Starke's Story: An LED Tale

[starke]

Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again

The ladies spent the past 24 hours in the dark and will awaken in the AM to a 12/12 light schedule.

The lowers have been stripped below the screen as I usually do at the end of veg, however, this time I have stripped each of the growing tips so that only the top two or three nodes remain. There is a name for this type/style of defol that I read on here several years ago but I can't remember what it's called. Anyway, here's a pic of the top of the screen. Next two weeks or so will be spent nipping and tucking:

Lowers:

Only real change for this grow is I remade the watering manifold to allow both a six inch and nine inch hydro ring in each bucket. The buckets are now plumbed individually instead of two per valve and the gang valve has been moved to the top of the screen at the front of the room. This allows operation of the valves without having to crouch down as before. The less of that the better.

Going to let them run about three weeks and then hit them with another defol.

Peace,
starke

 

[starke]

Flower Day 7

Flower Day 7

Yesterday marked the end of the first week of 12/12. The ladies are busy stretching and shooting out pistils and I'm guessing they have almost doubled in height. Nothing else really relevant to report at this early stage but here are some pics across the top of the canopy:

Front to back:

Front from the side:

Middle from side:

Rear from side:

Peace,
starke

 

[starke]

Mystery Strain Update

Mystery Strain Update

The mystery lady is at roughly five weeks flower and continues to pack on the trichs. These pics don't do her justice.

She smells like a well used toilet that has not been flushed in three days. Really rank with a hint of gas.

Peace,
starke

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

Great looking flowers, Starke.

Looking back over your diary. Your scrog abilities are nothing short of art!!

 

[smilley]

Hello starke. Everything looks good here. You're killing it dude. Really nice camera work too.

 

[starke]

Thanks for the positive vibes guys.

 

[renne]

awesome job Starke!! just finished reading the whole thread, you def gave me some great ideas/tips and tricks!!
Cheers Renne

 

[starke]

Update Flower Day 14

Update Flower Day 14

Two weeks since the flip and the ladies have slowed their stretch and are busy building bud sites. Not as even a canopy as I would like but it will have to do. I'm going to do another defol one week from today and will post more pics then. Just two this time.

Canopy top front to back:

Young bud porn, a Trippleberry top I believe:

Peace,
starke

 

[starke]

Mystery Lady Update

Mystery Lady Update

Wednesday marked the five week flower mark and this lady continues to impress. I think she will finish in the six to seven week range as her pistils are browning up and looking at her trichs shows about 60% cloudy with a few amber scattered about. I'm thinking she may be harvested in about another three or four days.

She still smells just plain rotten. Nothing subtle about her. No hint of any purple coloration so I don't know about the "purple something or something purple" claimed, but then maybe she needs cooler temps.

Peace,
starke

 

[Love&Peace]

Starke! I just took an stroll through your thread pretty well start to finish...You've had some awesome growth(plants and personally) in the last two years.

As i'm always trying to grow and learn I have a couple Q's for you...

After two years how do you find your LED light? Are you pretty impressed with it? I am thinking of making the switch and building my own LED strip lights but I am curious your experience with LED.

Secondly, my last grow I shared a door between flower and veg and it was always a problem for light leaks. Do you have a picture of your door design and how is it with keeping light out?

Cheers

 

[mr.brunch]

All looking very nice mate....
that mystery lady is looking damn good

 

[starke]

mr.brunch:
Thank you kind sir. I'm really looking forward to trying the mystery lady. With her trich coverage I figure if she's not my type of smoke she should make excellent oil/butter.

Love&Peace:
Welcome. I would not change anything about my LEDs. I continue to be impressed with their penetration and performance. URSA has stood behind their product every step of the way. COB units like the URSA are being replaced with smaller/lighter quantum board technology (my URSA units are about 50 lbs each) and I may transition to something else down the road. But not until the URSAs die or I need additional lighting.

