showing much.
Well thats really all thats going on in my growing world. It does suck I choose the wrong grow lights for my first run in buying a whole bunch of lights. Oh well you live and you learn, atleast Im moving on to some much better lights, until some much better lights come out next year. HAHA oh well ill be growing killer bud till then.
ANYWAY, STAY AWAY FROM SPECTRA FOR FLOWERING, DONT EVEN FUCK WITH IT. TO MUCH HASSLE TO EVEN WASTE A GROW ON.
SO watch on till final yield. And stay tune for my new grow.
My high ass dogs want to say
HAPPY GROWING
DOGS, PEACE!
This is day 44 of flowering and yes my plants are small, looks like ive been using some CFLs, atleast with cfl I would have some healthy plants. Sort of in the spectras defense, not all he plants are 44 days flowering, some are about 14 days. I had half of the plants happen to be male.
Just have to start off by saying SPECTRA LED are a pain to grow with. With my experience, I thought I could take on the challenge of growing with difficult lights. Not actually listening everyone post on these lights and how hard it is to grow with them. All in all, Im dissapointed with these spectras, really cant say much more then that. Vegging I love them, keep some for that. Flowering, I would use one and one only for flowering, No burning, no problems, 140w of grown LED bud, you wouldnt yield much. So take that for what its worth. On to finishing this grow up.
PPM at 1100, Humidity at 38, P.H 5.6 Temp at 77. 2 lights = LED 280W, Height 22 Inches. Maxibloom Nutes for flowering, 70 LT air pump, 8 air stones. 70-77 DAY strain Platinum og x coconut kush
You can see the problems Ive, been going threw, spectras will suck the life out your plants with to much watts.
THis is one of the stunted plants I keep talking about. Its about 3 inches tall. How much you think im yielding off of that.
HAHA short stuff for real.
Some flowering pics
Budding plant
More flowering.
Lights off flash on pics, I mean they are frosty but they are small. A 250W HPS would pack on more weight then this. Really cant recommend these spectras to anyone. For vegging yeah, but who wants a expensive veg light. YOu could get a sick ass 16 T5 PAR LIGHT, for the same price.
Look at those leaves, yuck!
Heres a picture so you can really see the damaged the fan leaves are taking, I should of never did 3 lights, nevertheless 4, 2 seems good, until 2 weeks from now I will probably be down to one. We will see.
Bud looks good though, plants will be back to normal AGAIN, in about a week, back to 2 lights AGAIN, only 280w of power. WEAK.
My VEG AREA, My mother plants, different strains, that is 8 plants all growing under 1 spectra led 140w. That shit is impressive, I mean for the wattaged used, I no longer use my 8 bulb t5, that use to burn 432 watts, even if I used 4 of the 8 thats still 215 watts for the same amount of plants. Atleast I found some use out of these DAMN spectras.
Spectra is at 37 inches high in the middle of the plants.
Alright after this pathetic grow, atleast we learn again to stay away from spectra, I am doing another grow with my new light I ordered. Its like the xpro 336 its true power draw is like 620 watts, its 24x24, and it has the newest generation lenses, they talking about at 24 inches this thing is doing 1600umols. So once it gets here it will go in this tent. Might order another, will see quaility once its here. That is 3 totes w 110LT air pump 4 air stones per tote, in there. Right now the babys are under 1 spectra 140w, about 40 inches high. Same strain. These started and sprouted from seed under LED.
Reason Im doing same strain is because I want to show, almost same growng environment different light. Want people to see what LED can do. SPECTRA wasnt showing much.
Well thats really all thats going on in my growing world. It does suck I choose the wrong grow lights for my first run in buying a whole bunch of lights. Oh well you live and you learn, atleast Im moving on to some much better lights, until some much better lights come out next year. HAHA oh well ill be growing killer bud till then.
ANYWAY, STAY AWAY FROM SPECTRA FOR FLOWERING, DONT EVEN FUCK WITH IT. TO MUCH HASSLE TO EVEN WASTE A GROW ON.
SO watch on till final yield. And stay tune for my new grow.
My high ass dogs want to say
HAPPY GROWING
DOGS, PEACE!
