First time grower experimenting with cheap LEDs

Panelata

Well-Known Member
Def no chop let them go they'll be a fine smoke for sure prob very concentrated power in those flowers that are all good just can't fatten up greatly not for your skills coz you got plenty but for the nature of the photons power of the leds!
Well they look damn frosty so yeah I imagine it should pack a punch, don't know if the power of the leds is too far off, because these plants vegged up pretty tightly and compact, most of the stretching was when I hit flowering,also something I did not mention is that these 2 plants are autoflowers which have been flowering on a 12/12 light cycle as opposed to the suggested 18/6 or above, so as I already mentioned, the conclusive results will be on the THC Bomb and not the Pineapple Expresse autos.
 

Panelata

Well-Known Member
Wait... this is your FIRST GROW?!?!?! :shock:

But your plants look so healthy! (gawd knows how many fuck-ups I made before getting anything right)
Either you are a natural, or have some great luck!
Yeah I kind of surprised myself there as well, but I think its mostly due to the research I did beforehand,from going through multiple threads on this forum and others, plus I went full organic in soil , so less chance to f*** up.
 

Panelata

Well-Known Member
So you're tellin' me there's a chance...
View attachment 2561191
LMAO yeah definitely a chance , I just checked Thrics and there is hardly any amber ones most aren't even cloudy ,I think these autos still have more time than I imagined .

1.jpg

Am I doing this right? I took a piece of the smaller sugar leaf from the top buds to check the trics (pic above),this is the correct way to determine maturity ...right? Or should I be looking at tricomes on flower pods instead?
 

36OhBuds

Active Member
Hey just a tip I got from a friend... and he told me to tell you this because I was showing him this thread... he's a vet grower and uses leds, so this is what he says:

"If you want to make your own custom panels you need to make sure that your white to blue ratio is more near 2:3 or 1:2 and that the blue to red ratio needs to be more in the 1:3 range. The extra blue is great because it will make your plants stronger and thicker and result in better buds come flowering time but without some extra white bands, or if you can get your hands on some IR or UV stuff and throw a minute amount of those in you'll have a lot better luck for the second half"

I have no idea if it's viable advice but he was basically choking me into telling you that. My panel isn't far off those specs but it's a bit diff, got the notification it's on the way today!

Oh and here's something for your trich question:

View attachment 2562044

From what I've been told, check what you smoke. So check the buds since sometimes the two can have trichomes at different stages.

I'd say from your picture those are just entering the full cloudy stage so it's got some time left.
 

Panelata

Well-Known Member
Hey just a tip I got from a friend... and he told me to tell you this because I was showing him this thread... he's a vet grower and uses leds, so this is what he says:

"If you want to make your own custom panels you need to make sure that your white to blue ratio is more near 2:3 or 1:2 and that the blue to red ratio needs to be more in the 1:3 range. The extra blue is great because it will make your plants stronger and thicker and result in better buds come flowering time but without some extra white bands, or if you can get your hands on some IR or UV stuff and throw a minute amount of those in you'll have a lot better luck for the second half"

I have no idea if it's viable advice but he was basically choking me into telling you that. My panel isn't far off those specs but it's a bit diff, got the notification it's on the way today!

Oh and here's something for your trich question:

View attachment 2562044

From what I've been told, check what you smoke. So check the buds since sometimes the two can have trichomes at different stages.

I'd say from your picture those are just entering the full cloudy stage so it's got some time left.
Thanks for the post and for taking the time to relay your friends message, seems he knows what he is talking about, 3:1 R:B was the next ratio that I was going to experiment with, and will happen once the last plant is harvested.I will also try to keep things more uniform, I grew different strains ,autos and photoperiods, so I could not get the lighting cycle and distances from canopy as optimal as it should have been, I am actually surprised they have not hermied, as I think I did light stress them out a bit, when I was running out of space and was moving plants in and out of the closet.
As I said I have not written this off yet and will only continue to try and discover what works, if the current setup does indeed not produce desired results.

