Dutch Passion Same Same But Different Or A How Not To Guide To DWC/LED w/ TD ;)

[DutchPassionTony]

great work - I bet you cant wait to get the LED in there !

 

[Red eyed c]

I'm interested to see this Cidly LED in action mate I'm subbed in :smokebuds: that 10 spot will bathe your girls in plenty f goodness

 

[big_buddha]

Actually I think I may have installed the cool tube a few days earlier but those pics were from day 40. Day 42 and the LED finally arrived! Excellent sturdy build quality on this badboy. I have been very impressed. I requested a custom spectrum when ordering that I believe is the same as the new Blackstar range will be using (based on user reports). My apologies for the lower pic quality but the camera on my galaxy S really struggles under HID/LED. Shame cos works perfectly under flouro lighting...

 

[big_buddha]

As you can see I switched out my cool tube for the LED but my battle against stretching and overcrowding had resulted in a lack of headroom above the plants. My LED was too close and the plants were still stretching. At this point I engaged in some heavy duty pruning to improve penetration through the canopy and also began to tie down the main heads. The largest plant on the left of these pics was that tiny little burnt runt from earlier on! Here are some pics from day 48...

 

[big_buddha]

As my plants continued to stretch and flowers formed i could see that my LED was simply too close for its 60 degree lenses to effectively cover the entire canopy. Half of my largest plant was effectively in the shade. I tied more branches down but knew I was gonna lose a lot of yield unless I figured a solution. It was at this point that I decided to dig out the cool tube again and mount it at the back of the tent at the very top with the reflector on a slight angle. Temps overnight are a lot cooler and with electricity costing half as much between 2300 and 0700 I decided that I would supplement the LED with 8 hours of 400w HPS per day. I am very glad that I did this as Im certain my yields on this run would be greatly reduced had i not. The buds that are in "shade" from being out of the LEDs footprint have fattened up massively and look excellent with the HPS boosting the amount of juice available to them for a good chunk of the day.

These next pics are from around Day 58...

 

[Red eyed c]

Nice one mate that LED is a beast :booya: happy growing bud?.rotate yr plants twice daily and that will give each part of the plants some good light coverage

 

[big_buddha]

These next pictures are from yesterday and today so day 65~ with lights off and only the crappy warm CFL bulb i have as light for this room my camera has made the buds look brown. To the naked eye in daylight tho they are much more of that light green typical colour that you see in most lights off pics where the camera has a flash. Some hairs are turning brown but not many, perhaps 10-20% on the top biggest buds of the plant that is directly under the center of the LED. Buds are continuing to swell each day and the plant hasnt started yellowing yet. no more than 2-3 leaves per plant since the final pruning session.

The pics arent the best quality but does anyone have any idea how much longer these girls have got to go? I figured i would be at least a week behind seymour due to showing sex 7-8 days later and growth being stalled a couple times from lockouts in some dodgy nute mixes. I havent started any kind of a flush yet and obviously wish to delay it until the best time. I really need to pick up a magnifier so i can check out the trichomes which are VERY abundant on these buds and sugar leaves.

Does anyone have an opinion as to how much longer i should let them go before commencing flush. Will flush in DWC take a week or can it be done in less time? I see some people saying 3-4 days is enough time because of the nature of the system. Remove the nutes leave plain water then theres nothing lingering like you can get in soil with salt buildups etc.

 

[big_buddha]

Nice one mate that LED is a beast :booya: happy growing bud?.rotate yr plants twice daily and that will give each part of the plants some good light coverage

Unfortunately rotating the plants is no longer an option as the big one is tied and can only fit in one position, my favourite plant in the middle likewise can not be rotated much as its highest buds would be stuffed just beneath the tied down buds of the lankiest girl. I really should have culled the plant on the right which grew totally different to the other 2. I believe because of being under the envirolite for a couple of weeks without a reflector. Its internode spacing was a lot more stretched and growth from side shoots pretty poor. Its only in the last 2 weeks ~ that buds have appeared lower down the plant. I have a good 14-18 inches of dead space at the bottom of each plant where they stretched so much and outgrew my space. Its a little depressing as if the LED had arrived sooner then I am certain that stretch would have been a lot less and I could have got away without such an extreme lolipopping type prune.

 

[big_buddha]

just picked up a new pocket microscope as couldnt find my old one and the top buds of my biggest plant are probably showing around 10% amber trichs. Can only spot a couple on the other plants/buds, any thoughts as to when I should commence flushing? Id rather a heavier more couchlock stone so I want amber trichs but how much longer before I switch to flushing and how long should I spend flushing in DWC? Any help appreciated! thanks guys

 

[big_buddha]

PS today would be day 68