Haight Solid State vs. H.G.LED

[WheeloFortune]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

There are growers who will stick with the same method once they get their game down to their satisfaction, and then there's those who will risk failure to love (typo? ) on the edge.

Nothing wrong with either approach, but yeah, life tends to be more fun with higher highs and lower lows.

typo, but a very fitting one

the highs are more fun, but the lows suck more.
i choose to live the life more interesting.
i know you do to sir.
keep it up.
WOF

 

[1234a5678b]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Good science is good observation, now what am I looking at again?
People doin' the star trek thing with leds, that's what your looking at. On full impulse, the warp drive aren't quite online yet.....but it's not a bad thing to be on the Avant-Garde, as long as it's fun$. I know for sure I got a good veg light that will meet my needs at powers I'm ok with in timeframes I can live with. Let's make some lowpower buds and see what happens, timewise and quality wise. If the makes killer nug in twice the time, like with fine wine, I'm in. If not, KILL THEM WITH MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF PHOTONS! We all know how to do that.

The yield not withstanding (compared to other lighting options), the bud is killer! With 4 plants in a couple of these setups, they produce enough meds for a light to medium level smoker. Additionally, they are very low profile compared to the other options. I could have used one of these things back in the dorm room, many many years ago.

 

[IrishBoy]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

one last thing SS then i'm done.

one reason that you SHOULD consider comparing HID lighting is cost.

no matter what system you run, big or small, cost is an important factor in any purchase you make.

that's the only reason I would bring up BIG HID's. because if you're starting from a clean slate, haven't bought any equipment yet, and deciding which direction you want to go in, personally, I'm considering the bang for my buck pretty high on the list. (coming from me that sounds weird, lol.) . . . If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't buy the wheel again. live and learn. 2 grand can buy an awful lot of nice stuff.

anyways big hid's provide way way way more light per dollar spent in setup, and these LED's would take forever to recoup that in electricity costs.

thats why these manufacturers have been laying ridiculous claims like the 100 watter= 400 HID, or 300 watter = 1000 HID. they're so damn expensive, they have to try to make them look competitive price wise, when they really aren't.

but i get your point, this thread is just to show what they are capable of.

If i were to compare both tents together vs. a standard 250 hps, i think it's pleasurably comparable, but compare the cost of both and its not quite as alluring.

+rep on that one bro

 

[IrishBoy]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

First, a huge to everyone for all the great feedback, opinions, and well-reasoned discussion as regards how to handle the harvest.

In the planning stage of this journal, we had a lot of back-and-forth discussion to define the parameters for this grow. Unfortunately, chop time wasn't one of them.

Because trich color seems to generally be accepted as the most accurate way to judge bud maturity, we wanted to hear other opinions before making the final decision.

The discussion that took place pertaining to this issue contained some of the most intelligent, educated, and well-reasoned posts that I've read *anywhere*.

For the record, in a message I received from HGL, they strongly feel that both groups should be harvested when the first group is ready. HSS has not weighed in on the issue.

I've decided to chop each individual plant as it reaches 50/50 cloudy/amber trichs. I'll document the exact time for each plant so that weight correlation can be performed on the fully mature plants, both individually and as groups.

It would be silly to not acknowledge that the 50/50 method is subjective in comparison to a calendar date, but the few days range of the 50/50 method should average out across the 8 chops.

I'd think the plants would finish randomly, so that the chop sequence may switch between groups as opposed to one complete group being harvested before the other.

Handling it this way will let us do in-group comparison as well as group to group comparison, and it should also help to reduce the effect of variations caused by different phenos, while preserving light to light finish time and yield comparisons.

I like the idea of looking at the final results as many ways as possible, so we'll look at gross yields as well as applying a time factor to normalize the results.

Harvest times will be clearly reported so that people who are factoring speed heavily will have clean data.

To wrap things up, I believe the plants should come down when they're individually ready because the qualities of taste and effect are *essential* to judging the performance of grow products and gear, and we'd be sacrificing that if we took a few down before they were done according to our criteria.

IMO that would be plane dumb to chop a plant early because a company's feels that fair. i think every plant should be chopped when their done, at the end you did the hard work so u should be able to have enjoyable bud to smoke. nothing good comes out of a premo harvest but shitty weed. assuming i read your post right? i have hard a few to drink. but i believe i read this right?lol

 

[IrishBoy]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

SS i just wanted to say Thank You for this test, i have learn allot from this. by far the best side by side i have ever seen with leds. much respect!

 

[Setting Sun]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

sound reasoning my friend. looking forward to seeing it happen.

I agree with wheelo, very sound reasoning. I am sure some will disagree but hopefully all will respect your decision and the vast amount of work you have put into this comp grow. . I believe you have done an excellent job and based on the large amount of input received on this issue for both sides, you were faced with a difficult decision. again.

