Blue Cookies first time grow. LED FAIL

Strain= Blue Cookies Soil=5 gal buckets with all organic potting mix 40%,coco 20%,perlite 20%,vermiculite 20% System=have been on a 18/6 cycle PH=6.5 in 6.5 out Nutes=at start potting mix with perlite,3rd transplant and in 5gal buckets i’ve added a light dose of Grow Big and Big Bloom to gal water only once 7 days ago,i have Tiger Bloom fertilizer for later on. Indoor grow room i built in basement 5x6x7,just moved there from a littler room i built and grew out of. Lights=started out with 4 4ft CFL’s 54 days ago. Tried to use 2 Visparspectra Reflector-Series V600 LED’s 30 days from start of veg and they failed me miserably. My plants looked like they shrunk in just a couple days. So went back to CFL’s and they came back great. So i thought i’d try them later which was 5 days ago which would of been around 50 days in Veg. They failed me again. I tried at recommended height which was around 30 ",tried lower,tried all ways with bloom and veg switches. Tried every which way and finally got fed up and put CFL’s back in with 5 screw in CFL’s 45 watts i had in my house. The last picture im gonna post will show how they came back from the dead for the 3rd time. Tomorrow i should be getting a new light i ordered which is (600 watt HPS MH Digital Dimmable light). Hoping this will do the trick,no more LED’s for me. Temps=74 degrees in day and 70 at night. Vent system= Yes i have a exhaust fan built in but haven’t had to use it so far. Humidifier= not yet Co 2= NA . Sorry for being so long but i felt like i had to explain the situation. Even though my plants are close to 60 days old they have been knocked down by Led’s 3 times,which makes me think there age can’t be determined like normal.[Uploading: IMG_1710.JPG…] My questions are when my HPS light arrives should i start with the veg bulb or the bloomer ? Height ? When should i go to 12/12 ? I’ve watered only once 5 days ago with nutes and it was first time in the 5 gal buckets. I’m sure i over watered so been holding off on the next one,i want to get back on a schedule but 3 different things going on which makes me hesitant to water right now. When they look health again i am gonna try some LST. I topped them 16 days ago, should i top anymore ? My biggest concern is the lights,CFL’s have been my go to light but i know i’m gonna need more real soon,which is tomorrow. I just don’t want to screw this up at this point. I’ve been reading these forums for weeks taking notes. I grew in closet over 30 years ago but things have evolved so much, i just want a good harvest.,Thanks in advance.

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Another one for @dbrn32

Forgot to ask if i need to give them a trim yet ?

You won’t regret going to 600 watt ballast. Get twice as much I happy with my 600 so I bet you will love it is it a vivison

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They’re old enough to flower if you want. If you want them bigger you can veg them longer too, doesn’t really matter.

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What is under your 5gal buckets for a drip pan?

2 of them have lids from storage containers the other 2 have aluminum pans used for baking turkeys. They have wood blocks under them until i can get outside to get bricks that are frozen under snow

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Oh yup I thought they might of been oil drip pans there are oil pans that have a hole in them so all the oil goes inside the pan. I was thinking of getting some so I can keep my plants in the tent to water them then I can lift those up and take it out to drain it instead of taking my plants out to water them

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Creative, would love to know how it works if you try it.

Yeah I’m tight on money but one day hopefully haha

use the MH (veg) bulb until 2 weeks into 12/12, then the HPS (flower) bulb,
30-36 inches above the tops to start, then lower during flower,
a 600w HPS will cover a 3x3 or 3x4 area, when that gets 1/2 full switch to 12/12.!

did u get an air cooled hood and fan.?
a 600w HID light is MUCH hotter then any floro and most blurples.
if u have been using 600-800 watts of floro u will be used to the heat and be okay, otherwise it is gonna be a learning curve, especially dealing with the heat.!

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You can get excessive temps right at the canopy with LED’s if you aren’t careful. Seeing as how your plants are so dark they are going to be getting hot. Without acclimating the plants to the necessary amount of light you would likely end up with issues you report.

Why the soil mix? That is a VERY weak soil and nutrients would be a really good idea now if not soon.

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Thanks SOG that’s exactly what i needed to know for now. The bulbs were clearly marked on which to use. But besides that i was gonna be guessing. I just finished taking out the old and installed the HDS. Right now the 4 4gal buckets are just inches from each other and the are all getting equal coverage. The bulb is not aired cooled but i have a exhaust fan hose 5" from the light in the ceiling and a fan blowing under the light above the plants. Trying to research the hell out of ILGM before each stage. This light has 3 settings 50-75 & 100%,i started out on 50 but now it;s on 100% with the MH veg bulb. I’m watching for the heat closely.

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I know it’s weak soil i have nutes i got from FF, Grow Big 6-4-4 Big Bloom 0-0.5-0.7 Tiger Bloom2-8-4. I’ve only fed them once. But now i do wish i would of went with FF Ocean because i am a novice with this nute stuff. At the time i was thinking about good drainage more than nutes. Thanks 410

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These plants have been “alive” for some time. I feel your pain. Be sure to check PH levels of your water. For their age they seem to not be absorbing anything food or light. I run blurples in a 4x4x8. I have 8 plants in it(crowded) I finally checked my PH levels and was a bit high@ 6.8-7.0 there were days when my plants looked liked they stood still. I’m really pulling for you. Just experienced Blue Cookies - super good strain helluva kick. Everybody functions differently so take your time and find that sweet spot. Good luck!

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Thanks for your input Viktor7. I’ve only watered them once since transplant in 5gal buckets. Reason being i flushed them and 2 of them came out at bottom but 2 didn;t and that gave me some concern. So i let them alone for awhile (patience). My ph going in and out were at 6.5. I think they look under fed and under watered is because they were. But this moring under newly installed HPS they looked better than ever. Have my light at 36" for now and plan on lowering as much as plants will let me. I’ve had many stand still days,they were dwarf and wilted looking by the LED’s i had on them. I will feed them today. I just hope they can make a come back. I’m not gonna trash talk the LED’s because it could of been how i applied them. I’m just glad Amazon took them back after 2 months. I picked the Blue Cookies strain because of the high thc and easy to grow. I am gonna try splitting the stem on a couple of them,it doesn;t look to difficult. So any input will be appreciated.

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When i first started i used leds and had so many problems with them i did the same as u went and bought a 600 watt hps and havent had any problems sents it is one of the best investments i did u wont regret it

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Do you think i should gradually work up to 100 % ? I have 3 settings on this light,and i have it at 3 ft away from top of plants starting out. They seem to like it so far.

That depends on how big they are if the small i would gradually work them up to it me myslef i just keep my lights about 2 foot from my plant at first and slowly move my light closer i never let my plants get under a foot to my lights but ever one has there own ways over time u will learn what your plants like or dislike but thats just my way others will disagree the way i learned is ask alot of questions and took all the info in and played around with it

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When you switched lights ot HPS, what type of tempature issues did you face? Any? Whats is your take?