]i just noticed for the first time that in 1 quadrant of LED lights, the blues are not working. Not sure if it's always been that way or if it's something new...anybody know if this is the way its supposed to look?

I don't know, for sure, but not all diodes are on at the same time, depending on what power selection (Veg - flower - boost) you chose. Try changing the switch to see if the LED comes on.

i emailed Geroge @ SolarStorm the same pic i posted here of my LED lights. He got back to me promptly, is sending a new one, and was very open about the issue. best customer service i've experienced in a long while.

this is his reply:

It looks like one of the power supplies went out. Sorry about this. We have seen this on a couple of units so far. We need to send you a new unit right away. We had an issue with power supply boards that went through production in January/February timeframe. We have since addressed this issue. We’ll send you a new unit then send you a UPS label so you can ship the failed one back to us.

I've heard nothing but good about CLW service...

so i've had a chance to look at both the afghans i started under SS and the hindus i started under metal halide. i know that the height of the light is a huge factor in determining how plants grow, and iniially at least i had the SS set very close to the plants. At the same distance, the halide burned some leaves on the hindus.

but the one thing that i have noticed is that the SS definitely gives denser foliage with HUGE fan leaves. the afghans and the hindus are now the same height, even though i started the hindus 2 weeks after the afghans.

i try not to get too worked up about plant height, bec height has so many variables.

if i had to choose right now between the metal halide and the SS for the veg stage, i would pick the SS hands down. It just seemed so clear that the plants under the SS were denser, bushier and had fan leaves are much larger. i realize that technically the afghan and the hindu are different strains, but really, they are both landrace strains from the same basic geography. i'd be surprised if there was really that much genetic difference between the two. this next batch i am starting are Cheese. I have 4 of them, so i will put two under SS and 2 under the MH and see what happens.

but for now, my conclusion is that SS rocks in veg mode

Yeah, they might be related but that doesn't mean they can't have different phenotypes, even within their own lines, unless they've been bred to be a stable IBD strain. Most of those regional strains are from farms that produce seeds from season to season, like in the wild, so you never know what will pop out.

The only way to rule out genetic differences, for lighting comparison, is to use clones from the same area of the same mother.

you are right ofc SME, and that's what i plan to do with the Cheese seedlings that are ready to go to veg. but the timing of getting the equipment and room ready messed up my original plan to veg half and half (half of each strain under SS and half under MH). based on what i've seen so far, i expect the SS to far exceed the MH for vegging the Cheese. But only time will tell

i decided early on to let my babies veg a good while and try to get the most yield per plant as i could. but my room layout wasn't sized for long vegges. It's not the end of the world, but it does mean i have 8 to 10 plants crammed under each of my veg lights (1 600W MH and 1 800W SolarStorm LED).

they've been vegging for just over 6 weeks after a full month on the seedling tray, so i expected i would be able to sex them and pull out the males, clearing out the clutter and giving the girls more access to the light.

only problem is that i suck at determining the sex of my plants. even on 18/6 i should be able to see some pre- preflowers, beginning of pistils etc. but they all look the same to me.

i have a 30x magnifier but i think i'm blinder than a bat.

once i get the room set up for fruiting i'll move them over and maybe i'll have better luck then.

also not sure what, if anything, to make out of the condition of some of the lower leabes

anyway, here's the latest pics

couldn't resist tossing up a couple of other pics from the grow room:

Take some close-up pictures of the plants internodes and we'll help you figure out what to look for...or you could search the web for sexing photos.