I totally agree with your plan. After all of your hard work, you deserve to have every bud ripened to perfection.

thank you brothers

 

[Setting Sun]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

SS i just wanted to say Thank You for this test, i have learn allot from this. by far the best side by side i have ever seen with leds. much respect!

thanks bro, and as busy as I am these days, I'm checkin' your thread every day .

 

[Green Utopia]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Great Work as usual. Glad to hear your decision on the harvest times - I think you're spot on. It also occurs to me that it would be silly to compromise the quality of any of the smoke - because you deserve your just deserts!

 

[Slowpuffer]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

You got your green thumb mojo working now , SS !! Wont be long now !!

 

[sfhaze]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Could the reduced water usage simply be from the lower temps?

 

[1234a5678b]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Could the reduced water usage simply be from the lower temps?

My widow didn't drink much either. I'm sure temp is at least one of the factors.

 

[Setting Sun]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

they don't look bad at all man. look pretty good.

All the plants look healthy and strong. Once again, maximum respect SS! I don't think it is possible to do a better job than you're currently doing!

However, I am very disappointed at the total bud growth after 5 full weeks of 12/12 flowering. At this point, it is hard to see them producing a decent harvest.

But I guess the proof is in the pudding, so let's wait til dessert....only 5 more weeks to go.

yep, just a waiting game now. Temps are good and they're getting lots of fresh air and good food. The rest is up to the lights.

it would be GREAT to not have to deal with heat and major electric consumption, and not having to water so often. Even if the plants were smaller. you could even have a couple of these small grows going in different spaces, to make up the difference. Heck you could have 3 of them going and it might still be comparable to a big HID grow, since you wouldn't have heat to deal with, just fresh air and fragrance...

These lights do make it easy to setup a grow tent or a closet, and setting up a continuous grow with two lights would be relatively easy also, compared to hotter-running alternatives.

Very well thought out SS. Very respectable in your decision making, planning, and growing abilities. I envy that.

Much respect from a follower-

-Go

Thanks for the kind words Go .

I love to grow, and I've always poured my heart and soul into what I love.

I'm very grateful that I've been able to meet others who also share my passion for growing this amazing plant.

I have other interests and passions, and I've been a member of other online communities, but gathering around the herb produces a bond between people that I don't find elsewhere.

I'm glad our paths have crossed .

SS:

Many thanks for everything you've done here including the application of fair and judicious logic.

And thanks to the mods for keeping the attitude in check. There's no reason for anyone to get snippy - unless it's harvest time.

Again, I'm glad I've been able to participate somewhat in this adventure and am eagerly waiting the results.

You forgot to mention where the booth will be where we all get to go and sample the final product.

thanks bro, I appreciate your support, and lets hope that in the not-too-distant future, that booth may become a reality

Great work SS on the harvesting plan. Not only will we get to see what the lights can do, we'll know how long it takes them to do it.

Thanks usul . I know some may disagree with how things went with the harvest decision, but I think this way will provide the most info.

Then you will harvest and send each of us a joint, and we'll be happy for 2 hrs. !! Ha !! Grow on bro. !! You made the right decision !!

Thanks Slow

Hope that could happen someday, and that it would keep you happy for at least 4 hours, lol

The yield not withstanding (compared to other lighting options), the bud is killer! With 4 plants in a couple of these setups, they produce enough meds for a light to medium level smoker. Additionally, they are very low profile compared to the other options. I could have used one of these things back in the dorm room, many many years ago.

I agree!

I'm glad, however, that LED technology and marijuana legislation seem to be on a path of intersection.

When marijuana is legalized, people are going to be looking for plug-and-play solutions for growing, and low-watt, low-heat technologies are going to facilitate that.

I can't wait to rip some LED bud!

but alas, I must

IMO that would be plane dumb to chop a plant early because a company's feels that fair. i think every plant should be chopped when their done, at the end you did the hard work so u should be able to have enjoyable bud to smoke. nothing good comes out of a premo harvest but shitty weed. assuming i read your post right? i have hard a few to drink. but i believe i read this right?lol

you got it right bro

and thanks! I'm looking forward to smoke-testing some of this LED VK!

Great Work as usual. Glad to hear your decision on the harvest times - I think you're spot on. It also occurs to me that it would be silly to compromise the quality of any of the smoke - because you deserve your just deserts!

I really did this grow without any expectations as far as personal yield, because my primary motivation was that I could not find completed LED grows to answer my own questions about LED's.

That being said, I'm glad I will be able to harvest the plants at their peak, both from a personal perspective, but also because that's the way people buying these lights are going to deploy the technology.

thanks for your support and comments papa green, your positive energy is always appreciated

And for all the right reasons. All of the extra data will be invaluable.

I think so too, and you're very welcome bro .

