Grow Light Testing Fun

What up RIU!

I've been having a little fun "testing" various lighting techniques so I thought I'd share my findings and see if I can get you veteran growers to chime in. Here's what I've got;

Grow Box #1
4'x2'x6' cabinet with separate veg and bloom areas
600w HPS in top chamber
(4) 3' T5s in lower chamber

Grow Box #2
4'x2'x6' cabinet with dual blooming chambers
600w MH in top chamber
(3) 45w LED panels + (1) 33w LED strip light

I'm running 8 plants in each box. FF Ocean Forest soil in (8) #3 smart pots and (8) #3 spring pots (testing difference between these as well, 4 of each per box). Running RO water with Cal-Mag+, Botanicare CNS17 grow/bloom/ripe, Sweet Raw, Liquid Karma, Hydroplex. I'm running a lighter dose of nutrients and feeding every other watering (feed/water/feed/water). Running the Ice hybrid strain.

I started the clones in .5gal plastic grow bags, vegged for 3 weeks under T5s, and up potted to the 3gal containers two days before I began flowering.

Grow Box #1 was turned off for the first 3 weeks of bloom. I put 8 plants in the top chamber of Grow Box #2 under a 600w MH, and put the other 8 in the chamber below under the LED's

The Test

I’m comparing two lighting methods here…going the first 3 weeks of bloom under LEDs then moving them to the 600w HPS vs. running the first 3 weeks of bloom under an MH bulb and then switching to HPS. The benefit of the alternate light during early bloom is to prevent excessive stretching and improve node spacing. I’ve seen the results with the MH to HPS before and was quite pleased…now I’d like to take it a step further with the LED and see if I can cut down on my electricity usage. BONUS: If it works well, I’ll be able to speed up my harvest time and crop every 5 weeks under the HPS!

PICS & VIDEOS

Been working on this for about two months already, so these will bring you all up to speed;

[video=youtube_share;5tQhJRT97yQ]http://youtu.be/5tQhJRT97yQ[/video]

More vids and pics in a sec...
 

Vooch

Member
Great looking grow! Did you build it yourself? Do you have plans you can share? I want to build one.
 
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