Light Ballast Fried. New light. switch to LED or stay HPS?

rkymtnman said:
something is wrong with everything.

tell us more;

what are you growing in? coco/perlite me thinks

what are nutes? waht is water? what is ppm/ec? additives?
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That's exactly what it is. (General Hydroponics CocoTek)

Nutes: General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Flora Bloom, and Flora Micro and CALiMAGic (since I'm using Coco Coir)

PPM/EC honestly, I don't even measure it. I have a cheap meter that came with a water purifier container thing. (you put water in top and it filters it down into a big plastic container)
but I never use the meter to test.

I use my tap water to mix with the nutes to feed. I know you're suppose to PH text/balance, but I never did with my other grow and it came out without any problems.

Actually, I did have (one) problem, and having it with this grow as well. The whole curling down of the leaf tips. But I didn't have the brown crusty leaves last time. They were perfectly green. I'm thinking i've over done it with the nutes.

It's hard for me to measure it out well because I try to pour the nutes on a tiny teaspoon over the water pail and end up putting too much in sometimes. I need to find some sort of compatible pump to screw onto the nute bottle tops or something.


Pa-Nature said:
Wowzers .Cat spray ?
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for the most part, I keep my grow room door shut. but there's been a few occasions that I've accidentally left it open and my cats went it there. I dunno if he sprayed or not though but I wouldn't doubt it. He's a hellion..lol
 
Toxic salts buildup bad and your best plant is starting to go that way too. Even a serious flush isn't going to fix it but if still vegging new growth could start coming in healthy.

We all need more info about feed etc to help save these girls.

I use syringes to measure out my nutes. Feed stores have them in various sizes and should have heavy gauge long needles too. I got 5, 12 and 60cc. Had blunt needles left over from a printer cartridge refill kit I used to use

With lower light levels you need to feed a lot less as the plants can't get enough energy to use the feed and it builds up in the leaves doing what it's doing now. I can have the same problems feeding fairly lightly because my RH is chronically low and the plants drink a lot more water than they should so it's easy to burn them.

Those fabric pots should be on some sort of rack so they can drain and don't stay all soggy at the bottom where root rot can easily take hold.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS. I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as some are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.
 
OldMedUser said:
Toxic salts buildup bad and your best plant is starting to go that way too. Even a serious flush isn't going to fix it but if still vegging new growth could start coming in healthy.

We all need more info about feed etc to help save these girls.

I use syringes to measure out my nutes. Feed stores have them in various sizes and should have heavy gauge long needles too. I got 5, 12 and 60cc. Had blunt needles left over from a printer cartridge refill kit I used to use

With lower light levels you need to feed a lot less as the plants can't get enough energy to use the feed and it builds up in the leaves doing what it's doing now. I can have the same problems feeding fairly lightly because my RH is chronically low and the plants drink a lot more water than they should so it's easy to burn them.

Those fabric pots should be on some sort of rack so they can drain and don't stay all soggy at the bottom where root rot can easily take hold.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS. I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as some are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.
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I don't know why I didn't even think about that before (getting the soggy bottoms on a rack) that definitely makes a lot of sense that that could happen.

As far as Nute schedule, I normally feed them twice a week. 3 Tsp Flora Micro and 3 Tsp Flora Grow. on the label it says 3 Tsp for "aggressive growth".
I fill up two old 1 gallon milk jugs with water, then I add the nutes to it. I then pour that into a 2 gallon plant water pale and pour it on each plants coco coir.

Going over this makes me wonder.. I sometimes recklessly pour the mixture onto each plant and many times the leaves get poured on. I wonder if that could cause some of the issue like I have or if doing something like that wouldn't affect the plant like that.
 
Schwagg#12 said:
Your PH is way off.Ph should be tested and adjusted after mixing the nutes every time..
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Maybe but id rather see him buy a measuring syringe and work in some schedule before even bothring with ph - maybe his ph was fine and plenty manage coco with no ph so it is debatable at least.

Water quality and a water ppm chart from his company would be a good start to the ph game if you want to play that right :-)
 
Kingrow1 said:
Maybe but id rather see him buy a measuring syringe and work in some schedule before even bothring with ph - maybe his ph was fine and plenty manage coco with no ph so it is debatable at least.

Water quality and a water ppm chart from his company would be a good start to the ph game if you want to play that right :-)
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actually looking on Amazon right now for a good syringe. :grin:
 
big tony said:
As far as Nute schedule, I normally feed them twice a week. 3 Tsp Flora Micro and 3 Tsp Flora Grow. on the label it says 3 Tsp for "aggressive growth".
I fill up two old 1 gallon milk jugs with water, then I add the nutes to it. I then pour that into a 2 gallon plant water pale and pour it on each plants coco coir.

