21X-PRO "Set it 'n Forget it" Grow!

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 17, 2014

One day back in 2012 Hydro Grow set to find out what is the absolute lowest gram per watt one could achieve using our lights.

To find the answer to this question, an experiment was conducted in our offices with a X1 21X-PRO (28W) LED grow light and a Grobal Self-Watering Planter:

The Grobal pot costs $27.45 shipped through Amazon, and as you can see from the photo above has a very shallow area for the roots. They supply a mixture of soil and coco to use as the growing media, which was used for the test.

The decision was made to create a grow test that anyone could replicate regardless if they had grown before or not, and to make it as cheap and effortless as possible. Thus the name "Set it and forget it", as that's precisely what was done.

The 21X-PRO is our smallest light, and as such had the lowest PAR output and penetration of any model because it is a single light engine. It retails for $249, making the total retail cost of this grow $276.45 (less than an ounce in most places).

Sour60 Seeds had been supplied by MDanzig and were of the "strong" phenotype. The seed was placed in the soil/coco mixture, the pot was filled with plain tap water, and it was set on a shelf with no fan.

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 17, 2014

Somewhere between Day 7-10 from planting

Somewhere between Day 7-10 from planting

The plant has only been given water up until this point. These photos are from January 11, 2012

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 17, 2014

January 23, 2012

January 23, 2012

Since the last update the plant has been fed with the small nutrient packet that comes with the Grobal. Today Voodo Juice from AN was added along with a small amount of Bud Candy. The suckers were pruned and the plant has shown a lot of upward growth.

We are going to round off and call this Day 21 from Seed:

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 17, 2014

Day 28 from Seed (Jan 30, 2012)

Day 28 from Seed (Jan 30, 2012)

The plant has made a lot of progress this last week, with flowers popping up everywhere and colas starting to form. From the base of the light to the lowermost bud is about 13". The plant now measures about 7" in diameter, directly inside the core footprint of the light.

There are 13 different colas in total. The head cola is 5" in length and the top is showing a bit of burn from growing into the light at times. The light is positioned 1-2" from the top of the head cola, where it has remained since the last update.

The plant drank 2 complete reservoirs of water in the past week, one which was plain and the other a dilute mix of AN Iguana bloom, voodoo juice and bud candy. The light has been on 24/7 since day 1 and draws 28 watts on the Kill-a-watt. The room has remained between 70-76 degrees depending on the time of day, which is not ideal, but nothing about this grow is. It's still very impressive what has been done thus far with such little effort.

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 17, 2014

More from Day 28

GodsCronik · Sep 17, 2014

HydroGrowLeds said:
One day back in 2012 Hydro Grow set to find out what is the absolute lowest gram per watt one could achieve using our lights.

So this is from 2012, a couple of questions? Are your lights and tech still the same? because I figure they would have made some moves in the last 2 years

also since the grow would be like 1.5 years old what was the final yield.

Phychotron · Sep 17, 2014

Why can't you post these 2 year old grow photos as one post? Why draw it out?

Thats an awful lot of stretch. I didn't even get that much with my blackstar's. Do all plants stretch that much under your lights?

3dDream · Sep 18, 2014

Phychotron - I think he is starting small. This is the worst. Don't be impressed.

One day back in 2012 Hydro Grow set to find out what is the absolute lowest...

GodsCronik · Sep 18, 2014

Phychotron said:
Why can't you post these 2 year old grow photos as one post? Why draw it out?

Thats an awful lot of stretch. I didn't even get that much with my blackstar's. Do all plants stretch that much under your lights?

What Blackstar are you using? I dont seem to see many threads with them but am loving my 480W v2.0

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

GodsCronik said:
So this is from 2012, a couple of questions? Are your lights and tech still the same? because I figure they would have made some moves in the last 2 years

also since the grow would be like 1.5 years old what was the final yield.

Since 2012 we released the X2 version of our Extreme LED Grow lights. The X2 lens matched with the new LEDs we use gives X2 about 40% more PAR than X1.

Other than that, we have a new spectrum coming out soon called G4 that is more powerful than our previous G3.

The final yield will be posted today. I ran out of time yesterday before I could post the whole grow.

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Phychotron said:
Why can't you post these 2 year old grow photos as one post? Why draw it out?

Thats an awful lot of stretch. I didn't even get that much with my blackstar's. Do all plants stretch that much under your lights?

The stretch was quite amazing. We had never seen a plant stretch like this before either, but it was also the first time we grew an autoflower. But what you see is about all the stretch she got till the end. There was that brief 7-10 day window and then upward growth came to a crawl.

We are limited to 5 photos per post, or I would post everything in one.

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Day 35 from Seed (Feb 6, 2012)

Day 35 from Seed (Feb 6, 2012)

The Sour 60 drank another 2 reservoirs of water this week (about 1.5-2 liters), one with nutes and one without. The vertical stretch has nearly stopped, as the plant has only grown about 1-2" since the last update. She has started bulking up and is already showing decent THC content.

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Day 35 Continued

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Day 42 (Feb 13, 2012)

Day 42 (Feb 13, 2012)

The plant is doing well but still has a lot of "fattening" up to do. A CO2 monitor was installed in the room just to see what she has been getting. In the mornings when we first come in the office the CO is around 120ppm (about 3x lower than atmospheric) and by the end of the work day it reaches a maximum of 600ppm. So for about 6-8 hours a day she gets a bit of CO2 enrichment, and the rest of the time she is CO2 starved.

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Day 51 (Feb 22, 2012)

Day 51 (Feb 22, 2012)

For only 28W of light energy, this little Sour 60 is pretty darn impressive. The top bud is swelling nicely, the THC is looking awesome, and the leaves are turning from yellow to purple. The plant has not grown outside of the core footprint of the light, which shows a bit of intelligence for the plant (making sure it gets only the most intense light).

The feeding schedule has been off for the past week with no nutes. Some pistils are starting to turn orange, but we are going to let it go at least one more week on a weak nute mixture before going back to straight water for finishing.

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Day 51 continued:

GodsCronik · Sep 18, 2014

Thanks for the replies!

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Day 59 (Mar 1, 2012)

Day 59 (Mar 1, 2012)

The Sour 60 seems to be finishing her cycle, as the flowers are forming points all over the plant. From the base of the plant to the emitting surface of the LED is exactly 22". The head cola is 7.5" long and is about the size of a Corona bottle!

I want to reiterate that this is a "set it and forget it grow". Nutrients were never measured out, and were only given in weak quantities periodically throughout the grow (otherwise the plant ran on water). The plant is CO2 starved most of the day, and gets mild supplementation for 1/3 the day. The temps are not ideal (70-75 is below the recommended 80-85 range), the humidity is not monitored, there are no fans blowing on the plant to keep it strong/healthy, the plant is in an auto-water pot (wicking water from the soil). We are also using the smallest light available which was only ever meant for supplemental use. Despite this, we have a very respectable Sour 60 plant with almost zero effort.

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Day 59 Continued

HydroGrowLeds · Sep 18, 2014

Day 59 Continued...

21X-PRO "Set it 'n Forget it" Grow!

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