NEW Closet Set Up for L.E.D. Stealth Grow

Serapis said:

Plants are in the nursery, looking sun burnt I have them under Cool Whites, 12" from the tops. I'll give them six hours of dark tonight and re-evaluate in the morning. Meanwhile, I started to germ the other 5 seeds as a back up. If I have 10 plants by end of next week I'll be very surprised.

HTG still has not responded with a recommended height. He did reply back that it sounded like nutrient burns. I replied back and again asked what height the unit should sit over the plants and am still awaiting an answer. I did tell Allen at HTG that the plants haven't been feed in over a week, and the leaves were turned UP and browning from the tip. It is obviously heat stress. I'm thinking the lights should be about 24" above the canopy. Information I find in Google seconds that. Not sure why Allen thought 10" was OK....

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I would say you are good at 12". Everything I have come across in my research of LED's (not brand specific) is in the 6-18" range. I would say the seedlings just aren't ready for that intense light. As you have mentioned earlier, LED's use only useable light. You could think of it as using 5-10x as many bulbs. Let them get good roots, then put them close to the light and see them go crazy!

I know you are excited but be patient. One bad move at any point in the grow can send one or all of your plants on a downward spiral. It's good to learn first hand though so I reiterate, be patient

Thanks for the kind words. I'm going to stick with 18" on the plants when I place them back in. I can lower slowly if needed, but I'm doubting it. These damn lights are blinding.

Find room for your ten plants, I don't see any reason good sized seedlings like that couldn't recover. Give em a couple days in the flouros and put them under the raised leds when they perk back up as you make room for the new seedlings in the flouro chamber. Higher watt led's do give off a reasonable level of heat comparable per watt with other lighting. The light itself may not be hot, but the electronics behind the scenes still heat up your grow room without some ventilation.

You got this though man, no worries here!

I have yet to find an entire grow done with LED only. Usually see it done with CFL or HID with the LED thrown in. I'm excited to see what these can really do. I agree that LED will be the way of the future but I'm not convinced that the technology is quite there yet. please don't take this as me bashing on LEDs because I'm not. I've been wanting to see what they can do completely on there own since my first grow. My oppinion is solely based on what i have seen and I'm hoping you can finally put the rumors to rest. The room looks great! My only concern would be light leaks from your exaust fan into your bathroom. any plans on how you will combat this? once again, looking great so far. I'm subscribed and along for the ride. and while i'm at it, here's some +rep for you and your new girls.

tendran said:

Find room for your ten plants, I don't see any reason good sized seedlings like that couldn't recover. Give em a couple days in the flouros and put them under the raised leds when they perk back up as you make room for the new seedlings in the flouro chamber. Higher watt led's do give off a reasonable level of heat comparable per watt with other lighting. The light itself may not be hot, but the electronics behind the scenes still heat up your grow room without some ventilation.

You got this though man, no worries here!

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Thanks Tendran. I hope you are right.If we see any new growth in a couple of days, they have survived. The runt seedling did fine. It shows no signs of heat stress.

TheJointProject said:

I have yet to find an entire grow done with LED only. Usually see it done with CFL or HID with the LED thrown in. I'm excited to see what these can really do. I agree that LED will be the way of the future but I'm not convinced that the technology is quite there yet. please don't take this as me bashing on LEDs because I'm not. I've been wanting to see what they can do completely on there own since my first grow. My oppinion is solely based on what i have seen and I'm hoping you can finally put the rumors to rest. The room looks great! My only concern would be light leaks from your exaust fan into your bathroom. any plans on how you will combat this? once again, looking great so far. I'm subscribed and along for the ride. and while i'm at it, here's some +rep for you and your new girls.

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Thanks TJP. I'm also thinking about what to do with that exhaust. I did get some dark curtains for the bathroom window and a small night light. My only concern is walking in late at night and flipping the switch by accident. I could place a green bulb in the light fixture.

Thanks TJP. I'm also thinking about what to do with that exhaust. I did get some dark curtains for the bathroom window and a small night light. My only concern is walking in late at night and flipping the switch by accident. I could place a green bulb in the light fixture.

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Are you leaving the fan(s) on 24/7 or on a timed schedule?

My opinion is that youre going about the grow the wrong way, because LED's are not recommended for flowering due to the intensity that they lack. You know this. If I was to do what you are doing, I would have done the grow S.O.G. style, therefore giving the whole plant more useable light. If you're lucky, the top 6" of the plant MIGHT do ok. So you wasted a foot of vegetative growth. Understand what Im sayin ? By the way, reps to the setup, you did a nice job. And the leaky light issue you have, you could make an L shaped box to put over the fan. The L would be upside down tho. And make it way longer than it needs to be, leaving only the bottom of the L box open, get what Im sayin ?

