126W Penetrator Bloom Demonstration

[LEDGirl]

I have been asked by many people on other forums, to post a grow test showing what a single 126W light can do on it's own. I setup a test using 4 plants that are close in size, in an aeroponics system, placed inside a 30" x 18" grow space. I will be taking photo updates regularly to show you all the progress of a full bloom using the only LED light on the market that is able to fully penetrate your canopy. This test will demonstrate to everyone, just how much weed you can grow using only 126W watts of light, throughout the next 8 weeks.

I hope you all enjoy the progress, and stick around to see the results!

This picture was taken 9-26-09:

[LEDGirl]

So this is the first time I've ever run a fairly complete Humboldt Nutrients line on a bloom crop (not sure if experimenting is wise for a test, but I'm constantly experimenting), and during the first week two of the plants got nutrient burn a bit. All of the plants however, have roots that were not at their optimal...

I cleaned the system a week in, and decided to dial the nutes back a little to see if that helps them out any. Sometimes with hydro, less can be more depending on how your roots are handling it, and I think that will end up being the case here. Anyhow, I raised the light a few inches about 3 days prior to the pictures. It's current height is 9" above the tallest plants and 12" above the shorter ones. Raising the light will help them to stretch a bit more before they really begin to bud out, if they come out of the stress. I also re-arranged the plants a little.

These pictures were taken 10-3-09:

[LEDGirl]

Alrighty, well week 2 finished and there were some slight changes. The main reason there haven't been more update pictures, is that the plants were stunted due to the nutes, and up until 3-4 days ago, hadn't begun vertical growth. Flowering has definitely been prolonged from the stress, as there would normally be clusters forming by now. The plants are a few inches taller, and are finally coming out of their BS with the Humboldt Nutes.

I switched to Advanced Nutrients Iguana Juice and Hornby's Big Bud, instead instead of the Humboldt. I'm very familiar with these two products, so I feel a lot more comfortable blooming with them now vs the Humboldt Line. The roots should be fully alive within a few days! The plants should also start growing at their usual rate, so I'll likely update more often.

These pictures were taken 10-10-09:

[LEDGirl]

You can see in the final photo, some of the lasting stress that one of the plants underwent because of the nutes. They are all coming alive now though, and beginning to turn green. As you can see in the last picture, the clusters are beginning to form. I guess now the fun can begin!

These pictures were taken 10-12-09:

[LEDGirl]

By the way everyone, I wanted to point something out here that I haven't mentioned before:

During the "Daylight" hours for these test plants in bloom, the room has remained a constant 90-95 degrees without CO2. At it's lowest point (if I leave the door wide open) it drops to 80 degrees. At night time, the plants are 80-85 degrees. These plants are in a small section of a larger room, where there are a few HID lights over veg, some cactii, etc... which is how I can get the room so warm :cool:

I want you to understand that the ambient room temp wasn't what killed your plants before with HID. It was the fact that you would hang a 450-650 degree light source, within 12" of your plants, that carried TONS of heat with it towards your plants. Your plants could no longer withstand this heat stress from the multi-hundred degree HID, when the ambient temp in your room rose above 85-90 degrees. Since LED's carry hardly any heat with them, the light source itself causes no heat stress to the plants, as it did with HID. The plants don't have to constantly battle a multi-hundred degree light source staring them in the face, so they function perfectly fine at 95 degrees without CO2. Anyhow, thought guys might enjoy that tidbit.

These pictures were taken 10-14-09:

[LEDGirl]

Here is another update with some up-close shots of the plants this time. You'll be able to see the remnants of the nute stress they underwent up until this past week pretty easy.

These pictures were taken 10-16-09:

[LEDGirl]

So as you can see, only 1 plant has achieved any stretch during bloom. The others were so stunted from the first two weeks, that it doesn't look as though they will make it much taller than they are currently (approximately the same height they were when they entered). Oh well, there's always time for another test

These pictures were taken 10-18-09:

[TechnoMage]

By the way everyone, I wanted to point something out here that I haven't mentioned before:

During the "Daylight" hours for these test plants in bloom, the room has remained a constant 90-95 degrees without CO2. At it's lowest point (if I leave the door wide open) it drops to 80 degrees. At night time, the plants are 80-85 degrees. These plants are in a small section of a larger room, where there are a few HID lights over veg, some cactii, etc... which is how I can get the room so warm :cool:

I want you to understand that the ambient room temp wasn't what killed your plants before with HID. It was the fact that you would hang a 450-650 degree light source, within 12" of your plants, that carried TONS of heat with it towards your plants. Your plants could no longer withstand this heat stress from the multi-hundred degree HID, when the ambient temp in your room rose above 85-90 degrees. Since LED's carry hardly any heat with them, the light source itself causes no heat stress to the plants, as it did with HID. The plants don't have to constantly battle a multi-hundred degree light source staring them in the face, so they function perfectly fine at 95 degrees without CO2. Anyhow, thought guys might enjoy that tidbit.

These pictures were taken 10-14-09:

What's the ambient temperature like? I'm saving my money for the 126w Penetrator to replace my 250w HPS. I've been afraid that going to a 400w would overwhelm the ventilation. The one nice thing about the 250w in a cooltube is that my cab never goes more than 3 degrees above the ambient temp of the room.

[LEDGirl]

What's the ambient temperature like? I'm saving my money for the 126w Penetrator to replace my 250w HPS. I've been afraid that going to a 400w would overwhelm the ventilation. The one nice thing about the 250w in a cooltube is that my cab never goes more than 3 degrees above the ambient temp of the room.

The ambient temp in the room is affected by a number of factors: 1) the walls and ceiling are insulated, 2) there is 650W worth of HID running on the other side of the sheetrock, and 3) it's only a 6' x 6' room. Anyhow, the ambient gets to about 95 degrees (max so far I've seen was 98) with the door closed. Once I switch the HID's out of the room in a few weeks, the temp will likely stay right around 85. The units themselves operate at 105 degrees.

[LEDGirl]

So bloom is finally happening, although a bit late... I wish all 4 plants would have actually come out of the stress and grown upwards, but oh well, at least 1 did. The next time I run this test, it should be hassle free from start to finish. The light is currently 13" above 3 plants, and pretty close to the 4th. Anyhow, enjoy the pics!

These pictures were taken 8-21-09:

[kw23]

Impressive set up. When I move in with my girlfriend, I am definitely going to go the LED route. Now if only I knew where to find the seeds!

[LEDGirl]

Try "The Attitude Seed Bank"

They seem to have a pretty good rep, and they also give you free seeds with your purchases.

[ROLLINGALONG]

wtf happened to the experimental grow pics