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I said I write a little guide, so here it comes. How much is to much and how do I check it? If you checked into lights to grow indoor, you will run into some fun diagrams of light foot prints. Those help you to put the lights at the right distance. All good lamps provide you with the hanging distances for each stage Germination, Vegetative and Flower. If you build your own lights, you run into the issue, that you are a bit clueless, how to hang your lamps. Best to get that sorted is a Quantum Flux Meter. It measures the PAR (the light relevant to plants) light arriving at the sensor and hang accordingly. I am in the lucky position, that a friend bought one. Expensive toys You have one.. not telling you anything new.. Aim around 250 mmol for germination, around 500 mmol for Veg and 800-1200 mmol on flower. If you do not have a Quantum Flux meter.. I made some tests with normal Lux meters for your phone.. lets call them mixed results. But... Germination and Veg it seems to work. I have issues reproducing my results on different lamp configurations for the high readings. Varies up to 20%, what is to off to get clear results. Strangely, the low reading were spot on.. we talk 2-4% variation. I used Android tablet and phone, had the same readings .. using this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pardel.photometer&hl=en_US&gl=US Put the phone/Tablet horizontal for all readings. 250 mmol should read 20k Lux 500 mmol 40k Lux Everything above that was just going different readings depending on lamp configuration. But as it look rather linear to 500.. you could use that to put your plants at the right light. Yes, the lamps are really that far away during germination ^^ My single QBs and TS3 gave me the 80k Lux at 1000 mmol.. but 2 other lamps gave way weaker readings 60k Lux. And I used 5 different lamps, 3 different diodes. The Germination and Veg results were spot on. Try, let me know if your plants grow bigger now. Now, you want to buy a good lamp.. -> store! You get help to select and a warranty on it, plus the instruction how to use the lamp.. so skip the Quantum Flux Thingy right away. Are those lamps really that good at 30k Rand? Yes, they are that good. Do I need one of those to grow awesome dank? Nope... ^^ Is no rocket science to build a good decent lamp doing the job.. but if you are not in the mood.. buy one from the grow store.. LED!!!! nothing else they wanna sell you. Size of the lamp is given by grow space. Don't go the other way around or you end up with a lamp way to big for your space. Why is that bad? What generates light these days, also generates heat. And as soon as you put a dimmer on.. you are back in the guessing game how far to hang now. Yes, light is way more tricky as fertilizer.. fertilizer come with clear instructions. Lights are more pointing in the right direction. Why LED? For a home grower it is the best choice these days. Very reliable and low heat light source. The times for HID systems are over in the home grower circle. There are still good reasons to go MH/HPS, but not for any new starting person. No Sir, hands off! LED are expensive! Really? I just build myself a 4QB setup for a 1.2mx1.2m tent.. 280$ with shipping. If that is to much.. thank god, you didn't started growing 30 years ago Buy or build.. but stick to LED.. very short section.. nothing to add really. What type of LED lamp? The right selection will make your life way easier. Remember, light produces heat.. and to much heat is not good for your plants. We used a few lamps and come to certain conclusions The no go Zone Those lamps just "gather" the heat below and if you use such a setup in a single tent.. your airflow will suffer one SHITLOAD. I wouldn't go this way.. we have one of those.. and is the worst lamp of all for climate control. Other disadvantage, any uneven canape is very hard to handle. Bar lights Lets bring the disadvantage up, is the same like the lamp before.. if your canape goes very uneven.. will get more work. BUT.. airflow wise, they are awesome. Put the fan over the light and point down to cook up a storm.. cools light and plants and you lose no space to a ground standing fan. If I would have 2-3 sections to grow, the one for the big ones, I would use a bar light and just sort the canape to fit. Those lamps are doing a better light distribution and little resistance to your climate control. Central configuration Still monsters but at least compact and offer not as much airflow resistance like the ones with build in non lighting surface. You lose a lot more light strength to the side and they bring some heat to the center plants. My second last choice. Single QB Build Lets start with the disadvantage, you have to adapt more ratchets.. 4 instead of 2. Advantages are airflow and dynamic handling in regards to canape. The 150mm duct brings the fresh air and the oscillating one is top mounted. The QBs run without any heat sink, 2 per 240watt driver. I used 3mm tread rod to build the hangers. For one grow section, you don't care how the canape grows, you can handle dwarfs and bean stalks. Hope it gave some ideas what to look for and what not to look for. Always remember.. light produces heat and heat needs to get removed. If your lights hinder you, they might be the reason why your plants stay on the smaller side. DIY tips You want to order and build? Read up! You need to read a bit and decide where to go.. and we mean spectrum frequencies ^^ All the LED light producers offer different frequencies for the diodes. For a grow light, my personal suggestion is to go with a 3000k 660nm board or a 3500k 660nm board. I avoid anything having more on it, like UV. The IR you want, that is a sexy wave length for flowering. There are 301B and 301H diodes out. B gets sold as V2 and H as V3.. both work. The difference is the hardening layer on the diode, the rest is the same. H stands for Samsung's Horticulture range, better environmental resistance.. buh hu hehe go for the cheaper one if money is a issue and the expensive if you like to waste it a bit QBs you get around 30-40$.. getting cheaper each year. Driver you can pick up anywhere you find it cheap.. i get mine from digi-key. If you are not in a rush, look for the free world wide express shipping they do from time to time. You build such a lamp system in an hour in very stoned conditions or 30 mins sober Hope it helped somebody.. or I wasted quite a bit of time

