Grow Cultivation Q and A

[herbivore21]

No more. Amare isn't the only reputable retailer. COB's DIY origins keeps the retailers honest. A bit like desktop computers. You can buy the parts and assemble it yourself, or you can pay a fee to someone more skilled and experienced to do it for you.

This is such great news man! Good to hear!

 

[Disrupt]

Do you have a link to the COB?

https://www.amaretechnology.com/product-page/solarpro-sp300-pro3

 

[LesPlenty]

I see the COB are Cree LED`s, I would need 2 of them for 4'x4' coverage at 18" , so 600w for US$1390, my HPS covers the same area under US$300 for the same wattage, so the store bought ones are not really cost effective, how much for a do it yourself LED to match a 600w hid? A little off topic, my friends are right into CREE led lightbars for their 4WD vehicles with crazy wattages, 300watts+. None of them can penetrate into the distance as far as my 75watt HID driving lights do.
I am looking into a separate small grow in about a 3'x2.5' area for one plant at a time to try different strains, maybe LED might work with that or I might get a 400w Lumatec or another 600w Lumatek set at 400w and use my older globes in.
I am in Oz, so a bit limited in what I can get, any suggestions and/or links to a light I should check out for this project?

 

[Disrupt]

I am in Oz, so a bit limited in what I can get, any suggestions and/or links to a light I should check out for this project?

Haven't checked in a while, but the Autoflower Network had a helpful discussion of LEDs, COBs and DIY.

Up-front cost is definitely higher, but LEDs have lower operating costs and a longer life-span. With such small grows, never bothered to do the math.

 

[LesPlenty]

LEDs have lower operating costs

Not really, as stated above you need 2x300watts of led`s to match a 600w HID.
Here is a picture of my mother plant, this is my use of COB(cree) led`s, I used to have 4x U tube flouro lights hanging out of the holder, now it holds 9x B22 15w cob leds and is great for that purpose;

No fans needed for the bulbs, just one circulation fan for the plant. and 10x the bulbs cost AU$56 delivered for the lot and not one has crapped out yet (on since March,6 months)

 

[Killick]

Nice job @LesPlenty - do these run 24x7 for your mother plant? (I'm a n00b at this stuff, but slowly planning things in my head).

 

[LesPlenty]

When I used to be in a hurry 24/7, now 18 hours on, 6 hours off each day for mumma.

 

[Killick]

Thanks! Are there any special methods for watering? I've been giving the plants water at the end of each hot day we've had, less so now that it's cooling off, which seems to be working fine. How about nutrients for mother plants? I picked up a bottle of something. It's a pink liquid and suggests using less for clones and more for plants, but doesn't state much about veg plants. I've been supplementing with molasses in feed water every week or two. What I've *really* discovered is that these plants are pretty tough, and they will let you know if they need something. It's a very fun hobby...

 

[Shredder]

Thanks! Are there any special methods for watering? I've been giving the plants water at the end of each hot day we've had, less so now that it's cooling off, which seems to be working fine. How about nutrients for mother plants? I picked up a bottle of something. It's a pink liquid and suggests using less for clones and more for plants, but doesn't state much about veg plants. I've been supplementing with molasses in feed water every week or two. What I've *really* discovered is that these plants are pretty tough, and they will let you know if they need something. It's a very fun hobby...

It's generally accepted that morning (the plants morning) is best for watering and for harvesting.

I don't know a thing about pink liquid plant fertlizer, lol.

Molasses feeds microbes in the soil, plus it temporarily lowers the soil ph. Sometimes nutrients not available at the soils current ph will be freed up during a ph swing caused by things like molasses. So not bad to use, but don't overdue it. A weekly basis sounds about right, unless there's low ph problems. I used molasses this way before I got an reverse osmosis water filter because of high ph water. Now I use it mostly for compost tea.

 

[Shredder]

While those led lights are getting popular there not for every situation. Especially if you have to add heat in cooler months. I heat my rooms with my hid lights for the most part all winter. And in summer the sealed hoods quickly remove heat. Paying extra for led lights then have to add (1500 w electric) heaters doesn't work for me. I grow in well insulated rooms I've built in a barn, at times I've seen -10 inside the main part of the barn. Because of the light timing there is always some light on so the heaters rarely come on.

One item I've found handy is programmable plug in thermostats. You can control on/off set points for both cooling and heating with them. It makes maintaining even temps much easier. I use them for heaters and exhaust/intake fans.

