Help Me Turn My Attic into a Grow Space!

[B. Self Reliant]

For Informational Purposes only

For Informational Purposes only

Everything is going as planned. The plants have filled up a tremendous amount of square footage given the container sizes and vegging periods.

Stretch is pretty much over and it's still very easy to get underneath for daily maintenance. Big improvement over last time.

They're really starting to stack on the nugs.

I still hate the pinkish glow of the LED's, but I love the absence of blinding light while working & excessive heat!

 

[CLOWD11]

Hey looking good BSR!
Your using that grow space nicely.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Hey CLOWD11! It's been a while, thanks for stopping by.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Wanna see a rad LED grow?

Wanna see a rad LED grow?

This is not my grow! It’s a friend’s grow that I designed & provided the genetics for. My buddy approached me stating that he had an extra bedroom and a desire to grow the ganj. That’s all I needed to hear! I designed a grow for him from the ground up and he’s learned a lot. If I were to disappear right now from the face of the Earth, he could grow for the rest of his life with what he’s picked up. He’s very dedicated!

This is the what I helped him set up. He showed me the space we were working with and I gave him a breakdown of the costs. He never questioned a thing and he's been very diligent about doing what he needs to do in order to have healthy, thriving plants. There’s basically no heat, so the only cooling that’s necessary comes from the home’s central AC unit. No duct work, not big fans & everything breaks down between harvests in a matter of minutes.

The 4'x8' GrowLab tent isn't full because he needs another LED or two for adequate coverage. Right now there's (5) 205 watt LED's that measure 19" x19" square, and can easily cover a 30" x30" square garden canopy. He's got about 21 sqft of canopy space right now during his trial run.

He’s got waaay too many plants, but the idea behind this first run is to break even in a monetary sense, learn how to grow, intimately learn LA Confidential & AK-47, then start next round with a full tent of a single strain that he has knowledge of. Next time he’s running (6) 205’s over the full 32 sqft, but he’s only scrogging (8) AK’s, each of which will be in a 5 gallon container. Everything is hand-watered coco coir with the same nutrient mixes I use.

After using LED’s for a while now, I can say with complete confidence that an array is much more effective than a single fixture. This tent has great overlap from the fixtures & I’m glad we grew a smaller space with killer light rather than stretch his light too thin over a bigger canopy space. The light that’s missing this round leaves a space. . . he uses it for a fan similar to how a vertical grower would.

It must be around day 30 of flowering or so, maybe a little less, & there aren’t any real glory buds, but every square inch of the canopy is full. The branches must be about 12” above the net, with everything that’s 2” or more below the net getting trimmed off. The way the nodes are stacked is unbelievable. These LED’s really minimize stretch, so teh nodes are about 3/4” apart which is rad! I think the product is going to be a very consistently sized from one nug to the next. There’re worse things in life than having a consistent product!

I haven’t seen any LED grows as large as a 4x8 tent, so I figured I’d share with everyone. His electricity bill is minimal, since he needs no AC unit and he only needs about 1400 watts to light the whole space. I expect him to do very well this run, certainly well enough to pay off a $400 tent & $3500 worth of lights.

 

[festivus]

Very cool of you to help out a buddy like that! Surely blessings are coming your way. We should all be so lucky.

Also dig the overhead pics! Respect brother B!!

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Very cool of you to help out a buddy like that! Surely blessings are coming your way. We should all be so lucky.

Also dig the overhead pics! Respect brother B!!

Hey buddy, thanks for stopping by! Glad you liked the pics.

Of all the people to praise me for helping folks out. . .haha, you've helped out quite a few folks yourself there my friend! In fact, this buddy of mine just may be running some House of Love genetics very soon. . . . the fact that I want a photo of the whole tent filled with gnarly Casey's Queen buds may or may not have something to do with that decision!

