Sensible ideas only please. Then we can make a list at the end and get them into a manageable idea.
It's an interesting idea for sure and I think a lot of newbies would learn an awful lot about growing by some fairly experienced growers facing off against each other, each using their own favoured ways of doing things.
I do feel though that you need a measurement system to compare results and one that takes some of the variables out of the equation. This 'face off' should not be won by the person with the biggest lights, but light Kw hours used and length of time flowering should be factored into the calculations. So someone growing a more Sativa dominant plant shouldn't be disadvantaged by the longer flowering time of Sativas when pitted against someone growing out an Indica dominant plant that takes far less flowering time.
I also don't feel that there's any particular advantage to be had by everyone growing out the same strain seeds - sure some strains are bigger yielders than others but the ultimate yield is governed far more by the skill of the grower than it is by the genetics of the plant.
I'd like to suggest that you consider the 'Garden Efficiency' model for deciding on who's grow garden has performed the best as this takes into consideration some of the factors I've mentioned above.
The Garden Efficiency model works as follows and is basically how many Kw hours you use to produce 1 gram of bud. It makes it easy to compare gardens using a 125w CFL against gardens using 1000w HIDS as Kw hours and length of flowering time is factored into the calculation -
The four pieces of information you require to perform this calculation are -
The total size of all your lights used in flowering.
The total number of days taken in flowering.
The flowering light cycle.
Total yield in grams.
Example -
Garden 1 uses a 600w HPS for flowering.
The flowering cycle takes 70 days.
The light cycle is 12 hours on 12 hours off.
Total yield is 550g of dry bud.
Step 1
Find the Kw per hour figure by dividing the total wattage of your lights by 1000 -
600/1000 = 0.6
Step 2
Find the total number of Kw hours used in a day -
0.6 x 12 = 7.20
Step 3
Find total flowering Kw hour figure -
7.20 x 70 = 504
Step 4
Find the 'Garden Efficiency' figure by dividing kw hours by dried bud weight in grams -
550/504 = 1.09g per Kw hour.
The GE figure is effecitvely the same as the gram per watt of lighting used, but it factors in the size of lights used and the number of days flowering.
