Black Dog LED True 960W Organic Super Lemon Haze 4'x4' Grow

[ChrisStomata]

Strain: Green House Seed Co. Super Lemon Haze.

Soilless Medium: Coco, Perlite & Lava Rock.

Organic Nutrient Lines:
◾ Reverse Osmosis Water
◾General Organics
◾Fox Farms
◾Advanced Nutrients
◾Cutting Edge Solutions
◾VermaGreen Organics
◾Down to Earth Veganics
◾Great White
◾HygroZyme

Setup:
◾Secret Jardin DR120 48"x48"x80"
◾Titan Controls Atlas 7 Monitor & Regulator
◾Blackstar Lighthouse Hydro LED's (Veg Only)
◾4 x Black Dog LED BD240-U



This is a trial grow of a true 1000 Watt LED grow in a 4'x4' grow space (well... 960 true watts. It was difficult to find a configuration that would work in this small of a space. 1920 Watts of LED's!) Thank you to the guys at Black Dog LED for helping me out with this lighting setup. I will be using four (4) Black Dog LED BD240-U's. They are designed to cover a 2 1/2' x 2 1/2' grow space and I packed 4 into a 4'x4' grow tent. I chose to not use one giant LED light rather I went with four smaller ones to help with evenly saturated PAR over the entire grow canopy.

The strain is Green House Seed Co. Super Lemon Haze. I have been growing this strain for a couple years now and have narrowed down and selected mother plants that have the look, smell, taste, and potency one would expect from this "Super" strain. These two plants were vegged for three months in three gallon smart pots to help build a massive root system. The bigger the roots - the bigger the fruits! They were then transplanted into ten gallon pots and vegged for one more month prior to flower.



The two plants are just under 5 feet tall when they went into the flower tent. Due to height restrictions of the grow tent the plants were smashed down with netting into a SCROG. You'll notice that I did not detail my exact nute schedule. My feeding schedule is designed specifically for my strain and setup. Nutes are timed to the day so the plant uptakes and implements them on the exact day of the flower cycle they are needed. I have spent thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours and killed dozens of plants to nail down my schedule. I am not willing at this time to give that away - sorry (not for sale either).

Please stay tuned as this journal will be updated weekly throughout the entire grow & harvest. I will be lab testing the results of this grow to determine how the lighting effects the potency. Stay Tuned!

 

[budbro18]

Im down to watch this journal.

My secret is to stay simple. Easy nutes easy lights easy pots easy medium = any strain grown perfect. i like your mix of nutes

love led grows and have been wanting to get one but theyre all so expensive and i dont know which one to invest in.

also wish i had a lab to get my shit tested at.

Subd

 

[snappy209]

Lookin great!good luck with the grow!subbd!

 

[ChrisStomata]

Before I get too far into this grow journal I wanted to take a minute and explain to you my background, experience, and reason why I grow with LED's. Just like there are a hundred ways to skin a cat there are just as many ways to grew fine medical cannabis. I do not work for any company/manufacturer that I will discuss. I am a hobbiest - that's it. I am licensed by my state to pursue my passion and I adhere to every state law and regulation. Though your thoughts and opinions on LED's may differ from mine I hope that my experience can shed "more usable" light on this specific lighting technique.

I bought my first LED light panel in 2007 when LED's were starting to pick up momentum. It was trash to say the least! I then did what many others did at the time and purchased a 90W UFO from China on eBay. These lights worked decent in veg but again were trash in flower. I think it was a Lighthouse Hydro 90W LED light that I finished my full first grow with. While the yield was less than impressive the quality was actually quite surprising - I was hooked. Over the next few years I bought, grew with, and then sold several manufactures of LED grow lights to include: Blackstar Lighthouse Hydro, ProSource, Grow LED Hydro, Hydro Grow LED, Blackstar Chrome, LumiGrow, and now Black Dog LED. Yes! I have spent way too much money on this journey. The reason I am telling you this is so that you don't have to waste the same amount of money to settle on a killer LED light as I did. (Once I am finished with this grow I will probably try another manufacturer - just for the experience)