Not trying to bash, but i think it might be grower>lights in this situation. i see 0 bleaching. just grower mishaps in every picture. not saying spectra are junk or badass. I do think if you werent having MAD PH swings and def's we could go off your findings and have an opinion on spectra. But until you can get a plant to grow healthy i think you looking at other LED companys or even dipping in market seems pointless to me..the LED isnt your problem atm. If i was you i would invest some of that time to perfect my grow op. not get indulged into the LED drama. i see you doing DWC with white buckets.. thats a starting point.. also have light getting into your resevoir. your venting situation looks like junk. are you PH to 5.6 then change once climbs to 6.1? 1100PPM is burning some of them as you can see in some the pics. Nute burn. some are locking out phos i guess cause to much calcium. im not a badass grower just yet just been following this for couple days and i think it all comes down to grower not the lights. i have only done 6 full cycles as my experience in this field. but your growroom looks like something i would have built years ago dickin with CFL's. I think what im trying to say is if you put all the time into your grow/room and got back to reading some basics you would be in a better situation regardless of what lighting you used. cfl/hid/led/plasma.
just been following this for couple days and i think it all comes down to grower not the lights. i have only done 6 full cycles as my experience in this field. but your growroom looks like something i would have built years ago dickin with CFL's. I think what im trying to say is if you put all the time into your grow/room and got back to reading some basics you would be in a better situation regardless of what lighting you used. cfl/hid/led/plasma.
Senseimilla
Well-Known Member
No experience with spectra to say, but those are definitely super duper weak plants for day 44. I'm not a hydro guy so can't comment on grow technique Maybe you should try soil -- I love my organic soil and having good LED results so far with it
Maybe you should try soil -- I love my organic soil and having good LED results so far with it
Swiftowl11
Active Member
Dont know where you got mad PH swings, you must be one of those that skim through it all, then throw stuff in make since of it all. I check ph almost everyday, im in my grow room everyday, ph will stay at 5.5. I can make it stay there if I wanted. My trained growing hydro technique is to put ph at 5.2 with nutes and then let it drift to 6.0 then put it back down again. It takes 2-3 weeks to drift up, it takes 2-3 weeks for me to add nutes. Reservoir has enough to last a very long time. Hydro makes it so I dont have to touch the res. That is what hydroponic is about, I do understand you are not familiar with it at all. If you honestly looked through the grow, you would of saw that I was using 4 spectras 560W when problems happend using them at 20inches, research spectras and understand they are meant for commercial growers using it high up.Not trying to bash, but i think it might be grower>lights in this situation. i see 0 bleaching. just grower mishaps in every picture. not saying spectra are junk or badass. I do think if you werent having MAD PH swings and def's we could go off your findings and have an opinion on spectra. But until you can get a plant to grow healthy i think you looking at other LED companys or even dipping in market seems pointless to me..the LED isnt your problem atm. If i was you i would invest some of that time to perfect my grow op. not get indulged into the LED drama. i see you doing DWC with white buckets.. thats a starting point.. also have light getting into your resevoir. your venting situation looks like junk. are you PH to 5.6 then change once climbs to 6.1? 1100PPM is burning some of them as you can see in some the pics. Nute burn. some are locking out phos i guess cause to much calcium. im not a badass grower just yet
Venting is perfect for my situation, stays around 70degress and humd 40, seems like your to stuck on how everyone else is growing their bud. Its not a look your going for when growing bud, if I wanted to I could build a clean white room, spend 10k on everything and not flinch. Instead, I find the best way for me to grow.
I could see how it would look that way. But, Ive been growing for many years, have 20 plus grows under my belt. First grow was soil outdoor, then indoor, then aeroponic, DWC, settled with bubbleponic easy all around. Have 10 grows in that. I locked in my technique a while ago, with these spectras, every other day there is a deficiency, i have to add more mg, oh look got to add more mg.
Well hope you follow the remainder of the grow.
Happy Growing.
Swiftowl11
Active Member
Well not all the plants are day 44, I took the oldest plants age, which is 3 stunted plants, youngest plant is 14 days, the plants that are in the pictures are about 25 days. I know there are alot of people out there to make thereselves look like they are the greatest grower ever. Me, I see no reason to take off a couple days, im not trying to impress anyone, Im just trying to inform people on my growing experience with LED lights.No experience with spectra to say, but those are definitely super duper weak plants for day 44. I'm not a hydro guy so can't comment on grow technique
I was never one to compare size of plant by day of growth, I got a strains that will take 95 days to finish. I got a Super Top44 cross, that ive been fucking with since I started breeding, that will finish in 48 days, with 1 oz single colas. I could of thrown those in the tote, but I dont need any of that bud.
