Hey people. New user to the forum. I just today put in my order to be part of California Light Works Growers Program. I'm told I should expect shipment end of the week. Very excited!

I've been growing for a while and was using HID lighting systems. About a year ago I had to move to a much smaller place, do to that I had to downsize my grow..2x2x4 tent running a Blackstar 240w LED Panel. I also have a 90w TriBand UFO LED as well. I've been very pleased with LED tech so far..harvests have been great, excellent bud etc. It was really more a experiment then anything else. Its funny everyone says to wait for LEDs, LEDs are not ready yet ... yet every grow journal just about on multiple sites shows something very different. Its been the same in my case as well.

I've recently converted most of my giant walk in closet into a grow area. Inside of it is a 4x4x7 tent. I have on order Reserva Privada Seeds OG Kust #18, and Green House Seeds Super Lemon Haze. Top notch genetics there. Very excited about that. I will be using 3 gallon smart pots and 2 3.5 gallon Bubble Buckets. I've always uses smartpots/airpots and soil to grow with so also excited about the bubble buckets. My plan is to have one OG Kush and one Super Lemon Haze in them so I can see for myself the difference.

The soil for my remaining smart pots will be Pro-Mix. For both the soil and bubble buckets I will be using Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow A/B, and Sensi Bloom A/B.

I have a quick question...do any of you Solarstormers believe that that single LED light will be enough for a 4x4 grow space as they advertise or should I add side T5 lighting into it?

Right now in my smaller tent I have a Paradise Seeds Wappa in 4th week of flowering. That plant has been great I will definitely be ordering some of that next go around ... it was a freebie seeds. I will take a picture of it when its lights on time.

I look forward to this journal and very open to any advice and suggestions! I'm also a very frequent poster on grasscity.com. My username on there is rhapsodyrcks. I will be leaving a journal on there site as well.

Welcome to the forums, I look forward to seeing your results.

I'm one of those growers that believes that LED isn't ready to replace HID and we've all seen LED grows that show poor results. That said, I'm not saying that LED won't grow plants, I just don't believe that LED can do as well as HID in the "bang for buck" test especially. I hope your grow can prove me wrong.

SisterMaryElephant wrote:Welcome to the forums, I look forward to seeing your results.

I'm one of those growers that believes that LED isn't ready to replace HID and we've all seen LED grows that show poor results. That said, I'm not saying that LED won't grow plants, I just don't believe that LED can do as well as HID in the "bang for buck" test especially. I hope your grow can prove me wrong.

Thanks!! I agree that it does not exceed it at least from what I have seen but I also think its all relative. Many people out there grow with CFLs or T5s they may not get the same results as HID but have a dramatically lower energy bill, less heat etc. When you factor in a lot of the other issues then I think it can match it. Say you get less yield costing you money but your paying a dramatically higher energy bill? Throw in some other factors and you have arguably a product that can match it.

I think the argument should not be replacing but simply another choice. Initial costs might be more but in the long haul view it is arguably cheaper. In my head I see it like a Mac vs PC debate. Everyone wants to crush one another..both can coexist very well together. (Apple user here )

Thanks again for the message and I will update this journal as time goes on.

Well, we've been debating the cost/benefit arguments in a couple of the other threads (I think that guy bailed though) and you're right that LED will have a quality improvement over fluorescent grows but the cost for LED is the biggest problem in my view. While you will use more electricity in HID grows, the HID will generally cover more area and it costs less to buy. There are definitely trade-offs no matter what people use.

Perhaps we shouldn't get into this, again, in your thread. There are other threads here if you'd like to debate further, just look for the threads with a lot of replies.

Glad to have another grower around, either way...

Whoot whoot just got a UPS notice emailed light is shipped should be here sometime next week! Setting up my new grow area this weekend I will take some pics then. I started to germinate in rock wool the last seed I have...Green House Seeds Super Bud as my order of OG Kush and Super Lemon Haze won't be here till probably after next week. Not really a issue that the Super Bud will be ahead a few weeks over the others since I have another tent I can throw that in if its flowering time. Hope everyone has a great weekend! I will upload some pics of my grow area on Saturday.

Really looking forward to this light as before this one I was just about to purchase a Blackstar 600w LED Panel...which is only like 300 something watts. I think this thing will be awesome!. Undecided if I should pick up some T5s this weekend from the hydro store. I may or may not.

