Red Dragon & Magic Bud - First CFL grow using "Buds for Less" light set-up

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

6th October 2010 (Day 28 from seed packet)

Well it is 4 weeks since I opened the seed packet and put a seed in the Jiffy Pellet – time goes so slowly during the early growth stages.
A couple of days ago I repotted the Dragon into a slightly larger pot … it’s 29cm square x 30cm deep, pretty much a cubic foot of soil mix (18 litres). The soil is my original enriched soil which should provide sufficient food for a month or so. When repotting the plant I saw that the roots were very well developed with no circling or tangling, looked like they were just ready to explore new territory.

I have decided not to continue with the “make it rain” until the plant shows signs that it has exhausted the food in the soil. I will be dosing with molasses to keep the minibugs happy and productive and a bit of Epsom salt tea to ward off any cal/mag deficiencies.
The main reason for halting the “make it rain” technique is that I want to see what the LED is capable of achieving without the results being boosted by the feeding programme.

After topping the Dragon, it now has 12 healthy shoots/branches. I will definitely be removing the bottom 4 to use as clones leaving 8 to spiral out to fill the scrog screen.

I will probably snap a pikkie tomorrow.

 

[fictionalgrower]

patiently awaiting those pics

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

7th October 2010 (Day 29 from seed packet)


Not really much to see in the photo, the Dragon is just a clump of 12 shoots/branches - I can see the growth each day and each shoot is so full of vigor. As soon as the roots get out into the new soil it should explode with growth.

The bottom 4 "branches" are each about 1.5 to 2 inches long and will be removed in a couple of days - that should help the plant as it will have 1/3rd less growth points to maintain.

As I said, the photo doesn't show much ...



There is 5 days between these two photos, during which time the plant was repotted and it shed the two bottom sets of leaves. The top set of leaves is noticably bigger - I have pinned down the two lower sets so they are no longer shading the branches and I have pinned down the bottom 4 "branches" to stop them growing straight up and crowding those above.

I expect to be fitting the screen by Day 35.

 

[fictionalgrower]

looking nice G.O.D. are you already using your LED or waiting until you start flowering / scrog?

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

The LED is Kessils Magenta light which is made for flowering so I was thinking of holding off until I switch to flowering ... but ... it is getting harder to resist using it, I am impatient to see what it does.

 

[fictionalgrower]

lol I can't resist playing with new toys either

 

[rastadred22]

where men its in our nature to not be able to resist lofl....they lookin great! cant wait to see them in the screen showing there stuff in the purples of the led

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

8th October 2010 (Day 30 from seed packet)

So, I gave into temptation and fired up the energy beam.


The first of the following two photos is with just the H150, I added a bit of side lighting from CFL’s in the second photo just to show something other than pure purple.



I am looking forward to seeing what happens next.

I have my screen ready to be attached to the pot.



It is a very simple screen made from heavy duty 1 inch square mesh.
The four support legs clip onto the mesh and fit into small holes drilled into each corner of the pot, the mesh is stabilised and secured with 4 pipe cleaners – very simple but totally robust.

You can see a circle on the screen, the circle is about 52cm across and is the optimum area of illumination when the light is suspended at 40cm from the canopy – it is there as a “template” for my grow.

Hopefully five days till the screen is fitted.

 

[rastadred22]

that shit looks crazy! haha pure purple is right...cant wait to see how much they like it...noticed any difference yet in like the plants behaviour? cant wait till this scrog kicks off

 

[Danielsgb]

Wild light. I'm looking forward to this. I use little zip-ties for stuff like that, maybe be better for ya. Kinda hard to tell leaf color, but shape and everything seems great.
Daniels

 

[MasterHemp]

where did you get the purple soil from lol!

that's a crazy light man, the 3rd picture is an amazing photo the one where you added the cfl aswell
are you using those emergency thermo blankets for reflection?