Going over this makes me wonder.. I sometimes recklessly pour the mixture onto each plant and many times the leaves get poured on. I wonder if that could cause some of the issue like I have or if doing something like that wouldn't affect the plant like that.
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It looks to me like you've been overfeeding them for a while and now it's biting your ass. Those burnt leaves aren't from slopping nutes on them. That's coming from within.

Aggressive growth is when they are growing a inch a day or even faster. For that they need lots of light and fresh air to replenish the CO2 that plants need to grow aggressively. If you aren't venting that space they are likely starved for CO2 and now with little light they just can't grow to their potential. A good environment is key to a good harvest.

big tony said:
so that means, that every time I water/feed I'm giving the plants pretty much acidic water?
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That depends on your tap water. If it's hard with high alkalinity the pH could still be too high but you'll never know unless you test for it. I use AN pH Perfect nutes with RO or distilled water only so don't even think about testing pH tho I have a really decent pH pen standing by soaking in storage solution. It's at least 6 years old and worked fine when I used it last a couple months ago.
 
OldMedUser said:
It looks to me like you've been overfeeding them for a while and now it's biting your ass. Those burnt leaves aren't from slopping nutes on them. That's coming from within.

Aggressive growth is when they are growing a inch a day or even faster. For that they need lots of light and fresh air to replenish the CO2 that plants need to grow aggressively. If you aren't venting that space they are likely starved for CO2 and now with little light they just can't grow to their potential. A good environment is key to a good harvest.



That depends on your tap water. If it's hard with high alkalinity the pH could still be too high but you'll never know unless you test for it. I use AN pH Perfect nutes with RO or distilled water only so don't even think about testing pH tho I have a really decent pH pen standing by soaking in storage solution. It's at least 6 years old and worked fine when I used it last a couple months ago.
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makes sense. My last grow took over 6 months and still only got around 1/2 pound dry from 4 plants. I do open the door a lot for an hour or so. dunno if that helps with Co2 though. I mainly did it to lower the temperature inside. I've had a big problem with getting humidity. I know in the vegetative stage it needs high humidly but mine was around like 15%.

NOW, after my original light died and I have the crappy little led light in there, humidity is up to 75%. leads me to believe that the other light just sucked out all the humidity. I just really need to do it right if i'm going to do it. It's just hard to dedicate a lot of time to it nowadays having a 1 1/2 year old and 2 month old and being a stay-at-home parent.

I originally started it to experiment with a few strains to try to get some pain relief for a bad back. Since in my state (TN) they have a war/epidemic on pain pills so doctors are very reluctant to prescribe them even for people who really could use them. Even with getting xrays and them having proof that my lower back is messed up, they still don't want to do anything but basically tell me "lose weight".
 
Opening the door will help supply CO2 for sure. Just burning a candle in there will push the CO2 over 1500ppm in 20 min if you don't have an exhaust fan going. I have a CO2 controller but no tank yet so used it to measure the CO2 from a candle and alcohol lamp I made and either got the CO2 over 1500ppm easily in a space larger than your 4x4 room. I only use them during the stretch when I have lots of plants in there and they really grow fast. Extra light and temps up to 90F to push them hard then back off after the stretch to normal.

Have you tried any pot with decent levels of CBD in it for your back? Really helps more than regular pot for my arthritis and other aches and pains. The CBD plants I have don't yield worth a crap so may splurge on some better genetics. Have a few contenders lined up but take forever to decide. The ones I have are a cross made by an old buddy. Otto#1 x Cannatonic he calls GoldFish and that cross crossed with Herijuana that I haven't grown out yet but will plant them soon if I don't order some new genetics. Have a lot of another buddies cross of Island Sweet Skunk and DJ Short's BlueBerry that need trying out as well. A couple other guys who grew some say they grow huge and yield great so I should get some of those going too.

big tony said:
NOW, after my original light died and I have the crappy little led light in there, humidity is up to 75%. leads me to believe that the other light just sucked out all the humidity.
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The light has nothing to do with the humidity level but the temperature does. If you have the exact same amount of moisture in the air the RH will be much higher at 70F than it will at 80F as humidity is relative to the temperature. That's why humidity goes up once the lights go out and the temp goes down. You are not getting more moisture in the air somehow but it's percentage changes with temp.
 
I wouldnt run lights in high humidity and 75% is to much.

I also wouldnt put any meter near a light as they are not designed to work with light radiation warming their components especially the humidity meter as its temp dependant as explained above.

Small things, get the basics sorted :-)
 
rkymtnman said:
is that per gallon? that's like 30mL total if so. that's way too much.

and why no bloom formula?
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yeah per gallon. I figured t hat if I put 3 Tsp for the "aggressive grow" the label said that I would get some big big growth.

