Dysnomias 70W LED + 2x54W T5

[Dysnomia]

Good day microgrowers!

This this is the 2nd round with my LEDs, this time with some T5 added as well. The combined wattage is now 70W+108W=178W. There's no need to expect yields though. It's the middle of winter and it's really cold. The LED doesn't help much either and temperatures are (almost) freezing 13-18'C! Also my growing medium is 1:3 vermiculite:soilmix which has now been reused 3 or more times.

I planned for a 4 plant SCROG but as always things don't go as planned and I lost a bunch of clones and had to start some new seedlings. I popped a few Galadriel (C99xSD) F2-s I made some time ago and got 3 girls each a different phenotype which is to be expected of course. I also have the big Casey Jones from my last grow which is scrogged. It's not the perfect scrog because I started way too late with the screen and also due to reveg the plant has way too many branches, with quite a few "sucker branches" which stayed in the center and never bulked up.

All in all I'm just looking forward to some quality smoke. Even as hostile as the environment is, the plants look pretty good and produce loads of trichomes, even though they could bulk up a notch too. I'm currently at around 43 days of 12/12.


I love to play around with the camera in the cab so there will be plenty of pictures!

Here's the cab. Going from left to right: CJ, Galadriel1, Galadriel2, Galadriel3(in a smaller container than the rest)

First up the Casey Jones. Check out the link in my signature for the previous run. Frosty and has a very special smell. Not the biggest yielder really but the smoke is well worth it.

The biggest bud this round looks like this.

Small but coated with trichomes

To be continued...

 

[Dysnomia]

Next up we have Galadriel 1. I think this plant has probably the most resin production I've ever had. I was pretty surprised when it overtook CJ as I thought I wouldn't find plants like her that quickly again!

Under the lights. You can see the purple tips of the calyxes from the cold temperatures.

Some crazy trichome action

Galadriel 2 from a week ago @ around 35 days 12/12. Decent trichome coverage, very nice grapefruit-overripe-tropical fruit aromas. Not as frosty as galadriel#1, but has a nicer aroma for my tastes.

I haven't really taken photos of the last galadriel. She is definitely leaning heavily on the SD side of things regarding her flowering speed. She smells of ripe melon. Very pleasant.


I welcome you on my journey and hope you enjoy the ride too!

Regards,
Dysnomia

 

[MrCopyZ]

wow...

That looks as frosty as the ground outside!

 

[Dysnomia]

Thanks and indeed! In terms of resin production the genetics I've come across are doing pretty well I guess. The Galadriel F1-s under a 250W HPS were pretty frosty too, although I can't remember them being quite as frosty as Galadriel#1 this round in a completely different environment. Trichome production is not necessarily the most important trait though, what's in the trichomes is at least equally as important for me personally.

In any case I also took some pictures of Galadriel #2 and #3

Here's #2, she smelled heavily of grapefruit earlier in flower, now more on the overripe fruit spectrum - I wonder how she'll end up.

#2 closer

#3, she is in a smaller container than the rest, also has the 'most sativa' growth of the 3 and is taking longest to flower. Smells nice and melony with a hint of sour perhaps.

The one interesting thing I found on the #3 was this tight group of trichomes on one leaf stem. I wonder what exactly makes that place have such trichome density compared to, for example, the other patch of trichomes in focus in the top-left on the picture below. Surely it cannot be just random distribution? What makes it tick?

Dysnomia

 

[blynx]

Plants look excellent!

Do you feed them when you water or do you add nutes to the soil before you start the round? When you re-use soil do you amend the soil with dry nutes?

 

[rootidec]

what frostyness...
subbed

 

[Dysnomia]

Welcome to the show!

Plants look excellent!

Do you feed them when you water or do you add nutes to the soil before you start the round? When you re-use soil do you amend the soil with dry nutes?

Thanks!

I don't add anything to the soil when re-using. Although I do a decent flush, there was enough nutes still in the soil to go through most of veg with no added nutes besides 1 drop Hesi SuperVit in ~4l. I can't really comment on the benefits of the drop but I've had it around and it lasts forever. In any case I feed when watering end of veg-early bloom it was Hesi Bloom complex and for the last 2 waterings I've used a nutrient mixture with a NPK of 5-6-7+micros which seems to do quite well. All in all I'm quite moderate with feeding, especially now that water uptake is minimal.

I don't plan another round with this soil, I usually have 2 rounds then replace it, this time I was just lazy.

Regards,
Dysnomia

 

[Dysnomia]

Some shots of Galadriel #1-s canopy/bud as well.

We are around day 46 of flowering. Here's to hoping thigs will beef up a bit during the next 2-3 weeks. So far it seems that yield has taken the biggest hit due to the low temperature. The resin coverage is great, the smells are pungent and aromas complex but some jars will probably run empty too fast...

 

[420empire]

Looking good. And nice to see that your are the mix between led and t5. btw nice frost on those ones !

cheers.

 

[exploziv]

great looking girls man! genetics have their role here, but your set-up is great too if you can get that frostiness with less than 200w.

congrats!

 

[Dysnomia]

Thanks for the nice comments!

I also very much like the LED+T5 combination, and the plants are nice and frosty also, so it looks like they don't mind it either!

If there's one thing to complain about then perhaps the fact that LED needs to be a bit further away from the plants than the T5-s so probably around 5% of the light from the LED's gets blocked by the T5 fixture. It's barely even worth mentioning though.

