Well folks, they're dry, trimmed and into the curing jars. Some may be disappointed at the final outcome. I know I am. While I would have liked a better outcome as I have a few of these lights, this was their final flowering round. They will continue to be used for clones, seedlings, side lighting, they veg quite well, but when it comes to flowering I'm looking as we speak to obtain some lights that can flower and produce dense bud/weight. More details below.
Final weight from 3 plants, was 59g of decent/smokable bud, plus another 20g of popcorn/close-to-the-bud trim for the oil bin. 1/2 of what I was thinking. Quality of the smoke is outstanding, that's the genetics, they were nicely finished, but the buds are all fluff, no density to them, obvious from the final weight.
This is actually less weight than my last round, where I felt
I had more to do with the outcome than the lights themselves, but this just confirms (to me at least) that while these lights can technically flower, they suck at it. While neither of these strains were considered high producers, I would have expected 150+g from this round at the low end.
Could I have bumped the weight up? Of course, maybe some additional training, heavier on the feeds, there's always room for improvement. If anything I held back a bit, trying to mimic more of an average grow. But could I have doubled the final weight (imo the low end from medium producing strains), I highly doubt it. I don't consider myself and expert indoor but I've been growing a long time and didn't screw-up anything this round. I had a nearly perfect run from an environmental standpoint, kept them healthy throughout the run, they were strong plants going into flowering, they produced a good amount of bud sites, they just didn't produce weight/density. So, I have to blame the lights, there's nothing else that could have made a significant enough difference to produce a more acceptable final weight. And, again, this was a second chance at flowering, not the first run.
Summary:
Cheap lights, good for vegging, will continue to use them for clones, seedlings, vegging, and now side-lights. But for flowering, another light, or more accurately lights will take their place in the flower room. No quality problems with them, decent build, only thing I haven't tested them on is their warranty. They just can't produce good bud, at least to my standards, and that's what it's all about isn't it? If I throw all costs in, I could have bought this weight (2 oz.) at wholesale prices, not good...
Rough costs:
Power: $160
Nutes: $20
Seeds: $30
Water/filter: $25
Pots: $10
Work: ??
So, for flowering it's down to the following, googling and will pull the trigger on a couple of panels shortly. When I get some time I'll be looking to expand with DIY panels as they seem to be the most efficient if done right...
A51, Inda-Gro, Apache???
A51 has some great deals on right now on the XGS-190's... 2x RW-150's or 2x XGS-190's? Any thoughts? I'm leaning towards 2 of the XGS-190's @ $475/each which would do 4 plants nicely. Keep in mind, these will be dedicated flowering lights.
Will post some of the final pics later, gotta do some clean-up on the flowering room and get it ready for the next round while I wait for delivery of some decent lights. Cheers and safe growing
Thoughts/comments/arguments are more than welcome...