I'm gonna be growing these outdoors in the shade house using soil in 20l pots. Then there are two of each queuing up for their slot in the cabinet. Seeds courtesy of@Totemic, thanks bud. Day 1. Seeds in the shot glasses. Sent from my DRA-LX5 using Tapatalk

I use a USB microscope, just a cheapy one but it gets the job done and for me it's far easier than trying to use a loupe. The below picture was taken with this microscope.

Hello everyone, Candyman is the name. No, not the movie, rather my fondness for those particular terpene profiles. I'm from Ptown and have been growing my own stash on and off for about 15 years now. Mostly outdoor grows from bagseed, but I have dabbled a bit with overseas genetics and indoor hydro back when there was no such thing as grow tents available. Times have changed and so have Cannabis. Looking forward in sharing and learning a lot of new things. Cheers

I made my readings with a Phone and a Tablet.. both gave the same readings. And I used the same items for any measurements. Over 500 micromol the lux reading wasn't the same depending on light configuration. The bar lamp showed very low figures beside the Quantum Flux Sensor, showing the 1000mmol. The bar distributes it the most even.. can't tell you why, was scratching my head a bit but I did the readings on different spots. Center and outside areas.. up to 500mmol worked like a charm.. already giggled that I do not need the Quantum Flux meter anymore.. but the high ones.. didn't really work. Best would still be to have somebody over with a Quantum Flux meter and tell you quickly your hanging sweets spots.. at the end it doesn't has to be 100% correct. The main issue most did wrong is the hanging distance for germination. That should work with the Lux meter.. 250mmol gave on all lamp configurations a reading around the 20k Lux mark. Would start from there ^^

Yes, correct. The main air entry is the 150mm duct (comes from another tent.. saving fans ^^), exit is a 6 inch inliner top of the tent and actually 2 oscillating fans top down for each side. The fans are not in yet.. ^^ still waiting for them to get delivered. Have the Photos with the Autos at the moment on 20/4, still germination phase. Put them on 18/6 once they go into the ready tent... I am rather sure Takealot will manage today to deliver hehehe. The 40cm oscillating fans are more for the plants but will cool the lights automatically by doing their thing ^^ I like my tents more on the windy side

https://weedmaps.com/news/2020/08/an-in-depth-look-at-the-study-that-discovered-thcp-a-cannabinoid-more-potent-than-thc/ A new cannabinoid has been discovered, and the ramifications could be massive. Scientists funded by the UNIHEMP research project have discovered a new psychoactive molecule: Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabiphorol, or THCP; and they believe that there are great scientific implications for the phytocannabinoid. Phytocannabinoids are cannabinoid molecules that are specifically produced by plants. There are several types of cannabinoids, including endocannabinoids, synthetic cannabinoids, and phytocannabinoids. Endocannabinoids are compounds that are produced within the body by an organism's endocannabinoid system; and synthetic cannabinoids are man-made chemicals that cannot be found in nature. Phytocannabinoids, on the other hand, are a different beast altogether. They are those that naturally occur in plants and are found in a variety, including echinacea. However, the plant species in which phytocannabinoids are most prominent is cannabis. Because of cannabis' status as a Schedule I controlled substance in the US, there are several barriers that prohibit the scientific study of the plant and its constituents. Thus, a considerable portion of cannabis research takes place abroad. Many clinical and laboratory studies of cannabis take place in Israel and Canada, where there is federal research funding to support this work; but, the newly discovered THCP was characterized by a group of Italian scientists. Unlike the US, government funding for cannabis research is relatively commonplace in Europe. The discovery of THCP was enabled by the UNIHEMP project, which is sponsored by the European Regional Development Fund. A multi-disciplinary team of Italian scientists was responsible for the discovery of this novel cannabinoid, led by Giuseppe Cannazza of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The researchers' findings were published in late 2019 in the journal Nature. THCP is 33-times more active than THC Throughout the duration of the project, the group studied a medicinal cannabis cultivar, dubbed FM2, which was supplied by the Military Chemical Pharmaceutical Institute in Florence. Using a variety of scientific characterization techniques, the researchers observed two novel cannabinoids, THCP and CBDP, and isolated them from other cannabinoids that were present. Following this discovery, the group artificially synthesized THCP and CBDP to create reference materials, and the synthesized versions were successfully used to verify the natural expression of the two cannabinoids in the FM2 cultivar. After the confirmation of the identity of the two cannabinoids, the group turned its focus to THCP. To study the compound, they pursued an in vitro experiment with cultured cells. This experiment tested the binding affinity of THCP with CB1 and CB2 receptors, using synthetic cannabinoids as reference materials. It was shown that, when comparing THCP-related results to the previously reported data of other cannabinoids against the CB1 receptor, THCP is 33-times more active than delta-9 THC. This finding is critical because the group also found that the chemical was present in FM2 at 0.0029%, whereas THC was found to be expressed at 3.9%; so, even in smaller amounts, THCP is more active than THC. They also tested the cannabimimetic activity of the molecule. Cannabimimetic activity is a measure of how well a substance replicates the effects of more well-characterized cannabinoids which bind to the CB1 receptor. An in vivo experiment involving mice was performed. Herein, the influence of THCP on body temperature, spontaneous activity, immobility, and pain was determined — the results of these tests confirmed that THCP acts similarly to other cannabinoids like delta-9 THC. Will THCP be important? According to the study, even at lower doses, THCP has more cannabimimetic activity than THC. Further, the group posits that THCP could account for the wide variability of patient responses in cannabis-based therapies, even amongst cultivars with equal THC doses. This means that cannabis' psychotropic effects, which the scientific community attributes to THC, may actually be due to the presence of THCP. Unfortunately, none of the original researchers could be reached for comment. However, experts in the field do have varying opinions regarding the study. Dr. Cecilia J. Hillard of the Medical College of Wisconsin said, “I think it is well designed.” She goes on, “[The study] has two important gaps, in my opinion. First, they should have compared the in vivo effects of THCP to that of THC 'head to head' so that relative potencies could be assessed. Second, I would like to know whether THCP has greater efficacy to activate the [CB1 receptor] in particular. THC is relatively safe because it has low efficacy at the receptor. If THCP has high efficacy (like the synthetic analogs that have also increased the tail length), it is a more concerning finding, as it would suggest that strains making a lot of THCP could be more dangerous to use than those that do not.” Expanding on how THCP could be more dangerous, Hillard continued, “The so-called 'spice' compounds are synthetic agonists of the CB1 receptor. They are full agonists, meaning that they are very strong activators of the CB1 receptor. Compared to THC, these drugs have significant adverse effects and produce significant dependence (addiction). So, my issue is that we do not know yet whether THCP is like THC, a partial agonist, or like the synthetic compounds, a full agonist. And my concern is that, if it is the latter, cannabis strains high in THCP will have more adverse effects than those that are low.” Dr. Samuel Banister of The University of Sydney states, “[The study] was well designed and executed,” concurring with Dr. Hillard. However, he goes on to disagree with the group's assessment that THCP may account for the variability of psychotropic effects across various cannabis cultivars: “While this possibility cannot be ruled out, the known potency differences for THC and THCP at cannabinoid receptors is relatively small, while the difference in abundance of each in cannabis is enormous. The same is true of CBD and CBDP, although CBD requires even higher doses to achieve many of its pharmacological effects. For this reason, I do not feel that minor or trace phytocannabinoids like THCP or CBDP contribute significantly to the psychoactive effects of different cannabis strains.” How this novel cannabinoid plays out in both medical and recreational use is yet to be determined, as much more research is needed. Nonetheless, this new evidence suggests that analytical laboratories in US regulated markets may need to expand their testing panel to include THCP.

