Recently I received a 220w Solar Flare BloomBooster from CLW as part of the GFP. I'm still in the veg stage but I should be switching over in a few days so this journal will be taking off really soon. I've been using a 125w CFL for almost the entire veg. For the last two days i've had the Solar Flare running on an 18/6 cycle to get the plants ready for flowering and to see how it compares in heat to a CFL. I won't be doing this in the future though, I just wanted to see the results. I also wanted to see how close I could get before the tips started to get bleached.

Initial Impressions
This little thing runs pretty hot, definitely more than expected. Not as bad as a small HPS but definitely hotter than a large CFL.
Veg Cab Temps: CFL (75-86F), LED (83-94F)
My veg cab is about 2' x 1.5' x 3.5' with a 100CFM fan as an exhaust and small PC fan for intake. Ambient temps are around 74-81F.
Hoping the heat drops when I put it into the flower cab which is 3' x 2' x 5'
Heat aside, this is a very bright LED. Even though it's not meant for vegging it does a great job at it. The plants responded better under the LED than the CFL. Bleaching of leaves happens at roughly 8" so be sure to keep it above that. Really looking forward to seeing what it can do.

As for my grow, I have two Ace of Spade plants (both from seed) and a Master Kush clone. One Ace plant is a revegged female, the other still hasnt shown sex. The Master cut is also a reveg. It's small right now but that cut stretches like crazy once in flower. All of them are in airpots. I use Roots Organic soil, straight from the bag. I also use the Roots Organic nutrient line (bottled and a few top dresses). The pesticides I use are Azamax, Neem Oil, and Mighty Wash (all claim to be organic). That's all I can really think to mention right now.
Pictures will be coming soon!

Looking forward to checking it out. Don't forget pictures!

Sorry for the short delay in between posts. Finally have a chance to update this journal.Well so far I am loving the led. The plants are growing great and the Ace of Spades that hadn't shown sex turned out to be a female! Just showed the first pistils today.
The light penetration with the 220w is really good, definitely comparable to an HID but i'm only on week two of 12/12 and the real test for that is during week six to eight. The heat is manageable in my flower tent but I honestly thought this light would run cooler. A little disappointed with that but it's not any fault of California Lightworks. The 5w diodes just heat up a lot because of how powerful they are. No lie, they really make you start to sweat when you work directly underneath them




The first two pictures were taken on day one of 12/12. The one below was taken on day six. The new small plant in the right bottom corner is a suspected male (also an Ace plant) but it's still a little early to tell. The top left plant is Master Kush, other two are Ace of Spades.

Yes, it's a myth that powerful LED grow lights put out little to no heat and also that smaller LED grow lights will yield as much as larger HID lights.

Sorry for the lack of updates on this thread to anyone who's actually reading it. Here's some pictures from the grow.

Day 18



Day 29



Day 47

Nice looking plants. You actually use those pesticides as a preventative?