The "door" between my veg and flower areas is a joke. It consists of a piece of panda film stapled and taped on each side of the two by fours forming the 36" wide entryway. Kind of makes a "sally port" style light baffle. The black side faces in on each side. An adhesive zipper in each piece gives access. The zippers are offset a couple of inches to baffle any light coming through the teeth. Not the least bit elegant but cheap and effective. Hope this helps:

 

[ScrogMonster]

Hey Stark, Beautiful scroggin, flowers and set up in there! Nice work! I love that great big bed of massive colas. I started on page 43 or something, sorry if I missed it but why do you go 24h of dark when you flip? What does that do?

 

[DARKSIDER]

Wednesday marked the five week flower mark and this lady continues to impress. I think she will finish in the six to seven week range as her pistils are browning up and looking at her trichs shows about 60% cloudy with a few amber scattered about. I'm thinking she may be harvested in about another three or four days.

She still smells just plain rotten. Nothing subtle about her. No hint of any purple coloration so I don't know about the "purple something or something purple" claimed, but then maybe she needs cooler temps.

View Image

View Image

Peace,
starke

Good job again Starke solid work

 

[starke]

I started on page 43 or something, sorry if I missed it but why do you go 24h of dark when you flip? What does that do?

Hey ScrogMonster:

I give them 24 - 36 hours of darkness based on info I've read here from other growers that this helps to jump start the plant's flowering response. I also give them 24 - 36 hours of dark immediately prior to harvest, also based on info read here.

Is it real? Is it bullshit? Who knows. I don't know of any science supporting doing the dark thing or side by side grows that establish if it makes a difference. I just know the concept makes "common sense" to me so I do it.

Peace,
starke

 

[Love&Peace]

Hey Starke - I'm glad that works for you - I had a similar setup but ran into too many problems with light leaks....maybe I just suck at making them lol

 

[starke]

Update Flower Day 21

Update Flower Day 21

Three weeks of 12/12 and the ladies continue to do their thing. Stretch is over and the ladies continue to build buds.

Here are a couple pics of the canopy:

I'm in the process of doing a defol and am taking a slightly different approach this time. Normally I would strip each stem of any bud sites and fans too low to receive adequate light.

Instead I'm trying an approach documented by member Ichabod Crane. Basically it involves stripping the bud sites that will end up as larf, but leaving the fan leaf associated with that budsite. The thought being that those fan leaves will continue to provide energy to the remaining bud sites above.

From a common sense standpoint it seems right so I'm giving it a try, even though Ichabod grows vertical with LEDs. Not the best illustration but here's a before and after. I know one thing, this process is far slower than just stripping the stem. Maybe the effort will be worthwhile.

Before:

After:

Peace,
starke

 

[AgentPothead]

Three weeks of 12/12 and the ladies continue to do their thing. Stretch is over and the ladies continue to build buds.

Here are a couple pics of the canopy:

View Image

View Image

I'm in the process of doing a defol and am taking a slightly different approach this time. Normally I would strip each stem of any bud sites and fans too low to receive adequate light.

Instead I'm trying an approach documented by member Ichabod Crane. Basically it involves stripping the bud sites that will end up as larf, but leaving the fan leaf associated with that budsite. The thought being that those fan leaves will continue to provide energy to the remaining bud sites above.

From a common sense standpoint it seems right so I'm giving it a try, even though Ichabod grows vertical with LEDs. Not the best illustration but here's a before and after. I know one thing, this process is far slower than just stripping the stem. Maybe the effort will be worthwhile.

Before:

View Image

After:

View Image

Peace,
starke

Gotta try to remember to check back in here cause at first glance, that seems like a really good way to defoliate.

 

[FrozenFire]

Interesting technique. I'm curious on how it works out for you. Never know till you try!

 

[mrghost]

Interesting technique. I'm curious on how it works out for you. Never know till you try!

I also didn't no-till I tried..

Puns aside. I really like your setup Starke. Even though I run a no-till system, setups like yours always fascinate me. Keep it up. Looking good as always.