Hey Man - yeah! Finished up this grow last Saturday and have things hanging to dry now... Pics from the day before chop: Little yellow from low feeding the last couple weeks, but these things got damn frosty. I found I incurred the least stress on the TDs with two 4hr blocks of UVA per day. The GZs couldn't handle quite that much, but they hermed at week 4. (Second set of herms in the same batch of seeds so the seeds were bunk). Definitely think the UVA helped with the frost development. Between all the lights I was using I was putting down an average of 330w during the day: 285w from the qb288s 25w from the qb3s 30w from the UVA bar, but only for 2/3 of lights-on so calculating 20w. I should have overall GPW in another day or two when I can jar the harvest.
As far as proper usage goes, I dialed up the hours slowly over a few weeks and watched for stress. Some strains can take more hours than others - and I'd intend to figure out what the max level is for a given strain and stay there.
Nice grow and great info. Mine is really just 395nm only. Its borderline UVA and near blue. I was wondering if a full 12 hour would be fine? I guess I'll start with 2+2 to see how it goes?
I started with 4 hrs and dialed it up by an hour every 2-3 days. I'd bet you could start at 6hrs (3+3 or the full 6) with the 395nm. Just keep a close eye on your plants for light stress, which will either come as bleaching or leaf margins getting crispy. I found older leaves that formed before I fired up the UVA were more likely to crispify than ones that formed after...
Did you happen to do a build receipt pile to factor what you have invested? Curious. The OCD factor is real in your grow set up. Even the drying hangers are dress right dress. Damn. Respect.
Oh man - this pair of lights ran me probably $1200USD or so, but I went ALL OUT on materials - the frames made of anodized t-slot were pretty pricy. You could 100% build something functionally identical with angle aluminum for the frames and save a few hundred bucks there. The dry box is a former supercloset with some shower curtain tension rods to hang hangers on. All told, everything I've ever bought for growing, I'm in pretty deep... but if you do the math on the amount I've grown and typical prices on the street or at a dispensary, I've produced many many more thousands of dollars worth of weed than I've spent on equipment. With the amount my wife and I smoke we've probably saved a few grand by not having to purchase weed anymore.
Nice setup man .... I’m planning on getting the 600w kit from hlg, but now I want your light . Lol Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum