Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED
Hey SS,
I just posted an update in my old journal. My 4 plants have been tracking along with yours, and I think mine look pretty good. Mine are flowering with just the 90W light and are packed together a lot closer then yours. My cabinet is about half your size and has half you light, but I think my 4 plants compare pretty close to yours.
I was just over there and commented on how similar your current Mazars to my VK's. It's uncanny.
Take a look for yourself, I think you could have grown at least 2 more plants - at least on the HSS side - because of it's wide coverage and only have a very small drop off in yield per plant. I'm sure you would agree that you could have vegged several more plants with the HSS light.
I think 4 plants, unless it's a 12/12 from seed or very short veg grow, is the max for one of my tents.
VK also has huge fan leaves, and that also makes things kinda tight.
I currently am seeing three ways to grow efficiently in my tents.
1) 2 plants in large 4-5 gallon pots with LST to control canopy height.
2) 3-4 plants in medium 2-3 gallon pots with LST to control canopy height.
3) 25-35 plants in 5" pots with either 12/12 from seed or a short 1-2 week veg.
I don't like the grow style I chose for this grow at all because the plants are dictating the canopy height instead of me. Why should I let them do that?
From the wide pattern the HSS light throws, I think it could veg wall-to-wall in my tents, so that would be a max of 36 5" square pots. That's an efficient use of energy, but it will become a more attractive option for vegging when costs come down.
Also, I was really hoping to see much fatter buds with the higher powered HSS light, but it just seems to be keeping up with what I see (maybe). I don't get that, maybe they will keep swelling up, but maybe it's something like the temperature - I have the roots warmed by the lower light.
After the discussion of temps/yields, I did raise the temp in the garage to 75-80, and temps in the tents have been averaging around 78. Soil temps have been a steady 76, so the plants haven't been cold.
I'm switching to larger pots and about half perlite - thanks for that, I'll see if I can even improve more....
Those two changes should improve things, and you might want to consider LST also. Your Mazars are at 24", and I think your Haight light would penetrate them better if they were at around 16" or so, and more spread out instead of vertical. With your cab, I would grow 2 plants like that max or you'll run out of horizontal space, but I think your yield would go up, even with just 2 plants.
thanks bro
