Cannalope Haze in LED-Test

For this round I decided to test the new LUMATEK ZEUS 600W PRO against my well working SANlight Q6W-Gen.2 LED-lamps in a side-by-side grow. The Lumatek LED-fixture is a so called 'spider-system', which means the light-bars are spread out over the whole grow surface and hang in a fixed foldable frame (see pics above). Therefore the distance kept to the plants cannot be varied over the grow surface, which can be a problem. (e.g if I have plants with different heights, some will be further away from the lamps than recommended by Lumatek). I hang the Zeus 600W PRO on the left side in my HOMEBOX Ambient R240+ grow tent and the two SANlight Q6W-Gen.2 lamps with magnetic dimmers on the right side. This means each LED producer has 120x120 cm of grow-surface to shine and show what they can do. 😉 In order to have a good comparison I choose for plants from clone for this round, because clones tend to grow more similar than plants grown from seed. My strain of choice for this test is CANNALOPE HAZE from DNA-GENETICS, because I know her well and she is a beauty to grow and yields very well. I use 11 liter pots filled with LIGHTMIX from BIOBIZZ and added BIO-TABS nutrients (2 BIO-TAB tablets per container plus Startrex (50 gram), Mycotrex (3 gram) and Bactrex (1 gram) and watered with Orgatrex 5ml/liter of water), this way I only have to give the plants tab-water for the whole cycle, no other nutrients. The organic nutrients als require no EC-value or PH-value measurement and adjustment and will save me a lot of work and time. After having humidity problems last time I have added a grow-controller (GROWBASE PRO from from GROWCONTROL) and a small AC-unit, which can HYDRATE AND DEHYDRATE my tent. I set the controls to 60% humidity and let the controller switch on and off my lamps with its built-in timer function. For the small clones both LED-fixtures are dimmed and hung at a distance recommended by the producer for this stage of growth. The Lumatek is dimmed to 25% and hangs at 50 cm distance, while the two SANlights are dimmed to 40% and hang at 70 cm distance to the top of the plants. Now I am all set for another GREAT round and VERY CURIOUS how the Lumatek performs against SANlight.

At the beginning of week 2 the plants have grown fine, but also developed some yellow leaf-tips, which I assume is from the amount of light they receive. Therefore I decide to hang the both LED-fixtures higher. The LUMATEK ZEUS PRO 600W is now at 75 cm distance and the two SANlight Q6W-Gen.2 are at 90 cm distance from the top of the clones of CANNALOPE HAZE from DNA-GENETICS. The humidity inside the HOMEBOX-tent is kept permanently at 60% during veg. The grow-controller GROWBASE PRO from GROWCONTROL does a GREAT job in keeping a constant environment inside my growtent. As a precaution I put up some yellow sticky traps against fungus-gnats and also hang sachets with predatory mites from KOPPERT (=Thripex PLUS) on every plant. This will prevent spider-mites and thrips to invest my tent, since the predatory mites will eat them right away. I LOVE BIOLOGICAL TREATMENTS and decide on it every time instead of using chemicals, because I grow my own medicine here and dont want ANY CHEMICALS on my cannabis! 👍😎 At the end of week two I slightly increase the light intensity again, by adjusting the dimmers of my LEDs. The Lumatek is now set to 50% dimm-level and the SANlights are running at 60%. Until now there is not much difference to see between the two sides, all plants are healthy and doing well.

