20th Sept. 2015

I got my two Maxspect R420r-H (H for hydro) delivered to my home in Utrecht in late September with a view to trialing the newly available light spectrum. The projected results from the manufacturers were intriguing and I have to admit I was excited at seeing if they can really live up to all of the hype. They certainly look impressive on first site, like something from a sci-fi set, and the build quality, it has to be said, is superb. These things look built to last and I couldn't wait to get them installed and doing their thing. Installation was a breeze and I got the sunrise/sunset feature working easily - not bad for someone who struggles to use his smart phone!

 

30th Sept. 2015

I took cuttings from a strain related to white widow, which I've grown under traditional halogen lamps recently so have an idea of what I would expect to get back from a crop. After 10 days things were starting to progress nicely. If you've never grown under LED before, one of the things you'll notice is it is a much nicer environment to operate, with more room to manoeuvre if you're in a tight space and a more comfortable temperature.

 

10th Oct. 2015

I pretty much like to leave things to 'bed in' for the first 10 days and that's what I did here. Growth looks fine... nothing much out of the ordinary.

 

16th Oct. 2015

By the end of the following week I can see that there might be more growth here than I would expect. It's still pretty hard to determine if this new light spectrum is having any real effect but I would say that this crop is surprisingly bushy for 2 weeks' growth - I'm pretty sure under a halogen I wouldn't expect such width to the plants at this point.

 

17th Oct. 2015

Just one day later further growth was noticeable.

 

31st Oct. 2015

Things are ticking along nicely. Almost 1 month after planting and I must say, we're pretty far down the line with this crop. These lights are so low maintenance I think I should be doing something else with them. No timers etc... what a joy!

 

10th Nov. 2015

The leaves on this crop are noticeably bigger/wider than I have seen from this same strain under halogen - impressive.

 

21st Nov. 2015

Taller too!

 

16th Dec. 2015

After 10 weeks I'm pretty much ready to harvest. For this strain I'd usually give it 3-4 months so I'm way ahead of schedule. I could go on about the great features of these lights, their energy efficiency or their ease of use but the long and short of it is, they give great results and a short amount of time. That's what has impressed me the most, the yield given in the time taken. With this new spectrum Maxpsect have really done their research and the results show in abundance.