30 hours later and the seeds have dropped to the bottom of the glass. Gonna be planted directly into the 20l pots and placed under the veg light for a week or two tomorrow. Using the trusted 2l coke humidity dome. Then a gradual shift to outdoors. Sent from my DRA-LX5 using Tapatalk

take them outside into the sun and take new pics . I kinda only see purple yo

Thanks bud. Think I'll steer clear of the juice for now. Running a test on a few outdoors. Let's see what happens there first. Sent from my DRA-LX5 using Tapatalk

Check under side of the leaves.. and use a microscope. If there are no creepy crawlies.. Calcium low, would be my next guess

^^ Is also my way to check em fast. Macro pic with my Nikon and zoom in on the computer and check in peace with a smoke for the good things to come

Looks really similar to thrips or mite damage. I can't see a def causing that. Strange that you see no sign of any bugs. edit: must be the h202 causing slight burn for some reason. All I can think of

Good news. My tents have withstood 3 nights of gale force winds. I need to lay some straw and then after the cold front that is on its way with several days of rain, I want to plant out some vegetable seedlings. In the meanwhile, here is an update on my ganga plants:The tiny sprout is a Banana Blaze auto (will go into a pot)The bigger sprout is the LC18 x TKThe seedling is the DWD (interesting growth)The pot plant is the Mystery Purple (wonder if a summer grower will produce purple tones)The bushy little plant is Holly (TKO2), recovered from her violent munching by the locustThe one close to the wall is Molly (TKO1), who lost a branch due to LST in the gale force windThe last pic is of Polly (TKO3), who has been a different grower from day one and has been clipped by grasshoppers

Nice article, should help others out in terms of getting an idea on how to set everything up. Single QB's work quite well, I have been running mine as such although want to move over to multiple dual QB setup as it will be easier to manage I feel an still offer the benefits of good airflow etc. @Prom I see you run no heatsink, although you have an oscillating fan above which blows directly over them to cool them down, correct? I still personally prefer a heatsink, however having a fan running over them is actually more effective than a passive heatsink. The cooler you can keep the lights the longer their life expectancy will be - they will degrade less over the same period of time when compared to lights at much higher temperatures.

New favorite in the stable, FruitPuke's kids are looking aight

They are still there.. smokers know 2 (sativa/indica) and growers know 3 (sativa/indica/ruderalis) The ruderalis is just a timer, if we look at it in a simple way. Taking the photo sensitivity out, brings other advantages.. but autos have one big disadvantage.. you can't pheno hunt them over clones. The sativa high is still the sweet sexy uplifting high you can only get from a sativa. And nothing can couch you like a indica but over all, yes, the old rules got changed to what science found out. When you come to my smoking cabinet.. right now I have 18 different jars with 15 different strains, 3 outdoor, rest indoor. Some very little and some quite big jars ^^ I pick and smoke depending how I feel or want to feel. Before lunch time, you will never really see me running around with a late harvest indica, or I plan to go back to bed. The Royal Gorilla is my preferred day smoke beside the early Blue Cheese and Early Blueberry Kush at the moment.. or what the jars provide Afternoon to evening I prefer a not as potent but going relaxing smoke. Late Blue Cheese, Candy Kush. Evening after dinner, Gelato, my Nr1 right now. And when I want to couch or have issues to get asleep.. late Bubblelicious, a passion fruit knockout. Others just got in the cabinet and need curing time, the early Somango and late Critical just going into the cabinet (trade with a friend.. what I can recommend to stock up your selection ^^ 100g swaps). The longest cured weed inside the cabinet is now 8 months in the jar and just this change of taste is hard to believe. A Amnesia Haze.. mouth watering. Harvest is one thing.. curing the other. But there is one main rule.. bad weed doesn't become a good weed with curing. But good weed gets better with curing. You boarded the train to a life long learning and each year new tastes.. will keep you busy and happy to keep up with all the new stuff each year.. growing is never boring

