perpetual cob-ledchip setup

Hi, guys

first timeposter here. Have a few years of happy growing under my belt but i always sticked to more or less the same setup. One 600w hps with a large adjustawing(the real deal) and scrogging a maximum of 9 babies grown in qualitysoil using the biggest buckets i could fit in the area a large adjustawing can muster. Perfecting this technique over and over again got me to getting pretty close to what a soilgrow can produce under a 600watter. I concentrated on mothers with a bushy pheno giving me some really nice clones which usually had a 90 percent hitrate every single time so i didnt need an army of clones. Anyway...

eventually i got a little bored and once you have everything dialed in it just doesnt take much effort. Hey, its a weed, it pretty much grows by itself if you give it what it needs.

Now, about me
Yes, I love a challenge and yes i love growing(it's my pride and joy)
No, I hate Hydro and no i never buy any ready-made high-tech, fairytale, cheap material, short lifespan, made in china growsystems at ludicrous prices. If I like an idea i make my own version of it or just YouTube a cheap howto and experiment a little until i conclude that natural is my preferred way.
Yes, I know a thing or two about electrics, mechanics and woordworking and actually any starting grower should have some knowledge of those basic things first before even trying anything fancy

Now, i had two choices. Find a new challenge or find a new (probably more expensive) hobby. After a lot of thinking it over I decided i had to do something a little bit out of the box.
I had this idea burning a hole in the back of my head for a while now and i finally decided i want to get started with actually constructing it. Yes, it is going to be a ledgrow (I am sceptical but i will give it a try anyway and the spectral analysis of these new 7band-cobledchips kind of look like they should work). Yes, normally this should be an under $1000 build with cheap DIY-materials and chinese lowpriced 7band spectrum COB-ledchips.

Because I always like to help my fellow-growers i am going to post an elaborate journal with pics and probably links to vids about this project. I am well aware of the fact that this setup could be a terrible fail but in the event that it isn't it might be a promising start of a growingtechnique which could be perfected by growers far smarter and more skilled than me.

If this thread has anyones interest please feel free to post

Hey mate,
I love DIY as well, but why spending money on chinese lowpriced cob's? Think about Cree or Vero COBs

Subbed anyway

Hi Atticde and thanks for the reply and yes,probably those Cree or Vero COBs are the better choice but not everyone has the available funds to buy a bunch of these high-end COBs (with the setup I have in mind, you'll need quite a few). What I want to find out is if and how much yield one can get with those unbranded ledchips. I didn't take this decision overnight because the ones i wanna use have been tested, thoroughly used and approved by a german buddy of mine. True, they aren't miracleLEDs but they should work well enough (i hope ) and you can easily swap them for the better product later on.

So what Is this new "growing technique" you are refering to? Im not sure putting some plants under some cheap chinese leds is revolutionary

This very rudimentary spreadsheet-produced technical drawing should give you guys a general idea of what i am aiming for. I already have a plethora of useable parts and bits I will be using so I am planning to start construction in about two weeks.

Resinhound said:

So what Is this new "growing technique" you are refering to? Im not sure putting some plants under some cheap chinese leds is revolutionary

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well, ok I wouldn't call it brand spanking new, but I havent found one exactly like the one i am going to try out

I was just wondering cause you talked about $1000. Looking forward to hear your plans in detail

Btw I'm also from Germany, so in case your buddy is also active in German forums I might know him!

Atticde said:

I was just wondering cause you talked about $1000. Looking forward to hear your plans in detail

Btw I'm also from Germany, so in case your buddy is also active in German forums I might know him!

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I use the metric system too buddy so lets say we are practically neighbours but for all our very skilled ,but totally unaware of these funny meters and liters we are used too, international friends i will stick to ounces and inches in this journal

the basic idea of the above setup is that I want to try and simulate the lightintensity of what plants should get if they were grown outdoors. The image doesn't say it all because i actually want to play with moisturelevels and PPM's for most stages too. I probably wont hit enough lumens to make adding CO² worthwhile though. Every stage(colour) represents a two week period because that is the time it takes me to have some nice stable transplantable clones. In theory this setup should put out atleast 7 ounces of dry herb every two weeks. I wanted to use less than 600W of electricity because its saver and cheaper and less watss means less heat to get rid off which helps staying under the radar if you live in a country with ludicrous druglaws and no police to protect if anything really goes wrong