Bueno Grows w/ DIY COB LEDs

[cocogrower]

OK! that means they have plenty of time to fatten up! Is this as it usually looks for you or are you hoping for some kind of record? Thank you for answering all my questions before. I read that post when i was really tired. Think i'm about to go with the 2530's 4000k just because of how cheap they are compared to their prestanda. The par values of 4000k looks pretty good when i read mr flux thread on the CXA analysis (think that you might have referred to that thread?) I will probably have to ad some red in flower though to if i want my flowers to look anything like yours!

 

[Bueno Time]

OK! that means they have plenty of time to fatten up! Is this as it usually looks for you or are you hoping for some kind of record? Thank you for answering all my questions before. I read that post when i was really tired. Think i'm about to go with the 2530's 4000k just because of how cheap they are compared to their prestanda. The par values of 4000k looks pretty good when i read mr flux thread on the CXA analysis (think that you might have referred to that thread?) I will probably have to ad some red in flower though to if i want my flowers to look anything like yours!

So far the buds look about as fat as they did under HPS at this point with better development on lower buds further down the stalks.

Should be my best GPW Ive ever had this run I think/hope. Hoping for close to 100g from the 104w of LED but dont think Ill get there this run since I had a few issues.

My highest GPW so far are about .66GPW (100g) with a 150w HPS. Was hoping to get the same 100g harvest with the 2 3070s @ 1.4A each (~104w LED dissipation). Had the height issue in the old tent, 2 of 6 females were hermies so got chopped and no longer a full canopy, and overferting or lockout on the PECC, not sure which it was but she is building buds better now but it took its toll on her and no doubt effected the yield. I should have been able to hit 1GPW with the COBs on the first run.

We will see though in about 4 weeks when its harvested and dried.

 

[cocogrower]

So far the buds look about as fat as they did under HPS at this point with better development on lower buds further down the stalks.

Should be my best GPW Ive ever had this run I think/hope. Hoping for close to 100g from the 104w of LED but dont think Ill get there this run since I had a few issues.

My highest GPW so far are about .66GPW (100g) with a 150w HPS. Was hoping to get the same 100g harvest with the 2 3070s @ 1.4A each (~104w LED dissipation). Had the height issue in the old tent, 2 of 6 females were hermies so got chopped and no longer a full canopy, and overferting or lockout on the PECC, not sure which it was but she is building buds better now but it took its toll on her and no doubt effected the yield. I should have been able to hit 1GPW with the COBs on the first run.

We will see though in about 4 weeks when its harvested and dried.

I hope you'll get there, i think your canopy looks awesome despite those problems!

Plants do great under HPS, which is strange considering that their light spectrum is so unnaturally heavy in orange. Off course their efficiency has to do with the fact that they produce a huge amount of photons. But i can't help to wonder if the decades of breeding under HPS lights have made some plants better at utilizing the orange spectrum? Would be fun to see side by side experiment with untamed landraces and old school hybrids under HPS vs and cooler spectrums to se if there seem to be difference in how they utilize the orange...

If this far fetched theory holds true, we would need to ad more orange supplemental light to our white cobs.. For plants bred under hps at least.

 

[Bueno Time]

Day 50 12/12 BBCJ BB Dom Pheno, damn shes pretty frosty and colorful

 

[Bueno Time]

Took some cuts off the Sugar Kush x Chemmy Jones for my buddy.

Doing a little experiment with 6 cuts all cuts taken/prepared the same way other than the cloning solution used. They are in 50/50 Ocean Forest and Coco with a small amount of perlite added. 2 of them using Azos from Xtreme Gardening, 2 using EZ CLONE gel, and the other 2 using freshly picked Aloe Vera gel from inside of one of the leaves.

Should be interesting to see if any particular one works amazing or significantly better than the other.

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Ive been ignoring the clones since I took them only added a tiny amount of moisture once to the base of the stems after taking the cuts and putting them in cups of 50/50 recycled Ocean Forest and coco coir. Just checked them today and the two EZ CLONE gel cuts have the biggest and most quantity of roots already showing on the sides of the cups, the most advanced of all 6 clones taken. Followed by an Aloe Vera dipped cut that has a nice root showing on the side of the cup. The other Aloe and the two Azos cuts arent showing roots on the sides of cups yet but do seem like they are rooting just not showing roots yet on the sides of the cups.