So I got some clones yesterday but I the new growth is yellowing, I did some google searches and I couldn't find a conclusive answer to this issue. Please help, are they saveable or not?

sweet stuff man! the baking section of most shops have Epsom salts. the orange box

@CreX okay thanks man, I'll definitely be getting me Epsom then. thanks for the help man

Epsom salts is magnesium sulphate, so it will help with common magnesium deficiency's and the extra sulphur is also benificial. you can be quite liberal with the stuff as a toxicity is unlikely if ph is on point. i used to do dump feeds like once a month where i would give all my plants one large dose of MG, now i just add it to every feed. 10g (one heaped teaspoon) into 20l of water. you could use a level teaspoon into 10l if you dont mix much at a time. like i said, its hard to go overboard

@CreX what are the epsom salts for if i may ask? this is my first grow so I'm still very new to everything

mmmm im sure mine said 1600 on the box or on the microscope itself. 1000x is still excellent and you wont be able to guess incorrectly haha funny enough, the max zoom is actually too much to get a good enough picture. you see the trichomes super close up! but like in @PsyCLown pic, you only get a few in the scene to look at, which makes me end up looking at many many other places. i stick to the 300x zoom i think it is... where i can see like 50 trichomes at a time and be able to get a better guestimate on when to harvest

This one is supposedly 1000x not sure how much of a difference it actually makes compared to the 1600x version.

LOL you were right though... they look happy and you may have panicked for nothing. Keep some epsom salts on hand though. i use it in every watering

From the Blurple pics, i can sort of see maybe an MG def... but without white light pics i wouldn't be able to tell accurately

@CreX I should've done that in the first place, they're just turning light green. I panicked for nothing

@CreX @PsyCLown please drop some deets about the USB Scope. That pic looks insane

agreed on a pest issue. that doesnt quite look like thrip damage, more whitefly or spidermites. funny enough i battled to notice whiteflies more than i battled to notice thrips so just check for that... whitefly like the underside of the leaves

i am sure the Guano juice has its place, but the NPK ratio is rough 13-5-1 where the 1 is the K that you need. so a bit low. if you want something quick and cheap, i would go with Nitrosol from most garden stores (NPK 4-1-3 so better, closer to what you need) Seagrow being even better NPK at 2-1-2 BioBizz Bio Bloom has an NPK ratio of 2-7-4 MKP powder is what you need though. Haifas online NPK values are about accurate same as MKP from hortimix - so 0-52-34 So choose your punch and take it! if you can fix it early, then the top of the plant wont suffer so much. do yourself a flavour and google potassium deficiency for weed and you will see some similar issues to what you experience

I'll inspect again this evening, but I can for sure say it's nothing on or around the leaves.

So currently no fan actively blowing over the QB's? Have you managed to take temperature readings for interest sake? I'd imagine them to get quite hot without any cooling, especially if they're being run at 120W. I also prefer more air circulation in the tent. Last grow I dropped the ball a bit with air circulation though. I wonder if there isn't perhaps a cheap Lux meter one could purchase and use that to compare against PAR figures - the thought behind this is that each phone would have a different light sensor and I suspect that is where the variance comes in? If one were to use the same phone (or model) or in this case the same lux meter, you could see what lux = say 1000 mmol and since they are all the same the variance shouldn't be as significant as it has been with different phones / tablets? Or were the reading not consistent with the same phone / tablet even?

Yep, I haven't seen this issue before? I doubt it could've been the h202 coz it's appearing on the new growth as well.

