Seeking the light

They finished out nice and they got chopped. Strong fruity smell and super sticky. Had a 630 bulb half burn out and I was afraid I would damage plants replacing it so I decided to hang a 315 instead to finish the last week. Foliage pro side looks to have won.

So nice!

Huge tops!

I got it all trimmed up looks to be right at 2300 grams off the 2160 Watts so not bad. I got the room reloaded with c99 on the left and the Durban cross on the right. I gave the c99 a week head start so that they finish at the same time. The Durban is a little shorter to start so I changed the bulb out to a de 1k. So it’s de 630 on the left and 1k on the right and a quantum 550 next to each. In the other room it’s 2 de 1ks over a 5x10 of the c99.

general thoughts on the CMH side quantity and quality vs hps de

The double ended 630 cmh has no chance against the 1k de. The quantum board beats the 630. I think the 315 single bulb fixtures put more light to the canopy. I was looking at picking up a few of the gavita 1650 LEDs and rid myself of all the air cooled lights and accompanying hardware.

It's interesting to see the $1400 msrp on that led light when you have a pretty good idea how to construct a similar unit from component parts. I'll save the political banter, some people have a lot more money than brains. Or skills, time, do not want to build, so much marketing advertising invested, ... DIY is about 1/10 of the cost in actual USD and yet I imagine those units will still find their way onto shelves. Makes you wonder if people would even buy a kit to save on shipping - "oh no I don't know how to change a tire. I just need this weed to grow itself."

Build me 10 of them and give a 3 year warranty, test them, make them ul listed and I need them in a couple weeks. There are a lot of reasons to buy instead of build things and more reasons the older you get. It has nothing to do with a lack of ability or skill. Time is the only resource you can’t increase, money is imaginary just like the economy. I just liked the numbers I saw measured under that light and I need to do something to replace the aircooled

Looking so nice man

What’s your watering method? I see the irrigation lines coming off the 3/4” line, are you flooding the tables?

Itsmychoice I can see what you mean. I have always been far away from a $1400 retail light because of money. And I see that hasn't changed. Grows will keep getting more industrialized and bigger, with people wanting all that stuff plug and play. And all of those advantages snowball. The finance, the warranty, the larger budget of older growers for lack of a better term or lengthier explanation. All make it more difficult for me to piece meal everything together and keep things cheap. At least in my opinion.

It doesn't necessarily bother me if you buy one, I can even drool over the thing, but my 2c is I wouldn't spend so much on a fixture then or now. The way I talk is full of piss and vinegar but if you bought 10 of those lights you already owe $14k on your grow. Whereas you will make jokes and every excuse about a DIY builder, as in look at this dumpster diver wasting their time, and the actual bill for the lights is $1-2k. So those gavitas are charging more than $1k per light extra for the harvest. The buds cost what the light costs you follow me. You can follow that $1k markup on price and see what effect it has on people all around.

The kind of people you deal with in the world, you can show them how to build the same thing for less. And they will still want to pay more for the expensive one. It's can be difficult to grasp or debate whatever reasons the customer has for buying more expensive goods. Like being caught up in the sales pitch to the point I'm not sure myself. Warranty and name brand is not worth 70%+ markup dude that's my point. Maybe, for some people, paying $1k extra is worth the time or expense of assembling a light on their own or hiring someone. That's the part I struggle with. Maybe that's the real price - $150 in parts and $1250 for assembly.

If I am not going to buy a $1400 light now there is a likelihood in philosophical reasoning that I will not buy such a thing in the future. So I already committed to being a non-retail-payer a long time ago. Don't wish to derail your thread but that's it in essence. If I have refused to pay ridiculous markup for years and years why would I begin now. In spite/despite whatever popular or cool kids are using.

Sorry about the light stuff. Aside from that, looking at your grow

it is very cool to see that you running real Cinderella 99. I'm going to try some indoor sativa hybrids, more 'old school' I guess than og chem or cookies, and I was a little worried how the potency might compare to 'today's strains.' It's good to know 10-20 year old stuff still does the trick. On that note I wonder if or how much C99 has been improved since its release. The optimist in me wants to think some of the namesakes have been kept up to date. I'm just going on a whim here but if 'original pre-98' is popular from 20 years ago, I'm imagining breeders keeping the same lines going for 20 years. C99 + 20 generations, doesn't necessarily mean you need to change the name do you? I'd rather have C2018 than C1999 for many strains if available. Many breeders seem fairly honest in their descriptions about when the most recent seed runs were made etc.