I have a 4x4x7 wardrobe, and so far it seems to be plenty of light.

I too was a Blackstar user, and may keep them for under-lighting. We will have to see how the lower areas turn out. About 3 grows ago I had a main cola that ended up 38.8 grams dry and cured 4 weeks. (Pics are wet weight)



Your gonna love the bubble buckets too. I have a few peices of advice. Get a good PH-EC pen. I dont know if you are familiar with Sensi nutes (you'd said you had been growing awhile) but only use half of what the bottle says. 1st week i only use a little clonex rooting solution, 2nd week, half dose, and 3rd full dose. (Which is only half what the bottle says) Also I always keep an air stone in the water I use for my res changes, and top-offs. I bubble it for a min. 24hrs, and more like 48, before using. Doing this will keep your PH much more stable. Make sure you soak the clay for at least 3 days, and keep the PH between 5.5, and 6.0, then wash thoroughly before using. Once they have rooted in the rockwool, you want to plant them as deep as possible in the net pots, (so the roots get to the res quicker) I usually use about 3/4 inch of clay on the bottom, then just fill the edges to the top of the rockwool. You can ad more clay as she grows. This also keeps the rockwool buried nice and deep, so no light can get to it, and cause rot, or disease.

Hope some of this helps, also hope it wasnt too lay for you. Good luck! h

hemivette wrote:I have a 4x4x7 wardrobe, and so far it seems to be plenty of light.

I too was a Blackstar user, and may keep them for under-lighting. We will have to see how the lower areas turn out. About 3 grows ago I had a main cola that ended up 38.8 grams dry and cured 4 weeks. (Pics are wet weight)


Your gonna love the bubble buckets too. I have a few peices of advice. Get a good PH-EC pen. I dont know if you are familiar with Sensi nutes (you'd said you had been growing awhile) but only use half of what the bottle says. 1st week i only use a little clonex rooting solution, 2nd week, half dose, and 3rd full dose. (Which is only half what the bottle says) Also I always keep an air stone in the water I use for my res changes, and top-offs. I bubble it for a min. 24hrs, and more like 48, before using. Doing this will keep your PH much more stable. Make sure you soak the clay for at least 3 days, and keep the PH between 5.5, and 6.0, then wash thoroughly before using. Once they have rooted in the rockwool, you want to plant them as deep as possible in the net pots, (so the roots get to the res quicker) I usually use about 3/4 inch of clay on the bottom, then just fill the edges to the top of the rockwool. You can ad more clay as she grows. This also keeps the rockwool buried nice and deep, so no light can get to it, and cause rot, or disease.

Hope some of this helps, also hope it wasnt too lay for you. Good luck! h

Thanks for the post! No its not to late for me. Im actually a little head of the ball game. I am getting all my stuff for my set up this weekend then light should come in next week. My current set will be right next to it.

How do you like the SolarStorm?

I appreciate the advice!!! Yea its my first time with bubble buckets. Whats funny is for some reason all this time I never considered hydro or dwc and was smoking and had a moment of clarity on how it all worked a few weeks ago LOL. It was odd.

On the Bubble Bucket stuff ... I actually thought of that. I washed my clay and they have been soaking in ph balanced water. Then the air stone I figured might have particles in it since its machine milled and been running it in some water.

Thanks for the advice on how deep to plant the rock wool that was actually a question I was going to post sometime soon. Right now I just have one germinating in a cool dark place on top of a heating pad with a dome over it.

My buckets are only 3.5 gallon ones. Right now I am excited under my blackstar 240 I have a Paradise Seeds Wappa about a month into flowering. That is one stable good strain. I will be buying a crap load of those seeds on my next order. Very robust and low maintenance.

In terms of nutes my plan was to go with Sensi Grow/Bloom A/B. Do you like Advanced's Bud Candy?

Thanks again man! Stay tuned..journal will be slow going at first since I won't get my light till next week and will only have one bucket going till my seeds come the week after!

Powerwiz wrote:Thanks for the post! No its not to late for me. Im actually a little head of the ball game. I am getting all my stuff for my set up this weekend then light should come in next week. My current set will be right next to it.

How do you like the SolarStorm?

I appreciate the advice!!! Yea its my first time with bubble buckets. Whats funny is for some reason all this time I never considered hydro or dwc and was smoking and had a moment of clarity on how it all worked a few weeks ago LOL. It was odd.

