PsyCLown

I agree with @SkunkPharm coco is coco, keep it simple and if you wanna go coco use plain coco or perhaps a coco / perlite mixture. If you are getting the coco for free, then take whichever gets you more medium end of the day. Do NOT skimp on a PH pen, for an EC meter you can go cheap as it does not matter as much. If I had to chose between the two, the bi gro seems to not have any perlite in it? So you could add some perlite to stretch the medium a bit more. Not sure how I feel about putting a seedling into coco with an EC of around 1.7 though... The High Porosity seems to have more amendments in it... for Coco, I want to keep it plain and simple as this allows me to have more control over the grow and what the plants get.

Exactly, I believe the H does has a slightly different coating though although could be wrong. @Prom regarding the LED drivers, upto you really. I'd also suggest 240w for 2x QB288's or 480W for 4x QB288's, you could get away with less though depending on how much power you're going to be giving them. If you want to give them 120W, they may get a bit warm and I'd suggest having your fan for air circulation blow over the heatsinks... Typically people do not run QB's that high, I personally don't at least. Meanwell's HLG range comes in 480w and has a higher efficiency and longer warranty than their ELG and XLG range which both have a 240w version. As for which version of the driver you want, depends on what you want it to do in terms of dimming and operation etc. Are you happy to dim via potentiometers on the driver or do you want an external knob to dim with?

I think those lights may be more for growing herbs or house plants perhaps. A single one is not ideal for cannabis, although make use of it for now I guess but you will likely struggle as the plant gets larger. You have any other light you can use along with it?

Yeah, coco and hydro are the same in that sense. The coco is simply a medium in which the water / nute mixture is held. Coco does not contain any nutrients at all, unlike with soil. @TheUltimateNoob so @CreX and I were talking and you're using Freedom Farms Formula 1, which isn't pure coco / perlite. It contains some amendments, if you're feeding according to the coco / hydro guide on the bottle this may be causing issues as the amendments are also providing nutes. Ingredients: Coco Coir, Worm Castings, Perlite (30%), Volcanic Rock Dust, Bone meal, Gypsum, Fermented probiotic bran. That is the Formula 1 mix. So I'd certainly lower the nutes you're giving, perhaps even follow the soil chart for the GHE nutes instead - I have not looked at what those dosages are like though.

I forgot to mention, may not be a bad idea to drop the strength of the feed ever so slightly, perhaps to around an EC of 1.4 I'd say keep the ratio's the same though.

To me 5.5 seems quite low in terms of PH... I personally aim for 5.9 to 6.3 and currently am also using GHE and coco and have been following their feeding chart for the most part. No issues at all, I also run blumat's for automatic feed and do not do a flush, I know its recommended... but so far no issues. EC for flower has been around 1.7 on average with their recommended doses and my plants have been fine... With coco you do not need to constantly feed at a low PH to bring the PH down, just simply reduce the PH to the level you want and continue feeding at that PH. The PH fluctuations are probably not helping either. So let's say you were feeding at a PH of 7.0 and you want to lower it to 6.2, no need to drop the feed to a PH of 5.5 just drop to 6.2 and continue with that. On average I typically end up with a PH of 6.1 to 6.3 if you want a tighter range. I take a bit of a lazy approach with PH as well in the sense that when I add PH up / down, as long as I end up within my 5.9 to 6.3 range I do not worry much about it. If it were me experiencing that issue, I'd take the plant and put it in my bathtub and put around 5 or 6L of feed through it and have the feed PH'd to 6.2 If you really want, you can go a little higher on the micro and a bit lower on the grow. I'd then monitor it from there and give it a chance to recover.

