California Lightworks 200W Solarflare - Stealth 60 day Lemon Autoflower

Hi Everyone - First grow here. I needed to be able to supply myself with bud without having to worry about buying on the streets or about the quality of supply. My goal is complete stealth. It'll be in a house with lots of visitors so it needs to just blend in, not make noise, heat, light, smell, etc. I learned everything from reading online and thought maybe others can learn from my approach and also offer advice along the way.

Enclosure: Lowes/Kobalt Tall Garage Cabinet. It's 6 ft tall x 30 inches with by 20 inches deep. Hopefully big enough for two plants at a time. I chose it because it was easily available, about the right size, and doesn't stand out. It's pretty plan looking and it also has a lock on it.

The box is lined with Roxul insulation for sound proofing and also to keep some heat in. I'm growing in a basement and temps can be kind of cool. On top of the Roxul, I used Panda plastic with white side in for reflective properties and also to keep light out.

My biggest surprise is that it really wasn't very lightproof on the seams. I had to use a cut up bike tube to line the door gaps/hinges and lots of black duck tape to seal other gaps, but it's looking good now.

Ventilation: I cut in a 12" x 12" darkroom shutter for intake and put a Panasonic Whisper Quiet 150 CFM bathroom fan on the top. I'm using 6" insulated duct work. I will add a homemade carbon filter under the fan next. So far, it's silent and moves air nicely. I tried inline fans and they were way too noisy not to be noticed. You actually need to put an ear next to this fan to make sure it's working. I'm also using ONA gel linen scent in the room to mask odors.

Lighting: California Lightworks 200w Solarflare, full cycle edition. Selected for quality, made in the USA, and 5w diodes. It's my only light. I didn't want to worry about heat or lots of extra electric bills. This gets good reviews and I'm excited to see how it does.

Seeds: 60 day Lemon Autoflower from DNA Genetics. I picked them because I wanted my first grow to go quick and get some nice buds in as little time as possible. I'm also learning a bit during this grow and this should be a forgiving strain.

Seeds were germinated in a sponge and planted straight into 3 gallon buckets of FFOF soil.

Currently, my only concern is temps. They're a little cool in the basement and the LEDs don't put off any measurable heat. I put in a 65 ceramic reptile heater and that brought temps up 3-4 degrees, but I'm still only around 64 degrees. Humidity is pretty low. 30-40%.

The seeds were put in sponges on Monday and today (day 6), I noticed they just broke through the soil. Tiny little girls, but at least they're viable.

good luck man.

that LED looks BRIGHT!!!

Plants have grown a bit. They're still a bit short, but leaf growth looks ok, I think?

One plant is about double the size of the other. I moved the containers around to see if the light is imbalanced.

I also stopped the vent fan to see if it would keep the temps warmer. I'm now seeing temps in the high 70's to low 80's. Humidity is under 20%. I'm going to set the light cycle to 18/6.

Everything look ok?

humidity is too low... but you already knew that
you should aim for ~60%Rh during veg, and ~50%Rh during flowering.
a cool mist humidifier should do the trick for small spaces, and they're cheap.
just go gently at first, and increase slowly until you hit the desired level.

Thanks--I was wondering at what point the Rh is too low and starts to become a problem?

Not that I've stopped the main vent fan, my temps are up. I wasn't sure what's worse. If I run the vent fan, my temps drop to low 60s and Rh stays in mid 30s. If I stop it, temps go up to low 80s, but the Rh drops too.

Week 3 update. Plants are looking really good. Short and bushy and a nice dark green. Starting to smell just a tad. I've been running the light in 18/6.

I went to my local hydro store and they hooked me up with a few nutriants to try. I started from seed in FFOF with a little perlite added, but they told me after about 3 weeks, start thinking about nutes.

I got some samples of a few: General Hydroponics FloraGrow, FloraMicro, and Florabloom, as well as Floralicious Plus, Rapid Start Root Enhancer. They also gave me some Dyna Gro Foliage Pro, Obviously, I'm not going to use this all at once and want to just give them a little boost, not shock my little girls. I'm thinking of adding some root enchanter, and the FloraMicro + FloraGrow combo. Any thoughts?

Some updated pics:

looks great! definitely will follow this one.
good luck.

Started some nutes last week. Added a mix of Genarl Hydro--FloraGrow, FloraMicro, Florabloom, Floralicious, and Rapid Start Root Enhancer. I used the formulas from their site and diluted to about 50% of that. Using that every other water now.

Moved the light up to about 20 inches above the top of the plants. California Lightworks recommended 18-24 inches and I was only about a foot before the move. I noticed the are stretching just slightly after the move. I think it's a good change.

Growth has been pretty healthy this week. I also see some white hairs--officially girls?