I checked the trics from a bud but no ambers yet visible even though hairs are reddish now.
 

caretak3r

Well-Known Member
Inspired by your veg growth, and still hopeful for your flowering turnout, I ordered some 5630 cool white strips and some red 5050s. At first I thought I was going to make a flat panel similar to yours. After thinking on it more, I kind of want to do a 'circle of light' via a bucket or something similar where I'd line the interior with rings of white and red. From your experience with your panels, do you think there'd might be bleaching issues from a smallish plant in a 5 gallon bucket of light? Another thought was splitting the bucket down the middle, hinging one side, and allowing the whole thing to clamshell open. Anyone like the idea? Not trying to threadjack Panelata - just wanted your thoughts.
 

caretak3r

Well-Known Member
Chronikool - I've kept up with your threads and would never want to infringe on your trademark :) I'll stick with 'bucket of light'
 
Pan can't get to my laptop to read through thread properly am on my phone at min so sorry abouyt silly question but how big did they end up an what is your yeild that's if you have finished ??? I've got 8 b che at min in 2bye 2 bye 2 mtre tent 3 600 watt hps plants betwEen 18 and 20 inch big first few says of flower so as u can tell been really busy plus they not strechin so been hard work lookin through threads on here if any one can help that would be good and pen not tryin to hijack mate just stoned and need help so I come to the people who r in the no ahhahah
 

tarks

Active Member
I love reading stoner comments. They always seem to start off ok and by the end i'm like '????????????????'
 

cannabiscultivation

Active Member
Inspired by your veg growth, and still hopeful for your flowering turnout, I ordered some 5630 cool white strips and some red 5050s. At first I thought I was going to make a flat panel similar to yours. After thinking on it more, I kind of want to do a 'circle of light' via a bucket or something similar where I'd line the interior with rings of white and red. From your experience with your panels, do you think there'd might be bleaching issues from a smallish plant in a 5 gallon bucket of light? Another thought was splitting the bucket down the middle, hinging one side, and allowing the whole thing to clamshell open. Anyone like the idea? Not trying to threadjack Panelata - just wanted your thoughts.
how about the outside of the bucket so you can move the plants away as they grow....
 

caretak3r

Well-Known Member
how about the outside of the bucket so you can move the plants away as they grow....
I created a thread here. I cut it in half, hinged it, and am going to hang it so I can raise as necessary. Alternatively, I could open it up into an M shape, and hang it that way. As noted in my thread - it might have been smarter to simply use poster board and then wrap it as desired but that didn't occur to me until I was already well on my way on the bucket.
 

Djengo

Member
if you wanted to make your grow super unique and special, you should have hooked it up to a solarpowered battery of some sort, those tiny led lights use so little energy you can easily go green with it. lol
 

Panelata

Well-Known Member
Guys I am so sorry , I promised I would not drop off the face of the earth and have done just that. Work has pretty much taken over and I find myself with very little time on my hands now,but yeah I harvested the 2 autos and got 22 grams of one and 16 off the other, fully dried out . I have only just chopped the thc bomb and I think I chopped it prematurely,but I had to as this is my only day off work in some time to come,and most of the trichs are cloudy with the occasional amber one.The lights work ,and although I am sure better results can be achieved with the commercial lighting options available, I am quite happy with my 100 USD led setup and will work on improving it . I am attaching a pic of the harvest of main cola from the thc bomb , I only chopped the main stem and left the side branching to go on a bit longer.

phone pics 01.13.13 038.jpgphone pics 01.13.13.jpgphone pics 01.13.13 036.jpgphone pics 01.13.13 037.jpg

I think I will get 2oz easily when dry off the thc bomb ,it weighs 167g wet and as I mentioned thats not the whole plant the side branches still have to be harvested,plus I been taking small samples to check potency, and the last few clippings I took did get me pretty baked, its more of a couchlock high than anything, I am quite happy with it tbh,and if anyone is looking for a cheap setup that can produce a semi decent outcome I would say definitely give these cheap leds a shot.
I will try to give a final smoke report and dry weight when I have harvested the rest of the plant and everything has been dried and cured, probably in about 2 weeks.
Thanks you all for following this grow through and again sorry for the slacking in updates.
 
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