First time indoor grow with quantum board

[Stoukie]

Hey guys,

Going to start with a disclaimer. I'm growing for personal use, I do not sell what I harvest and do not intend to do so in the future.

I have a outside pool pump room, yes you guessed it, it's where the pool pump lives The room is about 2.5 x 3.5 with vibecrete walls and a zink roof with no ceiling. Started off quite dirty but with some TLC and help from the wife we turned it into a space I think would work nicely for a small grow.

Light is a 240 QB from GrowOpz: https://growopz.com/products/qb-240-dimmable-quantum-board-v2

Plants are a Vision Auto and Jack Herer from SeedsMan.com, was outside for a month basically but due to bad medium I decided to start with them and reported them in two 10L Freedom pots with Freedom Farms Premium Classic potting medium. I know repotting the auto was a bad idea but he was going nowhere outside.

Nutrients I'm going with BioBizz Grow and Bloom, 2ml per liter Grow per watering.

I have a fan in the corner on 1 blowing gently and oscillating towards the two plants, I hope this is fine?

Light cycle on 20 / 4 for now with QB at about 80cm above the plants, thinking I should drop it a bit to 60cm?

Please see pictures of the before and after project. I would appreciate any advice or comments.

Thanx.

Before:

After:

 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Stoukie

[Dr. Green]

Awesome I'd love to see what this light does. 

[Pat999]

I'll join in. I have two 60w QBs from Growopz for veg and I'm loving it

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[CG420za]

Awe @Stoukie, welcome and congrats on your investment. Your grow room looks great!

Any particular reason you run at 20/4 and not 18/6 bruv? Also 60cm should be good, I've noticed at 45cm away the node spacing is very short.

Are you planning on doing any sort of training?

[YourStonedBuddy]

Hey man! Really great to see you joined us over here Im very keen to see what that light can do

 

 

[Stoukie]

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words.

@CG420za, not sure, read somewhere it is the way to go, more light means more growth... yes? Why would one go 18/6 instead of 20/4? I set my timer to switch of between 1 and 4 giving the plants total darkness over that 4hour period.

 

[Hydrochronic]

Welcom Stoukie. Very interesting grow room.

[CG420za]

2 hours ago, Stoukie said:

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words.

@CG420za, not sure, read somewhere it is the way to go, more light means more growth... yes? Why would one go 18/6 instead of 20/4? I set my timer to switch of between 1 and 4 giving the plants total darkness over that 4hour period.

 

I don't think you'll achieve worth while growth with the added 2 hours. You will also be saving overall lifespan of your LED and on the electricity bill should you go 18/6.

Don't forget to monitor the colour of you plants in actual sunlight. The LED's aren't great for viewing plant colour. I've also noticed that my plants require more CalMag under the QB vs COB setup.

[YourStonedBuddy]

8 minutes ago, CG420za said:

I don't think you'll achieve worth while growth with the added 2 hours. You will also be saving overall lifespan of your LED and on the electricity bill should you go 18/6.

Don't forget to monitor the colour of you plants in actual sunlight. The LED's aren't great for viewing plant colour. I've also noticed that my plants require more CalMag under the QB vs COB setup.

Would he need to add more calmag to the Freedom farms soil? I personally havent had any issues with my current FF grow. But could be different for higher wattage grows?

Edited February 12, 2019 by YourStonedBuddy

[greenkush]

you need to get that much MUUUUCH closer.

[greenkush]

4 hours ago, CG420za said:

Any particular reason you run at 20/4 and not 18/6 bruv? Also 60cm should be good, I've noticed at 45cm away the node spacing is very short.

 

Stop being a pussy, get them up closer

[greenkush]

8 minutes ago, YourStonedBuddy said:

Would he need to add more calmag to the Freedom farms soil? I personally havent had any issues with my current FF grow. But could be different for higher wattage grows?

I always supplement calmag regardless, a maintenance dose.

