HGL Procyon 100 Grow Test

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 day one setup

The light looks and feels professionally built. It has a very large finned heatsink and quiet cooling fan. The case looks great. There are 56 XLAMP Cree LEDs, 40 Red, 16 Blue. These are very, very bright and I believe are rated at a max of 3 watts. Ryan at HGL tells me there are 100 Watts being delivered to the LEDs with a total consumption of 125 Watts total. I made the mistake of looking at it directly for just a moment and I saw colored spots in my vision I've never seen before!

Mounting was very easy and tooks only minutes. I screwed two 'J' hooks into my center beam and hung the light from two chains. The polished end pieces of the Procyon provide sturdy holes for hooking in your chains. The light's glass covered window, as you can see from the photos, is off-centered, so I took some measurements and installed my hooks so the Procyon's light window would be centered in my growing area.

I set up a grid in my 3' x 2' area - see the LUX results below.

Spot	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O
12 Inches
Procyon	1390	4560	9080	4450	1320	1800	6500	12580	6200	1600	1450	5000	9750	4880	1340
18 inches
Procyon	2000	4320	6330	4240	2060	2430	5180	7820	5050	2340	2050	4470	6640	4340	2060
24 inches
Procyon	2520	3780	4430	3480	2460	2730	4100	4940	3770	2640	2490	3750	4480	3430	2450

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - January 11, 2008

Restart of previous test due to root bacterial problems spoiling the first test

The chambers and reservoir are prepared and clean. Water treated with H2O2 has been running for the past two days. This was drained Jan 11th and water with nutrients added. I'm using Dyna-Gro to start at about 400PPM with a small amount of Cornucopia Essential Acids. Trying Canna Rhizotonic for roots for first time.

The tomato seeds were sowed Jan 11, 2008. The Procyon light is about 25 inches up from the tops of the plastic grow domes. Meter readings are about 3500 on the left and right domes and 4600 in the center. This really isn't much of a difference, so the light intensity is balanced pretty good.

A comment about heat - the Procyon is heating up the entire 3 x 2 grow enclosure only about 2 degrees F at the most. This is without running my 6 inch fans. My chamber is open in the front and has a small passive vent at the top, so this is not a 'sealed' temperature test, just an observation. I stuck a thermometer right on top of the heatsinks of the Procyon where it's the warmest. The temp got to 87F. This is just warm...the Procyons heat output is negligible to my growing environment.

Seeds planted are Florida Basket, Golden Nugget, and Tiny Tim. Next photos when I see some sprouts....

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - January 19, 2008

The three sprouts have been up for 1-2 days. Not much to see so far, but they are in their way.

Seeds planted are Florida Basket, Golden Nugget, and Tiny Tim in that order left to right.

Photos here:

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - January 27, 2008

The three seedlings are definitely looking different from each other. The Florida basket is real compact. The Golden Nugget in the center is taller and skinnier. The tiny Tim looks odd as if something may have happened to the top or something. The leaves are curled a little and the top looks a little strange. We'll see what happens after a while

Florida Basket, Golden Nugget, and Tiny Tim in that order left to right.

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - February 2, 2008

Quite a bit of growth for a couple of weeks. There's three different things going on with the different varieties of plants. The Florida Basket on the left looks like others I've grown so far, compact and thick.

The Golden Nugget in the center is taking off quite quickly, but seems to be leggy looking.

Tiny Tim on the right just seems basically strange. The cotyledons looked strange as did the first leaves. Some kind of weirdness in the seed maybe, but it's growing and we'll see how it goes.

One change I've made is to hook this up to the 5 second on/90 second off spray timer I just built (See details in the forum. Thanks to Tom for linking to his schematic design for the timer) 

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - February 9, 2008

There's been a terrific amount of growth in the past week. The plants have more than doubled in size. The stalks are thick and the roots seem okay so far. The root system on the center golden nugget is very long. There is some tan roots, but they don't look unhealthy. I believe the tan color is coming from the Rhizotonic and Liquid Karma, especially the liquid Karma as it turns everything brown for quite a while.

I did stake up the middle tallest plant (Golden Nugget). Not that it needs it as it stands up fine, however I didn't want to get clumsy in there and knock into it. One thing I noticed over the last week was the rapid growth of shoots in all the branch forks. The roots also took off on this one. This plant is the one in the photos with the blossoms forming at the very top.

The other two plants seem to be doing fine. Roots looking good and very thick stalks. They also put on a lot of growth this week if you notice how small they were on Feb 2nd. The tiny Tim is oddly shaped, but it came up that way, could be seed genetics or something, but it's healthy enough.

The ages of the plants now since sprouts appeared is approx 20 days.

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - February 17, 2008

Plenty of growth in the past week. The plants have doubled in size again.  Lots of shoots growing and the roots are progressing nicely. All three plants are starting to blossom. The Golden Nugget in the center has the most and a couple are just starting to open.

The stalks are nice and thick. These are very strong plants.

I do seem to get some leaf up-curling. It comes and goes. The leaves are very healthy and green with no other signs of problems though.

The ages of the plants now since sprouts appeared is approx 27 days.

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - February 25, 2008

Growth continues at a pretty fast pace. The Tiny Tim has really kicked in and turning into quite the little bush. The Florida Basket is starting to get the offshoots which gets it bushing out usually. A lot of the blossoms will hopefully come out on these later.