But OldMed explained about how that process works in order for me to take advantage of it.
I pretty much had nowhere near optimal conditions in order for my plants to take full advantage of that high of a dose of nutrients, so it messed the plants up.
As far as Florabloom, I thought you weren't suppose to use it (at all) until Flowering.

@Oldmed, if I'm able to save this grow, I'm going to try to find some high CBD strains. I didn't realize until after I ordered these that they (Seedsman) had high CBD/low THC strains.

I picked the strains I have now because they supposedly lift you up instead of slow you down. Supposedly, they have a nice side-affect of giving you energy on top of the head-high. (The strains are Green Crack and Laughing Buddha) I also threw in a Red Diesel just because I'm curious about the whole Diesel strain.

I knew that Co2 helps plants but didn't know I could easily add it by burning a candle. How often would you say I should do that in order to benefit? Every day?

As far as my humidity, so basically I've been letting the grow room stay too hot which is why the humidity was so low with my other light? If so, I definitely need to get some type of cooling system up instead of the simple osculating house fan I have right now.

I'm guessing the cheapest option would be an air cooled reflector and having the tubes go up to my attic thing in my picture?



I'm glad I finally decided to ask for help because it's pretty obvious that I've been "Flying Blind" this whole time..lol
 
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big tony said:
As far as Florabloom, I thought you weren't suppose to use it (at all) until Flowering.
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You need some of all 3 parts when growing or your plants will miss out on some things. They can't put everything in one bottle as some things will react with others in the more concentrated form and screw it up. That's why you never add the nutes together on their own but put each part into a larger volume of water. With 3 part nutes you should add the Micro first then either the Grow or Bloom. If using potassium silicate then that first, then pH the water down to 7 or so then the Micro. Stuff like CalMag can be added at the end.

GH has always denounced pot growers and claimed they didn't make their nutes for cannabis. Because of their hypocrisy I have never bought their products except for once when I got a deal on one of the GO BOX kits and tried growing organically. Pathetic results so only used it once and it's still sitting in the basement. Now that GH is owned by Scotts/Monsanto/Bayer along with Botanicare and Gavita I'll never use any of those products. I'm sure there are more companies under their umbrella and likely more to be brought in so I have to be careful about what I buy as I don't want to support companies that abuse us. I won't buy Campbells products any more either now that they started using high fructose corn syrup in their tomato soup. Tomato soup with a tuna sandwich was my favorite lunch until they made the switch to save a couple cents per can. HFCS is one of the main causes of liver disease in kids not to mention promoting diabetes and obesity in everyone so I won't buy anything that has it. In Canada here it's in the ingredients as glucose-fructose to hide it's evil nature. It's in everything these days so I eat a lot less junk than most people. Haven't had a can of pop in at least 10 years nor eaten at McDonalds in almost 40 years. That's probably why at almost 65 years of age I still weigh the same as I did in high school. 5'8" and 140lbs. No pharma meds either. Some of the weight has shifted south tho so the 32" jeans are a little snug. ;) Spring is coming and we have a new puppy so I'll be getting lots more exercise soon and the jeans will fit better.

big tony said:
I knew that Co2 helps plants but didn't know I could easily add it by burning a candle. How often would you say I should do that in order to benefit? Every day?
Click to expand...

If you have decent ventilation you don't really need CO2 added. The only time I bother adding any is during the stretch when the plants go thru a big growth spurt and can really use it. I also have to let my temps and humidity get a lot higher so the exhaust fan isn't kicking in and sucking out all the CO2. I've longed planned to set up my room as a sealed grow so I have no exhaust and use A/C and a dehumidifier with a CO2 tank to maintain the perfect environment but never seem to come up with the cash to buy those things. I do have a CO2 controller so can see how much CO2 something like a candle can add. My room is 7x9x6.5'h and a candle can get the CO2 over 1500ppm in 20-30 min. The alcohol lamp I made can get it over 1500 in 15 min or less with both wicks burning. Real PITA tho as I have to keep going in and putting out the flames then relighting an hour later.

I've since made one with a single smaller tube using a cotton shoelace for a wick and can just leave that burn for the whole day and it keeps the CO2 up and burns much less alcohol. I buy 99.9% methyl hydrate/wood alcohol at the hardware store. About $10/gal and that's enough for a whole run. The wicks in that one are for tiki lamps and are quite thick. Even one going is too much after a bit.

AlcoholLamp03.jpg

Company just dropped by so got to go.

:peace:
 
Plant number is moot. Think of useable footprint of suitable intensity. That light will give, 3'x'3 of really good light.

EDIT: Addendum: Plenty for a 4x4 area IMO
 
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