Smrt said:

My opinion is that youre going about the grow the wrong way, because LED's are not recommended for flowering due to the intensity that they lack. You know this. If I was to do what you are doing, I would have done the grow S.O.G. style, therefore giving the whole plant more useable light. If you're lucky, the top 6" of the plant MIGHT do ok. So you wasted a foot of vegetative growth. Understand what Im sayin ? By the way, reps to the setup, you did a nice job. And the leaky light issue you have, you could make an L shaped box to put over the fan. The L would be upside down tho. And make it way longer than it needs to be, leaving only the bottom of the L box open, get what Im sayin ?

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Actually my man, I don't get what you are sayin.... You obviously didn't read much. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures though. These lights have enough intensity to burn plants without using any heat! They'll also melt your eyeballs out of your socket. They are intense, really. My camera won't even function correctly when pointed at them.

I will be scroggin my man when I'm sure i am weaving females. Scroll back a few pages.

Thanks for L design box. Not that much light comes through though. I may just need something like a filter

Thanks for the +reps peeps.... I'm deeply honored.

Serapis said:

Actually my man, I don't get what you are sayin.... You obviously didn't read much. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures though. These lights have enough intensity to burn plants without using any heat! They'll also melt your eyeballs out of your socket. They are intense, really. My camera won't even function correctly when pointed at them.

I will be scroggin my man when I'm sure i am weaving females. Scroll back a few pages.

Thanks for L design box. Not that much light comes through though. I may just need something like a filter

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Im sayin I think you could do better with smaller plants. dont take offense to it, it wasnt intended that way, with what you have, condense it a bit more, thats what Im tryin to say, more lumens per cubic foot. And about the L, you dont want NO light comin through if it's gonna reach the plants, pitch black dude Fuk those green lights even ! Lookin forward to your results, keepin a tab on it cuz Id like to veg with LED. Im a tru HPS guy for flower tho, and lots of it

I feel ya on the smaller plants, thats my intention. One of these will be a mother, maybe two, but many budders. I'm using white 7" square pots that are 8" deep, for a great root system. The bottom inch will be river pebbles for drainage and reverse waterings. I can have 18 going at once, topped, thats about 36-60 colas. Or I can scrog with 4 of em and take my time and weave a net. I just want to do that with clones from a good female.

Serapis said:

Plants are in the nursery, looking sun burnt I have them under Cool Whites, 12" from the tops. I'll give them six hours of dark tonight and re-evaluate in the morning. Meanwhile, I started to germ the other 5 seeds as a back up. If I have 10 plants by end of next week I'll be very surprised.

HTG still has not responded with a recommended height. He did reply back that it sounded like nutrient burns. I replied back and again asked what height the unit should sit over the plants and am still awaiting an answer. I did tell Allen at HTG that the plants haven't been feed in over a week, and the leaves were turned UP and browning from the tip. It is obviously heat stress. I'm thinking the lights should be about 24" above the canopy. Information I find in Google seconds that. Not sure why Allen thought 10" was OK....

Click to expand...

Your little girls should have no problem with the LED. But you are doing a few things I wouldn't. I don't spray seedlings they have a tap root and should be absorbing through the root system. The moisture on the tender leafs can cause them to curl and burn under intense light as the moisture evaporates. I don't use any nutes during the first 3 to 4 weeks, there is plenty of food in good seedling starter soil for this period, and again over fert will cause the leaf tips to brown. I've never tried to veg with the LED but it is much more intense than the floro's. I keep the floro's 8 - 10 above seedings and start bringing them down after the 3rd or 4th node. With LED on seedlings I'd stay at least 12" above if not more. Another thing do not change your light cycle, pick one 18/6 or 24/0 and stick with it during veg. It will stress the plants if you play with their light. Most of all be patient, your girls should recover.

I've attached a few photos to show LED's do work well to flower. They are at day 23 of flower cycle. The C 99 is flowering strong (indica strain) and the other 5 are a sativa strain and are just starting to form nuggets.

Nice looking grow area. Thanks for sharing the tips, tricks and photos. You are right about the intensity of the LED lighting. No heat, but it still "burned" my leaves at 10" above the seedlings. One is already showing new growth, one looks like it has a foot in it's grave, and a couple of others look like they may pull out of it. I'm sticking with 20/4 on the lights. I just gave them an extra 2 hours after their run in with LED lighting.

