Started some Gold Leaf beans in some rock wool cubes. Planning on doing hydroponic SCROG.
Wanted to document my third grow since my first two attempts were less than spectacular. First grow with Black Indica from Crop King yielded ~1oz/plant and the buds were very loose. My second with BlueBerry Auto and Amnesia Haze Auto seeds was a disaster, great growth but just wouldn’t flower or bud. Just not sure where I’m going wrong.
DAY1 - 8/11
Most times, at least in my experiences, loose and airy buds are from insufficient amount of light or nutrients during the grow, but there are other reasons it can happen also.
For the light I used a 200LED grow light from China. It has plenty of light as when too close it will burn the leaves. 2000W 200LEDs 109676LM Full Spectrum Plant Grow Light- Tomtop.com
Hydroponic set-up is 5 gal bubble buckets. Will take picture when new saplings are ready for transfer.
Most of those lights from China mislead customers to believing they are more than they really are and most LED diodes are like laser beams, focused and concentrated, and that’s why they will have a tendency to burn plants if they are really close.
I see some par values on that page that maybe you can use to compare it against other lights.
@dbrn32 can help you out. He will probably be curious as to the size of the area you are trying to light.
You know well haha
He gave you good advice here @WickedAle. I agree that your light is inadequate.
Hate to just chime in with the sound of haterism. But they are correct. Chinese LEDS are all about profit. Sell an ‘equivalent’ light and they will come. When in all actuality ur buying wall watts. @dbrn32 advice may scare u a bit a first. But patience and a will to listen n learn will go A LONG WAY. the man knows his lighting.
I have myself suspected the light, but the plants grow very vigorously. I am able to fill my 4 x 4 tent with 2-3 plants. It’s probably a wavelength problem.
The emitted light spectrum isn’t great, I agree. But what we’re more looking at is the coverage to light intensity. You can drop low enough to have good intensity, but you’re not going to cover an entire 4x4 with that intensity.
If I was to supplement, what would you suggest? As I said the plants grow very vigorously, but if I need to add more I will.
On my light anyway, the number advertised is the total maximum wattage, 288 in my case, of all the diodes. But they only run them at 60% which is 175 watts. Not as big a discrepancy as some, but they’re not technically lying.
Yes, and they fail to leave anything useful for you to determine total output of light.
Something using a higher end phosphor coated led. There’s a lot of good ones, hard to narrow an exact model for every application. Check out what horticulture lighting group has to offer.
Ok, so you have me convinced I need to get a new lighting set up. Been researching…looking at a 4 board QB304 @$65 or QB288 @$75 set up for my 4x4 tent. Plan on mounting to a 3/16” aluminum plate 3”x3”. Leaning towards the 304’s unless someone convinces me I should spend the extra for the V2 288’s. Not clear on the Meanwell drivers. Also looking at WiFi setup with the Growlink Hydropods Driver Control Module. Any advice?
Also looking to switch in 4 x QB11 deep reds for extra red power during flower but will have to add these later when they are back in stock.
Here is a design I have built. Puts out 500 watts at the wall and should cover your 4x4. Cost around $500 to build
It was your setup that inspired me. Thank you for the great info. Do you max out the drivers with the Meanwell you have? Or ar you running lower for higher efficiency?
I plan on switching between 2 and 4 boards running at a time depending on the size of the plants. Just simple toggle switches.
I also see you are using the slate 3’s. Planned on a simple 3/16” aluminum plate instead of the separate heat sinks.
What’s the dimemsions of your outside frame and how heavy is your rig?
