LED AK-48 Grow Journal

[erwinsweeney]

I backed the lights a few more inches away. See if that changes anything.

 

[MootPointBlank]

I was just looking at my plants and noticed one of the plants at the top, the leaves are slightly taco'd. Here are two pics of it. Is this something to worry about? I just added the LED back into the setup yesterday. The CFL is about 5" away, and the LED is about 6" away. Should I back them off a bit or what?

I, too, think LED is the lighting technology of the future (to the extent of lighting technology that we know exists / who can guess what the government is still hiding from us?) due to it's ability to produce finely tuned frequencies of light at increasing higher REwatts. Eventually, I suspect that the process will become computerized where banks of LED's designed to produce specific arrays of light frequencies will be attached to a computer monitoring system that will be able to discern what frequencies of light the plant is deficient in and automatically adjust to maintain a maximum photosynthetic rate. It may sound a bit sci-fi, but there's no reason that it can't happen and if you follow the trajectory of LED and computer technology, it seems to me that the two will converge at this point. As for your little, green tacos, moving the light away is most likely the correct move. I like to hold the back of my hand at the top of the canopy level to see if the light feels too intense. Sometimes I wonder if this makes any sense, given that these are really meant to grow in full sun and if you hold your hand out in the sun, it pretty much always feels too hot. If you aren't doing it already, you may want to add a little fan inside the tent just to stir the air through the canopy. 100F on a breezy day doesn't feel like 100F in my attic. MPB

 

[erwinsweeney]

I believe what your saying to be correct MPB. I don't foresee any computer dictating to a MH or HPS bulb which spectrums to put out at any certain time. The theory you project IMO could only be possible with LED or some other technology. As for the taco'd leaves. I moved the lights away a bit. I have 2- 80CFM fans that suck air through a carbon filter and blow it out of the tent. As for air coming in, I've been just using the draw of air from the vents on the side of the tent. This was enough when I ran either the LED by itself, or the CFL by itself. I didn't have any tacos. Since using both is when this started. I think I will take your suggestion for more ventilation. I will have to use only one fan to filter and blow out of the tent, and one to blow fresh air over the canopy. I will give it a shot anyhow. I dont find any signs on the leaves of any nute burn, or burning from the light.

 

[erwinsweeney]

Well. When I took a look at my plants last night, I could finally notice some changes around the nodes, and at the tops. The flower growth is much more abundant, and they are noticeably larger in size. They are forming very close to each other now, and the pistils are longer and fatter. They have been flowering for 1 week now. So far they seem to enjoy the humidifier. I believe my next purchase is going to be a humidity gauge and controller. Seems like there is going to always be a "next purchase" for me. Just like any other hobby I guess.

 

[MootPointBlank]

Well. When I took a look at my plants last night, I could finally notice some changes around the nodes, and at the tops. The flower growth is much more abundant, and they are noticeably larger in size. They are forming very close to each other now, and the pistils are longer and fatter. They have been flowering for 1 week now. So far they seem to enjoy the humidifier. I believe my next purchase is going to be a humidity gauge and controller. Seems like there is going to always be a "next purchase" for me. Just like any other hobby I guess.

Those are some crystal clear shots of your tent walls, but I'm sure the plants look gorgeous too, lol. If you want to get those close-up shots without having to buy a telephoto lens and a digital slr camera, hold a magnifying glass in front of your camera and adjust the distances between plant, lens and camera until the autofocus locks on your target. I've gotten some pretty sweet close-up pics this way using my little point and shoot digi. I would actually like to see what you are trying to show us. MPB

 

[erwinsweeney]

Those are some crystal clear shots of your tent walls, but I'm sure the plants look gorgeous too, lol. If you want to get those close-up shots without having to buy a telephoto lens and a digital slr camera, hold a magnifying glass in front of your camera and adjust the distances between plant, lens and camera until the autofocus locks on your target. I've gotten some pretty sweet close-up pics this way using my little point and shoot digi. I would actually like to see what you are trying to show us. MPB

I think these are a little bit better MPB. I got a new HD Handycam, and it also takes ultra high quality still shots, however I haven't figured out how to use the software with it. So pretty soon I'm sure I will be able to show nice pics. These so far, I have used my 5 megapixel phone camera. Not too bad for a phone. Those last 3 sucked, I agree. Thanks for checkin in.

 

[420benny]

Looks good. I totally agree about adding a fan to move that air. Not only will it help with temp, but the plants will be much happier. More co2 coming in will increase growth, the breeze will keep the mold and fungus gnat issues better in check and the breeze will also strengthen all the stalks and branches by their movement all the time. Look around, there's a bunch of choices for fans these days. Cheap, too. Good luck and look up macro setting in the camera instructions. It makes taking closeups so easy.

