On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to have a cup of coffee with Adam Sutton, the regional sales rep for Aurora Innovations (the good folks who bring you Roots Organic, Soul Nutrients, SOS, etc.) and I got to pick his brain about both his products and growing in general.
Because of that conversation, beginning next week (thefirst week of April) we will be starting a new 12 pot hydroponic grow exclusively using the Soul nutrient line!
We have been growing medical marijuana here in Maine for years and this is the first time ever that we’ve made such a “wholesale” nutrient change in one of our grows (it’s always been just a little tweaking here and a little tweaking there).
I’m sure you’re wondering “but how does this impact me?” , well let me tell you how… our plan is to closely document exactly how this grow goes and the results we get using the Soul Nutrients line and sharing those results with you.
Big change makes me just a little nervous, but mostly I’m excited about the opportunity that lays ahead.
1. Another guarantee Spectrum King provides for all their lights (and we failed to mention) is that for any reason, within the first 30 days if you are not completely satisfied with the lights you can return them for a full refund, no restocking charge, no handling fee, none of that crap. You can check out their FAQ page here.
I don’t often recommend to people that they should plunk down their hard earned money on a product I have not yet tried and tested myself, actually I never have, until now that is.
LED lights have been on our radar for awhile and we’ve been watching the LED lights from Spectrum King in particular (because of the quality of their American made lights and the people behind them) and I can honestly say I have never done so much research before making a purchase before and I am so sure about what we’ve learned that we knew when the time came to make the move to LED’s Spectrum King were going to be the lights we bought.
Well, that time came as we are in the process of building out a new mother and clone room so we were facing the decision about (what) lighting which then morphed into the discussion of when we would should begin our transition to LED’s, but when we saw that Spectrum King had put their “Mother’s Lil Helper” on sale for just $199 it was a no brainer, our transitioning to LED’s was starting now, LED LIGHTS HERE WE COME!
We have been using T5 lights for years, here are most of the costs associated with using them over 3 years (as that is the warranty period for the “Mother’s Lil Helper” and a 4 foot 4 light T5 unit have roughly the same coverage area) :
1. The initial cost of the lighting fixture (4 foot – 4 bulb T5 fixture roughly $150)
2. The cost of the first set of bulbs (4 bulbs – Hortilux veg $30 each – $120)
3. The cost of replacing those bulbs every 9-12 months (4 bulbs – Hortilux veg $30 each – $120 over 3 years $240)
4. The cost of cooling (trust me, you put enough T5’s in a room and you will need to evacuate the heat!)
5. The cost of running these lights (55 watts per bulb – 210 watts total for a 4 bulb unit – so the monthly cost is more than 4 times the cost of the Mother’s Lil Helper)
6. The cost of the cooling device (air conditioner, mini-split, etc.) for removing heat from the grow room (unknown – but not cheap!)
So, not including the electrical cost of running AND cooling T5 lights you would spend $510 out of pocket over three years. A side note, the bulbs and fixtures only have a 12 month warranty at best (“Mother’s Lil Helper” comes with a 3 year warranty).
3. The cost of replacing those bulbs every 9-12 months ($0)
4. The cost of cooling ($0)
5. The cost of running these lights (each “Mother’s Lil Helper” has the power consumption of a single 100 watt light bulb!)
6. The cost of the cooling device (air conditioner, mini-split, etc.) for cooling the grow room (NOT NEEDED!)
So to keep things equal, not including the electrical cost of running and cooling the lights you would spend $199 out of pocket over three years for a “Mother’s Lil Helper“, $199 vs. $510.
So it boils down to this, if you buy a “Mother’s Lil Helper” you will get a better quality light fixture that will provide your plants with a better quality light for about one third the startup cost of a T5 unit and monthly operating expenses that will cost you less than 25% to run vs. a T5 light and it’s not just about saving money, your plants will be happier, grow better/stronger and yield more.
So you save a bunch of money at the time of purchase and continue saving money every single month you run them while getting better grow results, see why it was a no brainer to make the move?
But wait, there’s more! There’s another issue that I have yet to mentioned, safety… if you look closely at the picture above you will see a Spectrum King light that is turned on while it is being hosed down by water! If you have ever been around when a hot bulb exploded because it was hit by mist or water droplets while a grower was spraying plants, it is truly a very scary and dangerous situation.
I could go on about why we can’t wait for these lights to arrive and why I think anyone looking to purchase lights needs to run, not walk, over to Spectrum King to get your lights and I strongly suggest you do it sooner rather than later as I don’t know how long this crazy sale will last.
