The Grow Awards 2026 🏆
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Breeder: Simba Seeds Sex: Feminized Variety: Indica-Dominant Hybrids (75% Indica and 25% Sativa) Strain Genetics: Afghani X Skunk Flowering Type: Photoperiod Flowering Time: 7-9 weeks Where to Grow: Indoor, Greenhouse, Outdoor Taste / Flavour: Relaxing and Euphoric CBD Content: Low THC Content: High Yield: High
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@CalGonJim
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1/12/26 4:18AM MONDAY.....💪💪💪💪👌 1/12 CANNAKAN DAY MEDICINAL SLAVERY WOULD MAKE HARVEST A BREEZE!! ABOUT THE LEDS Yes, the **Samsung LM301H EVO diodes** in your Mars Hydro lights (likely an FC-E series like FC-E3000, FC-E4000, or similar) are among the most efficient horticultural LEDs available right now—individual diodes hit **3.14 μmol/J** efficacy, pushing the whole fixture to around **2.85–2.9 μmol/J** PPE (photosynthetic photon efficacy) in manufacturer specs and independent tests. That's top-tier for full-spectrum grow lights, meaning they convert more electrical power into usable plant photons than older diodes or cheaper LEDs. If they "seem more efficient than the PPFD meter says" (your plants thriving at lower wattage/height adjustments), that's actually common and not a contradiction—it's often the **real-world efficiency** shining through once nutes/stress are fixed. Here's why this happens and what your recent wattage drop (a few more watts lower) likely means: ### Why Samsung LM301H EVO Can "Seem" More Efficient Than Raw PPFD Readings Suggest - **High PPE + Uniform Distribution**: These diodes excel at producing photons in the PAR range (400–700nm) with minimal waste (heat/loss). Mars Hydro FC-EVOs achieve strong average PPFD (e.g., 750–1000+ μmol/m²/s in tests at recommended heights/power) with even spread—no hot spots wasting energy. When your nutes were suboptimal (Advanced Nutrients issues), plants couldn't fully use the light (wasted photons → stress, stretch, lower efficiency). Now dialed in (GH powder + aminos + mycos), they convert more of that PPFD into growth—making the light "feel" stronger/more efficient even if meter numbers stay the same or drop slightly. - **Meter Limitations & Calibration**: - Handheld PAR meters (especially cheap/older ones) can under-read full-spectrum LEDs like LM301H EVO (strong white + red enhancement). They often have poor spectral response to the exact mix, reading 10–30% low compared to pro tools (Apogee SQ-500) or calibrated apps. - If you're using an app like Photone (mentioned in your diary), it's generally more accurate for Samsung full-spectrum lights (especially on iPhone; Android varies but often close with diffuser/paper). Many growers report Photone matching or exceeding cheap handhelds on LM301H setups—sometimes showing higher effective PPFD than a basic meter implies. - Bottom line: Your plants are the ultimate meter. Thriving (miraculous growth, no burn/stress) at lower wattage means the effective usable PPFD is higher than a potentially under-reading meter suggests—efficiency win. ### Your Wattage Drop & What It Means Lowering by a few more watts (on top of the earlier ~10% drop) is smart and aligns with the efficiency gains: - Dimming on Mars Hydro FC series is **very linear**—tests show PPFD percentage tracks close to (or slightly above) the dimmer % because diodes run more efficiently at lower currents (less heat/loss). - Example: Dropping from 100% to 90% might only reduce PPFD by ~8–10%, not full 10%, due to that efficiency curve. - Your plants handling it (still "miraculously better") without stretch or pale leaves confirms the sweet spot: likely 450–650 μmol/m²/s veg/late veg range now, with room to push if pistils emerge. - Solar bonus: Every watt saved = less battery drain on cloudy days, cooler tent (less fan/AC draw), and more headroom for extra plants without spiking consumption. **Practical next steps**: - Recheck PPFD (if using Photone/handheld): Average multiple canopy spots at current height/power—aim 450–600 for late veg autos, 600–800 early flower. - Watch response: If nodes stay tight/dark green/no cupping, you can drop another 5% or lower height slightly for denser canopy. - Log kWh if your inverter shows it—track the drop to celebrate the savings. - If meter still "under-says" vs. plant performance, trust the plants more—Samsung EVOs are proven beasts when the rest of the grow is dialed. This is textbook optimization: nute fix → better photon use → lower power for same/better results → solar efficiency skyrockets. You're building a truly lean system. How low are you at now (e.g., 70–75W total?)? Any pistils or new growth explosions today? Keep the momentum—it's paying off big. 