Based on the older leaf damage you may want to keep a closer eye on pH but it is, of course, up to you.
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.
Thanks SME. I'll keep a closer monitor on pH and see what happens. That's what i love about this hobby: there is always something new to learn.
Correct me if i'm wrong but i was under the impression that the original leaves (from the clone) eventually yellow and fall off. That's why I wasn't too alarmed.
But they are due for a nute top off tomorrow and i'll up the EC a bit as well. That should help the cal/mag situation
There is no one, single, "right way" to grow either...
I wouldn't expect that kind of yellowing/dropping in late veg/early flower and some pH lockout symptoms look like the problems I see in the pics. It could also partially be a lack of N. That said genetics do vary. If keeping the pH more in check or upping the EC in a future grow prevents that then you'll know.
Some nutrients need supplemental cal/mag when using RO but I'm not familiar with Ionic...
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.
ok, everybody, the SS400 has been in the grow room for almost 24 hrs.
some first impressions:
1. the grow room temps are almost 9 degrees lower than with HID lights/ballasts in the room. I only have to run my 6 inch exhaust fan on very low speed compared to med speed with the HIDs Probably more of the ballasts than the bulbs but I wanted to keep as much equip as possible in the grow room
2. I cut a piece of pvc at 18 inches to make a quick go/no go check of the height off the canopy
3. the purple glow is really cool compared to the bright white of the CMH bulbs
And a big thanks to SME for spotting a deficiency ( N or cal/mag). I'll be trying to correct that ASAP with a res flush and a new batch of nutes.
Did a 2 hour flush with florakleen and when i was going to mix up a new batch of nutes i noticed that there were a bunch of solids at the bottom of my flower nutes. Called Ionic and they said that maybe the bottle had frozen at some point. This was not too uncommon with one part nutes. Perhaps this caused some nute issues. Maybe not?
So i went back to the old standby of GH nutes using the Lucas formula. For those who don't know, the LF eliminates cal/mag issues.
Hopefully this fixes my issues. I'm also going to check my pH a bit more frequently thanks to SME's suggestions.
The SS400 is working well though. Very well made LED. Has a good weight to it as well.
Solids in the reservoir or in the nutrient bottle? If you mean in the bottle then yes, it could be age or temp related, most 1 part solutions (especially the thicker ones) actually expire too. Did you shake the bottle well before use? How old was it?
It could cause nutrient issues if the solids fell out of suspension and never made it to the plant, assuming that the solids were what the plant wanted and the issue wasn't caused or compounded by pH issues.
I like Lucas...
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.
sorry. solids in the bottle. I poured it out and there was a lot of solids that came out. If it froze, it was at my soon to be ex-grow shop. it's been inside since I bought it. on the GH bottle, it says if it solidifies to add an equal amt of water and use at 2x strength
but yes SME, I like lucas as well. I don't think you can get simpler. And when I used it before, the pH was very stable. The only hard part (for me) was to use it at full strength right from the get-go. It seemed like there was no way it couldn't burn the plants.
as far as the LED, it has eliminated heat issues. With summer coming (even here in CO), my old setup was close to needing A/C when it got close to 75-80 outside. i had my exhaust on full blast to keep temps decent.
It does seem like 18" off the top of the canopy is too much but I'm sure the folks at CLW did plenty of testing to come up with that number so I'm gonna stick with it.
CLW suggests 18-24" but that's probably to cover the area that they advertise or the footprint that they tested at least. You can move it down, a little, as long as the plants tolerate it but the lower it is, the less area it covers well too. It's a trade-off.
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.
Ok, we're at the end of the second week of flower. Switched over to LucasFormula after some issues with Ionic nutes. Have just a bit of nute burn on the tips of the sweet tooth.
Another nice benefit of the LED with the cooler grow room temps is that my chiller doesn't have to run as much to keep it 65F.
Res flush and change yesterday. 80mL FloraKleen for 1.5 hrs, then filled up with RO water 10 gallons and 120mL Aquashield. No nutes for 24 hrs to give the one plant with tip burn a bit of a rest. Then I'm gonna go with a bit weaker solution for them. The bad part of 2 strains in one tub. Can't feed both optimally. But I did it this way to find 3 strains that do well in my conditions. And I finally found my third. So next grow will be 4 or 6 clones of all the same strain.
More pix to come on Wednesday. Will be the end of the 3 rd week of bloom.