Look, end of the day the only person who has commented in this thread who may have something to gain would be Master G and that'd if you were to purchase one of his lights. His lights are simply quantum boards with lm301b diodes and there are other local suppliers you can purchase such quantum boards from. However in terms of pricing his are the cheapest I have seen locally. You can also get led strips with good quality diodes if you'd like. Don't feel pressurised to buy from Master G specifically or to get quantum boards. What you should want to do is get lights with good quality diodes and I feel everyone in this thread who has recommended LED lights is basically saying the same thing. Led strips can be purchased from websites such as Arrow and Digikey. They offer prices in ZAR but the items are not stocked locally so custom charges are applicable. You'll then also need to get heatsinks to mount them onto (I have some for sale, alternatively you could get from Builders or similar). Also keep in mind you'll still need a power supply (LED driver) to power the lights. So add up the costs of the led strips and the other components required to put it together. Then go and look at the cost of other quantum boards available locally and check with Master G on the pricing of his quantum boards and see what may be the best for you. Alternatively if your budget does not allow for such lights at the moment, then you'll need to compromise and get something which you are able to afford and later on you can consider getting better lights. You'll still be able to grow cannabis with that blurple light from Snatcher and other similar lights from futurama and takealot etc. You'll get bud and it will be decent and get you high. Although it won't be as efficient as better quality lights and the bud quality may be slightly lower but depending on what you're used to smoking it could be on the same level or even higher quality bud than what you're used to. If you already smoke good indoor, it could be on the same level or slightly lower. If you're used to outdoor, it could be higher quality. Hard to say. I hope this clears things up, don't feel pressure to buy what we suggest from who we suggest. We're just trying to help guide you to ensure you get great value for money as most of us have done the research already and looked at the various options. End of the day, the equipment you purchase and how your grow does honestly makes no difference to me (don't mean that in a bad or nasty way). :D Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

So that light is based on older led technology and emits a blue / purple light. I'm not saying it's bad, although thew newer led lights are more white... Like a halogen car headlight. With led lights, it comes down to the led diode itself. The Samsung diodes are really popular and they're tried and tested and work well for growing. The lm561c and lm301b diodes are the more popular ones. Bridge lux also make some good diodes and there are a few others, most are available in strip form, not quantum boards... Which is also fine although you'd need to do a bit of DIY. Also the light you linked to certainly won't be 600w or anywhere near that. You tend to find quite a lot of cheaper "blurple" LED's with heavily inflated power ratings. Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

Nice man, how many weeks into flower are they now? You going to do more defol or not?

I'd be curious to get feedback on auto's on 24/0 but with lights you have done a grow with already - see how much of a difference, if any, the additional 4 hours of light have on the auto's and the lack of a dark period.

MH and HPS will also work, however they are less efficient - so higher electricity usage, more heat and less usable output (PAR) compared to LED's. For example, 550W of LED is around equivalent to 1000W of HID. There really is not much going for HID's anymore and that is why majority of growers now a days use LED or are moving over to LED. You won't find many people using MH and HPS. @Ill_Evan and @CreX have both switched over from MH & HPS to LED within the past year or so and I doubt either of them would consider buying more HID lights, they'd likely get more LED's if they need more lighting. With that being said not all LED's are equal, think of LED's as tyres for a car.... You get different brands - Michelin, Pirelli, Good Year, Toyo, Nexen and many more. Let's take Michelin for example, they have tyres which are cheap and considered budget tyres... now the grip and performance, as well as noise level, comfort and fuel economy you get out of such a tyre would not compare to a higher end Michelin tyre. With LED lights it all comes down to the actual diode being used. Now with plants, cannabis in specific, they use photosynthesis in order to grow - typically outside there is the sun which provides light. Without the sun, the plants would not grow at all as they would not be able to generate food for themselves. Lights are one of the most important factors to consider when you want to grow cannabis. If you get shitty lights, your end result will not be good. You can have the best of everything else, but shit lights will lead to a shit grow and a poor yield. Simple as that. Since this is your first grow and you want to perhaps expand on your grow later on, I would recommend you do not skimp on lights. Get some proper quality lights - you will not regret it. If your budget does not allow for 480W+ of LED's then consider getting just 2x QB288's (240W) and when you have more money you can buy more lights. Alternatively, go and purchase a cheap light. Then on your next grow you're going to spend even more money buying proper lights and the cheap shitty light you purchased will be sitting in a cupboard somewhere gathering dust.

