LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

PetFlora said:

AlterNation: The photos I have been posting are of ONE plant. when it outgrew my available height I begrudgingly snapped it based on input given here. That plant now has a canopy ~ 2 X 4! So I would say FIM, then force each new main branch left to right, keeping the plant on the middle step. Instead off a tall grow pot use something low but wide (~ 12 X 24) that allows the roots to spread out.

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Hey PetFlora, Thanks for posting on my thread, bro!

UnderCurrentDWC said:

Fiji
75.25
redsun/life
454

Should get you through both phases.

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I agree but I would swap out the 75.25 for a Coral Wave for flower/bloom. It will give you some actinic (420nm/blue) light which the plants love, and also add some far red light.

Lost my circulation fan to electronic failure (should have gotten the oldschool kind without the electronics)--and unfortunately the only other fan I have handy is a box fan, which doesn't really fit anywhere. Using it as best I can though.

Leaves are showing some stress... not sure what's going wrong exactly, but I got a lot of yellowed leaves after it wilted when the fan failed and they needed watering. It is ALSO possible it was just nutrient burn, (or a nutrient lock out from salts more likely) as they had been fed the night before and were about due for a water flush.

Is it likely to just lose some leaves to heat stress in this way? I lost my circulation fan, not the exhaust fan. And the wilted bottom leaves stayed green at first, just wilted, then they went yellow while the rest of them perked back up. I thought it was nutrient burn so I flushed... but did not notice the fan right away I think.

Anyway, the buds are getting big and beautiful, I just hope I don't lose any more fan leaves. Here's a pic of what they looked like when I found the yellowed leaves. I trimmed all yellows and flushed the soil incase of salt buildup. I don't THINK i've seen any increase in yellowing since then. I left a few half-yellow leaves, and they appear to be staying that way for now.

Will take fresh pics when I take them out to water later.

These are from the other day when I first found the issue:



I still feel really good about these plants. The buds and upper leaves still look very healthy on each, but I lost several fan leaves. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the lighting, though. I am just an amateur is all. But if anyone wants to kick in a comment on what kind of ailment this looks like, feel free.

No worry the plants still look healthy.

Here's a little update. See my sig for more info.[video=youtube;pE_wILiqK7o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE_wILiqK7o[/video]

Nice post Dawg!

? Is your box fan constantly blowing on your plants? If so I would change that to just circulate the air in the room.
During veg I keep my T5 within 3" of the tallest leaf and have been getting great results.

Happy growing
Uc~

Hi Prof,
I love your science! It would be great if all of the manufacturers would use a standardized spectrum graph. I wonder if UL measures these parameters.

I also wanted to tell you that my Quantum BadBoy 8 Bulb is on its way and I will need to get some bulbs.

Where is the best place to get the bulbs with the built-in reflectors? Have you come across any new bulbs you can recommend?

Thanks for all of the great info and your inspiration.

Cheers,
Mo

Mohican: Shipping can be expensive: look for closest location to you. Aquarium Specialties (Carolinas) carries all lights recommended, though their inventory can be an issue. Most likely due to the popularity of this thread.

Mursh: It is not a good idea to lollipop as much as you have. If done at all, just enough to assist air circulation. Primary leaves store nutes to help feed the plant. At this point you could have a CaMg def and/or a nute lockout. Some primary leaf die-off is natural, but you no longer have enough of them.

that is still pretty dam cool!!! a whole new way to look at flouros

PetFlora said:

Mohican: Shipping can be expensive: look for closest location to you. Aquarium Specialties (Carolinas) carries all lights recommended, though their inventory can be an issue. Most likely due to the popularity of this thread.

Mursh: It is not a good idea to lollipop as much as you have. If done at all, just enough to assist air circulation. Primary leaves store nutes to help feed the plant. At this point you could have a CaMg def and/or a nute lockout. Some primary leaf die-off is natural, but you no longer have enough of them.

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Thanks for the tip, Pet. I am not gonna be clipping so much on my next run

PetFlora said:

Educational. And while their lights 'may' be better than what we are doing here, theirs comes at a much higher price.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GrowLightSource?feature=mhee#p/u/4/RwI4MzPXxOY

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there's a guy in my state selling a 400 watt induction lamp for $900 it's been up for almost a year... I smell tax return gift!

I came across this today. 70 Watt LED Light - "Amethyst", T5 fluorescent light replacement.
Might be cool. got to fugue out the price.

pr0fesseur said:

Well I think its something that IS very interesting and WHY IN THE WORLD no one but me has jumped head first into this? I now think that With the proper "tweaking" we can find that "Magic Light Soup" in T5 bulbs and grow beyond our Wildest Dreams!

I am trying to raise some $$ for another lamp and put them vertically on either side of the plants kind of like a light box!

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is that a tanning booth that would be a awsome grow light tho wouldnt it..

Weekly photo update. On que, it has doubled in volume from last week

I ran across some fairly cheap LED's the other day from China. I am thinking they were on Ebay.

^nice poast bro. smoke more weed.

anyone growing with these? http://grow-light-source.com/All_Lighting_Products.htm#420 Watts