LED Grow Light Forum

Hi everyone,

I just got accepted into the program, and look forward to receiving my 400W SolarStorm next week. Seeds are on the way from Herbies Head Shop in the UK. I'm a medical cannabis user, (pain, anxiety and insomnia relief), so I will be focusing mostly on Indica, and some CBD rich strains. CBD Critical (6% THC, 6% CBD!!!), Delicious Northern Light Blue, White Rhino and Original Blueberry (I couldn't resist). As they are all small Indicas (Blueberry being the only one with any Sativa in the genetics @ 80/20), and indicate roughly the same flowering time requirements (7-8 weeks), I will be growing one of each. I am allowed 6, but this first time around, will stick with 4.

I will be growing in a 50/50 mix of Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Fox Farms Happy Frog in 5 gallon pots. I have read about using RO water, but I think I will be watering with my untreated well water (about 220 ppm)...all my houseplants love it...all my plants are 8 years old, and have NEVER been fed anything, not even a soil change!! I even have an 8 year old poinsettia!

I live in a remote area, so am not concerned about odor. I have a spare bedroom to use, as well as a beautiful closet I think I want to use...it is 2.5 x 3.5 with a 7 ft. tall ceiling.. has a storage shelf and a nice cross bar for hanging the light.

I have a few quick questions for planning purposes.
1) I am striving to be as close to "organic" as possible...any suggestions as to what nutrients to feed after the first 30 days? Veg and/or Flowering stages?

2) Other than a small circulating fan inside the closet, should I be concerned about heat buildup in the closet with just the 400 solarstorm? It's closed up, and I don't want to cut holes into the door/wall. Will it be bad enough to bring everything out into the spare bedroom instead? It's 10x14, and has heat/central air ducts in the room.

3) Any feedback about growing all these similar strains together? I know a lot of people here recommend sticking with just 1 or 2 strains at a time. I really want to learn about each of them, how they grow, and most importantly, the effectiveness of the medicine. I broke my back last year, and really want to be able to flush the pain pills.


Thanks for reading, and I welcome any and all feedback! A lot of you folks here have some great experience, and I want to learn!!

Sister Mary Elephant, I thought you may appreciate my user name....similar source and all

Welcome to the forums!

1) I'm not an organic guy so I have no advice there but the nutrients should say if they are...or not.

2) You could end up with heat/co2 issues without some kind of ventilation/cooling but you could try the closet and see how it works for you. It is a little big for one SS400w but not by much.

3) One at a time is easier to work with but not required. I have back issues too and mmj makes me need less morphine; hopefully surgery will get me off the pills in the future.

"Some people just don't understand the latest styles, my man..." - Curtis

Thanks for the feedback here SME. You definitely know your stuff. So, a quick update as I got started yesterday. My light was delivered on time, and in great shape. Very impressive piece of equipment with significant weight (be sure to have a good setup to support this weight, or you will be in trouble!). The fan is very quiet, and the light output appears impressive. I hope to get a meter in the coming weeks to update my initial impressions. It does come with a warning about light exposure, and health risks to the eyes, skin and immune system, so be careful! I have a setup where I can shut the power to the light upon entering the room, and use regular white lights when working in the room.

As far as concerns go...Heat...let me tell you, SME, you were right again. This thing DOES give off some serious heat. My closet jumped from an ambient temperature of 70 up to 95 after just 2 hours!! I have had twelve full size T5's in there (vertically along the walls), and the temps never got over 78...solution for now? Keep the closet door open...room temp remains 70, and the closet temp is 79...

Good thing it was a dry run while my seeds were germinating. They all sprouted last night, so this morning I carefully planted them (four of them) in the 50/50 mix of Fox Farm Ocean Floor and Happy Frog. I went with a smaller quart sized container to start with. Covered with Saran Wrap to keep moisture in, and placed them in the closet roughly 24 inches away from the light. Waiting for them to break the surface so we can get started.

Any thoughts or recommendations as I get started?

SisterMaryElephant wrote:Welcome to the forums!

1) I'm not an organic guy so I have no advice there but the nutrients should say if they are...or not.

2) You could end up with heat/co2 issues without some kind of ventilation/cooling but you could try the closet and see how it works for you. It is a little big for one SS400w but not by much.

3) One at a time is easier to work with but not required. I have back issues too and mmj makes me need less morphine; hopefully surgery will get me off the pills in the future.

"Some people just don't understand the latest styles, my man..." - Curtis

SME...I meant to ask about your experience with mmj and your back pain. I'm curious as to your experiences with Sativa, high THC and the "head buzz" vs. Indica, higher CBD and the "body buzz, a.k.a. couch lock"...any information you could share would be very welcome. Which works better for the pain?? Thnx!

Time for my weekly update. I germinated my 4 selected strains last Tuesday night...White Rhino, Blueberry, Northern Light Blue, and CBD Critical (selected for it's high CBD content, 1:1 ratio with THC); using just ONE seed for each strain. I put each seed individually onto a paper towel, labeled carefully to keep track of the strains, and wet them down with warm (not hot) well water. I loosely wrapped them (not packed tightly), placed them into an airtight plastic container, and put them into a dark drawer for 2 days. Thursday night I opened them up, and as expected, all 4 had sprouted! KEY point here...a lot has been said about the risks of germinating this way...if you let it go too long, the tap root can indeed grow into the paper towel, leading to damage and stress when removing them for planting. Once the tap root extends from the seed, it is ready to be planted!