First, let's debunk a myth that LED manufactures have created to sell you LED's - "LED Watts" are NOT comparable to "True Watts". "LED Watts" are what ever the manufacturer feels their light is comparable too. "True Watts" are the actual amount of power a light uses. The idea that you will get a better yields with a LED the pulls 500 true watts compared to a traditional 1000W HID was created to sell you lights and make them $$$. Just because you put a 2x magnifying lens over a diode does not cause 2x the absorbable light and double the yield. Watts only measure how much power a light/bulb draws while output depends on the how the technology of that light/bulb uses that power. Now having said that, 400 true LED watts, of quality light, is superior to 400 watts of the best HID. This is due to how that watt of energy is converted into the output of Photosynthetically Active Radiation or PAR (I could talk for hours about PAR but there are plenty of more qualified individuals on the web already doing that - check out the great work that Nate from Growershouse.com has done with his PAR charts). Through fined tuned spectrums, LED lighting manufacturers have been able to deliver more usable PAR per watt than what you get from your traditional HID's. Another way to look at it is if a true watt of LED and a watt of HID are both $.10 from your power company - wouldn't you want to receive the most usable light for your $.10? I do. With more usable light per watt, you will see a positive difference in your final product of true LED watts over HID watts. Now speaking based solely on my LED & HID growing experience. With high quality (not necessarily most expensive) LED lights over the same true wattage of HID's, you should see an increase in yields (5-20%), a slight increase in finishing times (2-5 days), a noticeable increase in density, a noticeable increase in trichome and terpene production, noticeably tighter internodes, and a night and day difference with heat. Do not be disappointed when you don't see a 200% increase in yield - it will NEVER happen. It is my opinion that a quality LED light must pull over, at a bare minimum, 750 true watts to have comparable results to a 1000W HID. Manufacturers can show me all the charts they want but if everyone who tried LED's truly got 2-3 times the yield in watts, there would be no market for HID lighting.

In conclusion, more "usable light" per watt is why I have chosen to grow with LED lighting. Now, I would be remiss if I did not tell you some negative drawbacks from LED lighting. First, cost - damn nice ones are expensive! Second, canopy coverage - LED lights have incredible PAR output in the center of the light and dissipate rapidly towards the edge and beyond. This is the very reason why I went with four smaller Black Dog models over one large one (LED lights are missing out on the hood technology of HID's). Third, heat - while heat is not an issue in the spring, summer, and fall; LED lights do not create enough heat to maintain an adequate temperature in the winter months. A heater will be needed for your grow room. Fourth, cost - damn nice ones are expensive!

Any input from your experience with LED lights is more than welcome. I will post my reviews of the light manufacturers that I have used in the past on a future post. Happy Growing!

 

[ChrisStomata]

Week 1 Flower:



Just finished week 1 in flower. It looks like the plants really love their new lights. This is actually my second attempt to start a grow with these lights. When I grew with HID there was a hardening-off period when I first introduced the plants to the 1000W lamp. I never had to do this with any of the other LED lights I have grown with until now. I slowly introduced these two plants to the Black Dog lights and have had no signs of shock. Learn from my mistake – if you are going grow with this intense of a LED light setup, you must harden-off your plants to the lights.



I had to smash a net down over the top of the plants to help get some space between the canopy and the lights. Super Lemon Haze usually triples in size throughout the flower cycle and will fill in the empty spaces of the tent in no time. On day 6 there are a number of pistils starting to show. Off to a great start!

 

[ChrisStomata]

LED Grow Light Reviews:

As previously discussed I have grown with a number of LED manufacturers. The following is my personal review of those lights:

Blackstar Lighthouse Hydro:
I currently grow with their High Output Veg lights and love them. I have several of the 90W and 240W models. They are a great light for a great price. I have used their 50W, 90W, 135W, and 240W flowering LED lights. They are a great starter light and will produce some decent buds. If you are on a budget and want a nice closet grow light, then these lights will work great. I had a great grow with their 240W and would pack another tent with them if they were designed for a square tent and not a rectangular one.
Chrome Model: I started a grow with their 180W model and after a few weeks got rid of it. It was trash and I will never grow with their Chrome Models again.

ProSource Worldwide:
I did a grow with their 180W Illuminator Jumbo model. The light was good and I got a solid harvest. The biggest drawback was the heat. I grow with LED lights to avoid heat issues and this light created almost as much heat as an HID. I grow in a square tent and try to avoid UFO or rectangular lights. For the price I did not feel the pros outweighed the cons.

LumiGrow:
I did a grow with their 325 Pro model. It is one of the best LED lights I have grown with. The results were more than impressive. I also loved the ability to moderate power and colors. I chose not to continue to grow with them because of the lights footprint. It does not cover a large enough area. I thought about getting another one for the tent but they are too pricey for the coverage you get. I don’t really like the design either. It seems like a waste of space. Again, if you get your hands on one you will not be disappointed.

