Full Lowryder Stealth LED/CF grow guide - the way I do it

There has been loads of postings about CFs Vs other types of light, and all sorts of postings that Lowryder is not much cop. This is a posting detailing how I do things and end up with the one of the best smokes I have ever had. I have smoked loads of shit and I am not interested in getting into light efficency arguments, this works, cfs work,lr2 is great in the right situations, and LEDS are ideal for experimentors.

I have grown and smoked many different varities, but present circumstances mean I require a stealth crop and as such some years ago I constructed 2 grow boxes. These have been visable in the past in the stories of some of my first grows, the link is below.

cannabis15763.html


Each box is made of MDF pannels, on the inside pained white and then covered with a mylar type bubble material. The lighting consists of CF lights about 400 watts true power (not evualivent power), and 2 LED spot lights, of a home brew design, on just the right wavelenghts for the main cloryphyl types, these make a big difference.

Each box has its own dehumidifier, 12volt psu and fans, 4 inch ducting is used throughout and there are 4 fans in each box. The lights are controlled by a solidstate timer switch, in the early days I blew up every type of standard timer switch, you must go solid state. The 2 boxes vent into a seperate airprocessing box that has carbon filters and fans.

The boxes are located in the bedroom and the air intakes are at ground level this is to ensure that as much CO2 as possible entered the boxes, when 2 people are sleeping in the bedroom co2 at low level is greatly increased so the grow cycle is tuned to this source of free and easy CO2.

Sticky fly catchers are deployed in every box, I use the sticky pannels about 10cm x 20 cm and I use about 12 in every box, this ensures that the flys never get a grip.

All water used is rain water and I collect it in water butts in the back garden. The water is always bought up to "box temperature" before we water the plants.

Most Lowryders I see on the internet are small and stunted, I dont know why this is, a typical plant of mine is shown in the images, this is not the best its a typical plant which will fill out more..

The plants are first germinated using a very different method, I will explain later, and planeted into a small pot. The plants are kept under a LED and small CF light as they germinate, I only use 18/6 thoughout my grow.

The seeds are planted into a standard mix with a standard fertalizer, with the addition of a teaspoon of bat guano.The plants are fed from week 2 with a weak tomatoe fertalizer, and at week 3 they are sexed, this is quite early but you get used to trusting you instincts. The remaining plants, generally a 65% female ratio, go into a larger pot with an additional tablespoon of bat guano.

I stick to a strict 18/6 grow cycle, I have tried 24hr and prefer the 18/6.

The plants continue to be fed with the tomatoe fertializer and some standard nutes, and I do this at every watering. At about this time I give all the plants a weak magneasium sulphate fert, by adding a small amount to the standard watering.

At week 4 all the plants are treated for spider mite by taking them out of the box, and wiping all the leaves (undersde) with a suitable chemical. If this is done then spidermite will never bother you crop, you might see signs of it right at the very end, but by then its all over.

The plants in the pictures are the latest crop with about 3 weeks to go. The growing enviroment I provide ensures a hard compact bud, with loads of resin and a really good stone and taste.

Throuhgout the grow I remove any leaves that are damaged or discoulioured and keep a good eye on things. The plants are watered when a poke with a finger reveals a dry 2 inch layer.


The next grow will have the following enhancements;

1. Larger pots, by 2" in both stages.
2. Additional internal fan making 2 in total.
3. Additional 300 LED light per box, RED for flowering retaining existing LED spotlights.
4. Increased CO2 effeciency
5. 20/4 grow cycle.

I will run boths boxes at the same time with one growing on the new system, and the other on the old as a comparison. This way I hope to progress the efficemncy of my operation.

I will finish this poting with the harvest, and the wet weight so you have some real figures to go by.

Nice looking buds, and some real good ideas in there, like the CO2 from sleeping people as a free source for the plants and the LEDs. I would suggest this thread be submitted as a tutorial.

ok you have impressed me a bit with those lr's. and even more so with your grow boxes, and dedication to detail.

Thanks for the comments.

I will post some pictures of the harvest together with some more information. When the next crops go in I will also show the germination technique, it works for me better than anything I have tried.

I think that specialising in providing the best enviroment for the strain you are growing is well worth it. My first LRs we small and stunted, but if you treat it right it will yield.

The next major upgrade is the new 300LED clusters that I am going tostart making next week. This will enable me to drop the CF by a bit, and still increase overall light output. I am also going to have some lower down lights in the boxes but I will show you that later.

I will try and get some better bud pictures next time, as these things are just covered in sugar.

B0fin

OK I have just harvested 2 plants.

The plants I have harvested are shown in the following images. there was a big drugs bust on a "canabis factory" about 300 metres away from me last week, so that spured me on a bit. I don't sell anything its for my personal use but with so many police sniffing around i started the harvest maybe 2 days early.

The boxes continue to perform well (using very little electricity), and they are undergoing improvements in overall lumen output (at the right frequencys), and a new air processing unit is coming on stream soon as well (pictures to follow).

300 leds are being added to the main flower box, they are red and blue at the approriate wave lengeth for cloroypl a, and b and I am at the same time reducuing the overall CF wattage in the box. I am building the new lights this weekend so I will post images for you in the next few days.

The next grow is going to be 1 box (8 females) of LR2, and 1 box (4 females) of LowLife AK47 x LR. The need for the air srubber has never been more acute.

B0fin

Nice, tasty looking buds there bofin. Keep up the good work, your a real innovative grower. It nice to see someone master a particular strain.

I'd like a detailed explanation on how you make your led clusters. Keep in mind I'm not that smart with stuff like that - I'd need a baby step by baby step tutorial.

Please !

Yeah, a tutorial on the LED clusters would kick ass ... more nice pics btw.

LED Light Building notes

OK as part of the upgrade to the boxes I have decided to document the process of building a new 400 LED light. The same method can be used to create lights of any real size, but the important point is that you need an varible voltage/current power supply, ideally 2 output one for red and one for blue.

The graph below shows what wavelengths of light are required by the plant. The LEDs used are the highest output LEDs that I can get as close the the red and blue peaks. The ratio of red to blue is about 4 to 1.

This construction will take some time so I am going to be adding to this every few days or so.

The images below show the starting point.

1 x Veroboard (strip board)
400 x High out put LEDs Red and Blue
Resistors and tools (soldering iron)

I will get some more of the power supply and the first stage of construction tommrow.

More to follow.........
B0fin