growopz

I'm pretty sure it's safe in veg, as it's widely used in agriculture, and deemed safe by the USDA. I haven't seen any published studies showing a link between Azadirachtin and CHS. I wouldn't use it in flower though, when there are other options. The USDA doesn't smoke vegetables, in their testing.

The higher CRI shifts the peak red to the right, giving less green and more infrared. Just as an example, for some CCT (colour temperature) the 80 CRI might peak in the red somewhere around 640nm, and the 90 CRI might peak in the red around 660nm. So you have more infrared with the 90 CRI. In some cases, especially where temperatures are low, that infrared will help raise the leaf surface temperature. But the photons with wavelength above 700nm are probably not doing much photosynthesis. So it's a debate between that "warmth of the Sun" quality of higher CRI, and the higher PPFD of lower CRI.

Yeah, I'm not knocking clones. That spydr with 10 legs is sick.

@Jc Fourie Hi, I see an email from a JC Fourie, but I replied to it two days ago? I don't know why but this text block won't let me untag @greenkush. Sorry

@greenkush If you're comparing our QB fixtures to ordering Fluence clones direct from Chinese factories, or learning to DIY, it's kind of apples and oranges. My local competitors are Hortishop, GrowGuru, HydroHerb, Aeradix, Marigrowuana, Futurama, etc. - local companies, who hire locals, who contribute to the local economy. Eva in Guangzhou isn't a local competitor.

With the feedback I've had from customers, a good grow with LM561Cs or LM301Bs can yield gram per watt, even at 60W. It's strain dependent, but there's a pretty strong correlation between wattage and yield. So with QBs you can estimate your yield in dry grams for a good run, with the wattage. Our minimum recommended wattage is 300W/sqm, (or 108W for 60x60). But it's just a guideline, for personal growing scrog-style (filling your area with canopy before switching). The 'pro's run 450W+/sqm.

Yeah, normal enough.

Yeah, the customer who was going to do the side by side didn't go through with it, so I just have the results, from one grow to another. Not exactly science, since primary strain changed between grows too. Both indica strains though. In a 1.2*1.2m, Their g/W went up from 0.6 g/W with 600W of 3W LEDs, to 1.1 g/W with the 600W QB&reds fixture. (10 weeks from rooted clone to harvest). The results are consistent with the electrical efficiencies of the lights, (~30% vs ~56%), for what it's worth.

Took this morning, during POTM photoshoot. Shark widow CBD buddies

Shark Widow CBD, (8% THC / 8% CBD), ready to harvest. Planted end of July, Vegged indoors under 120W of quantum boards, minor LST, minor defoliation of old fan leaves. There's a little bee on the top! Plant to the left is Sensi Star CBD, was a bit of a mutant, so got off to a slow start. Attached picture of the mutant too.

Heh lmgtfy! https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/pages/qb132-board-guide LEDgardener has extensive tutorials if interested in how to work out drivers in general. http://ledgardener.com/diy-guides/

I think their bottle math might be off. You want 3% right, so 3% of 1000mL is 30mL, and since it's 50% solution, you need twice as much, 60mL of that bottle, per litre of water to get down to 3% solution.

I plan on giving away seeds in a promotional capacity, and I have also been thinking about how to do it legally. I think as long as both parties agree that the seed is free, then that's that. You paid for shipping of a free seed. In the case where you're actually buying a seed, and covering it up as 'R300 shipping', well, I guess, put it in a packet that says "free seed". And if you're actually buying R3000 of seeds, and covering it up as 'R3000 shipping', lol, just go for it man. "Free seeds". No one understands these remaining laws. They're paradoxes. You can grow a plant, you just can't buy the seed. You can smoke a joint, you just can't buy the weed.

More acidic ( eg. 5.5 pH ) won't be a problem with low nutrients (eg. 200ppm / ~0.4 EC), but if you do get nutrient problems, increase pH a bit. You can see 5.5 pH is around the minimum recommended. Good luck!

Good first run! Nice to see a full cycle grow with just two QB-60s. I'm certain the next round will go much better, too. Every grow you learn some new things. Not sure if the lights were at that height in the pics, (judging by distance to multiplug, in the two pics), but if they were, you can definitely ratchet them closer by at least 15cm next time. To get gram/watt plus, other than good genetics & nutrients, etc., you'll have to veg until you've got a full canopy before switching. That usually means training and topping, and waiting a week or two extra in veg. Gram per watt is kind of a silly measurement, since it doesn't measure total time. Dry grams/KWh would make more sense, ya know? My recent technique has been to delay topping, then after the fifth node, top and root the cutting. Then I've got a clone in case I like the plant. Depending on whether I'm in a rush (I'm never in a rush), I'll take another clone or 7.

Attaching the license application for growing weed. Sounds pretty complicated. Seems like you need to be a pharmaceutical manufacturer, with a pharmacists on staff. Any pharmacists here? 27109c3c6.25_Licence_application_Cannabis_Sept17_v1nofieldinfooter.pdf

Dr. Green[/member] - Just note that greenkush's linked product is to an older, inFlux L series. If you went this route, you would want from the inFlux S series. (eg. part code 1510-2484-ND)

Hate to break it to you, that is where HLG originally got their QB boards manufactured, by Bava or Hansion. Sure... I think you misread. I was saying that a new production run of QBs wouldn't be a good idea now. It was a good idea when I did it in June 2017. But now everyone in Shenzhen has caught on, and is sitting on stock of HLG clones, ready to sell. I would rather put my effort into designing something that you can't get from China (yet).