 

[oxnard_confi]

This grow is a lot more impressive than I thought it would be. You've explained it to me a thousand times but some things can't be put into words. This grow kicks ass but I wouldn't trade day 30 1200K HPS buds for the buds here. Im sure the final product is going to be bomb, I just like danker nugs. I think the LED's are going to kill it in the veg tent for sure. I can also see putting into the room as a center light between the 600's. Saying that, it is killer of you to be setting this guy straight and helping out with his grow. A set-up like this would take a few rounds to master. It's nice to be learning on someone else's dime too. Very nice set-up.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

This grow kicks ass but I wouldn't trade day 30 1200K HPS buds for the buds here. Im sure the final product is going to be bomb, I just like danker nugs.

The problem with this statement is that you're examining too many new variables at once. . . a new strain, a new grow method, a new lighting source, etc. How can you be so sure the LED is what's dictated the dankness of the buds?

What's danker mean anyways? Personally, I don't think having one or two glory buds per plant is necessarily having "dank nugs." Once it's in your bowl or joint it has more to do with how it's grown than the size of the individual nugs.

If you're looking at the size of the nugs then no, LED's can't compare to HPS's. LED's are a lower intensity light source, so training the canopy to a flatter shape becomes more necessary. That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the "dankness" (whatever that means).


If you are referring to the SIZE of the nugs, that has much more to do with the SCROG method used than the light source. By it's nature, SCROG's have lots of small branches that all reach up through the net to create an even canopy. This canopy is full, and when I say full I mean every 21 sq ft of that canopy is FULL of branches that don't have more than an inch or two of breathing room around them. That's pretty hard to do with plants that aren't trained through a net or extensively trained &/or topped repeatedly. Unfortunately a root mass that's of a fixed size, in a fixed space, under a consistent light source is only capable of producing so much ganj, so when you create that even canopy of lots of small branches, it means lots of smaller buds because not every branch's top cola can be as big as a typical plant's main cola. Not sure what that has to do with quality though. . .

Ig you're referring to nug size in relation to bag appeal, you're on your own on that one! I personally haven't found the general market to appreciate large nugs enough to consider it a factor when growing. Smokers (myself included) generally appreciate weight & quality so that's my goal when growing.

 

[trueblu8]

Awesome grow man. I agree with festivus, very cool of you to do this for your friend. Wish I had a buddy like that. Can't wait to see how this turns out. As far as you never seeing a large led grow like this before well then you've just got to check out Mr. X's if you haven't already. The guy is a master. It's beautiful.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

As far as you never seeing a large led grow like this before well then you've just got to check out Mr. X's if you haven't already. The guy is a master. It's beautiful.

Thanks! I just read the whole thread. Amazing images. He really took the time to set up his grow in a visually pleasing way. No stray cords, clean walls, etc. Haha. . . all my grows are ugly frankensteins that look like a home depot after a tornado went through.

He's lighting about 12 sq ft with 250 watts of actual consumption if I read correctly. My buddy's grow is 20-25 sq ft with 1025 watts of actual consumption, so it'll be interesting to see the results of each grow.

EDIT: He's growing 2 sq meters with about 250 watts over each.

 

[trueblu8]

Na I think your grow looks pretty cool too dude. But you're right, Mr.X's is definitely visually pleasing. Lol.

If I read correctly on Mr.X's he says he's doing 2 square meters which would be about 21.5 square feet. And he's lighting each square meter with 250 watts which would be 500 watts total. He also says that because of these new high tech lights that he's using he's only using half of the watts that he did last grow. So I think your guys' spaces are similar. Either way they both look fantastic and it's going to be very interesting to see the final results.

 

[oxnard_confi]

x

 

[FunkBomb]

That is an impressive tent.

-Funk

 

[DnKNg5]

Wow that is an incredible set-up, I am striving for something similar. The thermal footprint of the lights alone is enough to make it worth it, and I live in an EXTREMELY mild climate (my house hasn't been above 72 degrees this year). I can't imagine how invaluable this set-up would be for those who actually have to use AC. As far as the final product goes, I don't think there is going to be much popcorn bud there. I hope you give us an update after harvest!

 

[B. Self Reliant]

I can't imagine how invaluable this set-up would be for those who actually have to use AC. As far as the final product goes, I don't think there is going to be much popcorn bud there. I hope you give us an update after harvest!

