LED Grow Light Forum

first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

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first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by birdkid » Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:35 am

Greetings Everyone,
I'm a medical cannabis patient doing an all LED grow from start to finish with the Solarstorm 400. First time using only LEDs so I'm excited to see how it turns out- I'm particularly interested in how the plants do when I make the switch to flowering mode.

I will be growing 4 plants of a strain called "X-Rated" (...an OG kush cross that's similar to OG #18). I'm only allowed to have 4 plants flowering at one time in the state I live in, so for the sake of this test I will be focusing on just the 4 plants from veg to finish (even though you may see some other clones in the photos). This will hopefully give other MMJ patients an idea of how this light performs, particularly in flowering mode, for a crop that is within the legal limits.

My set up is indoors in 4x4 grow tents. Hydroponic top drip system for the veg tent/ and an ebb n' flow system for the flowering tent. Most likely I will have a scrog screen set up in the flowering tent when it comes time to switch over.
I'm using Advanced Nutrients PH perfect Sensi grow A/B.
PH is around 5.8, Temp is ~75, Humidity around 45, fans are blowing and my babies are growing!
...

: new clones; x1.jpg (483.42 KiB) Viewed 5680 times

: x2.jpg (488.34 KiB) Viewed 5680 times

: these babies are about 6" tall; x3.jpg (401.62 KiB) Viewed 5680 times

: Solarstorm is in the tent...; x4.jpg (611.13 KiB) Viewed 5680 times

More to come!!!

: birdkid; Posts: 18; Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:49 am

Re: first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by SisterMaryElephant » Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:03 am

Welcome to the forums!

The SS400w will not be enough light for a 4x4 tent in flower at a mere 20w/sqft. Even CLW suggests twice as much light for that space and other journals here show that even more is better. You'll get some results but, perhaps, not what you were hoping for.

SME

Disclaimer:
I still use HID and I'm NOT an LED expert. All of my LED knowledge is from other parties or research so I can't say from first hand experience one way or another. I also run a medical grow consulting business in SoCal.

: SisterMaryElephant; Posts: 2633; Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:05 pm

Re: first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by birdkid » Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:00 am

Dang, I could have sworn I saw that the SS400 would cover a 4x4 area but now that I'm looking at the specs it's the SS800 that covers 4x4. The 400 watt covers 6x6 for veg and 3x3 for flowering.

Hmmmm.... well I have this lamp for now so that's what I'm going to have to use because I cannot afford to pay more than twice the amount for the 800 watt lamp just to get an extra square foot of light around the perimeter. I'm estimating that my plants will cover about a 3.5x3.5 area... so hopefully this light will work alright.

Perhaps later on I'll throw in some T5's around the perimeter of the tent to help with additional lighting... what do you think SME? I really want to be able to do a complete grow without any HID lights... will T5's be enough to supplement the SS400?

Anyway, the goal of this test was to see how the plants do under only LED's... hopefully this wasn't a bad idea.

: birdkid; Posts: 18; Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:49 am

Re: first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by SisterMaryElephant » Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:41 am

It's not an extra square foot, it's quite a bit more. 4x4 = 16 sqft, 3x3 = 9 sqft.

Based on journals here I wouldn't even count on the SS400w covering a 3x3 area properly. If you want to maximize your LED results then flower as small as you can so the plants use as little room as possible (or kill off one of the clones) but I wouldn't bother with the CFL/T5 option. As I said, you'll get some results but it might be as good as you hoped for. You just can't skimp on lighting and expect top-shelf results.

: SisterMaryElephant; Posts: 2633; Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:05 pm

Re: first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by birdkid » Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:45 am

Just a quick update... wanted to post some current pics of the plants (the first ones I posted are already a couple weeks old now).

They're looking healthy so far...

... more to come.

Attachments

: xr3.jpg (550.59 KiB) Viewed 5635 times

: xr2.jpg (659.43 KiB) Viewed 5635 times

: again... this grow is focusing on those 4 larger plants in the middle; xr1.jpg (697.93 KiB) Viewed 5635 times

: birdkid; Posts: 18; Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:49 am

Re: first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by Harley09 » Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:11 am

Your plants look pretty good I have been getting ready to do my GFP and I am in the same boat as you I only have the SS400 and I will be growing in a 3X4 closet so I am interested in seeing you results rock on brother

: Harley09; Posts: 218; Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:56 am

Re: first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by birdkid » Thu May 09, 2013 9:44 am

As usual I'm behind on my updates... but here are some pics from last week.

I went out of town for an extended weekend and came back to find my plants had nearly doubled in size! These babies are looking good. Though I can't say anything about how this light performs at flowering, I must say that so far I am really impressed with how this thing performs at vegging. If I had the money I would totally buy another one just to veg with (I'm really hoping the price of these things goes down in the future though...).

Ok, I'll be back soon with more exciting news I hope...

Attachments

: X-Rated strain are the 4 larger plants. Just last week these were the size of the smaller Ak-47's at the bottom.; xr2.jpg (631.69 KiB) Viewed 5552 times

: a little nute spill on the leaf in the bottom right corner- otherwise plants look healthy!; xr3.jpg (762.78 KiB) Viewed 5552 times

: growing fast!!!; xr1.jpg (708.42 KiB) Viewed 5552 times

: birdkid; Posts: 18; Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:49 am

Re: first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by SisterMaryElephant » Thu May 09, 2013 11:54 am

How tall are you planning on letting them get before flipping to 12/12? LED lights don't penetrate very well so you don't want to let them get too big. You also don't want to have an overcrowding problem later.

I'd also suggest taking some pictures in normal lighting to better inspect health, etc.

YMMV...

: SisterMaryElephant; Posts: 2633; Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:05 pm

Re: first all LED Grow w/ Solarstorm 400

by birdkid » Tue May 14, 2013 9:42 am

Alright, looks like maybe I have some heat stress going on here? The outer edges of the leaves near the top are beginning to curl up a bit. I had lowered the light a bit closer to the tops of the plants (getting closer to about 12") but it looks like that maybe too much. The temp is at about 77-78 in the tent and the fan is blowing between the tops of the plants and the light but it's probably time to back off a little bit. Seems like I keep underestimating the power of this light!

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