On the new seeds, it looks they are starting to pop. I see 3 little loops coming out of the peat so far.

I'm happy to say I solved the light leaks based on a response in this thread. I went to my trusty K-Mart and found carbon filter sheets that I stuffed in the exhaust fan grille and fastened with super glue. I'd say it knocked out about 99% of what light was coming through. This photo shows the bathroom wall while the LEDS are on. before and after the fix.

At first install, you can see the light from the LED room easily coming through the exhaust fan into the bathroom.

View attachment 1095208

Installing the active carbon sheets into the grille.

View attachment 1095192

How it appears after the fix is installed. As you can see, no light is leaking through either view, the bathroom or the flower room. Problem solved. Thanks to the wise reader that suggested the carbon filter sheets. For each picture taken below, the lights were on in the opposite room.

View attachment 1095191View attachment 1095193

I also placed carbon sheets in the inter-exchange vent between the veg and flower areas. a little bit of light leaks through the edges a bit, I can fix with shure tape if necessary. I believe the light is very minimal. Assorted photos below.

005.jpg is the guard dog on stand down.

Serapis said:

The bottom inch will be river pebbles for drainage and reverse waterings.

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I'd strongly advise against river pebble and I'll tell you why. I learned this through my aquarium/tropical fish hobby. I found a bunch of cool rocks to throw into my 90 gallon tank and it killed a handful of my fish cuz some rocks have rediculous ph levels, wether it's high or low, cant remember. But you cant condition rock like you can soil or rockwool. My suggestion is to spend a few bux and get a bag of hydroton. It's the best stuff to use for this application and it wont break your pocket, 1 $25 bag will do you a few grows for sure and it'll keep your girls safe.

Hydroton is turning out to be very versatile. I had some that came with a hydro farm that's not currently being used (going to start growing peach trees in about 3 months after they finish germinating) so I've been using it in all my household plants as drainage beneath the soil. It does a terrific job of keeping the soil from all washing through large drainage holes. It looks nice and uniform, it helps with bottom feeding (as you intend to do) and as the above poster said, it's perfectly safe for your ladies.

Sigh, whats another $20? Ordered it.... I live in a city of over 1 million and nearest hydro store is downtown near cop station. Not going.... Shipping 10lbs is a bitch...

Haha, they can sell evidence, arrest you, fine you, confiscate the evidence, refurbish and resell the evidence to the next sucka. What a bargain.

I tested a nute solution on some runts and the taller of the two perked right the f' up and the other 3 haven't had any adverse side effects.. so I don't think feeding them a very diluted formula is going to hurt them at all even at about 2 weeks old.

Glad you're going with hydroton. I don't know about the whole river rock ph issue, but why risk it? Amazon might (I'm too tired to go check) sell hydroton, and if they did, you could qualify for free super saver shipping with a certain purchase amount regardless of the weight of your order.

tendran said:

Haha, they can sell evidence, arrest you, fine you, confiscate the evidence, refurbish and resell the evidence to the next sucka. What a bargain.

I tested a nute solution on some runts and the taller of the two perked right the f' up and the other 3 haven't had any adverse side effects.. so I don't think feeding them a very diluted formula is going to hurt them at all even at about 2 weeks old.

Glad you're going with hydroton. I don't know about the whole river rock ph issue, but why risk it? Amazon might (I'm too tired to go check) sell hydroton, and if they did, you could qualify for free super saver shipping with a certain purchase amount regardless of the weight of your order.

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I've ordered 10 pounds with free shipping. $20.... I guess shipping wasn't really free, just included. Got some bad news possibly with new seeds. I'm just struck for bad luck. I've never seen this happen before....

https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/357428-nirvana-germination-peat-pellets-have.html


If I lose those seeds, I'm not going to have much of anything growing.... and I'm broke now... This is a sad day.... The only thing I have that looks good now is a runt that has no leaf damage. 4 seedlings with severe leaf damage and 5 peat pellets germinating what looks like mold. Just my luck....

Plan of Action

After some research, I have mixed a solution of water and hydrogen peroxide and sprayed the peat pellets liberally with it. I am leaving the dome off and will keep pellets moist myself, in an attempt to kill off the mold and not let it return. It has happened to other growers before from what I've found out online. The Jiffy propagator I have has no holes in the dome lid and the moisture level was too high. I'll be adding some ventilation to that dome lid for future use. I have a new 10" x 20" tray and dome with adjustable vents for propagating clones in the future. My Clonex gel is ready, I just need plants, lol.

Please keep your fingers crossed for the seed pellets and seeds. As for me, I have to quit caring. If I do, they'll all grow and everything will be all right.