So I guess the EZ Clone gel wins this 3 way with the Aloe Vera not far behind so far. Although the healthiest looking cuts are the Azos ones where the EZ clone gel ones have brown spots on some of the leaves but have the most advanced root system/quickest to root.

Glad I have some rooted already so I can watch them and save the best clone and cut the mother and other clones to make room to start my seeds for next round.

Should be popping them in about a week.

 

[StoopheadFred]

Everything looks like it's chunking up nicely! Just a quick Q, how long are your wires from the driver to the led? I've got 1x 50w COB in my cab now and it seems most of the heat is coming from the driver so I want to get that moved out of the grow space.

 

[Bueno Time]

Everything looks like it's chunking up nicely! Just a quick Q, how long are your wires from the driver to the led? I've got 1x 50w COB in my cab now and it seems most of the heat is coming from the driver so I want to get that moved out of the grow space.

About 5ft long, a little bit longer than needed but wasnt sure where I was going to put the driver board so wanted to make sure I had enough length. I went a bit overkill on the wire gauge since I "remote ballasted" the drivers outside of the tent. They do put off a lot of heat and these new JHX LED drivers I have are aluminum cased/heatsink and are hotter to the touch than the MW LPC-60-1400s and those even got hot. Definitely a good idea to keep them out of the grow space.

Anyway I think I used 14 AWG or 16 AWG stranded copper wire for the driver to COB wiring.

 

[Bueno Time]

Im almost positive I have decided the strains for next run under the 3 3070 3000k AB and R&B LED bars.

Going to start 9 seeds here in a week or so.

Seeds are:

5x feminized VerdantGreen Las Vegas Purple Kush x Pre 98 Bubba Kush (Bubba reversed)
4x Rare Dankness The OX (got them in trade, was told they are fems but 99% sure they never made fems so they should be regulars)

The OX is Pre 98 Bubba x Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is (Katsu Bubba x (Katsu Bubba x DJ Shorts Blue Moonshine (Blueberry F3))). So if that is confusing, DJs Blue Moonshine pollen hit the Katsu Bubba cut and then grew those seeds out and male hit Katsu Bubba again to make the Stone Mountain, then hit the Pre 98 Bubba cut with some Stone Mountain pollen.

Should be some Bubba dominant goodness this round, I plan to take the best OX male, if I get one, and hit the other OX females and LVPKxPre98 fems with some pollen.

 

[SweetDee]

Really looking forward to seeing the next round . Obsessed with watching LED grows as of late .

 

[Bueno Time]

Really looking forward to seeing the next round. Obsessed with watching LED grows as of late.

Me too!

Thanks for stopping in and checking out the thread.

 

[cocogrower]

That's some exotic strains! Looking forward to see that! Verdant green seem to have great success with bigger pots.. Probably more important when your an organic grower..

 

[Bueno Time]

Decided not to do the Nectar For The Gods next round.

Ive been doing 1/2 gallon grow bags a lot lately over the last few runs but this run is going to be 2 gallon grow bags for each of the 9 seeds Im starting.

Will be using recycled FFOF amended with a bunch of EWC like a couple lbs worth didnt measure it, ~1.5 cups high p guano, ~1/2 cup crab shell, ~1/4 cup dolomite lime, and a real small amount of soft rock phosphate that I had like 1/4 cup or less. All that was stuff I had around that I put in the mix to use up. Watered with Lacto Bacillus serum about a month ago and is still "cooking" in 5 gallon buckets. Going to add about 25-30% coco coir/perlite to the cooked mix before filling the grow bags.

Going to supplement lightly with Canna Bio Flores that I still have some left of from a friend. Stuff seems to work pretty good last few runs so Ill continue using it up. Also will use BioAg soluble humic acid in tiny pinches here and there $10 pouch has lasted me 5 or so runs and barely even used any of it, stuff is very concentrated and lasts a long time, BioAg is pretty well known for their quality humic and fulvic acids. Have a little Humboldt Equilibrium (calmag) will be using that up as well that was given to me from the same friend I got the Bio Flores from. Small amount of blackstrap molasses will be used once a week or so.