All 18 CANNALOPE HAZE plants from DNA-GENETICS are developing FANTASTIC! They have a healthy green color and have grown to 25-30 cm in height now. It appears that the plants on the right side (=under SANlight) are a little bit taller than the ones on the left side under Lumatek. After two weeks in veg. inside the HOMEBOX grow-tent, the plants have almost filled out the space. I therefore switch my grow-controller (=GROWBASE PRO from Growcontrol) to 12/12 and induce flowering that way. The Lumatek PRO is still kept at 75 cm distance, but I increase the dimm-level to 75%. The SANlights are kept at 90 cm distance, but their dimm-level is increased to 80% (=two green lights on dimmer ON). The BIOTABS nutrients are already in the soil, so all I have to do it is give pure tab-water, which is very convenient and saves me a lot of time. I can't wait for the flowers to appear now...😁

During week 4 (=flowering week 2) the 18 CANNALOPE HAZE plants from DNA-GENETICS grew like hell and started to develop their first white hairs (=female pistils of the plant). The speed in which the little white crowns appear is astounding to me, I LOVE IT! The lamps are now hung at the producer recommended distance of 22 cm (=LUMATEK) and 45 cm (=SANlight) and both run at 100% power (=no more dimming for now!). The difference between the left side (=Lumatek) and right side (=SANlight) can be seen clearly in the videos. The plants on the right under the Q6W-Gen. 2 LED-Lamps from SANlight have a darker, healthier green color and have produced VISIBLY MORE FLOWERS then the plants on the left side under the Lumatek PRO 600W. Lets see how this goes further next week...😎

In week 5 (=flowering week 3) all 18 CANNALOPE HAZE plants from DNA-GENETICS continued to develop their flower crowns. The lamps are now hung a little higher at a distance of 50 cm (=LUMATEK) and 60 cm (=SANlight) and both still run at 100% power (=no more dimming for now!). The plants on the right under the Q6W-Gen. 2 LED-Lamps from SANlight are a little bit taller and still have a darker, healthier green color. The amount of flower crowns also appears to be more, but is hard to recognize by eye anymore. The plants on the left side under the Lumatek PRO 600W are developing good and produce lots of flower crowns, but appear to be lighter in color. My waterings are always with tab-water only, since the BIOTABS nutrients are for the FULL-CYCLE, its sooooo easy and convenient, I LOVE IT! 😎 The HOMEBOX growtent is now nicely filled out and my trellis (=plastic netting) is filling out very well! The trellis will hold up the branches under the weight of the HUGE tops I expect later in flowering...😁

All 18 CANNALOPE HAZE plants from DNA-GENETICS continued thru week 6 to develop their BEAUTIFUL flower crowns. The plants on the right under the Q6W-Gen. 2 LED-Lamps from SANlight are in general a little more uniform (all have almost the same height). The plants on the left side under the Lumatek PRO 600W are developing well, but some are smaller and some are taller. The production of flower seems to be on PAR now between the two sides, but thats hard to judge only by looking at them. In the end the weight will tell, who produced more flower. 😃 I still give only PURE tab-water, without any PH correction, since the BIOTABS nutrients are adjusting the ph-value and work for the FULL-CYCLE, its unbelievably easy and convenient, I LOVE IT! 😎 The Ambient Q240+ from HOMEBOX is now nicely filled by the plants and they continue to grow well. 😁 The Lumatek is still running at 100% at a distance of 50 cm from the top of the plants. The two SANlights at 60 cm distance were so strong (first signs of light bleaching) that I decreased the power by dimming them to 80% during week 6. I am curious to see how the test goes on further...

The signs of light bleaching (=snow white tops) are increasing during week 7. (see in video) The light is so strong that the top of the buds start to grow white instead of green....looks almost like a snow-cap. 😄 All 18 CANNALOPE HAZE plants from DNA-GENETICS are devloping GREAT...they produce more and more flowers EVERY day. The trichome production is now in full swing as well, the plants get stickier every day. The 9 plants on the left under the LUMATEK PRO 600W are a little bit lighter in color and less uniform than the 9 plants on the right side under the two Q6W-Gen. 2 LED-lamps from SANlight. The plants on the right have a darker , more healthier color and are VERY UNIFORM, all have almost the EXACT SAME SIZE. The aroma inside the HOMEBOX-tent gets stronger now as well...I love the 'hazy' smell of the plants...very enticing! 😍 This week I add some Orgatrex (40 ml/liter) and Bacterex (2 gram/liter) to my watering, since BIOTABS recommend to do that in their feeding schedule.

