LED cabinet update

[sfhaze]

I've been experimenting with LED grow lights in a utility cabinet, here is the original thread.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/ca...ow-lights.html

That thread is very long and a bit off topic now, so I thought I would start a new one with an update.

The yields have really improved with a lot of tweaks, more then 0.25oz per plant. About 10 plants fit (5 per shelf), so it adds up.

The best strain is still Mazar, it is consistently short and is tasty and potent. Cheese also does well and most pheno's stay short; it's very good but varies a lot. The Diesels also seem to work; I was disappointed by the potency but I need to try it again. AK47 was too tall and then when Hermie, guess it doesn't like 12/12 too soon.

I'm upgradeing the top shelf to use a "superled" , google them - can't link to a non-sponcer. It's a copy of the procyon 100 but is shipping now, is a little smaller, and has a dimmer. It is extremely bright, I'm confident it will improve the yields greatly.

[sfhaze]

I uploaded a pic of the cabinet:

[Boss]

Nice!

[grandma]

Thats awesome. Can you upload some close up pics of the buds? I want to go LED, and want to see more pics up to show what it can do.

What kind of LEDs did you use? 650nm? PowerLed?

[Racefan]

1/4oz per plant? That's all? Guess your doing as well as one could expect considering the genetics and lights your using. 1/4oz would last the wife and myself about 2 days. Spending 11 weeks and lot's of effort to grow a plant for 1/4oz doesn't seem cost effective to me.

[grandma]

But the guy has like 25 plants in there. Thats 4 ounces, and that could last about a month.


SFHAZE: check out the sea of green method, and get some suitable seeds and you'll be crankin 4 times what you currently get.

[sfhaze]

It's more like 10 plants, but still it's over 2oz from a utility cabinet. The idea is lots of small plants (sea of green) versis scrog (screen of green) it's much easier to manage. In this small of a space it's not bad, with the new superled light I'm sure the yield will improve.

The genetics are great, what I've been testing is plants that grow short so that they fit.

[hankster]

.I've talked to a few people about LED lights awhile back. When I trying to decide to go with hps or led. And high times had a story on LED lights. And the only really good one is the new UFO LED puts out the same out put as a 400 watt HPS. If you want to get any yeld of of it. Go HPS and don't for get the thermal sheld.

[sfhaze]

I've upgraded the top shelf to use a "superled", which is very similar to the procron 100. These lights are better then the UFO I think; but I haven't tested the UFO.

With the benefit of the last few weeks of flowering under the superled one plant yielded 0.38oz dried. It's a big improvement and should be even better as the plants in the pipeline get even more time under the new light.

[sfhaze]

The superled upgrade really did the trick. The yield is now over 0.5oz per plant.

Seedlings start out on the bottom, on a stand. After 3-4 weeks they show their sex and do the initial stretch. They then move to the upper shelf under the Super LED. The upper shelf can hold 4 to 5 plants and they need 6-7 weeks (10 weeks total). That's 2oz every 6 weeks total.

Mazar is still the best, but cheese is really good and a great contrast. NYC Diesel is okay. Purple wreck and Cindy99 are looking good.....

[topdeeni]

fascinating..

[sfhaze]

I've also been testing clones since I like to prune the lower branches anyway. With tiny clones even shorter plants are possible.

Here are some test results for Mazar:
Height Yield Number Total
30" 0.75oz 3 2.25oz from seed
20" 0.55oz 4 2.20oz from seed
14" 0.35oz 5 1.75oz from 2" clone
10" 0.15oz 6 0.90oz from 1" clone

That is finish height, finish yield, the "number" is how many plants of this size would fit in the cabinet at the same time, and finally the total per cycle. I can't really target 30" plants since that is the absolutely maximum that fit.

[sfhaze]

Those are dried weights, harvest weight is about 4 times heavier.

The start-up cost is high (about $2000), but the utility bills are only about $25/month verses hundreds for HID lighting (31 cents/KWHr). It's only a few 6 week cycles at 2oz each yield to break even.

[richgannon_2001]

sounds like you have your shit together and itll only get better from here, its always nice to see someone go from the planning stages to the finished product....have you tried any lowryder strains yet?

[sfhaze]

I haven't tried lowrider.

Power here starts off at 11 cents but goes up to 36 cents (or higher) when you go over "baseline" usage. It's a ripoff, but it is what it is. They print in on the bill. Also, running just 600W (actually draws about 800W with inverter losses) of HID at another site runs about $150/month.