It's possible some of the people selling QB's locally use Kingbrite QB's... I am not sure though.

Well done and welcome @Ill_Evan Happy to have you on the team!

So I'd suggest reading reviews of the manufacturers to make sure the diodes they use are legit as there have been some who have used incorrect and fake diodes. Also don't forget about customs which you'll need to pay over and above the shipping and the price of the item you're buying. Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

So my Aurora Kush has also stretched a bit but the cola's are pretty big and stacking VERY nicely actually. I am worried it may take a bit of time to fully mature, will wait and see I guess. She was not looking very pleasing a few weeks ago but has caught up now with size and looks super impressive. Frost is lacking a bit, more along the lines of your normal run of the mill strains but shall see what the potency is like once dried and cured

@Bakstein420 did you order one yet? If you struggle with a loupe for whatever reason, you won't regret purchasing one of these microscopes!

Quite interesting, not sure it would be used for COVID-19, perhaps future uses if it proves to be effective.

If you guys are wanting QB's at the moment, drop @Master_G as he seems to be making some nice QB's and price seems reasonable. @CreX curious to see how well that light works for flower...

@adre I deleted your other thread as it was asking the same question you asked here and you've already received some feedback in this thread. Rather stick to one thread for questions pertaining to the same subject If you want for clones and veg, ACDC have an LED light which @CreX is quite found of and has had good results. If you want something which would work well for flowering too, perhaps speak to @Master_G for an LED option. I personally wouldn't spend money on a small HPS.

If you really want to do a side by side comparison, purchase one of each type of QB (a plain 3000k and a 3000k with 660nm diodes), take a cutting of a plant and stick a cutting into each tent (one tent with one type of QB and the other tent with the QB with extra 660nm). Set the power to the same and hook both plants up to the same res with an auto watering system and then compare at the end of the grow and see for yourself how much of a difference, if any, is noticed. I have not done this test myself, however I am quite certain the difference will be minimal to none. I could be wrong though, as mentioned. I have some QB's with extra 660nm Samsung diodes and then I have some without the 660nm diodes. I doubt I would purchase QB's with the diodes again unless the price difference is practically non-existent or there are stock issues. If it gives you peace of mind though, then go for it. I do not recommend you pay significantly more for QB's with 660nm diodes though. These are the red dioes on my QB's: https://www.samsung.com/led/lighting/high-power-leds/3535-leds/lh351h-deep-red/

I don't know anyone selling just the QB288's themselves. Drivers can be purchased locally, most of my Meanwell drivers have been local purchases. Not sure about bringing stuff in from China, I've had something sent from China to the US and I'm still waiting for it to arrive in the US. Perhaps from China to SA would be different but I believe most couriers still say they're only shipping essential services at the moment but some don't seem to care what's being shipped. Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

Yeah, I'm aware of the difference between the 301b and h variant. My red diodes are Samsung lm351h diodes, not epistar or cree. 3000k already has a lot of red, adding extra red with 660nm diodes - not sure how much if a difference it actually makes to the plants to be honest. I have not noticed much / any, I guess it may also depend on how many 660nm diodes you have, differences are likely negligible. If you UV I agree with rather adding some fluorescent tubes or similar, I'd say consider ordering from Amazon or goto a pet store / reptile store and see what you can find. Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

I assume you've flipped them already? I agree with@CreX they don't look very happy. Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

@Prom so your pots are 28cm tall? How many liters are they? How long from seed to harvest did it take? 11 weeks? Pay more for electricity with the 20/4 light cycle, compared to say 4 weeks on 18/6 then the rest on 12/12 but potentially get better yields. Your plants are really packed super close to one another, Sea of Green method. I am curious to give this a try, however will cost me a bit in seeds and then I have a lot of bud from a single plant, not sure how high the THC would be either... Curious how something like this would turn out with photoperiods...

I don't see people spending that much money on a tray just to roll on, especially not with the current exchange rate. Rather just buy a tray locally. I do not know of anyone who uses a tray either.