I can't believe more growers aren't doing it quite honestly. The fact that there isn't a no-brainer solution for picking out LED's is a big deterrence in my humble opinion. No one wants to blow thousands on a bad choice or something that's going to be obsolete in a year. I made a leap and I'm glad I did. This friend of mine tried (4) 205 watt LED panels in one half of the tent and a 600 watt vertical in the other half. The 600 watt HPS lasted a week before we realized that the central AC, along with the window shaker unit we had augmenting it wasn't going to keep the tent or the room it was in cool enough. What can I say, when Plan A doesn't work, I try something different. I think they'll catch on over time.

The quality should be excellent. I'll post some more pics once they've fattened up. . .

 

[GP73LPC]

This is not my grow! It’s a friend’s grow that I designed & provided the genetics for. My buddy approached me stating that he had an extra bedroom and a desire to grow the ganj. That’s all I needed to hear! I designed a grow for him from the ground up and he’s learned a lot. If I were to disappear right now from the face of the Earth, he could grow for the rest of his life with what he’s picked up. He’s very dedicated!

you need to convince your friend to join ICMAG and post a grow thread




anyway, B. Self Reliant, nice thread. good to see your LED success.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

you need to convince your friend to join ICMAG and post a grow thread

anyway, B. Self Reliant, nice thread. good to see your LED success.

Thanks. . . I was given quite a bit of help through the years by all the folks in the various grow forums.

I'll post another pic of my buddy's LED tent when it's close to finishing up.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

Flowering Day 53

Flowering Day 53

Here is the huge bush that was once a manageable plant. Stretch is done by now and I don't really need to get in there for anything, but it's pretty dense! I should have trained for another week or so before letting everything grow up through the net, but at the time I didn't realize this plant was so sativa leaning in her flowering time, stretch & structure. The wispy branches on the far right & left are the one gallon pots I put in about 4 weeks late. They're just starting to show the start of some real flowers.

I'm paying the price for using a 126 watt LED fixture this round instead of the 205 watt version. I'm glad I had a chance to flower with it once before installing it in my veg cabinet, but it will be better served as a veg light. The branches are getting light from the tops all the way down the the net & everything else seems to be in check. . . there's just a lot of branches and only a small amount of light energy for the plant to work with, so the buds are all going to dry to be the size of a nickel. If I ever flowered with this again, I would lollipop everything except the top 6-8" so the product has a little more size. I generally don't care about size, but even I have my limits.

I forget the term for single bladed leaves, but that's all my plant has within 6" of the light. The rest of the plant is fine, but the top of any branch that's too close to the light has only single bladed leaves. Generally speaking, the farther down you go the more blades there are. This AK mom is very sativa leaning in her features, so I don't know, maybe that has something to do with it.

All in all everything is on track. In the past month, I've probably spent less than 90 minutes looking at/working in this grow. My 600 watt vertical grow is 5 days ahead of this one, so it's a little anti-climactic to look in here and see what I saw downstairs a week before. I just got a new oil rig, so maybe I'll run this whole harvest through acetone and do an oil run. . .

 

[DnKNg5]

I just got a new oil rig, so maybe I'll run this whole harvest through acetone and do an oil run. . .

There is NOTHING wrong with having an excess of oil laying around.

 

[B. Self Reliant]

I think it's about time to wrap this thread up. I started it when I first bought the house a couple years ago, and I can now say the designing portion of this grow is completed. It's a horrible place to veg, but an amazing LED powered space for flowering.

This last experimental grow with the 126 watt LED yielded an unknown amount of small but potent buds. I took the fan leaves and any other trash off the branches, let the buds & the trim leaf dry to the point of being crispy, then I took the untrimmed buds off the branches and let them sit in glass for a few weeks. I never weighed it but it was at least a QP of untrimmed buds once it was dry.

I then cut it up with a large pair of scissors and froze it in a 5 quart jar. It was washed with very cold acetone for about 45-60 seconds, then filtered thru coffee filters & purged. The resulting hash oil was very amber, but was re-diluted into 190 proof Everclear ethanol , re-filtered through a fresh coffee filter and purged. The final tangible result of this 126 watt grow was 7.4 grams of absolute amber that shatters at around 60° F and is slightly tacky once the house warms up to about 72° F.

Thanks to everyone who followed along & gave advice or feedback!