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your stay!

those massive totes hahaha. the plants grow so evenly and are really happy! They also allow me to cram a few more plants into an area i could only get a max of 9 in (1.2x1.2) with the large totes i can get many more in. currently have 12 plants in a 1.2x1.2, all the while giving all of them more than 20l of space to grow roots. Another thing with the roots mingling.... apparently the plants release or start manufacturing a hormone that makes them grow more vertical and less horizontal. But yea... moving them is not an option and is a problem im going to need to deal with come defol in 3 weeks hahaha

Quarter pounder autos (capeapeseeds)- day 30. They've started to pre flower a few days ago. I would have liked a little bit more growth but I'm hoping for a little bit more stretch during flower. I still notice some clawing on 1 of them but I think by next week it should be good. Slurricane Clone - did some defoliation over the weekend. Her tops appear to be even now so I'm holding off on the super cropping and allowing her to veg. I've got my light set to 19/5. I had it on 20/4 but slowly decreased the time to allow the slurricane to get a little more rest. Im going to further adjust the timing to 18/6. I've also added the QB75 to my setup and raised the light slightly.

DSLR camera then magnify on the computer. Sometimes I get lucky with a phone pic, but less so now that my phone is packing up.

Your buckets are a whole new ball game, quite different when compared to 20L plastic pots too. Keen to see how it goes with your next grow in the buckets. Moving the buckets though, quite different compared to pots. haha

To the plant doctors out there. Lower leaves showing some deficiency. The Jack Berry still looking healthy so I'm somewhat confused. Same soil and watering not using any feed. Been reading some strains tend to develop iron deficiencies towards the flowering stage. Any solutions bearing in mind I don't have access to any feeds as such. Sent from my DRA-LX5 using Tapatalk

I appreciate all the input Now what type of sorcery do you guys use to view them trichomes?

It was so hot in CPT today that my temps got to about 28.5 in the tent, any tips for hot days? Should I turn the light down or just hope its not hot for that long? It's has been about 24.6-25 since the start of flower (and the start of spring/summer) But otherwise, here are some update pics :D I am using a half dose of bio bloom once a week, starting today lol

shot for this mate!! i personally have all my single QBs hanging at different heights like in your last example... and yea, it is a bit of a B to adjust, but the flexibility is second to none. i spent a bit more time on my build than you did im sure... had to do it in increments and weekends hahaha i have wired up a dedicated 12v system that feeds each light in my grow for a little pc fan. I also have no heatsink, only the board and an alu plate, but with a fan for each unit. as much as the boards can handle the heat, i add the fan because i ran some tests about a year ago where i tested the light output for a passively cooled and an actively cooled setup. both boards were at max output (120w) and the one with the fan put out a whopping 10% extra lumens according to my dinky toy phone sensor.. less heat equals less wasted energy equals higher light output! Again, shot for a sweet write up man

A sneaky peaky on those Bruce Banner x TNR @Bay Seeds. I'll start that diary soon. Sent from my DRA-LX5 using Tapatalk

@felix2000 i can tell you why i never ended up getting the air pots. I did some research on them and found 2 deal breakers. Some of your medium is prone to run out the holes when watering. And the holes on the pot allow gnats easy access to wet soil. Can imagine a fungus gnat infestation in all those little holes would be near impossible to get rid of.

30 Days From Seed Got the girls repotted and transplanted into 20L fabric pots. The tent is looking much more occupied now with 12 plants! Feels just like it should. I will be using three 240W Quantum Board LEDs, one for every four plants. It worked really well in the last grow so how about we just triple it Starting off the QBs at ~120W each in the current veg stage and I like keeping them around 40cm from canopy. I find this is the sweet spot, but I always watch the plants for stress and try increasing power as we work towards the flowering stage. I am so much more at ease with the full LED setup over the HID bulbs. It's so much less "stuff" and looks super neat. I will consider myself a full convert after the success of this grow; I haven't just yet thrown out the cool tubes and ballasts

This run is now complete. Got 5 x 10 packs of each cross to distribute as testers. Only one pack per tester. They will also be available online shortly. The 4 that were taken through are Chocolate Gelato F2 Choc Gelato x Slurricane Choc Gelato x Blunicorn Choc Gelato x Ghost Train Haze #1 *No tester packs available anymore

17 Days From Seed Cool beans.

10 Days From Seed Found some nice trays at Westpack to use for overflow when watering. Got the QB set to 100W at the moment and the plants are responding well. Watered again for the first time today since the transplant on Tuesday (5 days ago). So far smooth and sweet.

Cambodia Gypsy Nirvana - khmer gold Jamaica Blue Mountain Lambsbread