My first ScrOG: T5 PAR vs 1000w HPS

infinitalus said:

I worked on the grow room for about 4 hours last night. A lot more than I've done!

All four plants are females which is not something I was expecting. All four plants came from seeds out of brick weed. I tranplanted them to 13x13 square white pots and watered thoroughly.

Only three plants can fit in one of the storage totes, so I made it to where only two are in each tote. I've got the same storage totes now, I can fit 3 3.4 gal airpots in one, but it's not ideal. I'm going to try 2 airpots per tote in flower.

I hooked up my other T5 HO fixture, suspended with rope ratchets. The other T5 fixture is a RADIION 324w 6lamp fixture with much less spacing between lamps.

I kinda butchered one of the plants so that I could get taller clones. The canopy on that plant is not really impressive, but I determined that these nodes werent really long enough to reach the screen to create an even canopy. Im going for consistency as well as quality. The clones are about 6" tall. Per legal requirements, I only took 5 clones. 4 plants flowering, 3 seedlings, 5 clones makes a total of 12. These clones are sitting in a humidity dome in a separate cab.


Once the clones are rooted, I will FIMM immediately. The seedlings of the Lemon Cake crossed with Alaskan Thunder Fuck I have are ALMOST on their third node and will also be ready for FIMM probably tomorrow.


I peeked this morning before going to work and before the lights shut off, all plants seem perky and healthy still. Im hoping I didnt over stress the plant I trimmed and then took larger nodes for clones. Hermies suck! Fortunately, its only the very beginning of flower cycle so I should be fine. I think that you'll be fine

Ill take pics tonight/tomorrow after FIMM. I was tired last night and didnt have time this morning.

Click to expand...

Great job man! Congrats on the females!

Hehe, thing about growing is you work around THEIR schedule. Sometimes more work than what you might think is necessary

Yeah, 3 pots that size for that space is not ideal. 2 is perfect though.

Thanks! I was so excited when I seen all 4 were females.

Heres a canopy shot with both fixtures running, 2 plants on both sides. Job well done. I wish the screen was a little more full, but I didnt want to stay in veg too much longer.

The Lemon Cake crossed with Alaskan Thunder Fuck seedlings I have going either do not like to be FIMMed or they dont like being in a humidity dome when theyre already rooted. Unfortunately for me and them, I have no where else to put them until the clones I took are rooted. Im thinking about just throwing the clones in some dirt anyway and see if they live. Im thinking if I dont, the seedlings I have are going to die and Ill lose that set of genetics.

Last night I pushed the ladies down under the screen one last time. I pushed them all outwards, allowing for penetration at the middle of the plant. I pinched a couple nodes and supercropped a few others in the process. Accidents happen, but it should recover just fine this early in the game.

I took the humidity dome out and transplanted the clones into dirt. Looks like only one of them isnt going to make it.

Ill take pics tonight and post them

Heres a pic, Ill get a better one tonight when I get a shot of the canopy after it recovered and stretches for the light some more

Heres the new stretch.

Edit: Fixed link to right picture

Ordered a Hortilux Super HPS 1000w lamp today. I still have to get the reflector, ballast, and a couple of inline fans then Im all set and can install it on the other side of the tent.

Took a closeup of the baby buds today. I am pumped for this harvest! Finally something that will yield something other than a seeded hermy, stringy, or fluffy results. EVerythin for this grow is going great!

The HPS will be run when its pieced together and compare results using the (Grams/watt) / days method. The idea has always been to have a semi propetual grow, harvesting every 8 weeks or so for now. The HPS system will be complete before the clones are ready to go in either way.

Awesome! Can't wait to see the difference with the 1000w

Good luck to a fellow Michigan grower

Thanks Strobe

The Super HPS lamp got here today. Holy shit the thing is huge! I remember syaing to myself a couple years ago that Id never pay more than $50-60 for a pair of shoes. Here I am spending $80 on a lightbulb lol.