Dr. Green[/member] Yeah, vs. Sanlights, the QBs are a bargain. Efficiency-wise, the Sanlight website claims 2.9uMol/J module efficiency (i.e. before driver losses). The only other manufacturer claiming 2.9uMol/J is Philips GreenPower, and those things cost a fortune. Judging from the pictures, it's a 2 warm white : 3 red (660nm) spectrum, using Oslon SSL 150 with secondary optics. Their secondary optics are pretty cool - more even rectangular distribution. Oslon SSL radiant efficiency is 59% for reds, which is superb, but OSRAM's best white is only 151 lm/W (vs. 185lm/W for LM561C driven at 3/4 power, for same colour temperature). The estimates I've seen on rollitup for LM561C (QB) are between 2.4-2.8uMol/J. I am changing direction slightly, with my next order, which I'll discuss in a few weeks, when it's more certain. (The rand is tanking hard, and will probably kill my plans if it reaches R15.50/$.) Still aiming at the cannabis community, but a bit more next-level. QBs are great, but the Chinese are all over that bandwagon now.

Thanks for the positive reviews Dr. Green[/member], regarding the QBs: I verified the authenticity of the LM561C diodes as S6 bin. There was more than one manufacturer I interviewed who claimed to use S6, but upon investigation, was actually using S0 bin, which meant a mix bag of S4/S5/S6 diodes. In the end, I went with a medium sized company who charged 30% more than the cheapest quote. Their pick-and-place machine did an immaculate job, and since our thermal management is overkill, using Meanwell drivers and SUNON Maglev fans, I haven't had any issues or complaints from QB customers yet, with about 75% of stock sold out now.

@Josh Yeah, I spoke too soon there. My friend who was going to do the side by side bailed on the plan. He had some issue with nitrites or nitrates in the tap water (DWC hydro), when dam levels were scraping the barrel. We were going to start over but then the clones bounced back after getting an RO filter, and he just wanted to grow them out. So the comparison is postponed :/ Learned some new things though, regarding leaf surface temperature, ambient temperature and relative humidity. Cape Town winter was pretty cold, and the ambient temperature had noticeable impact on growth. 700nm infrared, and heat is a missing link between LEDs and HPS. HPS is giving off large amounts of infrared (at least 10%, and up to 50% on some ceramic hps) whereas 3000K QBs only have about 5% infrared (though many photons will end up bouncing around and losing energy until they're infrared). So it's not clear what can be done about the 700nm infrared, other than using higher CRI LEDs, but it is clear that ambient temperature has to be raised (regulated), which raises leaf surface temperature indirectly. There's some good graphs with information about the 'green zone' ratio of ambient to leaf surface temperature (http://opennlabs.com/vpd/VPD_calculator.php) and I'll need to take this into account on the next try.

Harvesting my outdoor plant, and found this little dude! I put him in the neighbour's rose bushes instead. (Plant is Girl Scout Cookies - I had two of them, with very different phenotypes - this one was very leafy compared to the other one)

If you get a chance, take 5 minutes to improve your online security. A very useful thing you can do, is to change your primary DNS server to Cloudflare's, who guarantee privacy. Instructions at https://1.1.1.1/ If you use a router, log into your router, (the login details should be on your router, probably still with admin/password, and can be reset using one of the buttons on the router). Find the DNS tab, and change the DNS server to 1.0.0.1 and 1.1.1.1

You're right about the average. I can believe 1000 PPFD at 45cm. (But 1000 PPFD at 1m is unlikely, regardless how accurate the PAR meter is.)

We did a bit of a write-up on this topic, if you want a summary of [plant and lighting science]. and there's also "What's the difference between LED/HID/CFL technologies?" further down the [main FAQ]. We will be starting a side by side grow next week, when the clones are ready. In the one tent, 3W LEDs (monochromatic Epileds and white Bridgelux) in a 2:1 ratio of our flowering spectrum to our veg spectrum. And in the other tent, our Samsung QBs & Cree reds, done in the horticultural spectrum (2 white : 1 red) as advised by Cree. 600W vs 600W. The QBs and Crees should trounce the 3W LEDs, but it'll be a good experiment anyway. I expect the monochromatics should compete well in veg, but that the QBs & Crees will crush it in flower. In my experience so far, Vero29 COBs plus Cree XPE-HEs get over 1g/W pretty easily. One customer recently claimed 1.4g/W, which is very good. This will be our first test of the QBs & reds, and I expect similar results to the COBs + reds. I have never actually used HPS, but in my opinion, it's old tech. Double ended gavita pro has max 40% wall plug efficiency before taking into account cooling. That just won't compete with 60-70% wall plug efficient LEDs. Combining LED and HPS is pretty successful, anecdotally. One customer says they're getting superb results with 3W LEDs supplemented with 15 minutes of HPS every 2 hours. PS. Budwizer's claim, "1000 umol at about 1 meter", is very unlikely (the VyprX technical spec says 750uMol at 45cm which would be measured dead center. At double that distance, it would be a quarter of that. Less than 200 uMol).