🥊🍌👨‍🔬🚨🌞💪💪💪💪💪 1/15/26 12:36AM L-Phenylalanine: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/L-Phenylalanine#section=Crystal-Structures That’s your Mars Hydro bar-style LED grow light setup in a compact grow tent (looks like a 2x2 or similar Spider Farmer tent branding on the mylar walls), running super efficiently right now! Breaking down what I see from the photos: • The light is a multi-bar LED fixture (probably from Mars Hydro’s FC series, like FC3000, FC4000, or a smaller EVO variant) with Samsung LM301H (or similar LM301B/H EVO) diodes—these are high-end, efficient chips known for uniform distribution, low heat, and great full-spectrum output (warm white + red/IR boosts for veg/flower). • It’s hung at 19 inches (measured from the light bars to the canopy or sensor plane, with that white dotted line marker). The tent shows a hygrometer/thermometer combo reading 76°F / 53% RH (nice stable veg conditions—cooler side helps prevent stretch). • Your PAR meter app is showing 327 μmol/m²/s PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) at that spot/height—solid reading for where you’re at. • Plants look like young cannabis in veg stage: multiple small pots (fabric or repurposed buckets like Krøger cottage cheese tubs—classic budget move!), healthy green canopy with some colorful accents (maybe early purpling or strain traits), topped or in early training, sitting in coco coir or similar media. • Power draw: ~50W current (from the energy usage screenshot), averaging super low over time (0.48–0.76 kWh daily average). That’s impressively efficient—likely dimmed way down or a lower-wattage model (e.g., 150–300W rated, but running at partial power). Total consumption over 30 days at ~14.5 kWh is pennies on the electric bill. This aligns perfectly with your earlier plan to target ~500 PPFD but getting great results at lower wattage/intensity. Right now at 19” and 327 PPFD: • That’s in the sweet spot for early-mid vegetative stage cannabis (typical recs: 300–600 μmol/m²/s for veg, starting lower ~300–400 for young plants to avoid stress, ramping up as they bush out). • Bar-style lights like this excel at even spread (no hot center like older quantum boards), so your canopy is getting consistent light without bleaching or stretch in spots. • Low power (49.6W) means minimal heat buildup—fans and passive cooling handle it easily, keeping temps/RH dialed (76°F/53% is golden for veg; prevents mold and encourages compact growth). Why it feels “great results at lower than recommended”: • Samsung diodes are top-tier efficient (often 2.8–3.1 μmol/J), so you hit usable PPFD without cranking full power. • Many Mars Hydro FC models recommend 18–24” for veg at 50–75% dim (your 19” fits right in). • Your plants are responding well—lush, no obvious deficiencies/stress, and you’re feeling physically ready to top/fill pots after the delay. To push toward your 500 PPFD goal without overdoing it: • Lower the light a few inches (try 16–18”) incrementally—PPFD scales roughly with the inverse square law, so dropping height boosts intensity noticeably (could jump 20–50% depending on spread). • Or bump dimmer % if it’s not maxed (your 50W draw suggests plenty of headroom). • Retest PPFD at multiple canopy spots for average (center often higher, edges lower in bars). • Watch for tacoing/upward leaf curl (too much light) or stretch (too little). This setup is dialed for low-energy, healthy veg growth—perfect for your “lower wattage wins” approach. Plants are happy, tent’s stable, and you’re crushing it efficiency-wise. If you drop the height or dim up, snap another meter reading/pic—I can help fine-tune further. How old are these ladies (weeks from seed/clone)? Any specific strain notes, or planning to flip to flower soon? Keep the momentum—today’s a win! 🌱💪😂
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@Philhsy
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All in all, love to thank everyone that made this contest possible, and to all sponsors, and thanks dogdoctor for including me 👌😄 its been a blast, cant wait to smoke this honey and also press some honey 🍯 this one is going to be tasty! Big fat buds on this one, jusat kept stacking up but now chop chop! See uou blut the smoke review guys, and good luck! Love to everyone
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Starting my flush this week using 10ml of Clearex per Gallon of water flushed down to 450EC or 225ppm, going to now continue watering with ph'd balanced water when dry with about 10-20% runoff. Going to keep an eye on the trichomes but I'm thinking I'm gonna harvest early to mid of next week. I'm going to try and bring out even more of the colors in the flowers this last week or two and I'm going to start watering with ice cold water not sure if it'll help or not but I'm gonna give it a shot. End of Week 13/Week 8 of Flower it went well the plants are flushed and are fading, going to chop in a few days.