 

[erwinsweeney]

Looks good. I totally agree about adding a fan to move that air. Not only will it help with temp, but the plants will be much happier. More co2 coming in will increase growth, the breeze will keep the mold and fungus gnat issues better in check and the breeze will also strengthen all the stalks and branches by their movement all the time. Look around, there's a bunch of choices for fans these days. Cheap, too. Good luck and look up macro setting in the camera instructions. It makes taking closeups so easy.

Thank you Benny. I did notice exactly what you said: With the increased airflow, much less on the fungus gnats. Thank you for the suggestions. I will check your links.

 

[MootPointBlank]

I think these are a little bit better MPB. I got a new HD Handycam, and it also takes ultra high quality still shots, however I haven't figured out how to use the software with it. So pretty soon I'm sure I will be able to show nice pics. These so far, I have used my 5 megapixel phone camera. Not too bad for a phone. Those last 3 sucked, I agree. Thanks for checkin in.

Nice... I can see the beginnings of some dense bud formations. I look forward to seeing what the handycam will do. There's nothing like hi-res bud ****. Too bad we can't post video, it would make tutorials much more effective and engaging. I swear I've perfected every environmental variable in my grow and I'm still getting mixed results. But that's a story for my own journal. Keep on rockin' in the free world. MPB

 

[erwinsweeney]

Couple of pics I took today of a couple of the bud sites that are forming. It sure is neat watching them now. They are changing quite a bit everyday.

 

[erwinsweeney]

A few pics that I just took. They are not real close up or great quality, obviously. I was just checking out how much these ladies are filling in the tent. You can see in the pics the many budsites. These have been on 12/12 for a week and couple days. Seeing the changes now. Seeing flowery, fuzzy growth at all the nodes. I'm just amazed at all the bud sites. To this point, growing MJ has been much simpler than I expected. Granted I am doing a simple personal use set-up. It sure is a lot of fun.

 

[GrowinGreen]

hey erwin- it's nice to see the bud start forming, eh? Thanks for all the updates.

 

[erwinsweeney]

These are a few pictures that I took this morning. All seems to be pretty well. Flower formations around all the nodes are growing more dense, and in higher concentrations. Really neat to watch how they grow. Can't wait to see some dense bud on them.

 

[Exarmy]

Your doing really well bro keep up the good work!

 

[GrowinGreen]

hey erwin- looking good man. They are going to start taking off here soon. Looks like you are going to have a nice cola on there- is today their 11th day in flower?

 

[erwinsweeney]

hey erwin- looking good man. They are going to start taking off here soon. Looks like you are going to have a nice cola on there- is today their 11th day in flower?

Hey GG. Thank you. Yes today is their 11th day of flowering. Thats what I soo look forward to seeing. I can't wait to get to the point where that 1 AI plant you have is at. That thing is beautiful! I was just in the grow area a bit ago, and now I can see some huge calyx's with giant white hairs, and they are covered in trichomes. They are not bunched together yet, but I presume they will be soon. I will get a piture of em today or tomorrow. I'm sure you've got some on yours.

 

[erwinsweeney]

Good morning everyone. Took a few quick pics when I got up this morning. Things still seem to be going well. All the bud sites are growing, and getting bigger. The calyx's are coming in bigger and bigger. I'm starting to kinda see how the main cola on one of the plants is going to form. Can see the very beginning of it.

 

[Big_Blunt]

looking good, how close do you have the lights to the plants?

 

[erwinsweeney]

looking good, how close do you have the lights to the plants?

Thank you Biggie. The 250 watt CFl bulb is about 4" over the tops of the plants. The 120 watt LED is in the back of the tent and positioned just above the plant tops, and is angled down and towards the front of the tent. I'm using the CFL to shine light down through the foliage, and using the LED to shine through sideways to hopefully get light on the leaves and budsites that may have been shaded from the CFL. It seems to be working out so far. I think I'm getting close to where we are really going to see how well it is working, or not.

 

[TommyBres]

A "regular" 150 watt HPS starts out at about 16000 lumens
..not to be dissing your success in any manner, she looks wonderfull. And I know 'heat' is virtually a non-issue w/ leds. Just saying.......the economics don't make good sense, "if" your numbers are correct. For only a slight increase in kilowatt useage, around 5X the lumens ??

A lumen is merely a PERCEIVED power of light. In other words, it's the amount of light our eyes can see, and our eyes pick up green/yellow much more than red or violet, and we can't see infrared/ultraviolet. That's why the lumen factor can't be compared to LED's, because they focus on a few very specific areas of the spectrum that our eyes are incapable of seeing.

Luminous flux, measured in lumens = visible light
Radiant flux, measured in W = visible light + ultraviolet light + infrared light

So, in theory, for a 150W HPS, to perform the same as a 120W LED... Assuming the LED focuses on purely the used spectrum of light for plants... 80% of the light given off by the HPS would have to be in the useful areas of the spectrum, which is not even close given its enormous yellow output. I'm not saying this is true practically, but there's a quick breakdown of why lumens mean NOTHING when it comes to LED's.