What Would You Do???

[Shan1784]

So I'm new, done alot of research, bought QB's a few months back and built a light fixture. Now I'm rethinking my design and overall way of running my first grow. So I'll list what I've got, what my original plan is then what my new thoughts are. I'm hoping you experts will steer me in the right direction.

What I've got -
Lights:
2x qb288 v1 5000k
4x qb304 v1 2700k
3x qb96 v1 5000k

Drivers:
HLG-240H-C2100A (for 2x qb288's in series)
HLG-80H-48A (for 2x qb96's in series)

Tent:
Ipower 4x4x6.5

Pic of existing built fixture:

Location and laws:
Live in michigan, allowed 12 plants per residence and 10oz finished bud.

Original plan:
4 plants in 4x4 tent for veg
Built fixture with the 2x qb288's and 2x qb96 which currently pull 400w at the wall (used one of those kill a watt monitors off of amazon)

Before flipping to flower I was going to buy another 4x4 or maybe 5x5, build fixture to run 4x qb304's, will need to get drivers for this as well. Then obviously move plants to this tent to flower.

If all worked out I was going to start more plants in veg and continue into my second grow.

My concerns:
1) Limiting veg to only 5000k and limit flower to 2700k.
2) Not enough light in both veg and flower tents.
3) Exceeding 10oz limit
4) To much to manage with 2 tents
5) Extra cost for second tent with separate light fixture, electricity cost running 2 fixtures, cost for more ventilation equipment, etc.

New potential plan:
Run 4 plants in 1 tent, 4x4, for both veg and flower. Rebuild existing fixture to run qb288's, qb96's (might not include the 96's, instead eventually setup a clone station and use for this), and 2 qb304's.

My thoughts on benefits of new plan:
1) Should be plenty of light and good coverage for a 4x4.
2) Save $$$ on electricity
3) Save $$$ on extra equipment
4) Easier to manage
5) Hopefully yield will be in legal limits (10oz will last me a very long time, I don't smoke much and also use vape carts as well)
6) I thought there was a benefit of mixing the spectrums, correct me if I'm wrong please.

So looking for direction here so any thoughts, new ideas, etc are greatly appreciated.

 

[Jimster]

I haven't used LEDs yet but I've been using HID lighting for many years. I found, from my experience, that the extra red light found in HPS bulbs makes a big difference in bud density, but having blue in there helps greatly too. I have several clones illuminated by either a MS-1000 or a 1000W HPS. There is an area inbetween the bulbs where the plants get an equal amount of both HPS and MH lights...the one in the middle is both taller and fuller than the other two and has a higher quality of buds. Both of the other lights by themselves worked well, but the combination of the blues and reds from the two HID bulbs worked noticeably better. I think a combo is better for flowering, but vegging seems to prefer the blues and the reds don't seem to do much to them.
Mixing spectrums is a good idea, but some are also experimenting using far and infra reds as well as long wave UV, such as UVA. The results are encouraging but hard to verify.

 

[Dbear180]

If you can only have 10 ozs, & you say it'll last you a long time, why would you need clones to start another grow in a short period of time?
I would just grow while it's cold & shut down for spring/summer if your smoke stash will make it that long.

I pull double your legal limit per light with se hps 600s... I couldnt even legally keep all that I grew with one light if I lived there lol. That law is silly. Good luck Michigan.

 

[MIMedGrower]

If you can only have 10 ozs, & you say it'll last you a long time, why would you need clones to start another grow in a short period of time?
I would just grow while it's cold & shut down for spring/summer if your smoke stash will make it that long.

I pull double your legal limit per light with se hps 600s... I couldnt even legally keep all that I grew with one light if I lived there lol. That law is silly. Good luck Michigan.

If you think the new rec law is silly we have been medically licensed for years with 12 allowed plants and only 2.5 oz of usable marijuana permissible per patient.

We try to grow very tiny plants here in Michigan. ;-)

 

[Seraphine]

5000k only in veg is just fine.
2700k only in flower is just fine.

LEDs have very little impact on your electric bill. You’d need to have a lot more LEDs to actually make a significant impact on your bill.