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

that shit looks crazy! haha pure purple is right...cant wait to see how much they like it...noticed any difference yet in like the plants behaviour? cant wait till this scrog kicks off

I can't wait for the scrog either, the plants seem to have put on a burst of growth but it is too early to tell if it is the light.

Wild light. I'm looking forward to this. I use little zip-ties for stuff like that, maybe be better for ya. Kinda hard to tell leaf color, but shape and everything seems great.
Daniels

The leaf colour is a dark green after using the lights for several hours - I think that they look better but they looked OK before so it is a tough call.
Do you mean use zip-ties to secure the scrog screen? The screen is plenty heavy enough to stay in position, the pipe cleaners just pull against each other and give the structure rigidity.

where did you get the purple soil from lol!

that's a crazy light man, the 3rd picture is an amazing photo the one where you added the cfl aswell
are you using those emergency thermo blankets for reflection?

I hope that the crazy light is more than just a pretty colour, the marketing blurb says it has great penetration so we will see. I have noticed distinct shadows under the leaves - this energy beam is definitely focussed and not bouncing around.
Emergency thermo blankets are great - very cheap on eBay and do the job very well. They are a bit thin and flimsy but they are so cheap that I can just replace them when needed.


Thanks all for commenting, keep watching while I spread around a little +rep.

 

[Danielsgb]

I was just laughing to myself, b/c usually leaf color is hard to tell especially under HPS, but damn brother, you've made it pretty much impossible.
Yea, I meant zip-ties to hold the screen to the stakes. I use windshield reflectors instead of the thermo. blankets. You can wipe them down and they're fairly tough.
Most exciting LED grow I've seen.
Daniels

 

[MasterHemp]

yeah i find that thermo blankets work well
i had one lying around the house which i ended up using for the last grow
i got some nice reflective white walls now and i like it alot better

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

Yea, I meant zip-ties to hold the screen to the stakes.

The "stakes" are cut from the plastic hangers meant to hold onto hanging basket type of plant pot. They have a clip on the end which usually holds onto the rim of the plant pot but I use them to hold onto the screen mesh.
They are reinforced with heavy duty wire to give them strength, and they slot into small holes in each corner of the square pot.
Nothing holds them to the screen except gravity.
Four pipe cleaners pull the screen in 4 different directions which stabilises the whole set-up.
In a few days (hopefully) I can show you the set-up in action.

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

9th October 2010 (Day 31 from seed packet)

What a difference a day makes – the Dragon loves the Magenta.

I know that the Magenta light is meant for the flowering phase but I certainly didn’t expect to see a pre-flower after only one day under the light – it hasn’t even developed alternating nodes yet and is still on a 20/4 light cycle.

I haven’t been able to capture the pre-flower in a photo yet but it is clearly visible under 30X magnification – at least I know that the feminised seed is definitely a female.

Here is today’s pikkie together with yesterdays for comparison – shining a bit of CFL light to apply contrast … the grow is purely under the Magenta H150 and I only use the CFL light for photo taking, I think that this Kessil light has already started to impress me.

plus 1 day =

 

[daviaces]

good luck with your grow ,have been looking for one of these kessil lights to be used shall be watching

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

good luck with your grow ,have been looking for one of these kessil lights to be used shall be watching

Thanks, keep watching ... I think it is about to start getting interesting. I bought my light from a hydro shop on eBay based in the US and shipped to me in Australia. It not the cheapest LED in the world but it is designed specifically for horticulture. By buying it direct from the States I avoided our local consumer tax (Goods & Service Tax of 10%).

 

[MeditateWithJah]

lookin great. subscribed

 

[steve6green]

g.o.d. with your drowing technique to speed up the curing process ive heard from a mate (also a grower) if you pour boiling water on the plants roots all the resins stored in the root system rush to the buds and leafs (a survival technique i assume) which gives you better buds and cures much quicker... loving the magenta led and for 36w that globe is bad ass