My Three Plants
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 10:29 pm
This is my second indoor grow. The first grow was one plant using a 120 watt actual power Chinese made light with a light configuration for blooming (lots of red). I created a grow space of 30 inches square in a closet with ventilation. That's a total floor space of 6.25 square feet. (I am out for quality, not quantity.)
The strain was Golden Goat grown in potting soil. I added a 42 watt 6500 K fluorescent light during the vegetative growth to provide additional blue light. Lights were on for 18 hours per day. It took 2 months for the plant to reach 11 inches where I switched to 12 hours to induce flowering. (I am not sure I had the best soil.) It took an additional 82 days to get to the point where the trichomes started to turn cloudy. The plant was 17 inches tall when it was harvested (took 2 1/2 months to grow 6 inches during harvest). The LED grow light was kept only a couple of inches above the plant. For this strain I had expected 70 to 77 days. The plant looked good. I got a total wet yield off the plant of 4.8 ounces and a dry yield of 1.1 ounces. The buds seems wispy. I had expected about a 3:1 reduction in weight on harvest. In researching this I came to the conclusion that I simply did not have enough photons to produce the heavy buds I was looking for. The taste of the smoke and the quality of the high however, did not disappoint.
In summary, the Chinese LED light did produce a small plant but very light weight. My conclusion was that the frequencies of the LEDs were correct but not enough power or penetration. I don't know how efficient this light was. I suspect that the LEDs do not have any lenses that focus the light down which would have helped with penetration.
Now on to my second grow. Since I had a relatively small plant for my space, I decided to try growing three plants at the same time. I started the grow with the same Chinese LED and 42 watt fluorescent light during the vegetative stage. For blooming I decided to upgrade my LED light and purchases a California Light Works (CLW) 400 watt Solar Storm LED light (345 actual watts). I am expecting better results with this light having an actual power almost 3 times as great. I also believe that the lenses on the CLW light will give me greater light penetration. So maybe this light will be 5 times more effective light.
For my three plants I have 3 different strains:
Golden Goat gown in potting soil
Acapulco Gold in hydroponics
Critical Mass in potting soil
For the second grow I wanted to test out a hydroponic system called Deep Water Culture ("Bubbler"). This technique uses a 5 gallon bucket with the plant in a 6 inch bucket basket lid filled with clay pellets. In the bucket is an air stone connected to a small air pump like those found for aquariums. This keeps the water saturated with oxygen. This provides a great ability to control the grow medium and great availability of nutrients to the roots.
On February 4th I replaced the Chinese Light and the 42 watt fluorescent with a 400 watt CLW solar storm. ON this date I switched from 18 hours per day to 12 to induce flowering. The plants at this time had the following heights and days since the plants were either seeded or cloned:
Golden Goat 10.5 inches day 35
Acapulco Gold 9.0 inches day 48
The Critical Mass plant was only on day 28 and had only achieved a height of 2.75 inches so it is being kept on a 18 hour light schedule to keep it in vegetative growth. The Critical Mass plant has a much shorter flowering period so I may be able to add this plant to the others in a few weeks and still have them all mature at the same time.
I consider this grow to be an experiment:
I want to determine if my growth rate speeds up.
At harvest will I have a better yield with heavier buds.
What reduction in weight will I have from wet to dry rate when I harvest.
I want to compare the growth of using the Bubbler system vs. soil.
It should take about 10 to 11 weeks for the buds to fully mature.
The strain was Golden Goat grown in potting soil. I added a 42 watt 6500 K fluorescent light during the vegetative growth to provide additional blue light. Lights were on for 18 hours per day. It took 2 months for the plant to reach 11 inches where I switched to 12 hours to induce flowering. (I am not sure I had the best soil.) It took an additional 82 days to get to the point where the trichomes started to turn cloudy. The plant was 17 inches tall when it was harvested (took 2 1/2 months to grow 6 inches during harvest). The LED grow light was kept only a couple of inches above the plant. For this strain I had expected 70 to 77 days. The plant looked good. I got a total wet yield off the plant of 4.8 ounces and a dry yield of 1.1 ounces. The buds seems wispy. I had expected about a 3:1 reduction in weight on harvest. In researching this I came to the conclusion that I simply did not have enough photons to produce the heavy buds I was looking for. The taste of the smoke and the quality of the high however, did not disappoint.
In summary, the Chinese LED light did produce a small plant but very light weight. My conclusion was that the frequencies of the LEDs were correct but not enough power or penetration. I don't know how efficient this light was. I suspect that the LEDs do not have any lenses that focus the light down which would have helped with penetration.
Now on to my second grow. Since I had a relatively small plant for my space, I decided to try growing three plants at the same time. I started the grow with the same Chinese LED and 42 watt fluorescent light during the vegetative stage. For blooming I decided to upgrade my LED light and purchases a California Light Works (CLW) 400 watt Solar Storm LED light (345 actual watts). I am expecting better results with this light having an actual power almost 3 times as great. I also believe that the lenses on the CLW light will give me greater light penetration. So maybe this light will be 5 times more effective light.
For my three plants I have 3 different strains:
Golden Goat gown in potting soil
Acapulco Gold in hydroponics
Critical Mass in potting soil
For the second grow I wanted to test out a hydroponic system called Deep Water Culture ("Bubbler"). This technique uses a 5 gallon bucket with the plant in a 6 inch bucket basket lid filled with clay pellets. In the bucket is an air stone connected to a small air pump like those found for aquariums. This keeps the water saturated with oxygen. This provides a great ability to control the grow medium and great availability of nutrients to the roots.
On February 4th I replaced the Chinese Light and the 42 watt fluorescent with a 400 watt CLW solar storm. ON this date I switched from 18 hours per day to 12 to induce flowering. The plants at this time had the following heights and days since the plants were either seeded or cloned:
Golden Goat 10.5 inches day 35
Acapulco Gold 9.0 inches day 48
The Critical Mass plant was only on day 28 and had only achieved a height of 2.75 inches so it is being kept on a 18 hour light schedule to keep it in vegetative growth. The Critical Mass plant has a much shorter flowering period so I may be able to add this plant to the others in a few weeks and still have them all mature at the same time.
I consider this grow to be an experiment:
I want to determine if my growth rate speeds up.
At harvest will I have a better yield with heavier buds.
What reduction in weight will I have from wet to dry rate when I harvest.
I want to compare the growth of using the Bubbler system vs. soil.
It should take about 10 to 11 weeks for the buds to fully mature.