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@byte_me
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Overall happy with the grow, I will try this strain again outdoors when I get the opportunity. A very good all day smoke that doesn't get boring 😁
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Frosty !! And Dark ! Going to def regrow under stronger lights
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It's really hard to get started with conditions and insufficient knowledge. but i did it. OG Kush really hard to grow, but it's really worth. ill grow this girl again I added more pictures of Super silver haze, she's baby and only 3 weeks to veg. Just showing
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General —— Plant is doing fine. Had no issues this week and the devlopment looks solid. Stretch seems to have stopped at this point. Nute Burn is getting stronger but she will get a lot of PHed only water in Week 8 without additional Nutes besides CalMag. Nutes —— Watering 2L of Water every 3 days with CalMag and Horsetail Extract. She got Biotabs Bio PK 5-8 this week and reacted with a bit more of a burn. She'll get only PHed Water for approximately a week. Light —— Light is running at 240W and around 45cm above the plants highest top. DLI is between 40-45 Defoliation —— A couple of leaves here and there but nothing major. Week 8 will be a bit more including larf that won't form any substantial buds.
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02 Feb 2022 Update: I noticed a strange chromatic coloring on some leaves of the "older" plants, a couple of the smaller plants have small brown spots on the leaves ... i also noticed that the grow tent is quite hot and the ground is quite dry, could be that the watering maybe is not enough, so from today i'll give a bit more water. I didn't expect that kind of temp from a led, adjusting the watering should goes better. Light regime ☀️21/3🌑 temp ☀️22/32 🌑 18.5/22 humidity 48% The lamp is till running it at 100% of his power but I just moved the lamp up to 70cm from the ground for more air flow and maybe the leds where to near the leafs, this why the chromed coloring on leafs? 03 Feb 2022 Update: Light regime ☀️21/3🌑 temp ☀️24/28 🌑 18.5/24 Plants looks already more happy now!!! soon photo/video update 04 Feb2022 Update: Little check and evrething looks great now, the new distance of the lamp did the magic , temperature is also much much better and stable, all plants look bit happyer now 😁 Light regime ☀️21/3🌑 temp ☀️22/26 🌑 20/18 humidity 51% 07 Feb 2022 Update: With a Lamp distance of 70cm at 100% is going really good, temperature is right and the earth in the pots also stays moist longer, the new leaves on all plants are doing well and the two "older" plants are doing a lot of side arms. In the last couple of days I have been noticing an increase in the speed of growth. The little BlackBerry Banana is staying small but is making new leaves that look healthier than the plant was born, I wait another week before deciding what to do but most likely I will pull her out of the tent and she will grow as an outdoor plat looking out the window 😂 Light regime ☀️21/3🌑 temp ☀️22/26.9 🌑 19.5/22 humidity 59% 08 Feb 2022 Update: After a little thinking i decided and Ijust moved the small BlackBerry Banana plant out the tent for a "Free" grow ☃️🌈🌤️ 😅😅 More air/co2 space and lamp ☀️ for the other 8 plants. Sometimes have to do wha need to be done.