On the Bubble Bucket stuff ... I actually thought of that. I washed my clay and they have been soaking in ph balanced water. Then the air stone I figured might have particles in it since its machine milled and been running it in some water.

Thanks for the advice on how deep to plant the rock wool that was actually a question I was going to post sometime soon. Right now I just have one germinating in a cool dark place on top of a heating pad with a dome over it.

My buckets are only 3.5 gallon ones. Right now I am excited under my blackstar 240 I have a Paradise Seeds Wappa about a month into flowering. That is one stable good strain. I will be buying a crap load of those seeds on my next order. Very robust and low maintenance.

In terms of nutes my plan was to go with Sensi Grow/Bloom A/B. Do you like Advanced's Bud Candy?

Thanks again man! Stay tuned..journal will be slow going at first since I won't get my light till next week and will only have one bucket going till my seeds come the week after!

So far the light seems to be great. Definitely a different color spec from the Blackstars. Ive only had it going about 10 days now.

No problem on the advice....Just to clarify on the bubbling. I was talking about your extra water you will be using to top up the buckets, and for your weekly changes. I have 2 6gal plastic jerry cans from Walmart, with an airstone in each, going all week. (You will only need 1).

I just posted some results on the Wappa for someone else on here, and they were off the charts. Ive also been looking at the Y Greiga strain. Its the #1 medical strain right now.

Ive only been growing hydro for 2 years. so I havent had a lot experience with the nutes, and I learned the hard way. I bought all Sensi stuff. What I use is A+B, Bud candy, B-52, Big bud, and have recently added GH's Koolbloom, and Floralicious. For the last few weeks, and the they make a huge difference I cant express enough to go light with any of these. I always cut whatever it says in half, and sometimes less. I am now using Blue Planet as my Base nute, and it is a lot more forgiving, in fact for the most part they are the greenest Ive grown. h

hemivette wrote:
So far the light seems to be great. Definitely a different color spec from the Blackstars. Ive only had it going about 10 days now.

No problem on the advice....Just to clarify on the bubbling. I was talking about your extra water you will be using to top up the buckets, and for your weekly changes. I have 2 6gal plastic jerry cans from Walmart, with an airstone in each, going all week. (You will only need 1).

I just posted some results on the Wappa for someone else on here, and they were off the charts. Ive also been looking at the Y Greiga strain. Its the #1 medical strain right now.

Ive only been growing hydro for 2 years. so I havent had a lot experience with the nutes, and I learned the hard way. I bought all Sensi stuff. What I use is A+B, Bud candy, B-52, Big bud, and have recently added GH's Koolbloom, and Floralicious. For the last few weeks, and the they make a huge difference I cant express enough to go light with any of these. I always cut whatever it says in half, and sometimes less. I am now using Blue Planet as my Base nute, and it is a lot more forgiving, in fact for the most part they are the greenest Ive grown.

Nice...I will be using the same nutes just about Sensi Grow/Bloom A/B and Bud Candy maybe another see how it goes. I will def take the advice on the half nutes. Better to underfed then overfed any day of the week. To bad plants are not like humans and can just devour anything and get fatter!!!

Your Wappas are nice man. Mine will not be like that but I am impressed with her. About 4 more weeks on her. I intend to buy a pack of there seeds and nebula. Over the years I have tried a lot of different brands and I find that Reserva Privada, Green House Seeds and Paradise are top notch. Outstanding genetics.

I picked up 2 walmart buckets actually today so I can do the changing of fluids and what not when its time..and also be making some bubble hash later today. Have a shit load of trimmings in the freezer.

Well got everything I need to kick this grow off this weekend. Went by my local hydro store since there great guys and like to give them my business.
Picked up a Viagrow 4x4x7 tent, stuff for 4 bubble buckets, nutes etc. My UPS shipping says I should get my Solarstorm this Friday which works out fine since I am waiting on my seeds. This go around those have shipped very fast. I ordered last week and tracking shows it in the US already. Its hit or miss when you order stuff internationally. Ordered a bong from Grasscity and it took 2 months!!!

I had a Paradise Seeds Wappa growing in my 2x2x4 tent under a Blackstar..some pics are attached below. I moved that light into my bigger tent yesterday and growing it in there. Only have one plant going since been waiting to get a bigger grow area. She's 24inchs tall and about done with her 4th week of flowering. This strain has been odor free, and very very healthy. Not a single issue.

Anyhow I'll post again when I get my light!!!







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