 

[Popi]

Thinking about switching to LED for next grow. Any ideas on the best affordable LED to use in a 3x3x5 tent?

 

[LesPlenty]

Thinking about switching to LED for next grow.

I was thinking the same for another separate grow but have been thinking about trying one of those 315w ceramic metal halide kits instead, still checking them out.

 

[psychonaut]

Thinking about switching to LED for next grow. Any ideas on the best affordable LED to use in a 3x3x5 tent?

I ran a mars hydro for about 3 years until I had problems with mine. I may have caused the issues by overhumdifying the room during drying in the winter so had about 12 hours of fog and condensation on it

That being said I've had some nice results with my cree 256. Just gotta watch the light height can bleach the tops if too close. Canopy pent ration on my 600w led seemed on par with 600w HID.

It's nice to run the full spectrum one of the reasons I like led outside of the cooler running.

Something like this looks good may be a lil small for your 3x3'

https://www.mars-hydro.com/hpcall/m...grow-light-indoor-hydroponics-indoor-for-sale

 

[LesPlenty]

Maybe one of these as they are also waterproof, big enough for 2x plants?
https://www.mars-hydro.com/led-grow...b-300w-waterpoof-no-noise-mars-hydro-for-sale

 

[ClearBlueLou]

The site says it covers 2.5x2.5’ and replaces 150w HID, so maybe not

 

[psychonaut]

Might be able to put in a cheap UFO LED to add more coverage.

 

[NizzyJones]

Just went down this rabbit hole the last few weeks. Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG) seems like the best budget kit solution for LEDs, they'll still get expensive quickly if you're trying to replace a 1000W but the smaller lights for 2'x2' (HLG 135) and 3'x3' (HLG 300) are pretty reasonable.

 

[pxl_jockey]

I have one 315w CMH (for heat and spectrum) & 2 of these COB LEDS in a 2x4x7. The leds are made by a regular guy from the auto flower forum, they’re awesome and plug-n-play. He said that 2 would be plenty for the tent but I am so glad I got the CMH in addition, tents in a detached brick garage that has power but no heat or insulation. So with a small tube greenhouse heater and the lights, I’m keeping the temperature great for the seedlings but having difficulty with getting the humidity level where it should be... such a noob.

 

[arb]

Don't worry about it unless they are wilting or the walls are dripping.........nearly a non issue in the real world.
Most problems being attributed to humidity are not humidity issues per se.......fresh air is best.

 

[ClearBlueLou]

I realize I’m uber-newb at the growing, but if you want to go LED, may I suggest... a ten-pack of Feit 100-watt-equivalent bulbs (Amazon, Costco), and a couple of those long metal power strips with 8-12 outlets on it. If you’re using a tent, slightly shorter strip than the width of the tent.

Next, go to Home Despot and pick up 8 simple plug-in sockets, and 2 screw-in Y lamp adapters.
(Or just get 10 of the sockets and skip the Ys). They’re in the same section as the wall outlets.

For ease of use, you may want to mount the strips to wood for ease in hanging and raising/lowering.

Stick 5 of the plug-in lamp sockets in each of the power strips (spaced appropriately). If using the Ys, screw the Y adapters into the center sockets.

Now add bulbs. MAKE SURE THE OUTLET STRIPS ARE NOT ‘HOT’...screwing an LED into a live socket will damage the bulb and shorten its life. Suspend the strips over your grow area. When I have a chance to do this, I’ll just attach them to the top of the tent, ‘cause it’s a lot of light we’re talking about.

You now have 1500 watts (equivalent) of 5000k spectrum, 16,000 lumens for your grow.

Initial cost, 100US +/-. Cost to run, equivalent to a *single* 150w incandescent.

Be careful not to burn your plants: this setup in a 5x5 tent will give you ~60 watts per square foot.

Wish I’d thought of this back when I had a house...I’d have been growing all this time, and still have the house....

UPDATE: it occurs to me that most folks who use this kind of bulb remove the ‘bulb’ part because the frosted plastic cuts down on the amount of light...which might not really be an issue, given what we’re working with.

Also, a little bit about the ‘Y’ two-bulb socket: the idea behind this is to increase the light spread. I think it’s a good idea, but I don’t know how to describe what I’m seeing in my head. Play with it and see what you think.