Pretty much letting the soil mix do most of the work and giving really small amounts of the mentioned items for a little extra boost or to keep the microherd happy. Been lazy about making compost teas lately so probably wont brew any this run either. I have a sample bottle of Orca and some samples from Microbe Life that have a bunch of different kinds of bacteria, fungi, and photosynthetic bacteria in one of the Microbe Life samples (havent tried those yet) so I will be using small amounts of those here and there to keep the microbe populations up, digesting the organic matter for my plants.

Will be doing an experiment on the side too though this run. Going to grow a small clone of the Sugar Jones I revegged for my buddy, have extras I will be throwing out so going to run one in straight coco coir with just GH Floranova Bloom working in strength up to Lucas Formula of 8mL/gal if required. Figure it will be a good idea to run a cut of something I have grown in the FFOF with Bio Flores to be able to compare looks, smell, and taste of finished product just to see the results in coco with FNB.

Have a little extra space now than I was used to before so I will probably be experimenting a little on the side here and there on different runs.

 

[cocogrower]

Organic grows seem to be a lot of fun! Almost sounds like advanced cooking when you are talking about your teas and secret ingredients! I think you will benefit from the bigger pots! Looking forward to see how it turns out!

 

[cocogrower]

Hi Bueno, I read the thread were you decided on your supplemental colored leds. Were did you end up buying them? I've been looking at AC-RC and Ledgroupbuy..

I went with 4000k as you recommended and thinking that i will ad a tad of 630nm to my veg/early bloom light (0.75-1,5 w for every 12,5 watt of 4000k). And 1,5 wats 630 and 1,5 w 660nm to every 12,5w of 4000 for post stretch flower lamp. - sounds about right?

Ledgroupbuy is more pricy but offers solderless stars witch would let me to disconnect additional red from veg/flower light if i find that extra red causes unwanted stretch.. How was your node spacing with 3000k only?

also curious to know how your buds are fattening up?

 

[Bueno Time]

Hi Bueno, I read the thread were you decided on your supplemental colored leds. Were did you end up buying them? I've been looking at AC-RC and Ledgroupbuy..

I went with 4000k as you recommended and thinking that i will ad a tad of 630nm to my veg/early bloom light (0.75-1,5 w for every 12,5 watt of 4000k). And 1,5 wats 630 and 1,5 w 660nm to every 12,5w of 4000 for post stretch flower lamp. - sounds about right?

Ledgroupbuy is more pricy but offers solderless stars witch would let me to disconnect additional red from veg/flower light if i find that extra red causes unwanted stretch.. How was your node spacing with 3000k only?

also curious to know how your buds are fattening up?

I got my Luxeon ES EX6 bin 660nm and Luxeon ES M4R bin 450nm from StevesLED and my Cree XPE P3 bin 630nm from AC-RC, prices and shipping cost was very reasonable from AC-RC.

If I ever get around to buying the Cree XM-L2 U2-4C bin 4250-4500K I would get them from Fasttech.

Unless you know of cheaper places to find those bins.

Sounds like a pretty cool light your building. Did you get 4000K COBs? How many watts total of each 4000K, 630nm, 660nm will you be running? How many COBs and how many 3w LEDs?

I wouldnt say a 3000K is recommended for a veg light but it definitely will work, the nodes were noticeably tighter as seedlings, once starting vegging was a little stretchy but not as bad as HPS. You could get better results for veg only with 5000k or even 4000k but 3000k will work just not optimal spectrum. I like a little stretch in veg obviously not a lot but some is ok.

Buds are looking beautiful ripening quickly now it appears. The Pineapple Chaze leaves look like hell but her buds still look mighty tasty. All 4 girls have very frosty great looking buds, they reak so bad I havent been opening the tent to take pics just unzipping the bottom half so I can water them. I opened the tent for about a minute a few days ago to take a peek and the whole house stank badly haha.

Just waiting for them to finish so I can get them harvested and on to drying/curing so I can taste em. Another week or two I would say.

 

[Bueno Time]

These were taken on day 56 12/12, today will be day 59.