Best way to honestly compare is WATT PER GRAM. If I threw my 600w hps in there, it would be a whole different grow. I got inlines, portable air conditions, and humidifiers but who wants to use those.
Naw im done with Soil, like im done with hps, and mh.
im not a beast grower. but i know some
just trying to state the obvious. your grow has 100% nothing to do with lighting being your downfall. i dont care 1000watts or 90watts the pics you have posted since you joined havent had any bleaching. so to me that means your lighting has had 0 effect and could go lower. i see long internodes and crappy plants. im not saying you have to spend money like crazy.. what im saying is in your pictures it shows the number one rule i try to follow... You're gonna get out what you put into it... ive alrdy pointed out a few things you could fix. lets put mine and your brains together and figure out if the spectra suck or your knowledge.... we are here to help eachother...
just trying to state the obvious. your grow has 100% nothing to do with lighting being your downfall. i dont care 1000watts or 90watts the pics you have posted since you joined havent had any bleaching. so to me that means your lighting has had 0 effect and could go lower. i see long internodes and crappy plants. im not saying you have to spend money like crazy.. what im saying is in your pictures it shows the number one rule i try to follow... You're gonna get out what you put into it... ive alrdy pointed out a few things you could fix. lets put mine and your brains together and figure out if the spectra suck or your knowledge.... we are here to help eachother...
Senseimilla
Well-Known Member
That's a lot better if they're 25 days for the buds The title said day 44 flower so that's what i thought they were Hope you get some better results ASAP either way
The title said day 44 flower so that's what i thought they were Hope you get some better results ASAP either way
Swiftowl11
Active Member
I see you are highly uneducated about the SPECTRA LED, I would do more research on them before saying its 100% not the lights fault. I've shared with you my ph, temps, humd, this is my strain that takes 2000ppm no problem, so what is wrong, and since you dont like the appearance of my grow room, the plants apperance, is my fault.im not a beast grower. but i know some
just trying to state the obvious. your grow has 100% nothing to do with lighting being your downfall. i dont care 1000watts or 90watts the pics you have posted since you joined havent had any bleaching. so to me that means your lighting has had 0 effect and could go lower. i see long internodes and crappy plants. im not saying you have to spend money like crazy.. what im saying is in your pictures it shows the number one rule i try to follow... You're gonna get out what you put into it... ive alrdy pointed out a few things you could fix. lets put mine and your brains together and figure out if the spectra suck or your knowledge.... we are here to help eachother...
You pointed out ventilation which is perfect, ph which is perfect, then ppm to high, where its to low by my strains standards, it was at 1500 before the flush. Dont know how much ppm you would like. Didnt know there was a unversial ppm for every plant. WEED is easy to grow, just control environment and RES and it will grow healthy.
This comment right here
"so to me that means your lighting has had 0 effect and could go lower"
Shows me you know very little on SPECTRAs, I was at the lowest they would ever REC on the SPECTRA, even MIKE who owns SPectra Recommends you run them high 3 ft and up high. If we are talking about the not as powerful blackstar, i could of ran that at 12 inches all day. But, I choose the hardest LED to grow with, because of my skill level. Looks like I cant master these LEDs, so if all you get out of this Thread is Im a shitty grower, then there you go. haha. I could drop this grow, but I dont like quitting, and I cant quit my first LED grow.
Im perpetual harvest every 1-2 months, I have another T5 flowering tent going with some of my auto diesel, done in 25 more days, I could be showing that grow and getting all the praise, but what would that show, Another guy can grow with T5.
Im glad your thinking is on, we are here to help eachother, but your practice is flawed.
jubiare
Active Member
Hey man, am sure u know your hydro strain nutes and all, but mind the first led grow is always a bitch! In a few go at it you ll dial that in! My last one using a spectra I for instance used 1/3 of recommended nutes, plants wouldn't tolerate more! Sure spectra has some issues but there's def a learning curve with any leds