Shiva Skunk and Serious Kush under LED

This grow starts from scratch with the build up of my new Secret Jardin INT480 grow-tent. It is built very sturdy, easy to install and has a size of 480 x 300 cm = 14,4 m2. I will grow the plants from clone in soil in plastic containers and fed via drip-feeding with Advanced Nutrients. The pots will stand raised from the floor on wooden boards in order to avoid contact with the cold floor. In total I will install 16 LED-lamps inside the tent (8 on each side of my middle aisle) and I have chosen for the BRAND NEW Q6W-Generation2 LED-lamps from SANlight in Austria. The lamps can be daisy chained (which I did) and also can be dimmed in order to ensure a proper stretch of the plants. The two strains chosen for this grow are SHIVA SKUNK (=Northern Lights #5 x Skunk #1) from Sensi Seeds (64 plants on the left side of the aisle) and SERIOUS KUSH (=OG-Kush x White Russian) from Serious Seeds (64 plants on the right side of the aisle). Both varieties are indica-dominant and should stay fairly short, which is my desired growth-pattern since I space the plants very close to each other.

The Serious Kush (on right side of aisle) and Shiva Skunk (on left side of aisle) plants (64 each) were placed into their final 11 liter containers with soil during week 1. At day 10 they have happily rooted and start to grow faster every day, all plants have a vivid green color and are healthy. The Q6W-Gen.2 LED lamps are kept at a distance of 60 cm to the top of the plants and are dimmed to 60% (=1 green light on the dimmer), which is recommended by SANlight on their u-tube channel to ensure a proper stretch (see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0f5E8h5Fwk ) The plants love the Advanced Nutrients feeding schedule until now and develop VERY WELL.

During week 3 the plants have grown substantially and start to fill out the space nicely. All plants have a healthy green color and are developing well, the Shiva Skunk (left side of aisle) has grown to 35 cm and is appr. 5 cm taller than the Serious Kush plants (right side of aisle) now. The Q6W-Gen.2 LED-lamps are still dimmed to 60% power (=1 green light on dimmer) and at a distance of 60 cm to the plants. After day 21 the plants are switched to flowering by changing the light-schedule to 12/12 hours of light/darkness.

Shortly after they were switched to flowering (after week 3) the plants continue to stretch and then start to develop their first flowers. Now in week 7 all plants have very nice flower clusters all over the plant and side branches. They have grown to 45 cm (=Shiva Skunk on left side) and 40 cm (Serious Kush on right side of aisle) in height respectively and all plants have a nice dark green color, which shows they are healthy and also that the Advanced Nutrients schedule works like a treat. The Q6W-Gen.2 LED-Lamps are now dimmed to 100% (=three green LEDs on the dimmer) and work on FULL POWER, which ensures full fledged flower production. Both varieties have now started to exude their typical aroma. The Shiva Skunk starts to smell musky and sweet, while the Serious Kush smells 'gassy' and 'fuely' like its OG-Kush heritage. The flower clusters on the Serious Kush appear to grow denser than the clusters on the Shiva Skunk.

The plants continue to develop more and more flower clusters all over the main and side branches, its FANTASTIC to see. 😍 The Shiva Skunk is still a little bit taller (47 cm) than the Serious Kush (42 cm), but the Kush plants have denser flower clusters. Trichome production is now in full swing under the Q6W-Gen.2 LED-lamps, which are still dimmed to 100% (=3 green lights on the dimmer). The plants SMELL DELICIOUS and have a STRONG AROMA now! The Shiva Skunk has a very musky and sweet aroma now with hints of citrus in it, while the Serious Kush smells 'dank', it has an extraordinary strong and gassy smell which is intoxicating!

All plants are doing INCREDIBLE, the buds are swelling up and on each branch huge colas start to form. The amount of flower production under the Q6W-Gen.2 LED-lamps (now dimmed to 100% at a distance of 60 cm) is INSANE and all flowers are gleaming with trichomes. The plants are sticky as hell and they smell like crazy. The Shiva Skunk has a sweet, musky aroma with hints of citrus, while the Serious Kush is getting danker every day, it has a PUNGENT GASSY SMELL...I LOVE IT! 😍 The first pistils on the buds start to get brown, which is a sign that they are ripening and that the moment of harvest is getting closer. I cant wait!

The pistils on all plants are getting more and more brown, its time to check the trichomes now. I check with a handheld microscope and they are getting milky, but not yet amber, which means they are ALMOST READY TO HARVEST, but not yet. The amount of crystals produced under the Q6W-Gen.2 LED-lamps from SANlight is astounding, the plants are coated in trichomes! This week I stopped giving any nutrients in order to FLUSH the plants, this is VERY IMPORTANT in order to get a smooth smoke of the dried end-product. The aroma of the plants is VERY STRONG NOW, they smell mouth-watering. The Shiva Skunk has a sweet, musky smell with a fresh citrus note to it, its a delight to smell those plants. The Serious Kush smells EXTREMELY fuely and gassy, like the OG-Kush, but with an amount of buds like the White Russian, its FLABBERGASTING. I cant wait to try those two strains...😎

This cycle was all along a great pleasure. The plants developed MUCH BETTER THAN EXPECTED, the result under the Q6W-Gen. 2 LED lamps from SANlight is FANTASTIC. I have NEVER harvested more from plants of the same strain under HPS and the quality of the bud (trichomes, taste aroma) is MUCH BETTER when grown under LED, my decision is definitely made, I will continue to solemnly grow with LED-lights in the future. I harvested 2250 gram of Shiva Skunk and 3009 gram of Serious Kush, that a total amount of 5259 gram. In relation to the 3000 Watts (incl. dimmed part!) power of the LED-lights thats an AMAZING 1,753 gram per Watt.

This cycle was all along a great pleasure. The plants developed MUCH BETTER THAN EXPECTED, the result under the Q6W-Gen. 2 LED lamps from SANlight is FANTASTIC. I have NEVER harvested more from plants of the same strain under HPS and the quality of the bud (trichomes, taste aroma) is MUCH BETTER when grown under LED, my decision is definitely made, I will continue to solemnly grow with LED-lights in the future. I harvested 2250 gram of Shiva Skunk and 3009 gram of Serious Kush, that a total amount of 5259 gram. In relation to the 3000 Watts (incl. dimmed part!) power of the LED-lights thats an AMAZING 1,753 gram per Watt.