 

[Setting Sun]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Isn't this the hardest part, waiting for ladies to get ready? Two thoughts on drying out rates:

1) I asked about that for two reasons, 1st, dryout time tells me about root developement. You could bump up perlite to 50/50 and better fill those pots. Won't dry out too fast because no HID sucking the pots dry. 2nd, I like to start seed in 1 gal. rounds and transplant if necessary into the 2 gal rosepots. I'll keep them in the one gals until they dry out every day. Got some seeds and some clones under the lights, and a couple motherships that just got bent today and will be booted outdoors as soon as some weather passes. I'm running clones and seeds at the same time just to get a rough feel about how they respond to the LED, nothing precise.

I think for any future LED grows, I would bump the perlite up to 50%.

Are there times that you just finish them in the 1-gallon round pots? If so, what kind of yields are you getting from that size pot?

I don't buy into the 1 gallon per foot of plant axiom. I think it's closer to 1 gallon per two feet of plant from all the grows I've looked at.

Thanx for all the good work and effort, bet you can't wait to do a brain-dead stash gro, eh?

Yes, and no .

If I could burden you with one more labor: The above ground weight and total bud weight for each plant would be huge. If you would be so kind as to wack'em and weight'em [wet] before cleaning them up, I would be eternally grateful as this gives us a biomass/product ratio and your hands-off grow facilitates this comparison. If ya gotta trim them b4 you chop them, so be it, but if not, this info is a huge measure of efficiency.

thanx bro, the data helps us know, and grow.

Sure thing bro.

I usually don't report wet weights, but since it will add good info, I'd be happy to. I'll chop them at the soil line and weigh them before I do any trimming.

Only one condition, you have to post the pertinent results in plain English after running the numbers .

 

[mamamolassa]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

I have always felt that competition, though useful, is limiting because it forces us to rely on comparison in order to make judgments rather than seeing the qualities of each thing objectively.

Setting Sun has been amazing in his wisdom with regards to this competition. By growing with the simple attitude of the happy observer he is able to deliver a fantastic learning experience for all of us, and that's a beautiful thing. I completely agree that it is unfair to compare this grow to an HID grow, not to mention irrelevant to the experiment. Secondly, I agree with SS that each plant should be harvested when they are "ready" as it would be foolish to reduce this experiment to grow time. Let's learn everything we can from this awesome opportunity.

As a newcomer to 420 culture and online forums in general, I feel fortunate to be in the company of such intelligent, thoughtful people. Thanks all for teaching me so much for my first grow!

 

[Setting Sun]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

DAY 37 BLOOM

A couple of the plants have a little tip burn, so I'm about where I want to be with my nutes. I'm pushing them pretty hard, using the full FF schedule at almost every watering, and tracking PH carefully. I'm beginning to think that some of the reports of FF nutes being "too hot" may be more a case of not adjusting the PH before use. On the last feeding, the uncorrected PH of the full FF schedule nute mix was 5.2.

Plants are green and healthy.

Steady as she goes .

 

[slimm]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Nice update SS!

 

[WheeloFortune]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

man. I'm up early as hell today. and to my pleasure, what did i find???

beautiful pics my man.

the HGL looks like it will yield significantly better towards the bottom of the plant.
we'll find out soon enough.

here's to you SS.
PEACE.

 

[sweetherb]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Excellent update SS.

Could you maybe remind us how tall they were before flowering and how tall they are now? (assuming they have finished stretching, which I think have).

Just wanted to get an idea of how much they have stretched under each of the lights.

Keep up the exemplary work!

 

[usul]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Thanks for the great update SS!

My experience with the FF nutes matches yours: I've been feeding at about the same rate and at day 45 of flowering all plants are now showing about 1mm of tip burn. And, yes, pH of the unadjusted nute mix is 5.2 so I bring it up to 6.7 or 6.8 before application. I realize that's a bit on the high side but runnoff is 6.5 so it's looking good to me. As I get closer to harvest I've been adding an extra tsp of Tiger Bloom per gallon, which increases the ppm from 850 to 1150 - a level the plants seem to like. So, in my experience, not only are the FF nutes not too hot, there's room in the feeding schedule for a bit of twiddling.

 

[hydronewbie]

Re: 420 Consumer Reports Competition - Haight Solid State vs. Hydro Grow LED

Holy Smokes! I really like what you expressed about legalization in CA. I really think it's going to happen this year. I agree that people are going to want the type of product you suggest - plug and play - of course, here in CA we will be able to grow a 5' X 5' for personal consumption according to the initiative that was sent to government with the required petition signatures.

These babies are looking beautiful. I'm still liking the HGL.

(A little off topic...all about me, sorry)I decided I'm going to go buy some indica clones at Harborside today and start a hydro/CFL grow. I was waiting on this grow, but darn it, my green thumb is itchy and I've developed a nasty case of spring fever with growers envy.

I had a few successful grows last year. This time, I really want to grow some major dank chronic. So I'll be tapping experts on this forum. I've never uploaded photos before but I can see the benefits of keeping a journal in progress. It keeps one focused and open to suggestions from experts. Also, I'm really going to try to include my wife in the effort this time. I hate to admit that I get all control freak on her, but I'm only human. Okay, enough about that. Thanks for letting me digress...