New England Growers and Medical Users

[FatBlunt420]

good morning all!!

KW, highsteppa, well done

me and my crew should be going out to eat this morning! of course im up before them... but my buddy brought some purple urkle. shits decent... alot like GDP, low yielding, good smoking strain.(of course i like GDP more). GDP has a stronger smell, and harder buds.
i got some work ahead of me today, between snow blowing and construction ill be real busy... but i cant wait till its all done!!

does any one else do stagger crop lighting??? its a great idea. power box inc, makes these flip boxes that let one ballast do 2 hoods. a great way to keep energy costs down and spread out the light. i should have 5 plants per light with plenty of room, instead of cramming a dozen or more per light.
im also thinking of hanging some bare 400s so the sides of the plants get more light too.

 

[NHMI]

Wow those dark buds look beautiful!

 

[emerald city]

does any one else do stagger crop lighting??? its a great idea. power box inc, makes these flip boxes that let one ballast do 2 hoods. a great way to keep energy costs down and spread out the light. i should have 5 plants per light with plenty of room, instead of cramming a dozen or more per light.
im also thinking of hanging some bare 400s so the sides of the plants get more light too.

Sup FB
We dont stagger[much]but we do run perpetual blocks,every 28 days..In the newest set-up we got an 8x8 platform.3 1K lites[bare bulbs] hung on three of the 4 corners...Plants[block of ?]rotate in under the area with no direct lite as they come from t5's[in veg] and need a little aclimation time...Then -as they go through the elongation process their slide under the full lites.....On another project were trying duel 600's sitting over a 4x8 area....

Off to play with a large pack o germanshepherds and get a christmas tree.Catch you all in the P.M Later Gang.
P.S Anyone heard from doob and missy B? Missing in action or just having fun...

 

[FatBlunt420]

sounds good.
im trying to veg bigger, give the plants more space and light, and save some money on power.
i know some people doing a bare bulb stadium grow in a 4 x 8 tent... i havent tryed vert yet, but if it goes well for my buddy maybe ill try it out.

im hitting my inline dry... i stubbed the SHIT out of my toe yesterday. i wasnt trying hard enough and managed to fall up my stairs... this morning my toe was hurtn. so i havent goten up to put water in the inline this morning.

 

[highsteppa]

Me too. I just did 4 plants under 1k, 5 gallon soil......

 

[emerald city]

sounds good.
im trying to veg bigger, give the plants more space and light, and save some money on power.

For me its veg time[28 day cycles] over size[must be so tall or wide]..My little shorties hit the flower cycle and about triple in height.Hps only penitrate into the canopy 3-4' so for me to much veg time = outgrowing my enviroment...I have played with the pot sizes,from 1gal-3gal..For my style of growing[small blocks] the 1 gal are perfect,If i was only growing a couple at a time 3-5 gal sounds perfect...
Paying the electric bill sucks but its impossible to grow good tomatos while useing flouro's..There is no replacement for more lumens....Sure wish the LED's come down in price,they appear to be the least power hungry of all the lighting system types.

 

[Huggie bear]

For me its veg time[28 day cycles] over size[must be so tall or wide]..My little shorties hit the flower cycle and about triple in height.Hps only penitrate into the canopy 3-4' so for me to much veg time = outgrowing my enviroment...I have played with the pot sizes,from 1gal-3gal..For my style of growing[small blocks] the 1 gal are perfect,If i was only growing a couple at a time 3-5 gal sounds perfect...
Paying the electric bill sucks but its impossible to grow good tomatos while useing flouro's..There is no replacement for more lumens....Sure wish the LED's come down in price,they appear to be the least power hungry of all the lighting system types.

We have been using LED's in saltwater tanks for awhile now and they have not budged in price since first introduction.
You have DIY for a decent price and a lot of guys report great success doing it. They are definitely on my list as I am a micro-grower and would love to play with these

 

[Amber Trich]

Hi, we're fine!

Ive been keeping busy reading about the soil food web, plant extracts and ferments. char and ash in the soil, herb tea, compost tea, fungal traps, horsetail, nettle, lavender, comfrey, chamomile, BORAGE ..loving it!

.......................
about these flip box things.. how do they save money or energy other than the one time cost of the second ballast? you still need dual bulbs/hoods/cordsets. if you run two lights each for 12 hrs a day on a flip box how is the cost different than running one light all day or 2 seperate lights for 12 each?

 

[highsteppa]

Hey amber, I think they stop the energy form spiking when they turn on....I guess that initial power damand is high, also been told that the enrgy spike is rough on bulbs, weares out faster. But aside form the spike and cost of another ballast don't know the price savings. Aslo heard of people using them in cold enviros and being able to vent warm air into the dark side of the flip.

Nice to see a place for us NE folk...I never into'ed myseld but I'm in the western foothills and just got my note, but not sure whether to send it in or not

Looking foward to a smoke report on that DAZE, I thought of getting them, but setted on the C99.... looks danK!

 

[FatBlunt420]

its mainly to spread out the light and keep heat down.
IF i ran these 4 hoods with 4 - 600w ballasts its twice as much power usage, then running 4 hoods with 2 - 600w ballasts...so, how wouldnt i save money?? its half the power usage, and twice the light coverage... plus 150$ flip box is alot cheaper then a new ballast.

 

[Doobie Nyce]

WHATS UP CREW??!!

Flipbox costs the same as what I pay for 1000 watt ballast... plus I dont think you are saving power on lights.. 1 ballast plus flipbox running 24/7 = 2 ballasts on 12/12?

Have you read the hightimes article yield of dreams? I have heard of groups of HPS lights switching off and on to minimize lighting and maximize yield but I thought this was different than a flip room...let us know what you are planning over there, mad scientist!

