Hi all,

My California Lightworks SS400w arrived today. It was delivered 5 days after payment, shipped (presumably) from California to Seattle. The light was packaged well, and it seems to be of solid construction. It's heavy, at least.

The purpose of this grow journal is to test the SolarStorm 400w LED light's ability to produce cannabis flowers. Both yield and quality will be compared to the same strain grown under a 1000w HPS bulb. Of course, this is not an "apples to apples" comparison since the LEDs of the SolarStorm 400w only use 310w. In order to try to negate this difference, the LED testing area will be very small, with the same ~60w of lighting per square foot as the HPS growing area. Two clones of the same strain will be grown, one under each type of light (god willing).

After a trip to the hardware store I'll mount the light and set up a 2.25'x2.25' test area. The LED area will be in the same room as my HPS equipment, but it will be behind its own Panda Film curtain on the opposite side of the room. This will allow me to keep the two flowering areas separate, while maintaining very similar environmental parameters for each.

The clones have just rooted so they might take a little while to veg before I put them under the LEDs. The strain is Vancouver Island Seed Company's "Fucking Incredible."
Thanks for reading - comments are welcome!

If you're only growing one plant under each light you'll be wasting a lot of potential of the 1000w hid. Depending on how big you plan on letting them get before switching to flower, you should be able to grow more plants. Remember, the SS is going in 5sqft and the HID (assuming 60+w/sqft) will be in 16sqft. To maximize yield you should fill the grow area by time they finish. Based on one plant in the 5sqft room you should have 3 or 4 plants of similar size under the HID.

Just my two cents...

To be clear, I'll be growing one test plant under my 1000w lights. It won't be the only plant under there.

The side-by-side part of the test is just meant as a control. The LED will actually be competing with the past yield averages of my HPS plants, but I'll run a control plant through my HPS area as well just to show its performance vs the LED's performance under the same conditions.

It isn't very good science, but it will at least show that I haven't botched some other element of the grow if the LED doesn't perform well. The number to beat is 10.5oz per plant of this strain, but that's with two plants under each 1kw HPS, taking up 8 square feet each.

With only ~5 square feet of space in the LED test area, yield expectations should be adjusted accordingly. 10.5oz from 8 square feet is ~1.3oz per square foot, so we should expect to see roughly 6.5oz from the LED plant.

Thanks for catching that SME. I debated whether or not to bother with the comparison grow, but I figure that some supporting data is better than none. I'm really interested to see how the quality of the final product differs between the two lights. That should clear up the claims of increased resin production, etc, under LEDs...

Dave

Wow, that FI looks pretty FI:)

Hope you can get the same results with led... I'll be following this - Good luck Beefxer

Thanks azores!

Right now I'm waiting for a giant Sour Kush plant to finish so I'll have space for the FI in my main garden, as well as waiting for the FI clones to start taking off.

I'm also waiting for an RMA on my SS400w. The first one was DOA, but I can now attest to California Lightworks' amazing customer service. They are fast, cordial, and they take care of their customers. What more could you want?

Things should start getting interesting in a week or two, depending on that kush plant's progress...

Sorry to hear that your ss arrived busted. They shd do a gratis upgrade to an 800w - now tht would be good customer service!

I wanted to ask if you've had any problems with mold with the FI. I've been interested in it for a while but it's always pretty humid where I am so I usually stick to hybrids just to be on the safe side. Plus those FI seed packs are pricey!

I got lucky and found FI locally as a clone. You're right though, I think FI seeds are $130 or more!

I have grown FI and Permafrost side-by-side for over a year now. The FI is very resistant to powdery mildew, while the PF is not (it's my canary). On the other hand, FI produces large colas that are more likely to develop bud rot if they aren't properly ventilated. All in all I've probably only lost 1/4 oz of the FI to rot over the whole year.

I'd say that FI is an ideal choice for more humid climates. As long as you give each branch its own space through proper pruning, bud rot shouldn't be a big problem. That said, I wouldn't recommend that anyone grow with a humidity over 45% because powdery mildew and other pests are much more likely to get a foothold in your garden. Here in Seattle I have to empty my dehumidifier every 12 hours sometimes to keep up with the humidity. It's worth it though.

Hooray! My new SS400w has been delivered, mounted, and tested. Success!

Again, CLW's customer support is fantastic. Couldn't be happier.


Now I just have to cut some panda film for the curtain and the walls. Still waiting on that Kush plant and clones.

Here are a few pics I snapped of the Sour Kush plant last night, after 7 weeks of 12/12. It's actually Sour Kush x #34 from Archive Seed bank, which is local to Seattle, but I haven't been able to find any information on the #34 strain. Since it was grown from seed it had to be vegged for a longer period than I usually would like, and it has grown so tall that I had to zip-tie my hood to its mounting rings on the ceiling. Still got some bleached tips!

I've never grown a plant this big because it's a waste of space like SME pointed out. However, my gf bet me that it will yield over 16oz and give me the same g/w as my usual 2 plant per light setup. At 4' across, she could be right. What do you guys think?

I never said that growing big plants is a waste, there are many good reasons to grow big plants just not with LED.

Yield is rarely determined by how many plants are under a light as long as the plants are not too big or too small for the light. If you were getting ~450 grams with the same lights you should be able to get the same with fewer - larger plants, assuming it's neither too big nor too small for the light/area...