 

[Bueno Time]

And the ugly Pineapple Express x Cheese n Chaze

 

[cocogrower]

I got my Luxeon ES EX6 bin 660nm and Luxeon ES M4R bin 450nm from StevesLED and my Cree XPE P3 bin 630nm from AC-RC, prices and shipping cost was very reasonable from AC-RC.

If I ever get around to buying the Cree XM-L2 U2-4C bin 4250-4500K I would get them from Fasttech.

Unless you know of cheaper places to find those bins.

Sounds like a pretty cool light your building. Did you get 4000K COBs? How many watts total of each 4000K, 630nm, 660nm will you be running? How many COBs and how many 3w LEDs?

I wouldn't say a 3000K is recommended for a veg light but it definitely will work, the nodes were noticeably tighter as seedlings, once starting vegging was a little stretchy but not as bad as HPS. You could get better results for veg only with 5000k or even 4000k but 3000k will work just not optimal spectrum. I like a little stretch in veg obviously not a lot but some is ok.

Buds are looking beautiful ripening quickly now it appears. The Pineapple Chaze leaves look like hell but her buds still look mighty tasty. All 4 girls have very frosty great looking buds, they reak so bad I havent been opening the tent to take pics just unzipping the bottom half so I can water them. I opened the tent for about a minute a few days ago to take a peek and the whole house stank badly haha.

Just waiting for them to finish so I can get them harvested and on to drying/curing so I can taste em. Another week or two I would say.

Those flower's looks so great! If i manage to get anything antwhere similar with my new lamps, i will be so happy! Have you added the colored leds yet? Nad do you think that you will need more in the 4000-4500k zone?

Yes Ac-rc has a s good deal on the cree XPE p3! But no 660's.. I'm only buying about 24 chips, so have to consider the shipping costs..

How hard are you gonna drive the Cree XM-L2 U2-4C? they are not very efficient if driven to 10w, but yes penetration might be good! Ac-RC is selling pretty cheap samsung chips, that give you 130-140 l/w.. But driving the crees soft maybe is even more efficient? Will let you know if i see them cheaper somewhere!

Yes i bought 8 4000 k 2530. They were cheaper than 3070 qnd available in high bins. I'm hoping that spread and coverage will make up for the slightly poorer efficiency. I will have the 8 cobs on different heat sinks. They will be driven between 350-700 mA and put out 12-24 w each, with an efficiency somewhere between 160-145 l/w if i manage to keep the heat sinks cool, which i think will be possible. And to that i wanna ad ≈ 10% of 630 in early flower, and ≈20% of 630-660 in late flower. Percentage is calculated on wattage, but in reality the amount of red will be less, since the 4000k cobs are more efficient. (I know that most of the rave is about 3000 k, but studying mrFlux analyses makes me believe that this is a good way to)

I've just started running a perpetual 12/12 grow, so will have half of the lamps tweaked against veg/early flower and half against flower. Maybe it would have been wiser to use 3000k lamps in the latter lamps, but they were a bit less efficient... Well you cant have it all - except if you get your hands on 3070 AB bins..

 

[Bueno Time]

Those flower's looks so great! If i manage to get anything antwhere similar with my new lamps, i will be so happy! Have you added the colored leds yet? Nad do you think that you will need more in the 4000-4500k zone?

Nope no colored LEDs yet finishing up this run with just the CXA3070 3000K Z2 and Z4 COBs, next run will be 3 CXA3070 3000K AB bins and the red/blue led bars too. I would say I wont need any 4000-4500K the spectrum should be great for flowering with the 3000Ks and the colored LEDs.

Yes Ac-rc has a s good deal on the cree XPE p3! But no 660's.. I'm only buying about 24 chips, so have to consider the shipping costs..

I hear you on shipping costs, I only bought 18 colored LED chips total so I tried to keep shipping costs down too. I ordered 14 LEDs from StevesLED and only 4 from AC-RC but AC-RC was only $2 shipping from China to US which was plenty cheap for me to buy a few of the 630nm XPE P3s.

How hard are you gonna drive the Cree XM-L2 U2-4C? they are not very efficient if driven to 10w, but yes penetration might be good! Ac-RC is selling pretty cheap samsung chips, that give you 130-140 l/w.. But driving the crees soft maybe is even more efficient? Will let you know if i see them cheaper somewhere!