 

[Hold Your Fire]

Bloockhead, Bogglegum, Double Dutch day 4 of 12/12.

 

[FatBlunt420]

well cleaerly. a 600 or 1K w balllast draws more current then a flip box. not sure what the flipbox draws (it cant b more then acouple amps), but a 600w ballast is around 5 amps. (1k is 9amps at 120V)
the only way staggering is worth it is if you have more then one row of lights... with the staggering, the plants either have a light on, above then.. or next to them. and the lights are switching between hoods every hour, in a cris cross.
stagger crop lighting is good to help copy the sun's light... in nature theres always clouds rolling threw and dimming the sun abit. the off hoods simulate that, and the light intensity doesnt drop by much. (each hood will b 2ft apart)

 

[emerald city]

well cleaerly. a 600 or 1K w balllast draws more current then a flip box. not sure what the flipbox draws (it cant b more then acouple amps), but a 600w ballast is around 5 amps. (1k is 9amps at 120V)
the only way staggering is worth it is if you have more then one row of lights... with the staggering, the plants either have a light on, above then.. or next to them. and the lights are switching between hoods every hour, in a cris cross.
stagger crop lighting is good to help copy the sun's light... in nature theres always clouds rolling threw and dimming the sun abit. the off hoods simulate that, and the light intensity doesnt drop by much. (each hood will b 2ft apart)

IM no electriction but from what i know turning on/off lites every hour will be hard on the equipment...The ignighter are the part that seems to go first....IMHO I would go the route of a lite travelers to cover an area with less lite.[the sun circles seem to burn out to quick for me]...All in all,as long as your sqft area is geting enough lumens you will get good growth...Ive tried [cheating]by adding more plants around the edges only to get a lower grade end product.....In my expariments ive found there is no replacement for more lite....Again i go back to tomato's..They cant be produced without lumens.veg yes,fruiting no....
If i were going to try to save/be cost effective i would cut costs on the veg side and pound the lite to em in bud...Have i rolled to far off topic??
Woke up to snow,yeah,much better then rain..
Hope you all have a laid back sunday,go pats .

HYF -nice looking block of plants
later Gang

 

[FatBlunt420]

i do know electrical. and if anything is going to go, its the flip box, the ballast is running the whole time the flip boxes are. and the flip boxes are doing the back in forth between the lights... it has a warrenty.
to get the power you multiply amps times volts... the flip box current is alot less then a ballast (wahtever the pwer).. plug what ever number u want into that formula, you will find out.. flip boxes will save power.

HYF, nice shots!

 

[FatBlunt420]

IM no electriction but from what i know turning on/off lites every hour will be hard on the equipment...The ignighter are the part that seems to go first....IMHO I would go the route of a lite travelers to cover an area with less lite.[the sun circles seem to burn out to quick for me]...All in all,as long as your sqft area is geting enough lumens you will get good growth...Ive tried [cheating]by adding more plants around the edges only to get a lower grade end product.....In my expariments ive found there is no replacement for more lite....Again i go back to tomato's..They cant be produced without lumens.veg yes,fruiting no....
If i were going to try to save/be cost effective i would cut costs on the veg side and pound the lite to em in bud...Have i rolled to far off topic??
Woke up to snow,yeah,much better then rain..
Hope you all have a laid back sunday,go pats .

HYF -nice looking block of plants
later Gang

i agree E.C.
having a ballast for every hood is ideal, and obviously great. but i like the concept, and i want to spread my light and plants out more.... running less ballasts with flipboxes allows me to run more lamps. and get alot of coverage. all the lumens will be there.

the edibles came out great!! cookies gave me a nice body high before bed, so i slept great. also ate more when i woke up!
i got construction to do today.

 

[emerald city]

Im kinda baked but have to agree in principle with doob[if i understood him right]
Cant see how your saving anything by switching from lite to lite.You need a certain amount/intensity of lite to grow a plant. Be it 4 lites running stagered ,on a 8x8 foot print vs 1 lite over a 4x4 area...Both require 50 watts per sqft[or what ever the correct formula is] to produce quality product....
To put it another way,Ive always figured under a 1000 watt hps,per cycle you can produce 1 lbs[pick a number]..Be it 1 plant or 16 plants..That lite under 100% optinum conditions can only produce x amount of product..At that point to increace production the only choice is to add more lite.....
Dont meen to sound arguementive FB...Just cant quite get my head around your concept that these "flip boxes" being helpfull....Ive heard of "controll boxes" that coordinate turning on multiple lites,but not turning them on and off continously..How are the plants going to grow any better/quicker by giving them more shade/indirect light??..
What am i not getting ???
Pleasently medicated on a sunday afternoon
Later gang

 

[Huggie bear]

the edibles came out great!! cookies gave me a nice body high before bed, so i slept great. also ate more when i woke up!
i got construction to do today.

Any morning after grogginess?

 

[FatBlunt420]

these flip boxes are daisy chainable.. you can run a ballast 24/7, and stagger 4 hoods (2flip,2flop) on one ballasts. im not going that far. but ill be getting more coverage, there is not going to be dark spots in the room at any time.. the hoods will be close. and im throwing some bare bulbs in there.
i never said its going to grow better or quicker...but with my bare bulbs on constantly they will have plenty of light. and i expect things to go fine
im trying to get coverage,and not have a huge power bill....again, look back to my formula if you dont think im saving money on power...
this has been planned for awhile... if you understand it or not. doesnt matter... ill let you know how it goes

huggie bear, i feel fine.
i worked real hard today, its nice to get a body high after that.

 

[Huggie bear]

huggie bear, i feel fine.
i worked real hard today, its nice to get a body high after that.

I hear that, thanks for the replay I am going to be testing out edibles on my next harvest. Never tried them for my insomnia so I will give it a whirl.