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@SamDo
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Week 28 – Flowering Week 5 This week represents an important transition phase in the Pineapple Upside Down’s flowering cycle. Early floral sites are clearly evolving into real buds. Density is starting to build, and the plant is visibly shifting from initial flower formation toward true bud stacking. This change is now easy to observe in photos, making this a critical stage not to miss. To support this transition, PK levels were slightly increased. The goal is not to force growth, but to ensure the plant has sufficient resources to bulk steadily and without stress. Light intensity remains unchanged from the previous week. PPFD has not been increased yet, as the plant is responding well and stability remains the priority. Nutrient management and environmental consistency are the main focus this week. pH is monitored closely and maintained within a 5.8 to 6.2 range to ensure optimal uptake during this sensitive phase. No other major interventions were made. The strategy remains simple: observe, maintain balance, and allow the plant to progress naturally into heavier bud development. See you next weeek.
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Sundae Driver- (Fruity Pebbles x Grape Pie) under the MarsHydro TS3000.
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Das Fimmen hat wie erwünscht sein Ergebnis gezeigt. Habe bis auf die untersten 2 Arme, alle erneut gefimmt. Das Gewächshaus 12m2 soll in den nächsten 10 Tagen ankommen. Die Damen werden dann Anfang Juli ins Gewächshaus wandern und Ende Juli mit einer Plane ab 17/18 Uhr abends abgedeckt um die Blüte frühzeitig einzuleiten. Happy growing;)
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@J_diaz420
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Se hace defoliación extrema 5 días antes del corte para intentar hacer madurar la planta de forma mas pareja.✌️👨‍🌾🏻
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@Dunk_Junk
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She's doing well this week. Pushed out a few new leaves.
Processing
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@Kushizlez
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Harvest: Everything dried up to 347 grams + 96 grams of super high quality trim. Overall I am not too pleased with the smoke of the product. Although the bud size, bag appeal, smell and taste are pretty much all there, the shitty burn is a deal breaker for me and the majority of this weed is quite frankly useless. Another downside is while smoking I’ve found 4 seeds in an ounce from almost every strain. Light leaks? At least I learned a ton, including how to get super good burn for my next crop. I’m hoping that curing for a month or so will improve the burn but I wouldn’t really count on it. I have seen weed dried for 4 days with no cure and no flush smoke clean and not go out once. I have been told that the key to white ashes/clean burn is proper mineral content in the soil and there is tons of scientific studies on cigar ash going back 100 years. Plants grown in a medium with high levels of decomposing organic matter, phosphorus, magnesium, chlorine and heavy metal ratio tend to produce black/grey ash. Whereas plants grown in a medium with a higher ratio of trace minerals like calcium carbonate and potassium in the form of wood ash, rock dusts, oyster shell flour and lower levels of decomposing organic matter will produce a dense, uniform white ash that rarely goes out. But this is still all theory until I test it to confirm for myself a few times. My last few outdoor harvests did not improve with curing at all so I’m hoping this will be the missing link. Plain peat moss and coco clearly lack essential minerals that help burn. If said theory is correct I should find a synthetic nutrient line with more trace minerals. Makes me wonder if growing if rockwool/basalt