First time CFL+LED dwc stealth grow

I've grown outside before but never indoor and never hydro.

So I have been hesitant to try this for a couple years now but after seeing some success here I decided i would give it a shot.

I have a wardrobe that I am converting into a stealth grow.


So far i have 3 little seedlings and and a 4th waiting to come up. 3 of sannies UberKush and the 4th is one of his specials I decided to use last minute.

I started them in a bowl that i sat on my router with a thermometer. Kept it at 85-90 degrees.

Right now I am using 3 23 watt 6500K 1 26watt 5000K and 1 23 watt 2700k. I am waiting on my 240w Blackstar LED grow light. I am also waiting on my Soler and Palau TD-100.

My dwc bucket has about 10 gallons in it. I filled it with 2 5 gallon office jugs and stabilized the ph for about 5 hours.

I just moved them into the dwc system. Right now i have a little bit of bio root nutrient.


The plan is to grow 4 single colas.

I will be keeping images here http://zooweemama.imgur.com/all/

Please comment or ask me anything.


Day 1
PPM 190
PH 6.7
Temp(grow area) 80

hows the s&p fan? is it too loud?

everything looks great so far!

Hey Zooweemama,

I've just subscribed and am very interested in how things work out for you.

Right now I"m using a 250W HPS with 4 - 4 foot T5's with good success but the heat from the 250W HPS is just incredible. I'd like to move up to a 400W but I just don't think I can handle the heat, I can barely cool the 250W as it is.

Anyway, the main reason I'm interested is I've been thinking of going with the 240W Blackstar to replace the HPS to use with my T5's. Everything I've read on LED's keeps pointing back to HPS but I'm hoping the 3W LED's in the Blackstar will have enough power to actually work.

So I'm very interested in how well things work out for you.

Today I lowered the water, I am just guessing about how much. I am using 5" net cups so I think it should be a couple more days before I see some root.

So like three days ago one one of them was ripped out of the rockwool (Kitten) and dried out. So its pretty stunted but I the dark green is coming back now so I think she will make it.



I got my fan hooked up the temps are nice now. The LED comes monday so they should pick up after that.

2 are looking pretty good so far, except for a little slice in the leaf on the first one. I don't know what happened. Any guesses?




My little seedling who is about 4 days behind the group looks good! She has a slice to! Darker then the 3 uberkush.



Heres a shot of the whole thing with everything setup minus the LED.(Monday!!)




Cab Temp: 78
Water Temp 72
Ph 6.0
PPM +200 (250 total)

endofwed said:

hows the s&p fan? is it too loud?

everything looks great so far!

Click to expand...

The s&p is great. I have it mounted on the back of the cabinet with a 90degree 4" elbow into the cab. It has two modes low/high. Right now its on low and its considerably quieter then the air conditioner. It is about the same noise level as the two airpumps. It is completely muffled however by the closet and comfort stuffed around it.

I agree on the s&p. Last year I bought a squirrel cage blower by mistake, but it was so loud. The s&p even on high is great. I have it in a cab with the ceiling fan on in the room and you can't even tell its on unless you really get close. I threw a box on top of my cab to muffle the sound of the outbound airflow and all is well.

BTW, I'm subbed to this thread. I've been really interested in LED's for a possible mother. I like my Cool Tube HPS as it makes temps in the cab no worry but its a bit overkill for my small personal grow for a bonsai mother.

Thanks!

I can't wait until the LED gets here monday. This is basically a big test for me. I hope the LED+CFL combo works well enough to flower. I would really rather not use HID lights due to heat. I have used them for an indoor fruit tree. This LED light has 630/660 Red 3w Leds and 425 ultraviolet spectrum. I think this should offer considerable boost to my CFL setup. I am hoping to see some explosive growth next week with my two healthy girls after adding the LED.

LED is in and they love it.



Uberkush 1is on schedule and looks great (back). 3 the one that got ripped out looks better and is starting to grow(front).


2 i tried to fim and probably screwed up. She's a little stunted and nutrient burned.


The free gift is growing fine. Really dark green


Things should pickup now The plan is to flush maybe Wednesday or Thursday, I havent flushed yet. Then give a 24 hour dark period friday night to saturday night. Then go on 12/12 saturday night @ 8 pm. I want to keep them short because they are in this cabinet




Temp 82
water 72
ph 5.7
ppm 410 (This is a little high....i took a gallon out today and replaced it with plain water. I havent actually rechecked yet.)

Things are looking great!

Just a quick question, what's you're impression of the 240W LED? Is it really super bright with the 3W LED's in it? I want one so bad but am torn between that or a more powerful HPS.

Honestly I dont know. It is really very bright but I don't know if it makes as much light as a 400W hps. For me in my stealth cabinet its great. So much light with so little heat. We will see if how it works through flower. I think my 100 watts of cfl + 240 watts should do fine with 3 or 4 plants.

I think in the next 5 years your going to see a lot of growers go the LED route as they get better and power costs go up.