I put on rubber gloves whenever I handle my plants, mostly to minimize the risk of contamination. I filled quart size containers with a 50/50 mix of Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Happy Frog, packed pretty well, thoroughly watered until draining, and carefully planted each seed into a 1-inch deep depression made in the middle of each container, tap root facing downward. I covered the seeds with surrounding soil, but don't pack too hard over them.

Each of the containers were carefully labeled, again to track the individual strains, and placed 20 inches beneath the SS400. While waiting for them to sprout, I cover them with Saran plastic wrap to maintain proper moisture content, as I have read in many articles that you do not want to water them until sprouted.

3 of these plants sprouted above ground by Saturday morning, the CBD Critical being the last one to pop up later on Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning I removed the Saran Plastic wrap, and began misting them three times a day while they develop their roots. Again, I have read that when young, these seedlings draw water in through their leaves, as their roots are not yet fully developed. I am monitoring the moisture level of the grow medium to ensure that it doesn't dry out, have not watered it yet.

As an initial sign of the power of this SS400, each of the seedlings had grown their 1st set of leaves by Monday morning! I will post my first pictures on Saturday after they have a full week above ground!

As always, any thoughts, questions, or feedback welcomed!

Hey I want to throw in my two cents on some of your questions.

As far as growing organic, you want to think from a different perspective than how a lot of growers think. In a typical grow, you add these concentrated chemical nutrients to basically force-feed the plant, which can work very well. But that's not how an organic grow works. Think about it as feeding the soil (or rather, the beneficial organisms in the soil) instead of feeding the plant. If you have a healthy soil loaded with quality amendments, you will have healthy plants and only have to water them. You can choose to feed with a compost tea, which i do every other or every third watering depending on how the plants are feeling. The organic grow is about reading your plants, instead of reading ppm and pH meters. The best way to get compost tea is to make it yourself. The easiest way is to buy it from a nursery/grow shop. A combination of the easiest/best way is to find a local organic nursery or farm that makes their own compost tea and will sell it to you. Freshness is imperative for a quality compost tea so buying off the shelf has questionable benefits (although still likely better than nothing), whereas buying from a place that makes it for you will guarantee living, healthy microorganisms in your compost tea.

Proper ventilation is a must for both cooling purposes and for providing fresh oxygen, like SisterMaryElephant said.

I don't find growing different strains to be that much of a challenge. Just try to keep the top of the canopy somewhat even by topping or training the tall strains. Harvest time presents a tricky situation, just keep an eye on the darkening trichomes and harvest each one when it is ready rather than just going for 8 weeks or however long and just assuming they are all ready.

ICB:
I was injured in a car accident nearly 2 years ago and I have a ruptured disk/unstable vertebra that needs major surgery. They have me on morphine but I have found that mmj makes me need less. I've tried high CBD/low THC strains and they didn't do much for me (other people swear by them) but I have had good luck with high THC/high CBD strains. Unfortunately, none of the strains the I tried had lab tests to go by so it's been hit/miss. Sativa vs Indica is matter of personal taste, I believe.

You'll definitely want to get a handle on your heat issues.


trees:
That's not how organic vs non-organic works. The only difference is where the elements come from and I don't believe that it matters if Nitrogen, for example, is organic or not. If you look at a periodic table there is one N, there's not a organic N vs a non-organic N. While non-organic nutrients may be more concentrated for shipping and packaging reasons they can be diluted easily.

Compost tea is not difficult to make (there is a recipe here on the forum someplace) and I'd recommend growers brew their own rather than buying it since it has a short shelf life.

The other purpose of ventilation isn't to provide Oxygen, it's to remove it and bring in fresh CO2.

Growing different strains may or may not be much of a challenge depending on what strains are chosen but it does add complexity. I like to keep it simple, especially for newer growers...and myself.

Thanks SME and Trees for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

So, after years of playing around with bag seeds and florescent lights, and having zero problems with mediocre results, I find myself stumped and need some help!

After a very impressive first 5 days, my CBD Critical wilted and died yesterday, and now the other three remaining plants, while growing quickly, feel very leathery to the touch, and the blueberry's leaf tip actually crunched after being very lightly touched! In years past, I have handled plants gently like this, and they have never felt like this. Could they be too close to the light (18")? Maybe the well water, despite having used it for years? Maybe the FFOF mixed 50/50 with Happy Frog be too hot? Could the feminized seeds of these strains just produce very delicate plants?

So far, I have moved the plants a little further away (22" away now), and thoroughly watered with RO until draining. I've attached pictures here, first one is Northern Light Blue (Northern LIghts x Blueberry), second is White Rhino, and the third shot is Blueberry. The Light Blue has actually started growing its third set of real leaves after just 5 days already, and it appears to be a three tipped leaf, so something is working right.

I have a feeling I've got a couple of days to get this resolved before they die on me...

Ok, so just looked at that first picture I uploaded...ugh, sorry about that. In my efforts to get a good close up shot, it appears that I need to work on the resolution and sizing before uploading any others...

I know I'm not the only one having some issues with this, so I'll read around the forum for solutions to this before posting any more shots.

But please, any thoughts??
Thanks,
ICB

Ok, I got my good camera up and running, going to try this again! I've got three 100% Indica strains...leaves seem to be getting leathery and turning down, and one is a bit crunchy to a gentle touch. I moved them further away from the SS400, (now 22" away) and watered heavily with RO. Temps steady at 78, don't know the humidity yet.

First pic is of Northern Light Blue, see the leaf curling down at the ends?

Second pic is of Blueberry...this one is a little crunchy.

Third pic is of White Rhino...growing a little more slowly than the others.

I had a CBD Critical Indica/Sativa hybrid (80/20) that withered and died overnight yesterday.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks!