Cheaper HPS bulb options

[LEDBud]

Last grow for the first time, I bought and used advanced nutrients and the last 100ml or so on this grow , the shit is affordable

AN has some expensive products the Grow , Flower and Micro are not they cost $20 a liter and helped my last Auto reach 8 OZs and a 3 Oz main Bud on another plant and a 2 oz bud on a third.

Mind you I'll likely get over 1lb on a plant this photoperiod grow without using AN for more then a supplement here and there.

Here's the 3 Oz Bud before drying , 420 grams wet , grown with a no name bulb

the 8 Oz Auto

The 60 bucks on the AN GBM was well spent , many of the other supplements themselves are overpriced but not all. The Bud candy is reasonable as compared to others as is the nirvana and a few others are comparable. The real shocker is the AN's Bud factor X price

If I had a shit harvest I would have to agree that AN is a waste of $ but with these results I am hard pressed to say the opposite.

 

[Phenoman]

I'm a software developer and think the same way Great post, and I just want to highlight that even though its older in case someone stumbles on this. That is because your example applies to everything. Period. I cannot honestly tell someone that anything worked better than something else if either A) Had more than one variable changed. Which is ridiculously hard to acheive in gardening let alone cannabis , or B) The extra change is so completely unrelated as to say it had no impact on the test. I for one find this last one unlikely as seemingly unrelated changes could be having an effect on the outcome. So many botched experiments because it's too time consuming and expensive to do a properly controlled test. I get it though, we all just waited months to see our hard work payoff but along the way we got better, found some new techniques etc.

Here is one for you: measuring nutrients using EC and PPM. I'll give you a hint at why this bothers me. How much of my coco runoff is 'X' mineral etc. Granted with some experience, PH etc. We can get a feel but we do not know 100% how many PPM is 'X' nutrient unless you have stripped the water completely and only added one.

Conversations like this lead to innovation. I'm ready for some knowledge.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Here is one for you: measuring nutrients using EC and PPM. I'll give you a hint at why this bothers me. How much of my coco runoff is 'X' mineral etc. Granted with some experience, PH etc. We can get a feel but we do not know 100% how many PPM is 'X' nutrient unless you have stripped the water completely and only added one.

You're measuring the EC of the (nutrient solution / runoff / et cetera). Even a PPM meter does this; it just performs a calculation on the measured EC, kind of like an engine dynomometer doesn't actually measure horsepower - it measures torque and then does a calculation on the number.

The measured EC is the overall EC - and the different nutrient components will each have slightly varying measured EC at various PPMs. Therefore, you can get a general idea as to whether your plants are using more nutrients now than last week, for example, but you can't look at your measurements and determine anything about specific component use (such as whether you might need to add more phosphorous, or if you're giving the plants too much boron).

Additionally, the runoff will contain the plants' waste material. Although the meter will not register organic compounds correctly, any salts which are present will (again, at slightly varying rates).

They make test kits for more specific things. Seems like they're more useful for - or at least get used more often by - those who are pushing the envelope in their grows. There might even be part of an old kit out in the shed. I'm just not motivated enough to go look.

I'd like to have a DO (dissolved oxygen) meter for hydroponic grows, especially in the hotter months.