ChemDgMillionre said:

Looking so nice man

What’s your watering method? I see the irrigation lines coming off the 3/4” line, are you flooding the tables?

Click to expand...

I use black hole drippers. It’s a 3/4” line in a loop with 9 sites per light teed off to 1/4 lines to the drippers. I start at twice a day and top out at 4-5 times a day. Been using foliage pro for a while and excited about switching to megacrop next fill.

Mengsk
I would never say never. I have kids, 3 jobs, a large tract of land to maintain and can build things for people in my fab shop to pay for lights much faster than I can source and build some silly lights that might be as good. That said if you have a parts list for a light that will hit the numbers that light hits for a $150, I will build one faster than you. No really, share the pieces I need. I played the homemade cob game and I know these would be easier.

The c99 I have is from a brothers grim seed run. It was the best of 30. The Durbanxc99 cross is very similar in smell but faster, denser but less enegetic in effect so it probably has one run left to be replaced by the chimp mints I found last run. Honestly I can’t talk much for early genetics. The late 90s in Athens, Ga it was a lot of Mexi brick and occasionally some northern lights but we were distracted by so much else. In the 80s and early 90s it was all brick. You can’t go wrong running seeds, I mean we are living for the first time where the worlds genetics are available at the touch of a thumb.

Back to the lights. They are paid for in one run so if it takes 2 months to source and build them you lose.

This is the Durban cross.

I'm not aware of any place to get dozens of old computer 12v power supply units. Or used or recycled equipment for any commercial contract really. That is another advantage or hindrance the availability. There is a thread here where someone recreates the Samsung LED strips. Rigid LED strips or whatever form they come in + aluminum channel nuts bolts washers solder wire heat shrink tubing electrical tape or crimp/twist caps and a few bits and pieces. Thermal paste or thermal epoxy to attach lights to the aluminum channel maybe. I don't know if that is necessary but the aluminum channel acts as a heat sink. Look at the surface area compared to the smaller LED lights. No reflectors or ballasts with those, the power supply is the closest thing to a ballast. The exact LEDs used or at least the color distribution would be something to look carefully at.

Don't mind my banter. Our 'headspace' or priorities can change daily. I once felt if or when I had enough money I would begin hiring people and purchasing nicer things. I still feel that way. If my disposable income was there or if I had a warehouse that needed LED lights by next week I would want to buy the nicest lights. At the end of the day some brand name has to be the one, the Mercedes Benz or the standard issue, either or.

Looks very nice.

I appreciate it Ruby and Mengsk. Mengsk I should have been clearer, I just need the particular strips of lights, the driver, and lens to give me the big uniform numbers that light is showing underneath it. I have everything to take care of the rest no doubt. You are right on the mark up and they won’t be that expensive for long because someone is holding one as we speak copying every detail but few say there is anything wrong with that. Then again talking about building something is easy, producing a light superior to a light created by a team of engineers with unlimited resources won’t happen on the first try. Gavita double ended are still hard to beat even with all the knock offs and now they are $220 when they used to be $700 and sold out. For me, I would rather build square footage than lights. Even so if those led components are available, framing and wiring them up is nothing I am scared of. The Amare solar bar 800 looks good as well. Ichibod has built a similar looking style. Ibechillin has a lot of info here and states diy is about $1 a watt. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=358147

Happy Holidaze bro!

Happy holidays to you good man and may 2018 finish full of fun memories.

The 1k side is a little tall so there might need to be a little crawl in and tuck things down mission this week. Veg is full. Last is a pic is of the notch cut whiffle ball bat with holes drilled in the handle base that I have watered veg with for the last 8 years. I pour a 1/2 gal ball jar of nutes down it to reach each container everyday. If it broke, I would go to the toy store and get another as soon as I could.

OH MY LERD that’s the funniest / most amazing thing ever! Hahaha ... I’ve been saying to my buddy I need to get a Vu Vu Zela to make watering easier for myself! Wiffle ball bats & Vu Vu Zelas here I come!


And btw.. those plants are praying so hard

The c99 in the other room is starting to chunk and the cherrygasm has the crazy stretch tendency so it’s days in the stable are numbered. It’s moving along.

It works well just drill enough holes and make them big enough that it empties quick. With the notch leaving most of the end you can fill it up and move it from one plant to another pushing it back through to the hard to reach containers. The switch to the mega crop has been well received. It’s cheaper than jacks and is one part. Smells weirdly nice and ph is easy.

I had to look up a vu vu zela to remember what they were, I am getting one for a head to head showdown, winner takes over.