Blackstar ??? Is it just me

wolfpack4ever said:

Have you kept your light like 6-10" away the whole grow? Do you think the yellowing can occur if the light is too far from the plant? Im not sure if its too close or too far.

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Hey whats up Wolfpack, I added the CFL only when i started flowering..they are 2700k CFL's....Also I kept the lights at around 12-15" through out the whole grow, well until now because I've run out of room to move the lights any higher..My model is from 2011 so Idk if there is a diff. between the model, but I would imagine the 2012 would be an improvement (or so i would think). The only yellowing I have experienced would be a deficiency on my part, now that my plants are right underneath the LED i will let you know if I experience any bleaching.

I just said fuck it and added my 240w blackstar panels to my 400w hps lights. I figure that it can't hurt. They create no heat and have alot of light. Sure they may not work great on their own for flowering, but I would imagine adding them in the same given space can only boost my yield and get light to alot of spaces it did not reach before.

thehazeman said:

I just said fuck it and added my 240w blackstar panels to my 400w hps lights. I figure that it can't hurt. They create no heat and have alot of light. Sure they may not work great on their own for flowering, but I would imagine adding them in the same given space can only boost my yield and get light to alot of spaces it did not reach before.

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were i found the blackstars to be of value was how little hps i can get away with to get the results of bigger lights...im going to give it different ratios over the next few months, , at the time its approx 50 50......ive tried 1/3 hps but wasnt happy with the coverage...needed to be closer to 3x6, i will be thinking about more blackstars in the future., again you will be impressed at how your 400 perks up with the led suppliment.

I think the more power your panel draws the better your results will be as a general rule and I've added support lighting on my Blackstar grows. They draw 340w each. Not a big footprint. It's a challenge to keep the canopy close to the panel but I got some great buds out of my Blackstar grows. Or Mb I'm just lucky.

I can def see the added coverage immediately. Shit if I get a yield bump of 10-20% from adding 240 watts, I will be happy. I do pretty well on just 400's with some strains. My best is time and time again the og #18. I can get 4 plants that do 3 1/2- 4 ounces each easily. That strains buds harden all the way down and with the decent stretch, that adds up. And it is so close to the chem 91 with a big yield bump, you just cant go wrong.

I have issues with Blackstar (180w) lights too. The veg lights are really good, but 2 weeks under flower, the leaves bleach & the grow stops. I've been really careful with pH, Feed, Grow medium etc. (not hydro). It's a real shame because the buds were doing well.




The leaves on this plant are just starting to bleach after 2 weeks... Anyone have ideas?




From an earlier plant

i am about 2 weeks into flower under two blackstars too and i am also seeing alot of bleaching even at 10 inches away, very strong lights, a lesson for next time to keep them back more i think

I had similar discoloration with leaves & figured out I was having nutes. shutdown, due to over watering. Especially in hydro when switching from a 1000w HPS to LED. Less heat = less water

xbudx said:

I have issues with Blackstar (180w) lights too. The veg lights are really good, but 2 weeks under flower, the leaves bleach & the grow stops. I've been really careful with pH, Feed, Grow medium etc. (not hydro). It's a real shame because the buds were doing well.

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The leaves on this plant are just starting to bleach after 2 weeks... Anyone have ideas?

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From an earlier plant

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I've been growing with LED's for 2 years now.
That leaf isn't suffering from bleaching, as bleaching literally turns foliage white.
What you have there is a deficiency issue, most likely Nitrogen.
Good luck.

Thanks for the input guys... Karma, you're not all that Bad..!. I was hoping the lights were ok, I can fix a deficiency. back to the plot...

wolfpack4ever said:

I tried putting seedlings and clones under my blackstar 240 & the plants just turned yellow and didnt really grow at all.. from personal experience, CFLs work way better for clones, seedlings, and even veg. i had the blackstar 10" away the whole time and I even tried to raise the light to reduce yellowing. i have the flowering model and I will be using it in 12/12 but i certainly do not like using the flowering model for clones or seedlings. IMO

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WAYYYY to close would you put an HID light 10" from your seedlings??? LED is not like CFL where you can put it a few inches away from seedlings. My personal findings is it is fairly similar to HID for distances to seedlings/vegging plants, maybe a bit closer than HID for older plants but not seedlings. 1.5' minimum my opinion and move up if you start to see anything strange. For established plants closer is fine, just not seedlings.

umomaboy said:

ya i have two 900 watt black stars... they may get booted. i only use them for vegetative growth now. HPS rules.


good luck. can you get buds with those?

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I will take your shitty old 900w blackstars off your hands for $100 each so you can get some money back since they don't work

dannyboy602 said:

I think the more power your panel draws the better your results will be as a general rule and I've added support lighting on my Blackstar grows. They draw 340w each. Not a big footprint. It's a challenge to keep the canopy close to the panel but I got some great buds out of my Blackstar grows. Or Mb I'm just lucky.

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That is true. My understanding is that the watt rating of the light is the maximum the LEDs are capable of. The 'drivers' control how the electricity flows to the LEDs and the power draw is how much of that wattage is truly being used. They do this because operating at the full wattage causes the chips to heat up too much and causes problems. How much power the driver chips can put into the LED depends on how well the chip/light is designed. The blackstars use probably the least of any major LED maker but if you work it out on price per actual watt based on power draw the blackstars still come out substantially ahead of the more expensive ones that emit at almost the full potential. You just have to realize a 240w blackstar is not 240w. It is a 120-150w light, and you need to plan/treat it as you would that wattage and not expect it to produce like a full 240w would. I can buy 2 blackstars for less than one fully rated light most companies though.

xbudx said:

I have issues with Blackstar (180w) lights too. The veg lights are really good, but 2 weeks under flower, the leaves bleach & the grow stops. I've been really careful with pH, Feed, Grow medium etc. (not hydro). It's a real shame because the buds were doing well.

