New light test and first grow

savageherring

savageherring

Member
I have a 4x4 grow area and I am using one Gavita Pro 300 (Plasma light) and two 150watt HPS. Plasma light has full spectrum light and HPS to provides red for flowering.

Growing LSD by barneys farm. 25 fem seeds to arrive soon.

Growing in dirt, organic feeds, well water so no chlorine or flouride.

Hoping to get 29 oz. Is this realistic?


Open to questions, suggestions and advice please.

Feel free to make predictions on yeild and strength.

I will provide updates as I go.
 
tags420

tags420

Well-Known Member
Very nice clean setup, and a interesting choice in lights. The plasma is good but the 150hps aren't the best specially trying to pull big goal like yours. 1gram per watt would give you 21oz's, but I can say that those 150's will not pull 1g/w. So even if the gavita pulls it's weight you will fall short. But not saying it won't be a good yield or grow by any mean. You could just use a little more light to get to your goal, but the rest of your setup looks like it will perform really well.

Ill be following along
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
tags420 said:
Very nice clean setup, and a interesting choice in lights. The plasma is good but the 150hps aren't the best specially trying to pull big goal like yours. 1gram per watt would give you 21oz's, but I can say that those 150's will not pull 1g/w. So even if the gavita pulls it's weight you will fall short. But not saying it won't be a good yield or grow by any mean. You could just use a little more light to get to your goal, but the rest of your setup looks like it will perform really well.

Ill be following along
Click to expand...
Thanks for the estimate on yeild, 21 oz's is still pretty good for me. Hope the quality is good to, seeds should take care of that.


Any suggestions on upping the light with no extra heat? Maybe add some RED LEDs or CFL? How much, or what would get me to 30+ oz's?


Thanks for the words of encouragement, makes me breathe better showing it to folks who know a bit and getting some positives.
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
Just took a look at my temp and humidty after running my system for 12 hrs. 30c and 35% humidity. Ventilation at full.

Looks like I need to replace the HPS with something that creates less heat but can give that red light I need for flowering.

Also need to get a humidifier in there, then dial down the ventialtion to a normal speed.

Thinking CFL may be what I go with for new lights.

Guess I should start reading.
 
Bumping Spheda

Bumping Spheda

Well-Known Member
I'd hold off on the humidifier. I was thinking about buying one, but now that I've got plants of a good size I need to go the other way, my nights have gotten up to 99% RH multiple times. Depends on the air quality you get in your area, and time of year, but high RH is only "necessary" for clones/cuttings. Your plants should be fine where you're at, imo.

Lookin' good, though. Maybe check out some of the Cree multichips if you're looking to replace your 150W HPS's. Maybe Warm White, or the ones with 630nm+450nm?

Are you gonna scrog?
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
Bumping Spheda said:
I'd hold off on the humidifier. I was thinking about buying one, but now that I've got plants of a good size I need to go the other way, my nights have gotten up to 99% RH multiple times. Depends on the air quality you get in your area, and time of year, but high RH is only "necessary" for clones/cuttings. Your plants should be fine where you're at, imo.

Lookin' good, though. Maybe check out some of the Cree multichips if you're looking to replace your 150W HPS's. Maybe Warm White, or the ones with 630nm+450nm?

Are you gonna scrog?
Click to expand...
Not doing scrog.

Going to try topping and supercroping. Beyond that just let the ladies be themselfs.

Will look into those cree multichips.
 
tags420

tags420

Well-Known Member
YOu always got to stay positive, but also be real about thing too. You'll need like 3 of the gavita's or a 400cmh and the gavita...not just a little more light. Even with the most efficient light there is right now 30z is going to take at least 600w+ of led or plasma or CMH or whatever you go with. And settling for lower quality lights(cheaper usually) is only going to take more watts to get the same results.

Humidity is a little low now, but you will actually want it about there during flower.

Is low energy lighting your goal, or hitting that yield mark??
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
tags420 said:
YOu always got to stay positive, but also be real about thing too. You'll need like 3 of the gavita's or a 400cmh and the gavita...not just a little more light. Even with the most efficient light there is right now 30z is going to take at least 600w+ of led or plasma or CMH or whatever you go with. And settling for lower quality lights(cheaper usually) is only going to take more watts to get the same results.

Humidity is a little low now, but you will actually want it about there during flower.

Is low energy lighting your goal, or hitting that yield mark??
Click to expand...
Quality is my prime concern, then low energy/heat, then yeild. I have enough plants that if yeild is low I am okay.