Oh and of course in my case I wish for more heat in the cabinet. I just cannot seem to find an energy efficient method to heat the space. Leaving a 2kW electric heater in there seems like exactly the opposite I'm trying to achieve with going LED...

So if you've ever battled low temperatures or have an idea or three for raising temperatures, I encourage you to share them!


In the mean time some more pictures!

Casey Jones @ 49 days in. Yum yum. Growing pretty much exactly like last round if you forget it's "scrogged"

Casey up close. Not as purple as Galadriel #1 top calyxes, but it's showing some coloring as well. It will probably show more purple hues in a few weeks considering it also did it last round when it was warmer.

Galadriel#2 - Looks nice, smells nice, wish it would bulk up too!

Regards,
Dysnomia

 

[exploziv]

You can always add more light. Maybe another 2 T5's?
I use mostly leds and t5's too, but over the winter I had to add some small hids (150-250w) to keep the temps in check.

What about the temps with lights off? How low are those?

Great pics!!

 

[quinoa64]

They don't seem to mind the low temps, at least not from the photos. They look great! Do you think the abundance of trichomes is the plant protecting itself against colder nights, or do you always get that kind of density with this strain?

I'm sure this seems obvious, but have you dialed back the ventilation or added insulation to the outside of your cab? Lights will only heat for 12 hours a day, but you could put a few a little lower down to fill out the under-canopy.

Please post a shot of your lighting setup, I'd love to see how you mixed the T5s in. And did you mention colors? Do the LEDs compliment the CFLs or is it just about having more lumens per watt?

 

[Dysnomia]

I've thought about adding more T5-s briefly but haven't really followed through since:

a) It will cramped and I would probably end up with the T5-s a bit too far from the canopy resulting in poorer "light penetration" according to the inverse square law. The thing is the LED panel is 70x10cm and needs to be around 20cm from the canopy. Perhaps I could get it a little closer but light bleaching and slow growth could result. The T5-s however need to be a lot closer - at around 5-10cm from the canopy.

b) Will it be better than a 250W HPS then? When I add 2 more T5-s I'm running at 216W T5 + 70W LED which is more or less around what the 250W HPS draws. There will be less radiant heat and a better spectrum though..

Adding 2 more T5-s will definitely improve the conditions. Is it the best course of action though?

I have slowed down the ventilation by using and extra thick layer of activated carbon which sadly still isn't enough to neutralise all of the smell!

Insulation could help but I think it's not enough to help with the main problem - it's just so darn cold!
Oh, lights off temperatures are at a/an (almost) freezing 13'C. According to some books growth pretty much stops at around 9-10'C so I'm not too far from the very-very bottom. Lights on temperatures get to 17-18'C, 19'C on a good day.

quinoa, you can check the cab picture in the first post to see how I've arranged the lights. It's pretty easy since all the "panels" are rectangular with the LED being 70x10cm and the T5 a little longer and thinner. The LED stays around 10-15cm higher than the T5-s.

As for the spectrum, the T5-s are 2700K which warms the cab up so to speak. I can't remember the LED wavelengths off the top of my head, there are 2 different spectrum diodes on the panel forming 5 clusters.

Regards,
Dysnomia

 

[exploziv]

I'd be happier with leds and T5's in a small space than with a 250w HPS. Besides the advantages you pointed out, leds and T5 provide better light distribution. You could lower the T5 more if you put them closer to the sides of your grow space.

This solution still leaves you with low temps when lights off. A sweet way to solve that would be to split the space in 2, and exhaust the air from the cab that's on through the one that's off (not sure if it's worth for a small space like yours). Or you could add a small veg space in a corner of your cab that would preheat the air entering the flowering space. You don't want stress in flower!
The great results you get with such low temps make me wonder what you could do if you could keep them at a room temperature they love, day and night.

 

[Dysnomia]

Remodelling the cab could be the solution but it takes effort, time planning and funds. Perhaps one day...

Switching mediums has been on my mind for some time, but it's very difficult to jump from something that I know works. DWC, DTW coco, hempys...so many choices all claiming better yields and healthier growth...

Also one thing that should help is to reverse the ventilation so air comes in from the top and exits at the bottom pulling heat towards the plants. I might and should try that once I have time and a plan how to remodel the filter from a "hanging" design to something else.


Heres Galadriel#1

Some trichome stalks have some purple in them! If I only had a macro lens...

Regards,
Dysnomia

 

[Dysnomia]

Casey Jones @ 55 days 12/12.

 

[Dysnomia]

Updates! We are now @ day 63 of 12/12 and the end is near.

The CJ is pretty much done. probably taking her down in a few days.

Galadriel #1 - looks like she is nearing the end too. Still a little too green for my harvesting tastes but perhaps the couple of days will make a difference. The minimal water use of the plants really messed up my flushing plans...

Galadriel #2 Also not too far off. She has filled in pretty nicely and at the end of the day it looks like my choice of keeping her instead of the other 2 is justified. Far too green for this late stage though

I have a question regarding saving the CJ. It appears that she is not among the best when it comes to making roots and I'm having really bad luck with her clones. So pretty much what I've decided to do is:
Harvest and leave a little to reveg and also take two smaller budsicles and try to root them as a very-late-flower clone which will have to root first and reveg after.

Is there anything else I could do to ensure maximum chances for the survival of this phenotype?


Regards,
Dysnomia

 

[MrCopyZ]

Icy.... So Icy...

 

[Oregonism]

Sugary.

......forgive my ignorance what is Casey Jones, hear about it all the time, no one discusses parents? Is it an old KC strain that is still around?