So... the new grow area is ready after lots of sweat, tears and swearing (well, maybe not the tears). Had to build a custom "drip tray" out of some lumber and plastic sheeting to try and make the most of the space. I seem to be buying additional lights everyday to try and maximise the use of the space and am now regretting not just purchasing a single proper grow light early on in this experiment as the cost is starting to add up.
The two plants that are mostly under the cheap wish LED panels are a much deeper green than the three plants that are mostly under the nice three prong lights, so guess what? Time to purchase two more 3 prong LED lights along with all the bits needed for them! This means my rather overly optimistic experiment with lights from Wish will now be used solely to provide side lighting for lower foliage. Total real power consumption for 5 of the three prong LED lights plus 4 LED light panels is 201.7 watts.
Also decided to try using my modular tomato cages that I 3D printed (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3575343), am hoping they'll provide some good support as time goes on, I've also been researching the various feeds and nutrients but so far I'm finding it hard to be convinced to buy them for just soil growing and am going to stick to tomato feed for now.
Final step for this week has been clearing out my second grow area for the Granddaddy Purple Feminized seedlings that are in their first week (and have some Cream of the Crop Sticky Zkittlez Glue on back order so will be able to see how the three varieties compare growth wise).
@huntsolo, not so sure on the hi-tech! Mine is very much make-do and mend on a budget, so far everything with the exception of seeds and soil has come to just a few bucks under $500, that's including nutrients, pulleys, cables, lights etc...
@SirPsyche, your grove has just begun and its technical component is beautiful and you have excellent plants for four weeks)
I have a steampunk you have hi-tech)
Peace
@huntsolo, thanks! your current grow puts mine to shame, but this is my first time and I'm learning as I go, hopefully over time my setup will continue to get better 😀