180w Blackstar LED in GL60 tent Organic soil (First grow)

Sorry for the lack of updates, I was in a car wreck shortly after my last post on here. My girlfriend and I were rear ended and are both having whiplash and back problems. There doesn't seem to be a lot of change, the coloring might be a little better now but they don't look to be growing much at all.

How far away is the LED?

Hudsonvalley82 said:

How far away is the LED?

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Sorry to hear that.
I'm thinking the roots maybe too far gone.
As long as they're green they still have a chance.
Somtimes it's best just to start over too. Tough call.
Anymore seeds?

Well the LED was about 6-8" from the plants give or take, I never actually measured it. I just moved both the plants into their own 5 gallon buckets. The roots were long and stretched all the way down to the bottom of the jiffy cups they were in but were not very spread out. The plant that has looked the worst all along didn't have the soil in the cup held together at all, it all fell apart when I moved it to it's new home. The plant that has looked the best all along has some new green leafs sprouting, that one might be salvageable. The other is still looking worse for wear. I have opened a vent on the tent to allow more air flow, I also took the diy co2 out. I do have 3/5 of the seeds left since I only planted 2. I would prefer to not have to use them right now but if these babies don't make it, I will not have a choice. I am hoping for one good mother to keep and clone and grow the clones in a DWC hydro set up. 1 of the 5 seeds I got will have to serve as the mother hopefully.

fourtwentyish said:

Well the LED was about 6-8" from the plants give or take, I never actually measured it. I just moved both the plants into their own 5 gallon buckets. The roots were long and stretched all the way down to the bottom of the jiffy cups they were in but were not very spread out. The plant that has looked the worst all along didn't have the soil in the cup held together at all, it all fell apart when I moved it to it's new home. The plant that has looked the best all along has some new green leafs sprouting, that one might be salvageable. The other is still looking worse for wear. I have opened a vent on the tent to allow more air flow, I also took the diy co2 out. I do have 3/5 of the seeds left since I only planted 2. I would prefer to not have to use them right now but if these babies don't make it, I will not have a choice. I am hoping for one good mother to keep and clone and grow the clones in a DWC hydro set up. 1 of the 5 seeds I got will have to serve as the mother hopefully.

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I can't give you the link... but I am 100% positive, from multiple distributors, that you are supposed to keep the leds at 1 foot (.3 m) away until the plants are well in to the vegging stage... its when they are flowering and need the penetration and are no longer prone to "led bleaching" that you are to move them no closer than 6 inches (.15 m) away.

*Edit* Sorry I mean AT LEAST 1 foot (.3 m) away... I think to start 18 inches might be safer.

dafoo said:

I can't give you the link... but I am 100% positive, from multiple distributors, that you are supposed to keep the leds at 1 foot (.3 m) away until the plants are well in to the vegging stage... its when they are flowering and need the penetration and are no longer prone to "led bleaching" that you are to move them no closer than 6 inches (.15 m) away.

*Edit* Sorry I mean AT LEAST 1 foot (.3 m) away... I think to start 18 inches might be safer.

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Sounds logical to me. Since transplanting to larger buckets, the plants are further apart now so I had to raise the light a bit so they both got coverage anyway. Hopefully that will help. Thanks for the help!

Here is a little update with some pics. The one that has looked the best all along, is looking pretty good, she is growing well. The other is hanging in there but not looking the greatest. Hopefully with the recent changes she will pull through. Some of the pics are from the day that I transplanted, 3 are from today. The one w/the humidity gauge in it is today.

Both girls are looking much better. One is still going a little slow since it doesn't have as much leafage to absorb light. The other is growing like a weed . I'll probably post some more pics tomorrow.

Just a little update to show size. These are from last night. The girls are finally growing to where there is noticeable growth every day. I am happy with the progress even if it took a while to get em going.

dafoo said:

I can't give you the link... but I am 100% positive, from multiple distributors, that you are supposed to keep the leds at 1 foot (.3 m) away until the plants are well in to the vegging stage... its when they are flowering and need the penetration and are no longer prone to "led bleaching" that you are to move them no closer than 6 inches (.15 m) away.

*Edit* Sorry I mean AT LEAST 1 foot (.3 m) away... I think to start 18 inches might be safer.

Click to expand...

I actually just emailed a seller on eBay in regards to the light you are using (Lighthouse LED 180W). Here is "part" of his response that related to distance:

"An important factor to keep in mind is the coverage area. The recommended coverage area for this 180w Blackstar is 2x2 (4sf) at a distance 10-12" from the canopy."

They had a few videos available in their auction showing a comparison between your light and two others. They used a photosynthetic active radiation meter and a Lux meter as well. The 180W Lighthouse smoked the chinese knock off models, and doubled the output of the Lighthouse 90W. Anyhow I hope your grow is going well. I'll definitely keep an eye on your status as I'd like to add one of these to my current 150W HPS.

* Anything stated above is fictional and purely for entertainment purposes*

adinocr7 said:

I actually just emailed a seller on eBay in regards to the light you are using (Lighthouse LED 180W). Here is "part" of his response that related to distance:

"An important factor to keep in mind is the coverage area. The recommended coverage area for this 180w Blackstar is 2x2 (4sf) at a distance 10-12" from the canopy."

They had a few videos available in their auction showing a comparison between your light and two others. They used a photosynthetic active radiation meter and a Lux meter as well. The 180W Lighthouse smoked the chinese knock off models, and doubled the output of the Lighthouse 90W. Anyhow I hope your grow is going well. I'll definitely keep an eye on your status as I'd like to add one of these to my current 150W HPS.

* Anything stated above is fictional and purely for entertainment purposes*

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Thanks for the info. Changing the height of the light, among other things I changed seems to have helped tremendously. It is nice to hear about it smoking the other lights. I did a bit of research on it before I got it but didn't see the vids you refer to. Thanks for popping in.

Picture update time.

The larger one is doing great, the smaller one was looking great but is a little droopy right now. Not sure what the problem is, I don't think it is over watering. My moisture meter shows it being pretty dry. I'll keep an eye on her and see how she does.

I just breezed through your journal. I noticed in the beginning you added molasses ? Don't do that during seedling or even veg for that matter, not really necessary and more than likely the molasses was slowing your grow in the beginning and also contributing to the cause for discoloration. Too much nutes for a youngin. Your girls look good now. Good luck & I wish you and your girlfriend the best with a speedy recovery.

mookie brown said:

I just breezed through your journal. I noticed in the beginning you added molasses ? Don't do that during seedling or even veg for that matter, not really necessary and more than likely the molasses was slowing your grow in the beginning and also contributing to the cause for discoloration. Too much nutes for a youngin. Your girls look good now. Good luck & I wish you and your girlfriend the best with a speedy recovery.

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Thanks for stopping by! I didn't actually use the molasses in the beginning just bought them for the flowering. I believe there were multiple reasons for the stunted growth. I think I have taken care of them now though thankfully.

Picture update... One of the girls is big enough that I started LST on her tonight. The other one will get the same treatment when she is big enough.

I use molasses as my primary source of plant nutrients. Molasses is an amazing additive to your soil, twice as effective as anything I have purchased for 10 times the money. The microbes love it and there is no better fertilizer than microbe waste.

Yeah I still plan on using it, I am just waiting for flowering cycle to begin. Thanks for the info, makes me feel more comfortable using it.

How are they coming along?

They are doing great. I undid the original LST line and waited till it was tall enough to lay all the way over to the edge of the bucket to do it again. The other one is still a few days away from LST itself though.