Some of the 18 CANNALOPE HAZE plants from DNA-Genetics start to get yellowing leaves, which shows the are in the final stages of ripening now. (same as autumn in nature) The plants have developed HUGE colas on all branches and still produce new flower clusters every day, its AMAZING to see.👊😎 The smell inside my HOMEBOX-tent is FANTASTIC now, its a mildly sweet aroma with a strong spicy note to it from the Haze parent, simply WONDERFUL. The plants are now covered in trichomes, every time I accidentally touch one, my fingers are sticky as hell! The LUMATEK on the right side is hanging still at 50 cm distance and runs at 100%, while the two SANlights are hung at 60 cm distance and still run at 80% dimm-level. My waterings are back to normal tab-water, with no ph-correction needed with BIOTABS! I LOVE THOSE NUTRIENTS...so simple and easy! 😍

All 18 CANNALOPE HAZE plants from DNA-GENETICS are developping FANTASTICALLY! They love the BIOTABS-nutrients and start to show first signs of fading, now that we are coming closer to the end of flowering. The main COLAS are HUGE and glisten with trichomes, the plants are SUPER STICKY now, I love it. The smell is a earthy and mildly sweet aroma, which is getting stronger by the day, its MOUTHWATERING! As you can see in the overview-video above, the plants on the right side under the LUMATEK ZEUS 600W PRO are less uniform than the plants on the left under the SANlight Q6W-Gen.2 LED-lamps. Some are taller and some are shorter there, which is bad under a spider-system, since I cannot adjust the height for the smaller plants. The smaller plants will get too little light and produce less buds. The trichome production seems on par between the two sides, but the buds on the SANlight-side seem to be compacter than on the Lumatek side. I am VERY CURIOUS how the end result on the scales will be...

At the end of week 10 the 18 CANNALOPE HAZE plants from DNA-GENETICS are ready to harvest. The plants have all started to fade and get yellow leaves and hardly have any whit pistils anymore. I check the trichomes with a handheld microscope and see that they have all turned milky and some even amber...now is the PERFECT MOMENT to harvest them, they have reached PEAK-THC now. The colas on each plant are HUGE and COVERED IN TRICHOMES. A strong 'hazy' aroma is filling out the tent, its an earthy and mildly sweet smell, very enticing, I cant wait to try my medicine after its dry. The plants on the left side under the LUMATEK ZEUS 600W PRO are less uniform (=some are taller, some are smaller) and less compact than on the other side. The right side under the two SANlight Q6W-Gen.2 LED-lamps has grown more uniform (all plants have almost the same height) and with more compact buds. The trichome production was very good on both sides, the quality of the buds is OUTSTANDING!

At the end of week 10 I harvested all plants. I cut off all big fan-leaves and all other leaves that are bigger than my thumbnail and then cut the whole plant at the stem and hang them as a whole upside down in my tent. After 2 weeks of drying I try to bend a side-branch and if it breaks with a hearable sound, the buds are dry enough to put them into glass-pots for curing. After trimming the dried buds I put the two sides separately on the scale. One main cola of the LUMATEK side (=left side in tent) had bud-rot and had to be thrown out (=appr. 20 gram). The rest of the left side harvested 862 grams of dried buds. Divide the total (=882 gram) by the 600 Watt of power used by the ZEUS 600W PRO, the LUMATEK side yielded 1,47 GRAM PER WATT for this cycle. The right side with the two SANlight Q6W-Gen.2 lamps used 460 Watts of power (=including the dimming) and harvested 880 gram of dried bud, that is an EXCELLENT YIELD OF 1,91 GRAM PER WATT. Therefore I conclude my comparative LED-grow with a CLEAR VICTORY for the SANlight LEDs over LUMATEK! 👍😎 The SANlight achieved 0,44 GRAM PER WATT MORE THAN the Lumatek!