As far as the 10oz limit goes, do state officials actually go door to door weighing your bud? If not, who cares. Just don’t advertise to other people that you have more than the legal limit.

2 tents is just fine for beginners.

2700k in flower will give you nice fat buds. 5000k in veg will give you really good growth.

 

[MIMedGrower]

5000k only in veg is just fine.
2700k only in flower is just fine.

LEDs have very little impact on your electric bill. You’d need to have a lot more LEDs to actually make a significant impact on your bill.

As far as the 10oz limit goes, do state officials actually go door to door weighing your bud? If not, who cares. Just don’t advertise to other people that you have more than the legal limit.

2 tents is just fine for beginners.

2700k in flower will give you nice fat buds. 5000k in veg will give you really good growth.

Agree with all this but want to add that we have kept all jars dated and any hang drying plants dated and maintain that even the jarred trim for edibles is on a 3 month cure cycle. That way it isn’t really usable marijuana yet.

Still be up to the judge but labels and organization is good show.

Of course nothing hangs around that long. ;-)

 

[JWM2]

I’m planning of giving my excess away. Save family and friends the hassle of smoking garbage. Should have some ready for Christmas gifts. Won’t have much of a cure but still the shit you get on the street doesn’t either.

 

[Shan1784]

Thank you for the replies. I feel better about the 10oz thing. I guess I'd be the only one to know anyways. So I'll stick with 4 plants then.

I've decided to go the one tent route, at least for the first couple grows. I tend to move too with things at times and this is no exception. I started on a new fixture to run the 4 qb304's, 2 qb288's, and 3 qb96's. Ordered the rest of the drivers needed today so hope to build this weekend.

This is the layout I'm toying with. The 304's are on the corners and the 288's and the 96's are in the middle. Using a 1/16" aluminum sheet from homedepot for a big heatsink. Its diamond plate on one side and the other side is flat which is where I will attach the boards. Going to sand it down a bit to get a better heat transfer. Not sure how well it will work but will see. This is temporary until I can get 4 more HLG heatsinks.

 

[1diesel1]

I’m planning of giving my excess away. Save family and friends the hassle of smoking garbage. Should have some ready for Christmas gifts. Won’t have much of a cure but still the shit you get on the street doesn’t either.

Holidays, families getting clean pure summer crop. Even if they don’t smoke.

 

[Dbear180]

If you think the new rec law is silly we have been medically licensed for years with 12 allowed plants and only 2.5 oz of usable marijuana permissible per patient.

We try to grow very tiny plants here in Michigan. ;-)

Jeeeeez that's crazy. What if you do outdoor? How could you only get 2.5 ozs? Laws are crazy... All I know is baby trees & pullin p's lolz.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Jeeeeez that's crazy. What if you do outdoor? How could you only get 2.5 ozs? Laws are crazy... All I know is baby trees & pullin p's lolz.

How are you only supposed to get 10 from 12 plants? It’s designed to make any quantity from a grow illegal. They arrest more people for pot crimes after medical legalization here. There are more laws to break now.

And I have strains that give 2.5 oz per gallon of potting soil. Lol. Indoors.

 

[SmithsJunk]

So I'm new, done alot of research, bought QB's a few months back and built a light fixture. Now I'm rethinking my design and overall way of running my first grow. So I'll list what I've got, what my original plan is then what my new thoughts are. I'm hoping you experts will steer me in the right direction.

What I've got -
Lights:
2x qb288 v1 5000k
4x qb304 v1 2700k
3x qb96 v1 5000k

Drivers:
HLG-240H-C2100A (for 2x qb288's in series)
HLG-80H-48A (for 2x qb96's in series)

Tent:
Ipower 4x4x6.5

Pic of existing built fixture:
View attachment 841097

Location and laws:
Live in michigan, allowed 12 plants per residence and 10oz finished bud.