Still running 18-6 and feeding a mix of diluted General Hydroponic Flora series. Today is day 35 from seed. Plants are flowering and starting to stretch.

Took one out from the lights so you can get an idea of the dark green colors that the LED lights hide.

i just ordered a solarflare 200 full cycle.your plants look good so far,i'm hoping it will be enough light for 2 non auto's.good luck with your grow i'll be checking it out.

Definitely starting some nice flowering and stretching. The taller one looks a little thinner and her stocky sister has some fatter flowers blooming. Overall, just watching the progress this week. Here's some Cannaporn:



Any guesses on finish time from here (I know, impatient)?

How about yield? To early to guess? DNA Genetics says 28-40gr per plant.

Plants are still looking lush. Feeding them with General Hydroponics Flora Series: Flora Micro, FloraGro, FloraBloom, Forablend, Floralicious+, FloraNectar, Liquid KoolBloom. In between each feeding, I give them a little fresh water. No signs of nutes overload or deficiency at this point.

One odd thing I noticed is that there is a big difference in size between my two plants. One is tall and towering and the other is short and squat. Ironically, the short one seems to "stink" more and maybe even have more flowering sites. I haven't counted though.

Both were feminized auto seeds from DNA Genetics...maybe just more Sativa coming out in one of them? It's supposed to be an 80/20 indica/sativa hybrid.

Temps are also running cool. Maybe upper 50's to low-mid 60's most of the time.

Buds have grown nicely...thicker, more hairs. The main cola is nice and tall on one plant and a little stockier on the other. Two plants have covered my 2'x3'x'6 grow cabinet.

Here's a quick update. I noticed some type of nute lock (mg or calcium) on my taller plant (visible in one of the pics below). Could be from a number of things:

1. Water softener--stripping Ca and Mg from the water and adding sodium
2. pH of soil to high. I'm measuring 7-7.5 in the soil.
3. Temps too low in the soil?
4. Maybe some other type of nute overload

I did my last watering with distilled water (ph 6.5) and just a little CaliMagic. Next time, I'll go back to normal nutes, but use the distilled water.

Needless to say--it won't finish in 60 days. Perhaps 70-80. How quick will the trich change over to cloudy?

Getting closer to finish.

I've been looking at trichs for cloudy/amber heads. So far, mostly clear under my Radio Shack Microscope. I did notice a patch of amber on one area of one of the plants (see pics). I'm going to start to look for candidates to start trimming while the rest of the plant finishes.

Prepared a mixture of Distilled Water + FloraKleen as a final watering. They have some moisture in soil, but will probably use that in the next 1-2 days.

I also built some small drying boxes using rubbermaid containers and PC fans. I lined them with paper bags for darkness and to help remove moisture. I'll hang those in my grow box so that the carbon filter scrubs any odors.

Hey teaz, have you been using just the 200w CLW Solarflare from seed? I'm thinking about ordering one.. wondering if I'll need supplement light. Grow looks fantastic man, them look like some tasty buds

Thanks, Dutchy. Yes, this was all done with the Lightworks 200w, no other lighting. Seems perfect for my small 20"x30" box and would probably do well in an even slightly larger area. Plants have responded really well to it. No complaints other than purple light is really hard to see the plants properly. Have to take them out to examine.

Hi I don't mean to butt in but I have two solar flares one full/one bloom booster. Both work great for a lenseless led. They are a bit warmer but the 5 watt diodes really put out a good spread at 16 ~24" with penetration well into one foot of managed canopy.( think LST or SCROG if you want a nice grow), for 30" plants one light one plant in a 2x2 is max if you want to capitalize on the 5 watt thing.just my input delete it if it sucks! have fun good luck be safe!


also own and use pro-grow, CLW and Advanced Led.

Day 76 -- getting closer to chop. I've taken a couple samples down.

Two plants--both DNA Genetics 60 day lemon from seed, but one is tall and skinny (Sativa like) and the other is short and fat (Indica). There's a more pronounced difference in these two plants. Fun to see as they finish.

I gave them Florakleen last week and now just distilled water. The tall plant is taking in nutes from the fan leaves to use for flowering. You can see them turning light green, but the short plant is still dark. However, the trichs on the short plant look more mature?

cityworker415 said:

Hi I don't mean to butt in but I have two solar flares one full/one bloom booster. Both work great for a lenseless led. They are a bit warmer but the 5 watt diodes really put out a good spread at 16 ~24" with penetration well into one foot of managed canopy.( think LST or SCROG if you want a nice grow), for 30" plants one light one plant in a 2x2 is max if you want to capitalize on the 5 watt thing.just my input delete it if it sucks! have fun good luck be safe!


also own and use pro-grow, CLW and Advanced Led.

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what advanced light do you have? and how does it compare to your clw?