Custom LED Grow Log

[Swami]

I moved the largest one to the over-crowded flower room today. Put it in a 2 quart pot of lava rock and will be using passive hydro. I want to put four plants in a 10 gallon DWC tote as soon as I have the space.

The rest will stay in the veg box for the time being.

[Swami]

Increased the nutes today from 1/4 to 1/2 strength. Photo update in a few days.

All you lurkers could say something so that I am not totally alone here. No need to wait for the flower shots. I gain next to nothing by doing this log - only the readers might profit from the time I am putting in. I am aware that it is not truly exciting from certain perspectives, but research science seldom is.

[Swami]

Thank you all for participating.


Here are the kids at week 3 after their morning shower :

[Fever360]

hahah your not alone buddy.. I am following your progress. They look healthy bro but why do they look so wet? did you spray them?

[Swami]

Yes, I spray them in the morning to increase the humidity. It is very dry here (less than 20%) and without a sealed room is very difficult to bring the humidity into the proper range.

That - and they like it. They told me so.

[Fever360]

haha just remember not to spray during flowering period, unless you want bud rot. but they look good and healthy my friend. how low does the humidity get ?

[Swami]

It ranges from 12 to 35%. Right now at 17%. Doesn't seem to hurt them despite everyone recommending 50% or more.

I moved three plants into larger containers and moved them to the flower room. Built a special shelf for them yesterday. Will do one more transplant tonight.

The other four will have to wait as the flower room is maxed out. Later I will post some photos of the plants currently flowering under the new light.

[Guest]

Awesome Job!

FIY: Many of you have read some of my commissioned articles on this website NOT under the Swami moniker.


Here is my fourth generation LED design:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]383[/ATTACH]

She uses 5 each 45 watt emitters driven at 28 watts for a total actual power draw of 141 watts sans CFLs. Four are 2700K and one is a 5000K. She is putting out almost 16,000 lumens which bests most metal halides and even some lower wattage HPS. Cooling is totally passive hence the over-sized heat-sinks. Each emitter has a separate driver which increases initial costs, but circumvents other possible problems and gives greater control. Total failure is impossible due to a single component failure.


Here is P.A.M. (Photon Assault Machine) fired up over my current grow:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]382[/ATTACH]

Note the natural color. The room is messy due to two completely different strains and the focus on building my new lamp. For this log, I will be doing a start-to-finish diary.

More details in my next post.

Hey Swami,

Great work. Not sure who manufactured the LEDs you're using, but I designed a single-point source streetlight with Edison Optoelectronic's 100W version of your warm white (2700k). The LED performs flawlessly and although they haven't been around for very long to prove otherwise, every indication is that they will last the full 50,000 hours claimed by the manufacturer. As with any LED, thermal management is key to stable frequency performance (color) and longevity, and it certainly seems you have taken care of the heat produced by the LED. I assume you did the math and used the correct heat sink and thermal compound. The only thing I would change in the future is to screw down the LEDs to decrease the distance between the LED's MCPCB (Metal Clad Printed Circuit Board) and the heat sink, thereby maximizing thermal transfer.

On a side note, I would love to know the part numbers of your LEDs so I can look at the spectral analysis.

I would also say you are underestimating your light's power when comparing to a MH (Metal Halide). 16,000 lumens from a MH and LED are not the same thing, by far. A (HID) High Intensity Discharge lamp, such as MH or HPS (High Pressure Sodium) is measured in total light output, usually accomplished in an integrating sphere, which can be seen about 2/3 down this page: https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/...n.28164/page-3. In this sphere, light is measured from all surfaces, but as we all know, the light output is not the same when the MH or HPS lamp is placed in a hooded fixture. In a hooded fixture, the true luminous intensity delivered can be reduced by as much as 1/3 to 1/2, depending upon the fixture, due to luminaire (light fixture) bounce and light cancellation.

An LED's output is highly controlled, even out of the box, but aftermarket reflectives or lenses further consolidate and control the light output. The result is that almost the entire rated output (in your case, 16,000 lumens) is delivered to the plants. I say "almost" due to minimal light losses from said lenses and/or reflectors.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your blog!

jonnywatt

[Swami]

I did not do the math, but the heatsinks are rated at 50 watts and I am only driving mine at 30 watts so figured I had enough head room. That plus the open air design and the frame itself makes for a decent heatsink, so think I am covered.

I am using the CREE 2520s. Would rather have used the higher power 2530s, but was limited by the amount of heat my grow space could take. That and driver price goes up accordingly.

When I used the ArcticSilver silver thermal adhesive I put wax paper over the LEDs, followed by magazines and carboard and then a five pound weight over each array followed by more cardboard and more weight and let sit overnight. Very ghetto, I know, but I made sure there would be no air gaps. The seals look very tight.

Molex is making a proper LED holder which would make for a very clean install, but is not yet on the market.

[Swami]

Cool future tech article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0222075734.htm

[Swami]

Here are four of the babies shoe-horned in my flower room on a 3 foot high shelf to compete with the older plants in my tiny 28" X 24" grow space. The one on the left was just transplanted and is bent. She will straighten back out in a few hours. The fourth one is barely visible on the far right back. They are about 6" high. I am aiming for some 'bud-on-a-stick' type plants maybe 16" tall. Doing three harvests with differing timelines is not a great test for the new LED as to yield, but we all have constraints.



The plant in the foreground is maybe 2-3 weeks from harvest. She is way smaller than the other two mature plants barely in the photo so will free up only about 1 square foot of space. Oops - time to replace the mylar.


Here are the four remaining youngsters in the veg 'room'. Don't really want them bigger so may have to attempt to start flowering in the box. The problem is if I light proof it, there will be no ventilation.

[Swami]

Fantasic Four

Here are the Fantastic Four plants from the bottom photo of the previous post:



They are still in the 12 ounce Solo cups with the holes in the bottom acting as net pots in this 7.5 gallon tote. I prefer a tote to a 5 gallon bucket as it is shorter and wider and holds more nutrient solution.

Still no space in my flower room, so will attempt to get them to begin flowering in a cardboard box under 45 watts of light. Four plants in a tote this size is pushing the limit, but I will thin them out as soon as they show sex.

They are deliberately small (but in perfect health) for being one month old as I am attempting to keep the size down. It will not hurt them when I expose them to full light in a few weeks. Hard to tell from a top photo, but notice there is absolutely no stretching. This is due to a preponderance of blue light.

[Swami]

One of the four in my flower room is definitely a male. Down to 7 total now.

Of the four in the DWC, only one has healthy roots hanging in the solution. The other three have yet to get with the program. Could be due to minor root rot in the bottom of the cup which is why it is important to get them into solution much earlier than I did.

[Swami]

Here is one of my older plants finishing up under the new lamp. I have never personally seen a plant stack up like this with giant ball-shaped calyxes. They are the size of peas!




Here are the forever flowering pure sativa Sugar Haze:




And one of the plants from this log growing slowly as she is only getting incidental light:

[Swami]

Three of four plants in the flower room turned out to be male. This is why feminised seeds are a godsend to those with limited space, however I used the seeds I had because I knew they were fairly low odor and I have no odor control. If I do another grow, I will definitely get some quality feminised seeds.

The four plants in the DWC flower cardboard box have yet to show sex. I noticed the roots were not hitting the reservoir as the holes in the bottom of the party cups were too small, so I used a soldering iron to make about 10 1/4" holes. (Never do this inside as I did. The fumes are quite toxic and the odor lingers forever!) Had to empty the cups first and saw all the plants were root bound. We shall see if the larger openings let the roots wander outside the cups.

Nevertheless, all four plants still look picture perfect.