[CG420za]

I can't say if it's medium dependent @YourStonedBuddy. I just noticed that both soil and coco ladies were happier after the boost in epsom

 

[CG420za]

2 minutes ago, greenkush said:

Stop being a pussy, get them up closer

Hahaha! Rather safe than sorry. Those QB's get pretty toasty at 100%

[greenkush]

1 minute ago, CG420za said:

Hahaha! Rather safe than sorry. Those QB's get pretty toasty at 100%

That's why you don't run them at a 100% they're more efficient at 75-80%

[CG420za]

i run them @50%, 2 degree increase over ambient. I'm happy with that. I'll gooi 75% in flower.

Let us not jack this man's thread.

Edited February 12, 2019 by CG420za
typos

[Stoukie]

No no please continue the chat, some valuable information that might seem obvious that I have picked up. 

So I will raise the ladies a bit closer to the lights tonight, check. Will change my light schedule to 18/6 and see how it goes, check...

Now you guys mention not running your lights at 100%?? Last night I started out at minimal light but before I left the room I cranked it to 100% and stumbled in the dark to the house, those lights are tough on the eyes... why not 100%, has it something to do with the electricity vs effectiveness of the lights at 80% or does the ladies enjoy the 80% more than full power? 

[greenkush]

10 minutes ago, Stoukie said:

No no please continue the chat, some valuable information that might seem obvious that I have picked up. 

So I will raise the ladies a bit closer to the lights tonight, check. Will change my light schedule to 18/6 and see how it goes, check...

Now you guys mention not running your lights at 100%?? Last night I started out at minimal light but before I left the room I cranked it to 100% and stumbled in the dark to the house, those lights are tough on the eyes... why not 100%, has it something to do with the electricity vs effectiveness of the lights at 80% or does the ladies enjoy the 80% more than full power? 

LM 561 C S6 diodes (if that's what growopz used) has a efficiency band, where by you can reach the same PAR output at that level and not need to run them at 100%. Remember Lumens != PAR, it may blind the shit out of you, but could be lost and totally irrelevant to the plants. My advice, get the light lower, reduce the wattage and see how your plants react.

These plants are running under 4 panels, each set (2) running on a 600 watt LED mean well driver, the driver per set is currently dimmed to around 70%

 

[CG420za]

His new QB's are V2. They should be LM301B's, so it's even more efficient. Running them at their max will also shorten the lifespan of the diodes and possibly the driver as well.

[Stoukie]

Right, so raised the ladies a bit closer to the light by resting the drip tray on a crate, worked very well. I also started with some basic Low Stress Training by bending the lowest branches with some U shape wire (see pic), wanted to attempt Scrog but not quite sure how I will fasten the netting above the ladies, so went with what I thought would work okay'ish....

Will check efficiency of the lights by running them 100% for few days then lowering to about 80%... Do not know what to expect as I never used indoor lights, so bit of experimentation needed... Might even invest in a PAR meter, but those light meters are quite expensive so it's on the wishlist.

Low Stress Training attempt:

[Stoukie]

Okay, so where do one get a PAR meter, they seem to be quite difficult to find...?

[Pat999]

Okay, so where do one get a PAR meter, they seem to be quite difficult to find...?

Bru honestly why would you want a PAR meter? Not worth it imo, rather spend that on a good PH meter or a humidity or temp controller. Also with regards to running it 20/4 opposed to 18/6, plants use the darkness to grow, so yes even tho more light is good, the balance of
18/6 is great because they have 6 hours to do their thing.

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[Stoukie]

Thanx man, yeah I know, I like to fiddle... to much... I'm with you on the ph meter, will rather get one of those. 

Maybe if I get to know a few people here I can borrow one for a day or two as the PAR meter would really just be a once off...

[greenkush]

8 hours ago, Stoukie said:

Okay, so where do one get a PAR meter, they seem to be quite difficult to find...?

I got my quantum sensor from Campbell Scientific Africa (Pty) Ltd, but you're going to pay.

[Dr. Green]

Definitely get you some rope rachets to adjust the light hight it's much easier than a crate and crates won't work so well when your plants get tall. 

 

The way you train your plant also looks a bit odd. You supposed to die down the upper growth tips to encourage the bottom ones to get light. 

 

All the best