Can 700 watts of LED strips grow trees???

Big Green Thumb

Big Green Thumb

Well-Known Member
Hybridway said:
Very nice! Not for nothin but I knew you'd like that vertical strip growing! This style is gonna catch on soon enough.
Good job!
Is there anything you are gonna tweak on you light system (cuz that's what it is) before next run using her?
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Well, I went ahead and bought an actual 4x4 tent that currently has only the overhead lights vegging some plants and ditched the metal shelving framework that was used last grow. This will allow me to maybe add some CO2 and hopefully will control the smell better. My whole house still reeks from the last grow. The side lighting doesn't quite fit in this tent so modifications need to be made or new side light panels built before the ol' girls get their nethers illuminated. I am also scrogging 2 plants using the 4 - vero 29 water cooled light I built a while ago so we shall see how that does. I did just start using some Blumats to see if that will save me some time with my everyday watering. Fox Farms nutes are put away and these girls are getting Jacks 3-2-1 every watering. This grow is all coco, no more dirt. The growth is DEFINITELY faster this time around.

As far as upgrading, I *may* add some far red and/or UV if I get the time. Possibly invest in some more efficient power supplies but these ones are so cheap! I've been working way too many hours lately and have barely had enough time to keep up with the little ones in the tent.

I should probably start a new thread to keep the new grow separate.
 
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Big Green Thumb

Big Green Thumb

Well-Known Member
So I have been trimming and jarring buds today. It seems like I will easily hit my 2 pound goal --- If I put a pound of rocks in the jars along with the buds. Lol. I have jarred the platinum blue dream and have 7 quart jars about 80% full of buds. Guessing on 1-1.5 ounces per jar, you can do the math. The animal cookies are still hanging and it looks like there is a similar amount so it seems like I will have a pound or a bit more total bud from this harvest. Some people would be disapointed by this (I am!) since I had what seems like SO much light on hand, but I will take it all into consideration for the upcoming grow. Things I can do better to increase yield:

-More nutrients! My plants were green but never a burnt tip and I was losing lower leaves like crazy during the flowering stage. In retrospect, I could have probably upped the nutrients by 50% last grow. I was using Fox Farm nutes and using their feeding schedule, and while their nutrients are known to be strong at full strength, my lights would have supported more nutes. I am using Jacks this grow and will up the nutes until I see negative side effects from the plants.

-CO2 would have been a nice addition to my lights but my grow area was not sealed so it would have taken a tremendous amount of CO2 to have made any difference on my grow. This grow is in a real tent and it is cooler so I may be able to keep the tent sealed and add CO2.

- I did not utilize the full volume (height) of my tent. If the plants would have been vegged longer, they would have been bigger and therefore, higher yield. The plants were all mainlined for a higher number of colas, but the tallest plants was only probably 30" tall. There were 6 plants in the 4x4 grow area last grow. This grow will be 4 larger plants in the 4x4 tent and 2 plants scrogged in a separate grow area. Of course this may be impossible since I have already too many babies growing so we shall see just how it turns out.

- The clones I used for the grow seem to produce good plants, but I have nothing to compare them to in terms of yield. This grow will have a couple clones from the last grow since I don't want to lose these strains, but I also have some other strains growing from Greenpoint seeds: Triple Nova, Cookie Wreck, and Cookies N Chem. Perhaps these will be higher yielders than the last plants.

- The amount of light I was hitting my plants with was overkill without CO2 and more nutes. While the plants showed no negative effects from the light, I feel I could have gotten similar results with 30% less light.

All in all, I feel the last grow was a success since the quality of the plants and buds is very, very good. There is no way I will hit my goal of 2 pounds, but it was a lofty goal! On to the next chapter...

I will post up actual final yields after a couple weeks of curing.
 
Big Green Thumb

Big Green Thumb

Well-Known Member
I finished trimming, jarring and weighing. The dried, but not yet cured weights are:
Animal Cookies: 427 grams
Platinum Blue Dream: 315 grams
Total 742 grams or 26.1733 ounces or 1.63583 pounds.

The grow was better than I thought!!!! Woot! I probably have 2 ounces of real high grade trim (all sugar leaves and small buds) that was not included.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Big Green Thumb said:
I finished trimming, jarring and weighing. The dried, but not yet cured weights are:
Animal Cookies: 427 grams
Platinum Blue Dream: 315 grams
Total 742 grams or 26.1733 ounces or 1.63583 pounds.

The grow was better than I thought!!!! Woot! I probably have 2 ounces of real high grade trim (all sugar leaves and small buds) that was not included.
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Over 1gpw on your first run with a new setup is very respectable.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Big Green Thumb said:
It would be, but I was running about 1000 watts. Im still very happy to get .7 g/w in a single 4x4. Maybe 1 g/w will happen this grow...
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Oops, that was me reading the thread title lol

I think it's very possible to double your results with further tweaking.
 
Big Green Thumb

Big Green Thumb

Well-Known Member
Both strains are outstanding! The worst part of this is trimming all the sugar leaves out of the animal cookies. If the leaves are trimmed flush with the buds there still a lawn clippings type smell, but if we take the time to break the buds down and get out the leaves, the smell, taste, and bag appeal is second to none (other than they are tiny little nugs after deep trimming). It takes so much time tho that i may have to compromise between "really good" and "show stopper" quality :) I'll get some pics up of some final trimmed nugs. My next grow is in flower now and I should get some pics up of it for you guys.
 
Toohighmf

Toohighmf

Well-Known Member
That’s pretty damn amazing first time results. Very impressive for 700w. Why Jack’s 321 and not the 5-12-26 with CalCiNit? Just curious. Thanks for a great show.
 
Big Green Thumb

Big Green Thumb

Well-Known Member
What ttsytikk said regarding nutes -- exactly. Also just to keep the record straight, I ran around 1000 watts of leds through flowering in that grow, which was my second grow. I had never even seen a flowering plant before I grew my 2 plants in my first grow. Hopefully the current grow will be more impressive with basically the same set up and wattage but in a 5x5. It is wall - to - wall green in there right now with the tallest plants being almost chest high. They were flipped 12/12 on December 5th. I gotta get off my lazy ass and get some pics up so this isn't just heresay. There just always seems to be more important things to get done.
 
Big Green Thumb

Big Green Thumb

Well-Known Member
Okay, the crappy $20 chinese power supplies are failing. I have lost 2 24v power supplies. In both the power supplies, the NTC thermistor has cracked from the heat and blown out. This happened running them at 350-360 watts (power supplies are supposedly 360 watts). I need some ideas for different power supplies for the lighting systems. My current power supplies are only 85% efficient so an upgrade in efficiency would be nice too. A possible option for the drivers is just buying the cheap chinese power supplies rated at 500 or 600 watts - hopefully those could handle 360 watts 24/7. I do have another twin of the blown up power supplies on order. As soon as it arrives, I will open it to see the rating on the thermistor and order some to replace the burnt ones.

My overhead lighting consists of 2 - 2x4 panels with 15 strips each. Ideally I would like to run the strips up to 1 amp each for a total of 360 watts per panel. I definitely want some adjustment available so I can turn down the power in veg stage.
My side lighting is 16 33v strips so a different driver that could drive them at 1 amp would be ideal.

If you guys know of any great deals on drivers out there, please let me in on it!
 
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