Dinosaur LEDs and Living Soil

HiloReign

HiloReign

Well-Known Member
Hello ladies and gentlemen. First, I'd ought to apologize because my grow hasn't started yet but it has always done me well to share ideas with RIU. I expect to be able to start by the end of next week.

I am posting to share my dinosaur of an LED fixture, how I intend to utilize it and a few pictures of what it looks like inside.
Without further ado...
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She's a beauty right?
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Let's have a look inside:
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Its footprint is a skewed ~22"x24" from 16" away. In order to take advantage of all that concentrated power, I will be taking everything out of the metal casing and removing the 90 degree lenses. There are 2 heatsinks sitting side-by-side and there are two 15 diode modules on each heatsink. Instead of a square, they will form one long bar in my 36"x20" tent.
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The footprint in this rectangular manner is a dramatic improvement for my situation, imho. Not only will I be able to get them closer because the lens are gone, but I will be able to cool everything better in general (it gets fairly warm in that metal casing).
To veg (and a permanent addition through flowering) is my ~28watts of Cree XTE warm white(x10) and neutral white(x3) (Q5 WW/R4 NW from www.cutter.au). Here you will find the datasheet for said LEDs.
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I cool that little guy with a recycled CPU fan, it keeps it cool to the touch.

My wonderful fiancee and I put out a lot of organic waste, which is great for me as a grower(no, I don't mean human shit...).
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Put some carved pumpkins in the compost pile and the next day it's a cotton factory... Those are also shots of some of my worm buddies, big and small. The last shot is of some mushrooms that have been trickling under my oregano/mint combo... The mushrooms seem to be getting bigger and bigger the longer the trickle goes! It (and the cotton factory in the first shot) are testament to the humidity and the amount of rain I see where I live.

Hope I nipped some boredom for you if only for a moment. I hope to be back soon with news of our favorite plant.

Also, I wanted to hear opinions on COBs, so please, join in.
​
 
Edit(can't edit original post, god knows why...):
Pardon, I forgot to tell you what kind of diodes are in the light(generic/no name LEDs):
7 x 660nm
3 x 630nm
3 x 10000k
1 x 5500k
1 x 2700k
 
Whats that around the side of the LED cluster...? Oh itz just a Red LED nevermind... :-P

Cool project bruv...Do you think that the LED's mix better with no lenses?
 
Well thank you!

They mix MUCH better, something I failed to realize!

And yes, she's loaded with red and whatever 10000k is lmao.
 
LEDmania said:
Is this an Evergrow light?
Click to expand...


I purchased the unit through AliBaBaExpress and the company who produces the light is called Shenzhen Lighting Technology(China based). It was around $180 (incl. $50 shipping) a bit more than a year ago.

I started a grow with this fixture but never got to finish, I had decent results with mediocre growing skills. See here.
 
My time frames were pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances, though I am now on the fast track to getting this started.

Now, I've been looking at seeds and strains online for a couple of years now, but this is the first time I've actually ordered anything. Faced with such a task, I simply could not choose. Thus, I have an order of Dreamtime (mixed pack) from MNS and the Safari Mix from Mandala on the way.

I would like to finish what I started and hopefully my silly little grow can help someone, somewhere, if it does not entertain you.

I apologize yet again for not leaving you anything to digest.
 
A couple of taproots were visible after the seeds stewed for around ~30 hours. 5 Dreamtime and 5 Mandala Safari Mix seeds are on their way under a little WW Cree globe that I stole from my fiancees kitchen fixture.

Unfortunately I do not currently have internet service where I moved so updates will be sporadic and far in between for now.
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Mandala seeds on the left, MNS on the right.

I apologize for the blurry picture, but there isn't much to see yet...
All those other starters are veggies and a few papaya trees.

Thanks for looking, I am excited to have well-reviewed genetics and hope to find some keepers. I will be growing them all 12/12 from seed, given I don't know what I'll be getting and I'll be able to determine what I want and don't want in a timely fashion.

Have a good one
 
Hello friends.

I have up-potted 3 Dreamtime seedlings and 1 Safari Mix seedling to a 25gal fabric pot (with a spectacular feature: HANDLES!). I failed to germinate any more Mandala seeds(1/5), they all seemed to be restricted by that beautiful, detailed, and hard shell. I will indeed try again after I read over Mandalas "how-to" on germinating seeds. MNS Dreamtime seeds sprouted all over the place (8/9) and in 1-2 days. The rest of the seeds will either be grown elsewhere or culled (expecting a few males). Though I am looking out for a beast of a male, if he shows up I intend to keep his pollen.

