Bueno Grows w/ DIY COB LEDs

[Bueno Time]

Update? what was the final fem/male count?

update ?

There turned out to be 9 females and 6 males from the 15 seeds that sprouted. The 5 Truepower OG were all females but 1 TPOG was a runt and got killed off, 2 of 3 OX F2s were females and tossed the male, 1 of 3 Sour Bubble BX3/4 F2s was female and tossed the two males, 1 of the 4 Starkiller was female and 3 males that I kept all to use for pollen to make Starkiller F2s and also hit up one bud on each of the other girls with the mixed pollen from the 3 Starkiller males.

The soil mix wasnt right this run and the plants looked like shit early on in flower so wasnt worth taking pictures of. It was using ~1/2 old soil mix from the run before last the plants fan leaves got crispy brown and yellow and died off on me early in flower but I had amended the used soil and mixed with fresh bagged soil, fresh ewc, and biochar which was my first time using could have played a factor in the issues but cant be sure. Im tossing this soil batch outside to use for plants in the yard it was two runs in a row that sucked using this used soil with a good run in the middle of the two bad runs that was using a different soil batch and worked well using the same mix minus the extra ewc and biochar but whatever its all good cant always turn out well.

Im harvesting the 2 OX F2s, Sour Bubble F2 and Starkiller in 3-4 days and possibly letting some or all of the TPOGs go about another half week longer. When things are harvested and dried Ill try to get some bud shots. I dont expect a very big yield this run with the soil issue and the tent was far from full post stretch and males pulled out, maybe only 1/2 the canopy space was utilized that I normally shoot for, Im estimating maybe 3-4oz dry but my light is dimmed down to only 140w power draw from the wall this run too. Will have to see.

 

[ghostmade]

Dude on page one and im in.better late than never

 

[orangeade5]

Jesus this is an awesome grow and I'm glad I found it, are you running all those vero 10's off that 1400 mah driver? I have one of those exact drivers on backorder and I plan to run 4x CXB3070's with it.

 

[Bueno Time]

Jesus this is an awesome grow and I'm glad I found it, are you running all those vero 10's off that 1400 mah driver? I have one of those exact drivers on backorder and I plan to run 4x CXB3070's with it.

Ya 35x Vero 10 on the HLG-185H-C1400A, 7 strings in parallel with 5 in series each string (vF adds in series, current divides in parallel). I tested individually and "binned" the Veros according to vF while running at/near the intended operating current for accuracy in vF calculation and then paired up sets of 5 to be as close to the same total vF as possible to help eliminate any issues involved with parallel driving of LEDs (current hogging, thermal runaway, etc). So far no issues at all and each COB and string seems to be equally (blindingly) bright to the eye.

Good luck with your build I havent been up on research for a few months now but I hear those CXBs are beasts. The HLG drivers are TOP notch and very efficient too for the win!

 

[eddie dash]

how do you wireup the alpine11 fans to work? surprisingly im having a hell of a time getting the fan to run and ive now fried two of the four i had...ive used plenty cpu fans before but never had four wires....

 

[Jeeyah]

Be careful. I just looked at an old light I made. Looks simple. Red is positive. Black is negative. They make connectors. Molex on one side. Male 4 pin on the other. Are you using a cell phone charger? You can use a Meanwell APV.

I fried a fan too. Don't feel bad. My cell phone charger has - signs on the positive lead. Do you have a meter to check the power supply or charger? Good luck.

 

[Bueno Time]

how do you wireup the alpine11 fans to work? surprisingly im having a hell of a time getting the fan to run and ive now fried two of the four i had...ive used plenty cpu fans before but never had four wires....

You only use the red and black wires on the fan red positive black negative. Make sure your polarity on the power supply you use is hooked up correctly because the Alpine 11 fans dont seem to have any reverse polarity protection and have heard of more than a couple people frying them by hooking up incorrectly to the power supply.

Sorry to hear about your troubles but I wouldnt hook any more up until you know for sure the polarity on the power supply try to test which is positive and negative (use a multimeter or similar) so you dont hook any more fans up backwards and fry them.

Also what power supply are you using?

 

[eddie dash]

Thanks for the helpI would have been at a deadend if not for you.I got a little heated..and fried one more..but got it worked now. Im ordering replacements and getting a multimeter.

 

[Archie_Teutis]

Thank you: you're an inspiration.
I'm seeing posts all over the 'net discussing wavelengths and not even trying a "normal" warm white.

The attitude of "fuck it, lets give it a go" LED me to have a go too. Right now i'm waiting on the parts.

 

[Bueno Time]

Thank you: you're an inspiration.
I'm seeing posts all over the 'net discussing wavelengths and not even trying a "normal" warm white.

The attitude of "fuck it, lets give it a go" LED me to have a go too. Right now i'm waiting on the parts.

Nice Archie welcome to ICMAG and good luck with your build.

 

[Bueno Time]

I got a cut of all but 1 female last run and picked my favorites to do a second more proper run of this round. Im in 1 gallon pots of coco feeding Floranova Bloom hand watered DTW with a pinch of epsom salt (was having a slight mag def under the LEDs), thats it so far. Although I did sprinkle Azos and Great White Myco at transplant, first time trying using them at transplant in coco and damn the roots went crazy just like they do in soil when I use it, good stuff. Keeping things pretty simple though for now just using 1.2-1.3ec of FNB/epsom so far.

