Why do I have small leaves, bad well water? Or this Fluence led? Wtf

[Tomanyquestions]

Small leaves again second run of GG#4, I'm using 6.2 adjusted well water, roots organic soil and 800w Fluence Led. My buddies GG leaves are much bigger, he is using city water and hid. My buds on first run were small and not flavorful also. And help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Phaeton]

I have my favorite LEDs and am quick to direct fault at any problems to other brands.
PetFlora does this as well except his favorite is not my favorite. When I was younger and practiced sword daily I had a teacher explain "there is more than one way to do it right" before a test.

Same plant under HID grows larger leaves? HID has a very strong green presence, not being familiar with your LED I wonder about the green level. For solid leaf growth the plant really prefers a solid portion of green, not a token amount but a lot, at least half as much as the blue portion.

That is where PetFlora and I overlap, his favorite is enhanced COB, very strong on green with precise supplements. One of my favorites uses single frequency diodes, five percent of which are 525 nm green.

The actual cause more likely has nothing to do with the above, but gotta start somewhere.

 

[prune]

Eh, your buddy seems to be the best person you know to be asking these questions, cause you're not going to find an answer here in three easy posts...

 

[HarvestMoon303]

A Fluence SpydrX Plus is about 660w, but it's $1,500. What light are you using from them that is 800w? As the price suggests, they make some pretty nice stuff that others are using with success. It's not perfect for every grow, but it should work. Seems unlikely that it's your lights, and unlikely that it's your water.

 

[Tomanyquestions]

Thanks for the input, actually have two fixtures going, the solar storm 800 and fluence 1200, approx 36" above canopy. watching temps closely, and maintaining 70 degrees within the canopy, 40% hum. Using roots organic in 3 gallon pots, lite watering every 3 days, 70 degree well water using 1/2 teaspoon ph down per gal to get 6.2, plants about 3 weeks in are about 12" tall.
Had small leaves last run also,and smaller buds. thought I over stressed them with too much tying down, so I haven't done any other than pinching tops. Still have considerably smaller leaves compared to my buddy who started his run at the same time.
Just bought a bunch of spring water to try that. Surprisingly some of the gallons of water had PH as low as 4 and some as high as 9, wonder if this is normal. I'm new at the ph game, but tested my blue pen it's seems good.
Also read that Fluence is recommending Co2 supplement because of intensity of the light, which I don't have, could this be causing small leaves ?

 

[RockinRobot]

Could be the height of your lights. Fluence claims those can be as close as 6". 36" from canopy is way to high IMO. I only go 18" on my HPS.

 

[Tomanyquestions]

Last run I had everything tied down level and slowly lowered the fluence to within 10" then started to see some burning and backed off to 12-14". With no change in leave size, still small.

 

[ozzieAI]

my leaf is bigger than yours huh?

got any pics?

 

[PetFlora]

Of the many potential problems with well water is the water you are pumping could be part of a moving aquifer (no telling what it consists of from day to day)

Also, well water tends to have a lot of iron, which could be causing nutrient lockout

 

[HarvestMoon303]

Wow, almost 5 grand in two lights. I certainly hope that it's not the lights. What are they actually drawing? Looks like the fluence was ~660w, and the solar storm seems to be about the same @660w.

How many runs have you had with these lights? Did they produce well in the past? Fluence claims that the 1200 "outperformed a 1000w DE", which I highly doubt.

Thanks for the input, actually have two fixtures going, the solar storm 800 and fluence 1200, approx 36" above canopy. watching temps closely, and maintaining 70 degrees within the canopy, 40% hum. Using roots organic in 3 gallon pots, lite watering every 3 days, 70 degree well water using 1/2 teaspoon ph down per gal to get 6.2, plants about 3 weeks in are about 12" tall.
Had small leaves last run also,and smaller buds. thought I over stressed them with too much tying down, so I haven't done any other than pinching tops. Still have considerably smaller leaves compared to my buddy who started his run at the same time.
Just bought a bunch of spring water to try that. Surprisingly some of the gallons of water had PH as low as 4 and some as high as 9, wonder if this is normal. I'm new at the ph game, but tested my blue pen it's seems good.
Also read that Fluence is recommending Co2 supplement because of intensity of the light, which I don't have, could this be causing small leaves ?

 

[raphenilweed]

It could be the water. Have it tested. I have had problems in the past due to my spring water.

 

[40AmpstoFreedom]

I am surprised no one has asked if your well water smells like sulfur? This how I had my first few crop failures =) I thought I'd save money and use 'better' water by using the well in my back yard instead of the awesome grows I had for years with tap water...I felt the need to change things when I was new even when things were going 200%.

Even tested I will never use well water again. EVER. No sense in taking a risk of it fluctuating in pH/mineral/chemical content or a whole slew of other variables.

 

[ptyred]

Hey man, I have a buddy that uses fluence Spdyr Plus and he literally said that you HAVE to supplement CO2 and raise the temperatures to high 70sF - 80F - 81F to get the best results.

If you dont , just the nutrient uptake fries and deforms them. might be this?? check it out

 

[PetFlora]

Hey man, I have a buddy that uses fluence Spdyr Plus and he literally said that you HAVE to supplement CO2 and raise the temperatures to high 70sF - 80F - 81F to get the best results.

If you dont , just the nutrient uptake fries and deforms them. might be this?? check it out

Having done numerous grows using an older version BML SPYDR 600 (~360w) I find your friend's advice hard to believe, but I leave my tent flaps open and have an outboard 15" circulating fan

 

[n_d_ledz]

Im on well water..... Worked great the first 3 months I was on it, season changed and now anything that gets that water spots up over night. Stunted growth was another issue.

When you buy your water (and maybe its just me) dont buy distilled. Purified water seems to work better for me in that sense.

A RO system is in my future!

I've been told a good way to test if you have an iron issue, and this works best if its a real high iron issue, make a glass of tap water and pour in a capful of bleach. If the water turns orange (and will happen quickly) you have a high iron issue.

 

[w3rds]

Stupid question, but do you have a PAR meter? check your ppfd at canopy level. I could have the most expensive lights in the world but without that +1k ppfd im not getting thos dense bushes... Also, are you checking your ppm on your well water? if its too heavy it could be a major issue with the addition of nutrients...

Im using a bunch of old 300 watt leds from 2011 and I have no issues with any grows just because I constantly focus on light intensity.