LED Grow Light Forum

Hey Forum,

I'm getting ready to start a Solar Storm 400 trial, mainly for the discount. Just want to give you guys some of my grow background. I have experience growing with all forms of lighting. I live in the dessert in New Mexico, so my climate is dry and hot, and during the winter the nights are cold! I grow in my garage, inside of grow tents (2 4x4's and 1 4x8). I like that you can control the climate in a tent and they are 100% reflective so your not wasting energy. During the winter I run raptor 8in dual hoods and the rest of the year I use led's and cfl's. I currently have 2 ProSource 180 UFO's and 1 Blackstar 100 UFO running in a tent and a Solar Storm 800 in the other. My 4X8 is vacant but I have another SS 800 on the way as well as a SS 400 for this grow journal. CLW SS 800 kicks fucking ass, no other way to put it. For the money if you compare the 2k I'm burning with one of my duals compared to the 650w I'm getting with the SS, and HID are a thing of the past. Already sold my raptors, today as matter of fact. I'm going to run a space heater out there and it will still be cheaper then 2 dual raptors, haha.

Here's the pending grows stats:
4x4 Grow Tent (75-82 degree's with 30% humidity)
400w SS
1 6in booster set for neg pressure
1 10in oscillating fan
9 ladies in soil in 5.7 gal air pots:
1 Exodus Cheese
2 Bubba Kush
6 Power Kush

I run an organic nut setup, which is based on Gen-O's go box line, modified. I also use extreme gardening additive in my soil as well as azamite trace minerals. I also brew my own compost tea. Together all three of these things make my roots zone go hard and my harvests usually represent that. It also gives any strain I grow a ton of bug resistance. This environment is prime for spider mites............Fuck Spider Mites!

Well, to be continued.........

Welcome to the forums!

You do know that a space heater can run well over 1000w, right?

I assume you flower while they're short with 9 in a 4x4 tent and if you ran positive air pressure (with an intake filter), you might help keep the bugs out.

What kind of yield were you getting with your HID lights? I ask because nobody here has broken the 1g/w mark with any LED yet and other journals here show that the HID lights tend to perform better in flower.


YMMV...

Thanks for the advice. I have always and forever been told that you want neg pressure in tents, but I like your suggestion about positive pressure and I may try it. Small plants yes, I usually flip when they are 14 in. The best yield I have had so far was under the dual raptor, and I ran a Blue MH and a HPS bulb for a totla of 2K and it was 1.5lbs. But as I keep growing I really think its about your strain or genetics. When I started growing I bought cheap seeds or cool sounding strains and I was dumb for that. Now I pay 25$ a seed and Im going to start killing it! I wish I could get quality clones, but in NM the dispensaries suck dick. So I order seeds and have to what forever, but its worth it.

Ouch that's under .5g/w; you can definitely do better than that. I agree that strain selection can be important; some strains will never hit the 1g/w mark and some exceed it. It's not always about how much you pay per seed though. Live and learn...

So on my two 4X4 tents I switched to positive pressure with my fans.The plants look about the same but its only been a day. I will load some pics later when the lights come on. I also thought about the low yield, yet dank dung... and I think I haven't been watering enough as far as quantity. Currently I water every other day and give each plant a quart (talking about my big tent grow), so I'm increasing that with a month left on it and we shall see. My light water approach comes from my first few grows when I just water logged my plants and had a million nats over night. There really is a lot to growing that herbal remedy.

OK sorry Ive been absent. I just graduated from college and had all that stuff to handle. I'm in week 2, Monday starts week 3. I have also added a 200 multi-spec solar flare. I was a little concerned with just a 400, so thats why I added that. Other than that the Grand Master Line is making these things grow like whoa! It is blowing GO out of the water so far, they look healthy too, no deficiencies. I am also posting some pics of my other grow too... mostly because its evidence of how BA CLW leds are.

Here are pics of my other grow. The close up is Grape God Bud that's 2 wks out and the other one is my 4x8 and its just blowing my expectations out of the water.