View attachment 2086388


The leaves on this plant are just starting to bleach after 2 weeks... Anyone have ideas?

View attachment 2086462


From an earlier plant

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I just discussed this issue with another grower on his thread a few days ago -- he mentioned he got poor yields his first couple of grows and had issues like this. He said for him the issue ended up being CA/MG deficiencies and once he started supplementing cal-mag in flower he started getting better results. He now supplements preventitively. I am probably going to add more ca/mg to my next soil batch. I use supersoil which is rich in micronutrients and supplement with organic nutes that include kelp meal -- I have not had ANY of the yellowing/bleaching you guys talk about and I have TWO 240w blackstars over each plant at 8-10". My buds are growing daily. Haven't harvested an LED grow yet so I'm still ready to turn on LEDs, but I think a lot of the problem is over-expectations due to marketing of lower powered lights combined with small differences like ca-mg supplementation that make the critical difference in successful vs. nonsuccessful grows. It only takes one factor to be off to hamper your harvest. It makes sense that plants may need a bit different nutes and that not supplying them would hamper your yields.

Good Post Senseimilla, Ill give that a go.

It seems like LEDs are a world of their own, and need a special method.

It's nice to know there is life after Deathstar!

Bad Karma said:

I've been growing with LED's for 2 years now.
That leaf isn't suffering from bleaching, as bleaching literally turns foliage white.
What you have there is a deficiency issue, most likely Nitrogen.
Good luck.

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i get that exact same thing, seems to only affect the plants minimaly, but there is a pattern, it predominantly happens under the parts of the plants that get the most led output..(bs 240s) but under the hps it seems to be far less to non existant....same plants same grow!

richinweed said:

i get that exact same thing, seems to only affect the plants minimaly, but there is a pattern, it predominantly happens under the parts of the plants that get the most led output..(bs 240s) but under the hps it seems to be far less to non existant....same plants same grow!

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Try giving them supplemental calcium & magnesium and see if that helps.

the first pic is day 15 the second day 24. all under a 240 so far. soon i will transplant into an airpot. The plant on the bottom of the second pic has a deformed leaf because of human error when i went to remove the seedlings shell from its cotyledon even though the leaf thats deformed isnt the cotyledon strange..oops

Here are some of my plants in veg and flower (day 22) -- sorry haven't finished my first flower so don't have budshots but you can see the plants are healthy no bleaching and the canopy at this point is between 5-10" from the light depending on the particular branch. I'm trying to keep my veg plants small while my flower plants finish anytime I give my plants real nutes they have crazy growth under those LEDs. They just about doubled last time I gave them nutes (when these pics were taken).

I have one plant that was sickly in veg all the way through til moving under LED and I think she has some deficiency going on that may be affected by the LED but otherwise no signs of anything.

White Russian about a few days into flower


OG Kush a few days into flower


Medicine Man about a week into flower - forming budsites


Apollo 13 buds day 22 (first 17 days under HID they had barely formed buds and only just formed full pistilate buds at the time I put them under LED -- almost all the bud growth seen below has been since under LED)


The two apollos those budshots are from... green from bottom to top



My vegging plants -- no bleaching here


The gang

Senseimilla said:

Here are some of my plants in veg and flower (day 22) -- sorry haven't finished my first flower so don't have budshots but you can see the plants are healthy no bleaching and the canopy at this point is between 5-10" from the light depending on the particular branch. I'm trying to keep my veg plants small while my flower plants finish anytime I give my plants real nutes they have crazy growth under those LEDs. They just about doubled last time I gave them nutes (when these pics were taken).

I have one plant that was sickly in veg all the way through til moving under LED and I think she has some deficiency going on that may be affected by the LED but otherwise no signs of anything.

White Russian about a few days into flower
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OG Kush a few days into flower
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Medicine Man about a week into flower - forming budsites
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Apollo 13 buds day 22 (first 17 days under HID they had barely formed buds and only just formed full pistilate buds at the time I put them under LED -- almost all the bud growth seen below has been since under LED)
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The two apollos those budshots are from... green from bottom to top
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My vegging plants -- no bleaching here
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The gang
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+ rep. Those air pots seem to be working well for you. I ust bought a few 2 gallon air pots to try out on my current grow.

Can't say for sure they do too much for bud size... can say for sure they prevent plants getting rootbound quickly They make the plants grow a super thick rootball. I tried to get the dirt out of a culled male plant and could barely get anything out of the root zone. Easy to transplant too since you just open the pots up Sure hope that yield hype is actually true.

I asked the guy at gotham a few questions about 2012 blackstar 240ws. Here is his response:

The actual draw on a 240w UV is anywhere between 135w and 145w depending on the line. The breakdown of LEDs is as follows: 1 - 380nm, 8- 460, 68 - 630 and 660 (each diode is dual band), 1-730, 2 -12000k. The main modification in 2012 is the mix of viewing angles - it is now a combination of 60, 90 and 120 degrees. Also, the LED pattern has been modified a little to achieve better light uniformity and distribution.