Original plan:
4 plants in 4x4 tent for veg
Built fixture with the 2x qb288's and 2x qb96 which currently pull 400w at the wall (used one of those kill a watt monitors off of amazon)

Before flipping to flower I was going to buy another 4x4 or maybe 5x5, build fixture to run 4x qb304's, will need to get drivers for this as well. Then obviously move plants to this tent to flower.

If all worked out I was going to start more plants in veg and continue into my second grow.

My concerns:
1) Limiting veg to only 5000k and limit flower to 2700k.
2) Not enough light in both veg and flower tents.
3) Exceeding 10oz limit
4) To much to manage with 2 tents
5) Extra cost for second tent with separate light fixture, electricity cost running 2 fixtures, cost for more ventilation equipment, etc.

New potential plan:
Run 4 plants in 1 tent, 4x4, for both veg and flower. Rebuild existing fixture to run qb288's, qb96's (might not include the 96's, instead eventually setup a clone station and use for this), and 2 qb304's.

My thoughts on benefits of new plan:
1) Should be plenty of light and good coverage for a 4x4.
2) Save $$$ on electricity
3) Save $$$ on extra equipment
4) Easier to manage
5) Hopefully yield will be in legal limits (10oz will last me a very long time, I don't smoke much and also use vape carts as well)
6) I thought there was a benefit of mixing the spectrums, correct me if I'm wrong please.

So looking for direction here so any thoughts, new ideas, etc are greatly appreciated.

That's a gorgeous rigg, man. If you want extra penetration you could throw a couple of 300w 6x50w CXB3590 3500k kits w/90 deg reflectors in there. They can run through both veg and flower and bolster your QBs. CXB3590s are almost as efficient as the QBs. The chips are also modular so you can swap out for veg and flower frequencies as well.

10 zips is absolutely ridiculous. I harvested 15lbs off five outdoor girls this year. Still have one late bloomer to go. Grand total will probably be over 16lbs. A storm damaged my girls or it would have been closer to 20lbs.

 

[Shan1784]

That's a gorgeous rigg, man. If you want extra penetration you could throw a couple of 300w 6x50w CXB3590 3500k kits w/90 deg reflectors in there. They can run through both veg and flower and bolster your QBs. CXB3590s are almost as efficient as the QBs. The chips are also modular so you can swap out for veg and flower frequencies as well.
View attachment 841297

10 zips is absolutely ridiculous. I harvested 15lbs off five outdoor girls this year. Still have one late bloomer to go. Grand total will probably be over 16lbs. A storm damaged my girls or it would have been closer to 20lbs.

3lbs per plant!?!?! Wow, I had no idea you could get that much. Imoressive! Guess I will eventually be able to pay my brother in law back for spotting me bud like he does.

I love that cob kit. If only I saw that a few months back when I pulled the trigger on my QB's. Seems like a good space saver. Gives me upgrade ideas for the future. TY!

 

[SmithsJunk]

3lbs per plant!?!?! Wow, I had no idea you could get that much. Imoressive! Guess I will eventually be able to pay my brother in law back for spotting me bud like he does.

I love that cob kit. If only I saw that a few months back when I pulled the trigger on my QB's. Seems like a good space saver. Gives me upgrade ideas for the future. TY!

Actually I got over 5lbs from the biggest. I know pro growers who claim to have gotten around 20lbs per plant from strains like Super Silver Haze and Tahoe OG.

Check out the "Show Us Your Trees" thread (or something close to that) in the Cannabis Photography section.

 

[Shan1784]

I'll def check it out.

 

[Shan1784]

Finished up my light. Set the drivers for the 304's and 288's to 60w per board and the 96's to 40w per board. So total is 480w, 30w per square foot. Lots of room to go up if needed.

 

[1diesel1]

Right on! Love! Love the diamond plate! Nice touch!!

 

[Shan1784]

Right on! Love! Love the diamond plate! Nice touch!!

Thank you buddy! I'm so pumped to get started. Found out yesterday that Dec 6 is the go live date for our new adult use laws. Next weekend will be setting up the exhaust system.

 

[Shan1784]

Made some progress -

Added a door so I can lock the room the grow tent is in

 

[cemchris]

Doesnt the 10oz limit apply to products purchased not grown?