I’m excited too man!Hacked up the tops of the Strawberries in the 25g pots on day 59, they were done. Being so close to the light source, not too surprised.
I'm genuinely surprised the damage of the buds, nor the leaves wasn't significantly worse. I feel like a 1000w DE (sometimes cranked up to 1150w) would have bleached and scorched the shit out of them. Some of the buds were even as close as 1ft to the light. If I didn't have photos, there is absolutely no way anyone would believe me if I said that.
I mean, even seeing it in person I still didn't believe it. I will never run >50% RH ever again if I can control it, it is truly remarkable to me how much I've been able to push these plants because of the RH. I've harvested a decent chunk of the tent so far.
The Strawberry on the left was pulled on day 59.
Strawberry in the middle on day 60.
Green Crack: Day 61.
I've completely filled 2 6ft drying racks with the tops of the Strawberries and the Green Crack, so I'm excited to soon finally get an idea of what this light is truly capable of.
Here's how things look now.
View attachment 4842341
View attachment 4842342
View attachment 4842343
View attachment 4842344
Hoping to find out about weight by Friday-Saturday, once everything dries and goes into jars.
Having seen the SIPs in action, and perform so incredibly, I've a theory I was wondering if anyone might be able to disprove before I go through the trouble of finding out myself. If one grows with SIPs, does one need an aeration/drainage input in one's soil?
The SIPs make the need for drainage in a soil superfluous, and since the water is never stagnant it should ensure sufficient aeration as well, no? The only somewhat conclusive answer I could find was some people recommending a 45% peat/45% compost/10% perlite mix for their SIPs. I'll likely opt for 75% peat/25% compost in an effort to stall compaction.
Imagine if you could grow in a medium without perlite/etc. in it. If the average soil has 1/3 perlite in it, that's an entire 1/3 of soil mass that roots cannot grow in. For perspective, that's 10g out of a 30g pot that roots cannot grow in! You have 30g of soil mass, but only the capacity for 20g of root mass!
I'd appreciate if someone is able to comment on any experience or sources about reducing/eliminating perlite in a soil for SIPs. Otherwise, I'll just have to find out for myself ;p
Next tent grow is already in the works. Seeds are here, and are soaking in a water+FulPower mixture. They'll go into paper towels in 24 hours, then into solo cups once they pop. They'll remain in solo cups until I harvest this first batch, then sanitize the tent/equipment. By then, they should be ready to go into their final 5g pots which will then go into the tent.
This will require me to go the ROLS route with the 25g pots, instead of no-till. Will suck to break apart the soil web, but a ROLS is better than making an entirely new soil. Gonna dump the pots and mix with enough peat to fill 24 5g pots. My goal is to a create a more even canopy with smaller plants, as opposed to larger trained plants. Became a caregiver for someone else, so I'm able to do this while staying at my plant count.
Very excited to see what happens.
That’s crazy that you could get that close to your plants with that 1k DE, but it does confirm something I learned recently. On a podcast with Bruce Bugby ( lighting expert super man) he mentioned that in their lab studies they found that cannabis does have the ability to process crazy high light intensity, like up to 1500 ppfd and higher. (Current thinking says 1200 is max) The one thing that made that possible? ENVIRONMENT.
As you witnessed, keeping you VPD in line makes a huge difference with that much lighting. C02 plays a big role too, and I’ll bet with all of that plant matter transpiring you had high levels of it, contributing to your success. I agree, a light mover would be sweet for your set up!
I’m using the DE 600 HPS combined with DE 630 CMH and it’s pretty bad ass.
And those SIPS... damn! I’ve been struggling a bit to keep my fabric pots hydrated properly and this looks like just the ticket! I have 30 24” trays ordered so I’ll try that out this run.
I’m also on the fence with true “ no till” gardening. I’ve done it for years but anymore I’ll at least do a 4-6 “ till just to incorporate my amendments a bit deeper down into the rhizosphere so they get processed asap. And on the last few runs in the fabric pots I actually emptied out a bunch of them altogether , added my amendments and remixed them all before putting the refreshed soil back in the pots for a new run. Plants thrived.