But I can't go with low quality, its for medical use. I am growing a high CBD/THC strain as research has shown CBD being great for schizophrenia compared to conventional medications. Less side effects too.
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
Turned off the HPS, now temp at 25c and humidity at 54%.

Still looking into new lighting to get that red light without to much heat or power. I have some time as the Gavita plasma light has a veg foot print of 4x4 (16 inches away).

When flowering starts is when I need the new lights, so I got time still to choose.

I hope to add two lights (FL) on either side of the Gavita like my HPS where in the photo I posted above. These lights need to cover the 4X4 area by themselfs so my permieter plants do well(16 of them). Getting these ladies to produce well will be key to my success in the yeild department.

I have big hopes for the one plant directly below the Gavita plasma light, or should I rotate my plants under the sweet spot??

I am thinking out loud, but imput is welcome.
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
Can't decide on lights to get to supplement the permieter plants, seems fluorescent may not be what I want for flowering even with the red shifted bulbs. Am I right on this?
I would have to wait a few months to get any LED bars or panels as I am on a fixed income (DSB pension). Need affordable solution in a few weeks or its all Gavita plasma (worried about flowering) as Plasma lacks Red "Umph" for flowering IMO.

Seeds still not here (8 days), coming from Barneys Farm, so excited I watered the soil for practice, PH 6.4. Added some starter fertilizer, small cap per 2 l jug.
Humidity is up to 53% and temp 26c. Looking good in there I think (HPS still off and ventilation at lowest setting, dang that Gavita Palsma runs cool, those HPS added 5C to the grow tent so I need to replace them, also they lack the light to support my permeter plants during flowering.

So I decided no plant rotation, will keep them put and wait till the end. Going to stay simple and learn more by limiting variables first time around. Any thoughts on this?


Also my well water tested 1500 ppm TDS. Should I be worried / flush with distilled water?
 
tags420

tags420

Well-Known Member
Get a 600w hps and use the plasma as supplemental light somehow. You really need a 1k on it's own to do what you want/are trying. Or you could get 2 400w CMH's(actual 330w) and run them like the 150's were with your plasma in the middle. But either way you look at it you need about 700w+.


And yes you need to get a RO filter or something for that water. Even with a full advanced nutes line you would barely get 1500ppm. You need to be under 200ppm minimum
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
tags420 said:
Get a 600w hps and use the plasma as supplemental light somehow. You really need a 1k on it's own to do what you want/are trying. Or you could get 2 400w CMH's(actual 330w) and run them like the 150's were with your plasma in the middle. But either way you look at it you need about 700w+.


And yes you need to get a RO filter or something for that water. Even with a full advanced nutes line you would barely get 1500ppm. You need to be under 200ppm minimum
Click to expand...
A RO system costs to much for me for a while so I need a solution in the mean time. Is the ppm really going to be such an issue?? Will anything grow at all or will just yeild be reduced? Would regular distilled water flushes help?
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
tags420 said:
Get a 600w hps and use the plasma as supplemental light somehow. You really need a 1k on it's own to do what you want/are trying. Or you could get 2 400w CMH's(actual 330w) and run them like the 150's were with your plasma in the middle. But either way you look at it you need about 700w+.
Click to expand...
I can't keep the grow room temp low enough for the MH you mention, two 150 watts HPS was to much heat and I limited in how much ventining I can hook up due to the location.

Guess I need to save up for LED's perhaps?
 
tags420

tags420

Well-Known Member
I understand. They wouldn't run any hotter than the 150's though. Those 150's run hotter than a 600w bare bulb. I have one and it was a waste of $.
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
Yeah I figure the 150's are a writeoff. Will use them for house plants and the like. Still worried about my water, but it maybe something I just have to accept as bringing in city water would be a challange for all those plants. HAs anyone grown successfuly with water like mine?
 
savageherring

savageherring

Member
Going to bite the bullet and use my well water unfiltered, seems it will mostly affect the burning qualities (but not growth). A regular honeywater flush (1 gallon distilled with 1 tsp unpasturized honey) will flush the salt and give the buds a sweeter taste, let alone the soil microbe benefits. Still no seeds, so I am pacing around the internet and decided to give an update on what i plan to do.

Am I wrong on any of this? Could not find any dirt data saying my water is to high in tds (sulphates).
 
PSUAGRO.

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
savageherring said:
I tried our brita filter but the TDS did not change after running thru a fairly new filter. Still around 1300.
Click to expand...
because they are NOT designed to lower the TDS..........only RO filter/zerowater pitcher/ will lower it

have you tried using your well water on test plants(houseplants/veg/whatever) to see if it's useable at it's current state?????
 
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