Yeah, people can crush it, but that’s where we’re coming to “experience”.
I see the kits that people are trying to sell here going for a grand new, so before electricity, nutrients, etc, these people here have to get around 4oz just to break even on that.
Now, obviously, you can recoup that cost in one grow but how many manage that with their first grow because they haven’t done the research and have no plan? Not many, so that’s where I come in with the “expectations” bit as if it takes a year and several attempts to get that first successful grow it does discourage some because they’ve spent all that money but are still spending more buying weed, it becomes a vicious circle of spending and at some point something has to give.
Of course, that’s before we think of those who have fallen for marketing hype and have paid some frankly ridiculous prices for lights that don’t remotely live up to claims. That, again, comes under “planning”, and then, once again, they’re chasing their tails as costs go up for little or no return, get discouraged and the rest is history.
Oh, and defying the rules? I think I’m the definition of that as I was told that cheap flexible led strip would not penetrate enough, that you couldn’t grow an auto in a 4.5l pot, that an auto would not do much under 12/12, and so on. But it worked…
That goes as to who’s rules. Lots of people don’t have a clue and repeat silly stuff they hear. I’f it happens enough, becomes rule for some. How many people you see say that 2-3 plants is about all you can fit into a 4x4? Lol.
And that’s when it goes pear-shaped for the beginner as they get “advice” from everywhere except places like here, and other sites/forums are obviously available, and then wonder what’s gone wrong.
I know, it sometimes makes me wonder why some people are allowed to breed, vote, and walk around in public without an escort but I have to jump through an enormous amount of hoops if I want to own a handgun.
@dbrn32 sorry for all the questions hope this is the last question I have before I pull the trigger on that hlg-600 do I have to wait till i start a new grow to use that light or should the plant respond fine to the new light from switching over from the MH
@Newb1 that light will work awesome from start to finish. In mid grow you may not see as much benefits as you would using it from The beginning, but it will still work great to finish them.
I dunno - we don’t need the same quality of light to veg a plant IMHO… I have just harvested two plants I primarily vegged under my cheapo blurple lights… and the gold leaf plant I have in my flower tent right now (filling up the entire 4x4 scrog by itself) was vegged entirely under my cheapo lights too.
The real benefit of these awesome, highly efficient lights comes during flower time… so I think if you still have weeks of flower left you will absolutely see a major benefit.
EDIT
I will add tho that I don’t really like my node spacing so much under my blurple panels, and the node spacing that @MattyBear and others have been getting with their strip-style boards is impressive to me.
@Bogleg you’re correct, vegging then switching to flower you would see a difference. I should’ve been more specific and mentioned midway through flowering. The last 2-3 weeks, I don’t think much would change.
The original poster mentioned metal halide, I should have picked up on that. I was on lunch, and I let my stomach do some of that talking. Lol
I’ve advocated this for some time. Nice to get confirmation from a fellow grower. I veg a lot of my plants under a couple of Meizhi 300’s (150) and the plants do fine. Though on this grow I have both tight and open node spacing; some sativa in the woodpile I’m guessing lol.
The difference for me is I’m starting flower with two plants under 120 watts each right now and they’re doing fine, compared to a bunch of smaller plants under 300 watts of cheaper lights to veg. In fairness I have to factor in the sunlight they get too. I don’t think I could ever point to a particular grow and say I got 1.25 g/watt because of that.
Absolutely! There’s so much that goes into pulling big numbers. Hitting pk right post stretch can make or break a big yield by itself, as could some properly timed defoliation. Much like saying all you gotta do is buy these fancy lights and the weed will practically grow itself, is a load of crap. But the more photosynthesis you have the ability to drive there’s not really any replacement for either.
Correction: 180 watts per panel in flower. That’s right at 75% output so I should be in a high efficacy load. At least double the PAR numbers over the Amazon lights.
I guess I did my research. My first grow inside was a Northern Lights clone that cost me $30. I used about $20 worth of miracle grow potting soil and bloom nutes. I had a ballast sitting around unused from an LCD projector project so I bought an HPS bulb for about $25, an aluminum sheet I bent into a reflector for about $8, and a mogul socket for about $10. Used a timer I had already. About 4 studs so I could hang the light for about $12. My grow chamber was a shower we don’t use. Maybe $2 worth of aluminum foil on the walls.
Got 7 ounces dry weight. $107 build cost and about $125 worth of electricity = $233 for $1050 worth of weed inside. The plants I put outside were about $50 each plus $20 for a bottle of spinosad. The strain I liked (Blue Cheese) also gave me around 7 ounces dry weight.
