I am blown away with how much better my new lights are doing compared to my old setup!
The old ones seemed cost effective and powerful and they did indeed get me across the finish line… full power is abut 130w per light with both veg and bloom on.
Besides the obvious “burple” lights, they were hot and not dimmable.these things kept me on my toes. I had 2 of these with some cheap side lights.
After tons of research I landed on the vivosun aerolight a100 (not SE) I bought an SE version from amazon before I knew the difference . The SE version doesnt seem to have the UV diodes. They are 100w lights at full. They need the controller to operate. The cheaper controller is wifi only, the more expensive one can control from panel if internet goes out.(which happens here a lot!)
It has pre programmed spectrums for different stages of cannabis life, and a built in fan. The cool thing is the cost isnt too high. At about $130 each you can easily add these as your plant(s) grow. I bit the bullet and with easily obtained coupons I got 4 of these with a controller for $430ish. It is much easier to control heat build up with these. HLG is appealing! But I don’t have that kind of disposable income.
Is anyone else using these? All I can say without doubt is these are WAY better than my previous setup. And the fact that I can adjust light level and fan speeds from anywhere there is internet is cool. Especially when establishing the basics at the start. And with 4 fans pointed into the canopy, a oscillating fan and duct fan all wifi controlled, there is more than enough air flow! If its hotter than usual and I get an alert I can lower lights and kick up the fans and watch the temp change from work.
That’s pretty sexy! Fairly close in price per watt. Im sure they use a better grade of diode. As I understand the different types of diodes have different “grades”. I may consider adding a couple of these as side lighting. Just want to be able to control what ever with the same controller.
As far as space, its 4x4x6. Only growing 1 at a time. So swinging for the fence here lol.
My wife and I got into the medical program after she got a serious illness. Before that we were married 10 years where is wasn’t in our lives. We’re in our 60s and both of us left that in our 20s. It worked out great for me, but she doesn’t tolerate smoke well.
Long and short is shes a bit freaked about the potential legal challenges of growing. So what makes this possible and keeps the relative peace is I get to grow one only at a time. Whether it make sense or not is irrelevant. It is a part of my unique growing experience😎
Growing this stuff is one of the very few pleasures in my life right now, but not worth losing my marriage over.
I am in a similar situation…my wife has never puffed though…
What helped for me/us was the threat of arrest buying bud. We keep it a secret…so no body knows but this forum.
At times, it’s a bummer…such as…my sister occasionally gives me buds she got from a dude who supplies dispensaries…as it’s a secret…I cannot say…nooo! don’t buy that icky garbage (it’s all brown and funky) take this. (And hand over tasty homemade).
But…one thing that non growers never would understand…throwing away harvested bud if your simply not liking the phenotype. I have thrown out more weed than I choose to share on here…if I don’t like it…I either chuck it or make concentrate.
The main thing that sucks about doing one at a time is that if you blow it, either give too much away or botch too many edibles you gotta start over. So about 4 months give or take. My goal is to get enough in reserve to get me to the next harvest. I still have enough smoke to get close but nothing left for edibles and such.
I’d love to have enough that i could discard it lol. But I’m getting pretty deep into extracting! So I imagine that would go directly into ethanol wash, Do not pass go, do not collect $200🤣 so far, making a killer chocolate and some serious gummies! Looking to make hard candy next, then lemonade and vapes. My wife likes that stuff except the vapes.
But it also means yield is a big deal! I select seeds with high potential potency and high potential yield… also medium to small plant size. I love ILGM seeds! All the info is on the product page. So much guesswork taken out of the way!
@Rockdog62 Been making ethanol concentrate…then into vapes. Started about this year.
Just received my Source Turbo and other equipment…
I noticed a huge difference in vape quality depending on how long I soaked my material.
A short soak has been better for soak then filter with coffee filters…I expect once I make my next batch…filtering through the buchner funnel will be quicker and better filtering.
I just have to learn the prep of the food grade Diatomaceous Earth and the making of the 3/8 filter puck.
I almost got the source turbo. But started reading about a dyi solution that was more versatile for a bit cheaper. extractcrafter.com found this to be an amazing resource! Just did my 1st diatomacious/carbon filtering to clean up a second wash. Did really well considering. Was really green! I went light on it, but it made it much more translucent. Can’t wait to see where this rabbit hole goes🤣
Do you find you have to freeze for short soak? I mean for vaping. Not gone there yet but really looking forward!
I have been decarbing the bud in the oven, in a mason jar.
Once cooled…I put in freezer for at least 24 hours…along with the everclear 190 which I keep in the freezer.
After…I pour the alcohol over the reefer until it’s covered…then shake briefly then freeze for a short time…then shake quickly…then poured through cheese cloth. Then refilter that through a coffee filter…then two coffee filters. I’d then air evaporated the ethanol. It took a couple days…then I had to scrape out the concentrate from the silicone tray…I am hoping this will save on alcohol and make a better…vape.
With filtering this way…and the short soak… I vape using farm to vape kits…and pckt cartridges .
Then better filtering the less or no burning burn matter in the cartridge…this can also happen if you use too little liquidizer.
The first vapes I made and first concentrate I soaked and shook much longer…same filtering.
Some vapes…most I wasted as the burnt material contaminated the vape liquid…then it t caused issues with flavor…and icky brown sh$t collecting in the mouth piece and getting on your lips.
The better the filtering the better the vape experience.
How did you prepare your Diatomaceous Earth?
Did you filter with it using the buchner funnel and vacuum? Must you put down a filter before putting in the Diatomaceous Earth slurry?
I basically followed another’s advice (sorry cant remember who…) and mixed it in a very small bowl with ethanol (everclear). Like really runny pancake batter. I put in a 2micron filter in the Buchner, poured in the slurry and turned on the vac. I let the puck run under vac for a few minutes to solidify, then slightly rewet it before pouring in the wash. I also mixed about 1/4 teaspoon food grade activated charcoal to the wash and agitated before filtering. It got a lot of the green out, but if you go too heavy with charcoal it will steal the thunder! We love thunder, no?
In hind sight, I’d use 3/8-1/2” you suggested, instead of the 7/8” i used and maybe use a 10 micron. King of overkill. I had to run that batch for hours to get it through!
Great fun though!
To get through the year…I grow two grows back to back…spring through fall…then start to run out of my favorites…about the time I’m ready to harvest in springs grow in July or August.
Each grow is 4 plants vegged about 8 weeks…to try to maximize my harvest.