rock could improve burn in a hydro setup. I think I did a fairly decent job for my first grow. I went wrong in a million different places but I still stuck it out and got some decent herb. Things went wrong early when I got black spot mold, nitrogen/magnesium deficiencies and powdery mildew. I corrected most of it but things didn’t get really bad until mid veg when I intentionally skipped a few feedings and defoliated quite heavily stunting the plants. I also didn’t even top or start LST until the 6-9th node which was really stupid and hurt my yield. My temperatures were all over the place from the learning curve. I was severely overwatering without realizing it. 100% peat moss is a shitty medium. I also fed way too late in flower (not what caused shitty burn). I also used synthetic nutrients in soil. Zkittlez bonsai Yield: 1.9g Smell: 7/10 - sweet, candy, berry, gassy, piney hints Bag appeal: 7/10 - slightly leafy/stemy Crystal coverage: 7.5/10 - very impressed Ash: 6/10 - flaky, mostly white/grey Fire holding: 4/10 - stays lit for 10-30 seconds Smoke: 6/10 - taste is decent, needs curing High: 6/10 - indica dom Comment: looks nice, smells nice, tastes nice, burns like shit. 43.5/70 = 62% 👎🗑️ Black Garlic #1 Yield: 53.6 Smell: 8/10 - gassy, piney, earthy, skunky Bag appeal: 7/10 - slightly leafy/stemy Crystal coverage: 7.5/10 - very impressed Ash: 8/10 - thick, uniform white ash Fire holding: 7.510 - stays lit for 45+ sec Smoke: 7.5/10 - taste is good until the end High: 7/10 - sativa dom Comment: looks nice, smells nice, tastes nice, burns great but quite leafy. 52.5/70 = 75% 👍🔥 Black Garlic #2 Yield: 42.3 Smell: 7/10 - woody, earthy, tea Bag appeal: 6.5/10 - slightly leafy/stemy Crystal coverage: 7/10 - impressed Ash: 6/10 - flaky, mostly white/grey Fire holding: 4/10 - stays lit for 10-30 seconds Smoke: 6/10 - taste is decent, needs curing High: 8/10 - sativa dom Comment: looks nice, smells nice, tastes nice, burns like shit. 44.5/70 = 63% 👎🗑️ Zkittlez Yield: 39.4 Smell: 7/10 - sweet, candy, berry, gassy, piney hints Bag appeal: 6.5/10 - slightly leafy/stemy Crystal coverage: 7.5/10 - very impressed Ash: 8/10 - thick, uniform white ashes Fire holding: 8/10 - stays lit for seconds Smoke: 7.5/10 - taste is decent, needs curing High: 7/10 - indica dom Comment: looks nice, smells nice, tastes nice, burns great but smalls didn’t fill out. 51.5/70 = 73% 👍🔥 Blackberry Breath #1 Yield: 57.5 Smell: 9/10 - sweet, grape, berry, gassy, earthy, hashy Bag appeal: 8.5/10 - dense, sparkly buds Crystal coverage: 9/10 - super impressed Ash: 5/10 - flaky, mostly grey/blackish Fire holding: 4/10 - stays lit for 10-30 seconds Smoke: 5/10 - tastes like chalky shit High: 6/10 - indica dom Comment: looks amazing, smells amazing, tastes like shit, burns like shit. 46.5/70 = 66% 👎🗑️ Blackberry Breath #2 Yield: 76.1g Smell: 6/10 - musky, tea, berry, herbal Bag appeal: 8/10 - slightly leafy/stemy Crystal coverage: 7.5/10 - very impressed Ash: 5/10 - flaky, mostly grey/black Fire holding: 4/10 - stays lit for 10-30 seconds Smoke: 5/10 - taste is shit High: 6/10 - indica dom Comment: looks nice, smells shitty, tastes shitty, burns like shit. 41.5/70 = 59% 👎🗑️ Slurricane #4 Yield: 34.5g Smell: 8.5/10 - gassy, deep piney, fuel, earthy, Bag appeal: 8.510 - slightly leafy/stemy Crystal coverage: 7.510 - impressed Ash: 6/10 - flaky, mostly white/grey Fire holding: 4/10 - stays lit for 10-30 seconds Smoke: 6/10 - taste is decent High: 6/10 - indica dom Comment: looks amazing, smells amazing, tastes nice, burns like shit. 46.5/70 = 66% 👎🗑️ Badazz OG Cheese Yield: 43.5g Smell: 6.5/10 - musty, woody, cheesy, piney hints Bag appeal: 6/10 - slightly leafy/stemy Crystal coverage: 6/10 - very impressed Ash: 5/10 - flaky, mostly white/grey Fire holding: 4/10 - stays lit for 10-30 seconds Smoke: 6/10 - taste is decent High: 6/10 - sativa dom Comment: looks like shit, smells decent, tastes decent, burns like shit. 39.5/70 = 56% 👎🗑️