Heres a couple pics I took at about 5am. Im really impressed with how the fan leaves are showing really nice frost.

looking nice .. must admit .. did`t read it all .. fare from .. but nice pics

First FIMM from seedlings was unsuccessful. Strange. I thought I cut short enough. I cut them again today, this time making sure it was right. Lots of tight node spacing though. Theyll be ready for flower by the end of the month I am thinking.

Cleaned off the glass, installed the lamp, now Im just waiting for a ballast.

I also rearranged the ventilation system around in the tent. The passive intake is now on the side that the C/A register blows out of, and the active 6" exhaust is pushed into the vent where the C/A system pulls the old air out. The negative pressure is about the same as it was before. Excellent!

I noticed newer white spots on some of the fan leaves. Looked underneath a few of the fan leaves and noticed a spider mite. Annoying little bastards.

I prepped 1 gallon of water in my hand pump spray wand mixed with 1 tsp rosemary oil and 1 drop of concentrated dish soap. Sprayed it last night and again tonight. I also sprayed the outside foundation along the ground of my home to deal away with any pests that find it too cold and want to mosey their way inside. That ought to take care of that.

New pics

Well, I managed to piece together the final parts needed for the HPS system. I will no longer be using the T5 system for flower, at least not initially. I will utilize it again when the seedlings / clones are ready to go in flower lighting until I can afford to outfit the other side of the tent with another 1000w system. At first I didnt think I would be able to afford this HPS system until the seedlings / clones were ready to go in flower. Now that I have it, I want to use it since 1 lamp effectively doubles my current light output while only using 244 watts more of electricity. More and intenser light is better over all.

I was going to wait until my lights came on to start doing the change over but 2 hours before the light came on I heard a loud crash from the other room. The final support bar that had a plastic clip broke off. (Protip: if your tent uses steel bars with plastic clips, reinforce the clips with several lengths of duct tape around the bars. The bars are rated for 70lbs each but the clips can probably hold 15.) The suspended fixtures fell on top of the canopy. It snapped the main stem of one of the plants in half. I taped it up as best I could, now Im hoping for the best. So I started early on this project.

Doing the ventilation on this was the hardest part of the setup. I have a 6" inline fan rated at 240CFM pulling air through a 6" carbon filter rated at 300CFM. Close enough. This is being exhausted into one part of a Y duct, which is connected to a 6" flanged connector to 12"x4.5" A/C register, and the register is mounted into the central air system's intake, pushing the warm air out of the ambient room the tent is in. The duct work on this side I used non-insulated ducting.

I have another 6" inline fan rated at 250CFM which is pulling air from the outside of the room where the central air register is located that blows cool air upwards into the room. Not only is this 1000w lamp being air cooled, its being cooled by air cooler than the room temperature. Awesome! For ducting, I used non-insulated ductwork on the side that is pulling air in from the outside of the tent and mounted it to that side of the light. Afterwards, I used R-6 insulated ducting to prevent any heat leaks onto the canopy. Mounted it to the fan. Used insulated ducting from the fan to the Y Duct. So it looks like this: Y Duct < Fan < A/C Hood < Ambient room. (see pictures below) I felt the side of the Y duct where the lamp is exhausted and its warm. I felt the side where the tent is being exhausted and its cool. I felt around the bottom side of the central air intake where the register is mounted and dont feel any air movement. Looks like all of the hot air is being pushed out of the room. Awesome!

Fired the lamp up, looks great. Foot print is nice. I have the light 16" away from the canopy, I wanna take it easy at first and let the platns stretch into the light. I can only raise the light another 2-3 inches if I get desperate. Gonna have a real problem if I get sativa dom strains lol. Canopy is at 79F. 3 degrees cooler than the florescents actually. =)

Pics!

Watered last night. Looks like the runoff is getting a little rusty looking. Next time I water its gonna be a flush.

Updated pics. Sorry HPS is on

This grow looks amazing, and I'm learning quite a bit just from you're updating.