5Lbs/1Kw Challenge-The Quest for 80 Zips with Galactic Grape

[aerokrafter]

Thank you all for the kind words.

At this point we are at 3 days in the dryer - another couple days until I begin processing and prolly one more to finish writing.

Soon!


-Maj Pothead
I will remove all the lumber before the next step.

-medicalmj
Over in the Rookie thread I just pulled 2. Here's a peek:




-hempfield
It's an average large bud. If you look in the middle of the group hanger shot, you can see the tag for the track bud. Part of the problem with the grow was the uneven canopy. 4 plants in the center were quite a bit smaller than the 14 big ones. The runt was hopelessly shaded and never caught up.



-aeroflow
Always happy to see folks delurk! Glad you are enjoying the show.


Just a few more days! In the mean time, have fun and don't forget to ask any questions you would like me to include in the final report.

-AK

 

[roll it large]

very nicely done ak

I'd say the reflector has helped alot
with the buds on the outside for sure

eager to hear your thoughts on the use of halide forthe stretch

thanks for taking the time and effort to show us all your thoughts and ideas


peace

 

[Rob547]

For some reason I couldn't give you rep, maybe bc I liked the first post..

Anyway, nice grow, great thread, good info, solid results at the 3 mark. congrats

 

[redbudduckfoot]

eagerly awaiting them numbers.

rbdf

 

[sour power]

Very nice

 

[southflorida]

holy sh*t AK...that pic with the buds on hangers...is completely out-foking-rageous!

thanks A LOT for taking your time to post all your info and images here on icmag!

 

[medicalmj]

-medicalmj
Over in the Rookie thread I just pulled 2. Here's a peek:

Wouldn't call 2 elbows off 1k a Rookie move, although looking at that last set of pics I'll eat a lil crow and admit it looks like more than 2. I know some pros who never get there tho.maybe they just have too many lights and are wasteful that way.

Anyway, definitely one hell of a crop!

 

[Mister_D]

Wouldn't call 2 elbows off 1k a Rookie move, although looking at that last set of pics I'll eat a lil crow and admit it looks like more than 2. I know some pros who never get there tho.maybe they just have too many lights and are wasteful that way.

Anyway, definitely one hell of a crop!

Aero is acting as professor to any rookies who participate in the referenced thread .

 

[Rolldaddy]

Bump

 

[aerokrafter]

Growth Review


Day 1:
　

Day7:



Day 14:



Day 21:
　

Day 35:


(cont)

 

[aerokrafter]

Day 56:

　
Day 76:


Done:
　


　
Growth followed the normal cycle of the first 28 days establishing the structure of the plant. The buds continued to slowly elongate and gain girth until around day 70.

The structure of the buds were much improved over the first run. The primary reason is the heat damage in the first run that was so severe. These buds look like the test row in the first run of GLG. Uncommonly dense and trichome covered for such a large bud.

(cont)

 

[aerokrafter]

Nug Shots:













(Cont)

 

[aerokrafter]

Nug Shots:










These nugs dried into rock hard white chunks, with an intense sweet grape aroma - tinged with an undertone of dank.

(cont)

 

[aerokrafter]

Weigh In


Hanger Done:


　
We started with a wet weight of 18.6 and ended up with 3.7 finished. (The plate weighs .3)
　

Runt:


　
The started out at 6.7 wet and ended up with 1.6.
　

Bud Done:


　
Bud Plated:


The bud started out at 5.4 wet. Dried it was 1.3, and ended up with 1.2 after removing the lumber.

(cont)

 

[aerokrafter]

Numbers & Such


Here is the complete data set from the hangers:

1.6 1.7 1.6 3.2 2.3 3.8 3.2 2.7 3.0 3.5 3.0 3.6 2.8 2.3 2.9 2.9 1.6 3.7

This adds up to 49.4 oz with a per plant average of 2.74 oz.
Graphing this data set results in a double population bell curve. This is to be expected, since the 4 smaller plants make up their own group.

　
Calculating the theoretical maximum yield:

By removing the runt group data, and replacing it with the average from the large group, we can estimate what the best possible outcome could be if all the plants were “average”.

The max plant average would be 3.06, with a total of 55.16 oz.
What this means is that using this strain and what happened in this particular run, and using these methods and nutes, the theoretical best yield is around 3.5 lbs.

(cont)

 

[aerokrafter]

Final Conclusions
　
First 14 day MH Experiment Conclusions

The MH does indeed help reduce stretch. However I believe part of the reason the plants went extra long(76 days), is the MH. They always seemed just a little behind what I expected them to be.

I think 10 days is probably the right number to try next. Let them stay short while establishing roots and a couple nodes, before unleashing the HPS on them right at initial flowering.
　

Raptor Hood Improvement

The raptor 6 hood made a vast difference in the development of the edge row plants. Even with a mover, the peripheral ring of plants in the unit have always suffered from the lowest light. I have never seen the edge plants do better than with this hood - It’s perfect for a 5’ x 5’ footprint. It also is very short - giving me an extra couple inches of head room.
　

Extended Foliar Sprays

The “bottom blast” sprays after day 14 helped keep alive a bunch of leaves that would have died off. Having more healthy leaves that don’t shade buds going into hard flower is a plus.


The Overall Run

I just limped over the 3 lb mark with this grow. It certainly could have been improved with a better start. I always give two pieces of advice to growers: Number 1 thing you can do to improve is to document, and number 2 is always start with the best, most even clones. In this run, I had no choice but to include 4 smaller plants. The MH never let them catch up because of differential stretch.

Yes this run yielded less than the first one, but these buds are several notches better. The first run had a more even canopy, but the heat damage made for fluffier, less potent buds. The plants kept their mass, but lost a lot of buzz in the first run. The buds of this run looked much more like the ones from original test run that inspired this thread in the first place.

Smoke Test:



The smell and taste is sweet grape. The exhale leaves a little tang taste on the tongue. The buzz begins with a body hit and developes a relaxing head smack over the first few hits. It finishes with a nice social buzz, music and good conversation are enhanced.
　

Final Thoughts

I was quite happy to see the buds from the original test run show up. This is a special plant. I must thank d420 and Carpe Diem seeds for this great strain.

I also thank all of the contributors to this thread. I ended up trying and thinking about things that I would have never attempted without your input.

I think a perfect run could get very close to 4lbs. That would require every variable to be dead on. I intend to keep improving and experimenting with this strain.

However, I think its time to pass the torch on to others. I will update this thread when I have some interesting results, but there is little more to be learned with another complete publicly documented run of the same thing.

My hope is that you have found something useful in this thread for your own application, and to aspire to kraft the best buds you can.

I would love to see others try the challenge. The only rule is 1000 watts - use any methodology you like. Show us how its done!
　

As always, your comments and questions are welcome.

-AK

 

[LEDNewbie]

3+ lbs is absolutely incredible under one light!!!! I hope to one day be able to achieve such numbers!!!

 

[redbudduckfoot]

Good, consistent results AeroKrafter.

Thanks for taking the time to go through all this my man.

Rbdf

 

[Rolldaddy]

Congrats,

I didn't chime in but I watched this since the first run and your doing some great numbers

Peace,

RD

 

[Rolldaddy]

Have you done any grows like this using kush strains like OG for example? I'm curious what your numbers would be running a strain like that under 1k. I like efficiency but you take the cake for maxing 1 light out. And you've done a good job tracking the numbers.