My soil is a load of vermicompost/recycled soil. Everything from kitchen scraps to local pounded and grounded oyster/opihi shells. It also contains a small percentage of local lava rock (pahoehoe flow for those of you...) and forest duff/leaf mold from the forest in my backyard. They will live off of rainwater.

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Here's a volunteer tomato in my 30gal smart pot (under it are 2 green bean plants that I've been happily harvesting for the past couple of weeks and also a dying mexican mint plant). This pot has been going constantly for a year and a half now (with veggies/sunflowers etc.) and everything it produces keeps getting better. I had planned to use this soil for my indoor grow, but my fiancee is not having her favorite cherry tomatoes cut down... And that's why I am only running 4 of them indoors. I am hoping for at least one female, two would be great.

Thanks for stopping by, have a good one
 

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^ Doesn't he suggest to soak the seeds for 48 hours and then plant them?

Love....love Mandala.....easily one of the most underrated hause's, out there. Man, back in the day Satori and the Kalichakra were the bomb!
Speed queen is gone too! Surprised they still put it up, been 2 yrs or so, since they sold these beans.

Good growing :peace:
 
Abiqua said:
^ Doesn't he suggest to soak the seeds for 48 hours and then plant them?

Love....love Mandala.....easily one of the most underrated hause's, out there. Man, back in the day Satori and the Kalichakra were the bomb!
Speed queen is gone too! Surprised they still put it up, been 2 yrs or so, since they sold these beans.

Good growing :peace:
Click to expand...

I'm definitely still excited to pop more Mandala, I have faith! Their website says "For an optimal germination result the seeds should be planted DIRECTLY into the substrate. We clearly advise against using pre-germination methods or soaking. Please do not place the seeds into a glass of water or in moist paper tissues." Which I, unknowingly and lazily, obeyed:mrgreen:. I have a bunch more Safari Mix I'd like to get started soon.

I also forgot to mention there is some bentonite clay and twigs and leaves of all sizes in the substrate I'm using. Super lazy man style.
 
Love the improvisation with your lamp. Good on ya for ripping it open.

I've done well with Mandela - 100% germ after years in the fridge. Hard to kill, nice stable plants and top grade output if grown well.

Definitely look at COB - if you have drivers the Bridgelux Vero are criminally cheap. They are perfect for throwing onto a CPU cooler. Presuming you're in Southern Hemisphere (tomatoes in December!) check US prices - local markup was huge
 
smokey the cat said:
Love the improvisation with your lamp. Good on ya for ripping it open.

I've done well with Mandela - 100% germ after years in the fridge. Hard to kill, nice stable plants and top grade output if grown well.

Definitely look at COB - if you have drivers the Bridgelux Vero are criminally cheap. They are perfect for throwing onto a CPU cooler. Presuming you're in Southern Hemisphere (tomatoes in December!) check US prices - local markup was huge
Click to expand...

I appreciate the advice, smokey! Veros are exactly what I had in mind for my next build, most likely a passively cooled set of bars in a 3:1 WW:NW ratio or something like that...

You both convinced me that I need drop those Mandala beans sooner than later!
 
I managed to kill 2 MNS seedlings but I can't exactly explain why. The dinosaur panel may have been too much/they may have struck "hot spots" in my soil/I don't fucking know. The remaining Mandala seedling and MNS seedling are fine... I brought in another MNS seedling that popped a few days ago, not sure when.

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Mandala on the far right. I'll be turning the dinosaur panel off so that I may observe their reactions...

Visit livingorganicsoil.org. Cootz, gascanastan and co. made a website and if you don't know what rols and living organic soil is about, I suggest you type those terms into google. They have helped me break through the ignorance.
 
Hello friends, my grow has been silly and has "resumed" after a long stunting and a bunch of remedial actions had to be taken. They have been on 16 hours of light the past week or so and I intend to slowly chip time off the on cycle until it reaches 12/12.
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Barley in another 25gal fabric pot of my newly mixed up batch of soil, it's still "cooking" and will be ready for new beans that I am attempting to sprout soon. Will update when things are a bit more interesting... Have a good one...
 
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