There are 8 ladies in the tent, two on left are Truepower OG #4, OX F2 #1 back left center, Sour Bubble BX3/4 F2 #2 back right center, two OX F2 #2 front middle, Starkiller #3 back right corner, and Truepower OG #2 in the front right corner.

Probably wont run OX F2 #1 again but put a cut of her in for extra OX smoke (cant have too much) and to see if she comes out any better this run (they all should, last run sucked majorly). The OX F2 #1 smells more Blue Moonshine-ish than Bubba and the OX F2 #2 smells like an excellent mix of the two, as good or better than the initial three females I used to make the F2s with, so will be keeping that cut until I find a better OX F2 to take its place.

Also trying to keep Starkiller #3 around if she turns out fire this run, this pheno grows very OG dominant in structure stretchy and quite viney has a sweet candy lemony smell (vs more earthy/pinesol) with a good bit of og funk. Truepower OG #2 I believe is a white dom pheno I think, looks smells and tastes/smokes a LOT like The White I grew from clone only a couple years ago. Truepower OG #4 has a little more "blue" smell assuming from the Blue Moonshine in it, but with some OG funk to it too. The Sour Bubble smelled very similar and grew all but identical to the OXs but without any of the Blue(berry) from the Blue Moonshine, also doesnt quite have as good of flavor as the OX IMO but is only the first female I got from the pack of BX3/4 F2s I was gifted. Hoping they all turn out a bit better this run and I can decide which are the ones to keep around for a little while. I took 3 cuts off each TPOG #2 & #4, OX F2 #2, Starkiller #3, and had an extra cut of the Sour Bubble #2 thats in the veg cab with the fresh cuts for now until I decide if shes worth keeping around after this run.

Anyway these pics are start of Day 4 12/12, I think it may get crowded in here over the next couple weeks, maybe not too bad since the 4 in middle wont stretch much very indica dominant.

 

[Bueno Time]

2 Truepower OG #4 cuts

2 OX F2 #2 cuts on left, OX F2 #1 on top right, Sour Bubble #2 in bottom right (center 4 plants in picture)

Starkiller #4 left, Truepower OG #2 right

 

[The Dopest]

Looking good Bueno, how many watts are you pushing in that second pic post 531?

 

[Bueno Time]

Looking good Bueno, how many watts are you pushing in that second pic post 531?

Since Ive built it, it's been running at 140w total draw (driver loss included) from the wall tested with a Kill-A-Watt I would need to install the 50mm fans on the bars to cool more wattage, the driver is capable of going up to ~215w draw I think (~200w of LED dissipation) right now its dimmed to ~2/3 power. This is just the warm white COBs, the red string is 20w or a little less when turned on I forget exactly cant find the page I wrote it down on and cant test it now with lights off. I didnt run the reds last run and I do plan to this run after stretch phase of flower.

I will say they are way brighter in person than in the picture the aperture on the camera was set to close down very small and fast shutter speed so the picture wasnt overexposed.

Once I can figure out how to keep my plants happy and healthy I will install the fans on the heatsinks and turn the wattage up some but right now its been hard enough keeping them healthy with only 140w draw (~126-130w dissipation or actual LED power after driver loss) in 6 sq ft tent.

Something with the LEDs makes the plants damn hungry for nutes overall and especially for mag it seems. During stretch phase if there isnt enough or the right ratio of nutes deficiencies develop very quickly in my experience over the last year of growing with warm white COBs its been a bit tricky to dial in when it used to be easy with HPS but Im starting to figure it out better I think (hope).

 

[The Dopest]

Actually, I know pics make it look dimmer, that's why I asked. It looks way brighter than 200w, that's awesome!!

 

[Bueno Time]

I boosted some of the shorter girls tonight to relatively even out the canopy since the Starkiller was the tallest. Also have the light closer to the tops now that the root systems have gotten large enough to support the feeding requirements of the plants dont really see any deficiencies to speak of on the new growth. Glad I flipped them when I did I forgot how crazy they get in coco when you flip to flower they just bush out extensively and stretch too obviously. Some defoliation and more trimming of undergrowth is for sure needed within the next day or so.

Heres the girls after 7 days 12/12.

 

[Bueno Time]

Starkiller

Truepower OG #2

Sour Bubble

OX #1

OX #2

 

[Bueno Time]

OX #2

Truepower OG #4s

 

[The Dopest]

Bueno, those babies look good!! Love your use of postal boxes too, I use them for everything under the sun around here. I agree with the coco as well, I doubt I'll ever grow with anything else. Do you put a layer of hydroton at the bottom of the pots? I always put at least one layer, usually two layers by the time they reach flower for better drainage and aeration.

 

[Bueno Time]

Bueno, those babies look good!! Love your use of postal boxes too, I use them for everything under the sun around here. I agree with the coco as well, I doubt I'll ever grow with anything else. Do you put a layer of hydroton at the bottom of the pots? I always put at least one layer, usually two layers by the time they reach flower for better drainage and aeration.

Thanks Dopest, I have thought about it but never done the hydroton layer. Ive only used straight coco so far but I also use small pots 3qt on my first coco grow and now 1 gallons on this grow I like small pots and multi-feed with coco (not sure if I would call it multi feed what I am doing, I water 2x a day now once at lights on and once halfway through lights on cycle). The plants roots pretty heavily colonize the small containers and suck up/use most the extra moisture that's usually held in the bottom layer of the coco in pots. If I had a automated watering setup I would try a hydroton layer in bottom for better drainage and water more often and get even better growth rates.