420martini
New Member
Just completed my first grow and it was an intentional experiment for the most part. However, I also managed to do just about everything wrong that you could do. I've learned a lot, am still learning, and will probably always learn from my mistakes. I don't sell or represent any companies products, and I've learned to ignor all companies claims of "how great they are"
600 HPS vs 90 WATT LED UFO and 1000 WATT HPS vs 300 WATT LED
I used three 90 WATT UFO's on one side of my tent, and one 600 WATT HPS on the other side of the 4X8 tent. Twelve plants on each side of the tent. My experiance (yours might be different) was the 600 WATT HPS was more pleasing on the human eyes, but that's where the love affair ended. The heat was out of control and a constant battle. Side by side comparisons of growth rates from Veg cycle through flowering cycle showed no difference at all. I finaly shit canned the HPS towards the end of flowering and purchased two more UFO's. My OG and Platinum flowers were frosted like you would expect. One hit wonder bud, even for long time daily users.
I also placed one 300 WATT LED in a professional grow with eleven 1000 WATT HPS lights at the startof flowering cycle. My expectations were zero or even less. The plants under the LED grew at the exact same rate as the HPS lights, same bud production, size, appearance, etc... The test went all the way through to harvest. I'm not saying you should do this. I'm just giving my personal experiance. At the end of the test the grower opted to do more testing. Mostly because he can't wrap his mind around the visual side of the light i.e. Bright, hot light, vs Mostly red and blue, cool light.
Lowes or Home Depot vs Hydro Stores.
I, like all newbies that have the option bolted into the local Hydro store for equipent, supplies, nutes, etc... I'm fortunate to have five well stocked stores within five miles of where I live.
Lesson #1 The Hydro store guy usually knows way less than the kid working at Home depot. I have no idea why. This held true for all five hydro stores. Nice guys, I enjoy hanging out for a few and hearing the stories, but at the end of the day, they're clueless for the most part. Actualy, the customers at the Hydro store are some great resources. They, more than anyone, recomend only using the local Hydro store for a few small items.
Lesson #2 You will spend 300% - 1000% more on the exact same product, ingredient, etc.. at the Hydro store than you will at Home Depot or Lowes.
Lesson #3 I can have a completely organic grow from purchasing soly through big box stores or even online.
Lesson #4 There are to many to post but it's safe to say I'm still learning. I suspect most hydro stores will be gone this year because of competition. I wish it wasn't true because I like the idea of small business doing well, but big brother will devour them in short order.
Hand Watering vs Drip System.
I installed a drip system that I purchased online for $45 shipped. It cam with 1/2 Gal per hour inline drippers and runs twice per day for 11 minutes each time. That's not nearly enough water and my plants paid the price...or rather I should say I paid the price. I wound up hand watering, which I recomend to everyone at first. It help you get familliar with how thirsty your girls really are. I wound up replacing my 1/2 drippers with 1 Gal per hour drippers and yes that's still not enough but helps keep things going when I have the leave town for a week.
This is just a final thought. I under fed, under watered, dealt with major spider mite issues, took in a lot of bad advice, some good advice, and still managed to produce some serious flowers. Pretty amazing when I think about everything I did wrong, and learned to do right. The spider mites almost one the war on several occasions. My $85 small bottle of AmBomb didn't work nearly as well as a $3 bottle of ready to spray organaside.
Anyway... this is just my experiance. It's only going to get better from here!!
600 HPS vs 90 WATT LED UFO and 1000 WATT HPS vs 300 WATT LED
I used three 90 WATT UFO's on one side of my tent, and one 600 WATT HPS on the other side of the 4X8 tent. Twelve plants on each side of the tent. My experiance (yours might be different) was the 600 WATT HPS was more pleasing on the human eyes, but that's where the love affair ended. The heat was out of control and a constant battle. Side by side comparisons of growth rates from Veg cycle through flowering cycle showed no difference at all. I finaly shit canned the HPS towards the end of flowering and purchased two more UFO's. My OG and Platinum flowers were frosted like you would expect. One hit wonder bud, even for long time daily users.
I also placed one 300 WATT LED in a professional grow with eleven 1000 WATT HPS lights at the startof flowering cycle. My expectations were zero or even less. The plants under the LED grew at the exact same rate as the HPS lights, same bud production, size, appearance, etc... The test went all the way through to harvest. I'm not saying you should do this. I'm just giving my personal experiance. At the end of the test the grower opted to do more testing. Mostly because he can't wrap his mind around the visual side of the light i.e. Bright, hot light, vs Mostly red and blue, cool light.
Lowes or Home Depot vs Hydro Stores.
I, like all newbies that have the option bolted into the local Hydro store for equipent, supplies, nutes, etc... I'm fortunate to have five well stocked stores within five miles of where I live.
Lesson #1 The Hydro store guy usually knows way less than the kid working at Home depot. I have no idea why. This held true for all five hydro stores. Nice guys, I enjoy hanging out for a few and hearing the stories, but at the end of the day, they're clueless for the most part. Actualy, the customers at the Hydro store are some great resources. They, more than anyone, recomend only using the local Hydro store for a few small items.
Lesson #2 You will spend 300% - 1000% more on the exact same product, ingredient, etc.. at the Hydro store than you will at Home Depot or Lowes.
Lesson #3 I can have a completely organic grow from purchasing soly through big box stores or even online.
Lesson #4 There are to many to post but it's safe to say I'm still learning. I suspect most hydro stores will be gone this year because of competition. I wish it wasn't true because I like the idea of small business doing well, but big brother will devour them in short order.
Hand Watering vs Drip System.
I installed a drip system that I purchased online for $45 shipped. It cam with 1/2 Gal per hour inline drippers and runs twice per day for 11 minutes each time. That's not nearly enough water and my plants paid the price...or rather I should say I paid the price. I wound up hand watering, which I recomend to everyone at first. It help you get familliar with how thirsty your girls really are. I wound up replacing my 1/2 drippers with 1 Gal per hour drippers and yes that's still not enough but helps keep things going when I have the leave town for a week.
This is just a final thought. I under fed, under watered, dealt with major spider mite issues, took in a lot of bad advice, some good advice, and still managed to produce some serious flowers. Pretty amazing when I think about everything I did wrong, and learned to do right. The spider mites almost one the war on several occasions. My $85 small bottle of AmBomb didn't work nearly as well as a $3 bottle of ready to spray organaside.
Anyway... this is just my experiance. It's only going to get better from here!!
