Hiyas, fellow growers, I'm baaaaack ... 
I've been putting off starting another journal because it was kinda nice not having the responsibility for awhile, and because this one is rather intimidating. I was incredibly blessed not only to have my Destroyer voted as the Plant of the Year (words fail me in my gratitude and joy), but also by an amazing set of additional prizes. 
It was a veritable cornucopia of cool stuff - simply stunning - especially since it was all such a surprise. But along with that huge generosity comes huge responsibility, because after all, the companies that contributed these wonderful prizes did it for marketing and publicity. They're perfectly willing to simply give me one of their products, but they do it with the reasonable expectation that I'll make good use of them while potential customers watch. So I have a responsibility to make good use of them, don't I?
But ... whew! ... this isn't just one LED panel! I have 5 panels to make good use of, as well as a 1mx1mx1.75m tent from Mars-Hydro, which really helps - thank you Sara, et al! And these are quite a variety of panels. Ideally, I'd take and post a bunch of pics of each panel - maybe a video or two - but man, that's a lot of work ...
So I finally decided to just take it slowly, as if I'd bought these panels myself. I'll introduce each of them as the journal progresses rather than a huge introductory effort. This isn't truly a sponsorship, so my responsibilities are somewhat lighter, I hope. Prizes are prizes after all, aren't they? I tend to be a rational, balanced guy when it comes to evaluating and comparing stuff, so y'all can count on me to be gracious and fair.
So, in that light, I'll introduce each of the panels with a brief comment, and then move on to the journal itself and what my plans are for the next several months.
PAR-FORCE HYBRID 260w LED Grow Light
Very cool tech! Very spendy ...
This panel uses tons o' low-power blue LEDs (driven at 0.25 watts) with proprietary phosphor coatings to extend the spectrum with very high efficiency. It has a huge footprint, delivering 400-500 umols at 1 foot over a 18 x 48 inch area. 
The company doesn't post 2 foot charts, but if we extrapolate, that should be about a third = 150+ at 2 feet with a much wider spread, probably 24+ inches. It seems ideal for a veg light, and that's how I'll be using it for now.
Advanced LED DS XML 350
Ooooo, I LIKE this panel! It has ten 10 watt Cree whites for one thing. It's a little annoyance, but the color tone under red/blue LEDs has always bothered me. It's hard to see how the plants are really doing until you pull them out of the room or install a bunch of white lights to turn on when you want to get a good look at 'em. This panel has a volume knob for each channel, so I can turn off the rest of the LEDs, leaving just the whites. A very simple, small feature, but I like it. I have it hanging in the bloom room right now with the remains of the I-Gro and I'm impressed with the spread so far. You can clearly see the focus line of each 10 watt Cree on the walls - cool - I'll get pics later.
E.shine 5G GrowSun 320W Professional
More cool tech! This panel uses sixteen 12x3 watt COBs running at 20 watts each for a total of 320 watts in a 17 x 17 inch cabinet, and three channels which can be programmed for time and intensity - the same sort of features I liked in my previous panel. It hasn't arrived yet, but I got a notice from DHL of something coming today so that might be it.
DormGrow - 240 Watt LED Grow Light by G8LED
At 140 watt draw this panel will be good for filling in a footprint. I've been planning to try a medium sized central panel with four smaller ones in the corners, and I now have enough light to try it. I'm still trying to figure out the right arrangement with the panels I have, but this DormGrow is just the right size for a corner with a 300 watt panel in the center. I'm shooting for 1000 watts total in a 4x4.
Twilight Classical Series 450W
I haven't received this one yet, and I'm still not sure how I'll use it. I'm wondering if Twilight would be insulted if I asked them for two smaller 140 watters instead. That'd nicely complete my 5 panel array in the bloom room. We'll see.
What strain is it?
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? I'll be growing a variety of mostly sativas and crosses.
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? We'll cover the whole range
If in Veg... For how long?
If in Flower stage... For how long?
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Doc Bud's HiBrix soil blend
If soil... what is in your mix? Balanced mineral amendment with custom foliars and drenches
If soil... What size pot? 6 gallon square plastic pots
Size of light? roughly 1000 watts LED in bloom, 500+ in midveg, 200 seedling/clone
Is it aircooled? No
Temp of Room/cab? mid 60s to mid 80s
RH of Room/cab? 40s to 60s
PH of media or res? dunno
Any Pests ? white flies
How often are you watering? 5-7 days
Type and strength of ferts used? organic ferts
So here's what I'm thinkin' ...
I'll use the ParForce for early veg (already have it in there). The intensity and spread should be ideal for that size plant. I'll set up the Mars-Hydro tent for midveg and overflow - mothers, reveg, etc. I may even use it for early bloom if the grow gets crowded. I've found a space to wedge it into, so it'll become a permanent part of the perpetual. I haven't decided which panel to put in there, and that'll probably depend on how the new girls grow up. I got the Advanced XML first, so that's in the bloom room for now, but it might be the perfect size for the 1 meter tent, too. Otherwise, the GrowSun should work as well. Again, we'll see. The DormGrow and Twilight will be used for fill.
The strains I have to work with this time are:
Tikal by Ace Seeds
Orange Hill Special by Dutch Passion
Desfran by Dutch Passion
Blue Blood by Medicann
Utopia Haze by Barney's
Panama by Ace seeds. This is an S1 purple pheno from my original self-seeded plant
I also have a bunch of seeds from my hermied Buddha Haze. The genetics are all pretty interesting - Buddha is Amnesia Haze x Maga Rosa (Brazilian landrace sativa) - so I'm going to run one of each.
Buddha Haze x Blue Blood (OG x Blueberry)
Buddha Haze x Nexus (Brazilian x Brazilian)
Buddha Haze x Destroyer (Meao Thai x Mexican/Columbian)
Buddha Haze x Utopia Haze (Brazilian landrace IBL)
I should get some interesting Brazilian sativa expressions.
Ok, that's about it for an introductory post. It's going to be a bit of a slow start as I begin to sprout seeds and get my grow spaces in order, but at least I'm back.
Love you all!
I've been putting off starting another journal because it was kinda nice not having the responsibility for awhile, and because this one is rather intimidating.
I was incredibly blessed not only to have my Destroyer voted as the Plant of the Year (words fail me in my gratitude and joy), but also by an amazing set of additional prizes. It was a veritable cornucopia of cool stuff - simply stunning - especially since it was all such a surprise. But along with that huge generosity comes huge responsibility, because after all, the companies that contributed these wonderful prizes did it for marketing and publicity. They're perfectly willing to simply give me one of their products, but they do it with the reasonable expectation that I'll make good use of them while potential customers watch. So I have a responsibility to make good use of them, don't I? But ... whew! ... this isn't just one LED panel! I have 5 panels to make good use of, as well as a 1mx1mx1.75m tent from Mars-Hydro, which really helps - thank you Sara, et al! And these are quite a variety of panels. Ideally, I'd take and post a bunch of pics of each panel - maybe a video or two - but man, that's a lot of work ...
So I finally decided to just take it slowly, as if I'd bought these panels myself. I'll introduce each of them as the journal progresses rather than a huge introductory effort. This isn't truly a sponsorship, so my responsibilities are somewhat lighter, I hope.
Prizes are prizes after all, aren't they? I tend to be a rational, balanced guy when it comes to evaluating and comparing stuff, so y'all can count on me to be gracious and fair.So, in that light, I'll introduce each of the panels with a brief comment, and then move on to the journal itself and what my plans are for the next several months.
PAR-FORCE HYBRID 260w LED Grow Light
Very cool tech! Very spendy ...
This panel uses tons o' low-power blue LEDs (driven at 0.25 watts) with proprietary phosphor coatings to extend the spectrum with very high efficiency. It has a huge footprint, delivering 400-500 umols at 1 foot over a 18 x 48 inch area. The company doesn't post 2 foot charts, but if we extrapolate, that should be about a third = 150+ at 2 feet with a much wider spread, probably 24+ inches. It seems ideal for a veg light, and that's how I'll be using it for now.Advanced LED DS XML 350
Ooooo, I LIKE this panel! It has ten 10 watt Cree whites for one thing.
It's a little annoyance, but the color tone under red/blue LEDs has always bothered me. It's hard to see how the plants are really doing until you pull them out of the room or install a bunch of white lights to turn on when you want to get a good look at 'em. This panel has a volume knob for each channel, so I can turn off the rest of the LEDs, leaving just the whites. A very simple, small feature, but I like it. I have it hanging in the bloom room right now with the remains of the I-Gro and I'm impressed with the spread so far. You can clearly see the focus line of each 10 watt Cree on the walls - cool - I'll get pics later.E.shine 5G GrowSun 320W Professional
More cool tech! This panel uses sixteen 12x3 watt COBs running at 20 watts each for a total of 320 watts in a 17 x 17 inch cabinet, and three channels which can be programmed for time and intensity - the same sort of features I liked in my previous panel.
It hasn't arrived yet, but I got a notice from DHL of something coming today so that might be it.DormGrow - 240 Watt LED Grow Light by G8LED
At 140 watt draw this panel will be good for filling in a footprint. I've been planning to try a medium sized central panel with four smaller ones in the corners, and I now have enough light to try it. I'm still trying to figure out the right arrangement with the panels I have, but this DormGrow is just the right size for a corner with a 300 watt panel in the center. I'm shooting for 1000 watts total in a 4x4.
Twilight Classical Series 450W
I haven't received this one yet, and I'm still not sure how I'll use it. I'm wondering if Twilight would be insulted if I asked them for two smaller 140 watters instead. That'd nicely complete my 5 panel array in the bloom room.
We'll see.What strain is it?
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? I'll be growing a variety of mostly sativas and crosses.
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? We'll cover the whole range
If in Veg... For how long?
If in Flower stage... For how long?
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Doc Bud's HiBrix soil blend
If soil... what is in your mix? Balanced mineral amendment with custom foliars and drenches
If soil... What size pot? 6 gallon square plastic pots
Size of light? roughly 1000 watts LED in bloom, 500+ in midveg, 200 seedling/clone
Is it aircooled? No
Temp of Room/cab? mid 60s to mid 80s
RH of Room/cab? 40s to 60s
PH of media or res? dunno
Any Pests ? white flies
How often are you watering? 5-7 days
Type and strength of ferts used? organic ferts
So here's what I'm thinkin' ...
I'll use the ParForce for early veg (already have it in there). The intensity and spread should be ideal for that size plant. I'll set up the Mars-Hydro tent for midveg and overflow - mothers, reveg, etc. I may even use it for early bloom if the grow gets crowded. I've found a space to wedge it into, so it'll become a permanent part of the perpetual. I haven't decided which panel to put in there, and that'll probably depend on how the new girls grow up. I got the Advanced XML first, so that's in the bloom room for now, but it might be the perfect size for the 1 meter tent, too. Otherwise, the GrowSun should work as well. Again, we'll see. The DormGrow and Twilight will be used for fill.
The strains I have to work with this time are:
Tikal by Ace Seeds
Orange Hill Special by Dutch Passion
Desfran by Dutch Passion
Blue Blood by Medicann
Utopia Haze by Barney's
Panama by Ace seeds. This is an S1 purple pheno from my original self-seeded plant
I also have a bunch of seeds from my hermied Buddha Haze. The genetics are all pretty interesting - Buddha is Amnesia Haze x Maga Rosa (Brazilian landrace sativa) - so I'm going to run one of each.
Buddha Haze x Blue Blood (OG x Blueberry)
Buddha Haze x Nexus (Brazilian x Brazilian)
Buddha Haze x Destroyer (Meao Thai x Mexican/Columbian)
Buddha Haze x Utopia Haze (Brazilian landrace IBL)
I should get some interesting Brazilian sativa expressions.
Ok, that's about it for an introductory post. It's going to be a bit of a slow start as I begin to sprout seeds and get my grow spaces in order, but at least I'm back.
Love you all!
I'm assuming the XML is going in the center? I would think it would work as well as the iGrow, if not better, with 1/3 less wattage, and similar coverage. Fun strains too! 