Hydro Grow LED:
I have grown a number of grows with the Penetrator 189X-Pro Extreme and currently use it for a micro grow I am doing. Yes, I said micro grow. Their website states that it is the best LED light for a 3’x3’ grow tent. They are high! The PAR readings on it show that there is almost NO PAR out to the 3 foot mark. This light is great for 2’x2’ and that’s it. You will get some killer shit from this light but for $1300 and for the amount of coverage you get - it is an absolute rip off. The trichome and terpene production from this light is killer! I thought about upgrading to their 336 model but can’t spend that kind of money on a light that only draws 500W and only gets good PAR readings in the first 3’x3’ area of coverage.

I hope my experience with these different manufactures helps you decide on the right light for you.

 

[ASMALLVOICE]

Looking Good M8,

Thanx for the share.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

 

[budbro18]

Thanks for the review! Have you ever done a diy led light or looked into the multichip leds? Ive been lookin at a few and they seem alot more simple than regular led builds.

Grab a couple of 30-100w chips, the appropriate drivers, (dimmable is what ive been lookin at to control heat) a heat sink a fan and a few solders later youre in. Opposed to wiring in the right order 100 leds of varying current with a huge heat sink powering them all at full power.

 

[eastcoastmo]

Holy crap dude nice grow setup, I 'd love to try out some LED's but don't have the cash, plus I've always used HID so would struggle with the changeover...I'll keep an eye on this though mate, looks cool as +rep

 

[ChrisStomata]

Week 2:



Just finishing up week 2 with incredible results. The plants just love these lights. They are filling up the tent and are in full stretch mode. Though they are in stretch, I am seeing really tight internodes (more so than I have ever seen before growing this strain). I am also seeing plants on day 13 that look like they are on day 18. Pistils are in abundance and little buds are already forming. I am also seeing trichomes forming on a few of the sugar leaves! Loving this grow!

 

[ChrisStomata]

I love how the leaves are standing at a 45 degree angle almost like they are praising the lights.

 

[Frosty69]

Hey man nice setup, can't wait to see those babies blow up in flower. So I'm in my second led grow and have found leds to be a week or two slower in flower? I have a pro grow 260 for my 4x4 tent but I'm definitely interested in purcchasing another led so I'm definitely excited to see how these black dogs work.

 

[ChrisStomata]

I was cleaning underneath my canopy, cutting all the branches that are not
receiving much light to focus the plants energy on other bud sites, and decided
to give re-vegging clones from flower a try.



Anyone with experience with this please reply.

 

[ranger6]

I like that idea of using 4 smaller led panels rather that one big panel I am currently researching LEDS for my 5x5 tent I had my eye set on one of those 1000watt led china made ones but I am unsure then I stumbled across this lamp _____1200 watt COB-Hybrid LED Grow Light. Top Shelf Series 1200w mx-2 I don't know anything about leds I am new to indoor growing it cost about a G but I want to atleast try to grow indoors in your opionion would 1200 watt led lights be to much for a 5x5 grow tent??

 

[ChrisStomata]

If it says it's 1200 LED watts it is only a 600w light (if that). That light is not powerful enough for a 5x5 tent. Also I would be hesitant with that light selection. It is going to cost you over 2K to light a 5x5 tent. Don't sacrifice quality for $$. If you don't have the scratch to do it right then don't do it. You'll just be disappointed. Just my two cents.

 

[ChrisStomata]

Week 3 Update:

I know I said in an earlier post that I will probably move onto to a different LED manufacturer when I am done with this one - yaaahhh, I probably won't. This light setup has far exceeded me expectations. The bud structures forming and the trichome production that I have on week 3, far surpasses any grow with this strain I have ever done.

 

[Snafu1236]

Hello,

I was wondering why you are so averse to the Blackstar Chromes?


-Snafu

 

[FuckJeffGoldbloom]

Subbed up! Your looking awesome mate, interested to see how these Black Dogs deliver.

FJG

 

[ChrisStomata]

Hello,

I was wondering why you are so averse to the Blackstar Chromes?


-Snafu

I saw very week growth, buds where not well developed and, lanky. It was apparent the plants were light starved. I put in my grow hydro and they bounced right back. Even Gotham hydroponics states that the are a supplemental light and should be used in conjunction with a main lighting source.

 

[Tim larsh]

can not wait to see the final result.
I will get some Black Dog to have a try.