I was going to run them on a cheap 900mA driver from fasttech and they would be ~150 lm/w and ~47% efficient at 900mA current. Dont need much light power for my tiny veg cab I was going to run 12 XM-L2s total, 6 on each 24" heat sink bar.

Not too worried about the veg light right now Im using 3x 14w daylight CFLs, was using a single 42w daylight CFL but just switched to the 3x 14w a few days ago spreads the light out better over the seedlings. Also I picked up two 4 packs of the 14w CFLs for $1 per 4 pack on sale about a month ago. So it only cost me 75 cents for the 3 CFLs in the veg cab.

Yes i bought 8 4000 k 2530. They were cheaper than 3070 qnd available in high bins. I'm hoping that spread and coverage will make up for the slightly poorer efficiency. I will have the 8 cobs on different heat sinks. They will be driven between 350-700 mA and put out 12-24 w each, with an efficiency somewhere between 160-145 l/w if i manage to keep the heat sinks cool, which i think will be possible. And to that i wanna ad ≈ 10% of 630 in early flower, and ≈20% of 630-660 in late flower. Percentage is calculated on wattage, but in reality the amount of red will be less, since the 4000k cobs are more efficient. (I know that most of the rave is about 3000 k, but studying mrFlux analyses makes me believe that this is a good way to)

Sounds like they should do well for you and be very efficient at the lower currents you will be running. I know MrFlux recommends VERO 4000K spectrum to be pretty similar to CREE CXA 3000K spectrum. Should be interesting to see how you do with the CXA 4000K spectrum and some added reds, should do you well with the added red. Good efficiency and light spread with your low current multi COB setup will help as well.

I've just started running a perpetual 12/12 grow, so will have half of the lamps tweaked against veg/early flower and half against flower. Maybe it would have been wiser to use 3000k lamps in the latter lamps, but they were a bit less efficient... Well you cant have it all - except if you get your hands on 3070 AB bins..

Are you going to start a thread for your LED build and grow?

 

[cocogrower]

Thanks for your detailed answer!

Nope no colored LEDs yet finishing up this run with just the CXA3070 3000K Z2 and Z4 COBs, next run will be 3 CXA3070 3000K AB bins and the red/blue led bars too. I would say I wont need any 4000-4500K the spectrum should be great for flowering with the 3000Ks and the colored LEDs.

Thats gonna be so awesome, looking forward to se that setup in action!

I hear you on shipping costs, I only bought 18 colored LED chips total so I tried to keep shipping costs down too. I ordered 14 LEDs from StevesLED and only 4 from AC-RC but AC-RC was only $2 shipping from China to US which was plenty cheap for me to buy a few of the 630nm XPE P3s.

A lot of 660s, right? I really have problems decide what ratio i like between 630 and 660. really good to hear about the shipping costs. They are the only ones carrying the highest binned 630 crees on star, i believe.

I was going to run them on a 1000mA driver and they would be ~147.8 lm/w and ~45.76% efficient at 1000mA (1 amp) current. Dont need much light power for my tiny veg cab I was going to run 10-12 XM-L2s total, 5 or 6 on each 24" heat sink bar. I forget I havent thought about the veg light for a while.

Not too worried about the veg light right now Im using 3x 14w daylight CFLs, was using a single 42w daylight CFL but just switched to the 3x 14w a few days ago spreads the light out better over the seedlings. Also I picked up two 4 packs of the 14w CFLs for $1 per 4 pack on sale about a month ago. So it only cost me 75 cents for the 3 CFLs in the veg cab.

You seem to be pretty set with veglight, but those numbers really are good, should be ≈170 l/w @ 350mA. Wish they were available in red!

Sounds like they should do well for you and be very efficient at the lower currents you will be running. I know MrFlux recommends VERO 4000K spectrum to be pretty similar to CREE CXA 3000K spectrum. Should be interesting to see how you do with the CXA 4000K spectrum and some added reds, should do you well with the added red. Good efficiency and light spread with your low current multi COB setup will help as well.

I hope so, can't be too bad anyways. That thread is so good! Thank's Mrflux.

Are you going to start a thread for your LED build and grow?

I have a pretty confused thread where i'm rtying to gather info for this build, but will probably start a new thread when i got all the parts. A grow thread would be fun to! I might do it.