The Golden Nugget - I've really trimmed the heck out of this thing trying to keep it under control. I'm removing branches that  do not develop into any blossom supporting ones. Each branch junction seems to come out in threes. Sometimes I cut one of these or two depending on which one has a blossom top. Don't know yet if this is the best, but I'm not ready to let the one plant take over the entire box. I've also strapped in some of the branches.

I do have some blossoms opening as you'll see in the photos. A few on the Florida Basket and more on the Golden Nugget. Whether they'll turn into tomatoes, we'll have to wait and see.

Shortly after these pictures were taken this morning, I moved the Golden Nugget to the left side and put the Tiny Tim in the middle. This kind of helps prevent the Golden Nugget from shading out both plants on either side of it.

 

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - Mar 9, 2008

Have a slight change in plant lineup. I needed to save my pepper plant from the UFO Grow2 as I decided to start the cucumbers over again. The pepper plant from that grow I really like. The Florida Basket had to take the hit. I figured I grew those enough before. I'm also curious to see how an adult plant grown in DWC can take to an Aero. Only been two days, but things seem to be well as far as that goes. I think the timing may be good too.

So, now I have the Golden Nugget, Tiny Tim, and Red Cherry Pepper plant.  I know last update there was some blooming going on. The more I looked at it, the more I wanted to stop it and get more vegetative growth. I trimmed off the few early blossoms and went stronger on the grow formula to up the Nitrogen. This seemed to do the trick as I got more vegetation, stronger roots, and thicker stalks and branches. Along with this came some serious trimming chores. You'll see a pile of trimmings in one of the photos. I'm having to trim and tie up the Golden Nugget from taking over the entire grow area. I trim a pile like this every day. Many new branches start on this plant everyday. They grow in forked pairs. There's a branch with just leaves and another with blossom sites, leaves and additional branch forks. What I do is remove the branch with just leaves.

All three of these plants are just about ready for a blosom push. I haven't quite decided when to do that, but I'm pretty sure soon. I think a tank change with bloom formula will do the trick when the time comes. I'm going to let them veg a while longer. Possibly wait until I see the next bud sites start to open. Plenty of them on all three plants.

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - Mar 16, 2008

Three days ago I changed the nutrients to a bloom formula and cut the light down from 18 to 15 hours. I think I'm getting a pretty good response so far. All three plants are budding and flowering.

The Tiny Tim was the fastest responder as flowers seemed to burst out the very first day. If you look closely at the photos, you'll see there are already two tomato blossoms that have set, so there will be some tomatoes guaranteed. This plant although not real tall is thick and strong. It is also very wide in diameter.

The golden Nugget I have to chop on every day and bind branches to keep it from growing monsterous. I did some more research and it seems it may be a semi-determinate. The seed company I bought the seeds from had it listed as a determinate, but it seems many others have it listed as semi-determinate or even indeterminate. It does have some blossoming going on. It's very possible this variety may be a little large for me to grow or I have to really try and keep it compact or try some topping on these in the future.

The pepper plant did go into a droop for a few days after the move from the DWC to the Aero. However, it wasn't too bad and it's really picked up since. It's starting to get many more root shoots and the leaves are standing up much better. It also has quite a few blossoms and a flower now.

The Procyon seems to grow pretty good plants. I'm very pleased with the results so far and I think someone that really knows what they are doing will be very successful using this light!

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - Mar 23, 2008

The plants are huge, especially the Golden Nugget. My challenge has been trying to keep this thing pruned and tied up.

Further blossoming action taking place and zillions more small blossoms on all the plants ready to grow fruits I hope.

The Golden Nugget has six tomatoes now that came out on one early blossom cluster. Many more smaller blossoms on this one too. This plant has really become work as far as keeping it managed. It seems like it's vines coming out of a tree. The branches get very long.

There's a couple of tomatoes growing on the Tiny Tim that fruited last week. Many more flowers coming out today I notice.

The Pepper Plant has some flowers also, but still no fruited peppers yet. Hopefully that will change soon.

All three plants seem to be healthy enough. I do have some pruning to do on these today.

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - Apr 4, 2008

Tomatoes are starting to fruit now at a pretty good rate. Mostly on the Tiny Tim. The Golden Nugget does have 8 tomatoes, but seems to be still growing vines. I'm convinced this plant is too big for my area. I continually have to chop limbs off to keep it from taking over the entire grow area. The root pot is completely chock full of roots right to the top.

Lots of blossoms. So the Procyon 100 does blossom. It's a fact.

The pepper plant did seem to take a dive from the transplant for awhile. It seemed transplanting from the DWC to the Aero does take  while. I notice a new root system is starting to grow again. The growth is starting to pick up again. Hopefully we'll se some peppers soon.

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - Apr 21, 2008

The Tiny Tim is really fruiting well. Somewhere in the range of 50 tomatoes so far. About a dozen have ripened already and there's a photo of a couple of red ones. Many more blossoms left.

The Golden Nugget contunues to overwhelm the area. It now has 10 tomatoes fruiting on it. It's not the best choice in growing for my area. The plant is way too large unless I attempt to grow just one maybe. I continue to have to chop it as it shades the Tiny Tim. It grows above and into the light, so I have to chop the tops also. I'm waiting for some tomatoes on this one to ripen. I'm almost wondering if I have the wrong seed and I'm growing a large indeterminate. It sure acts that way. Blossoms come out only a few at a time instead of all-at-once.

The pepper plant was moved out to make some room. The Tiny Tim was getting smothered on both sides. Probably would have had even more than 50 tomatoes on the Tiny Tim if it wasn't so crowded.

I think this test proves the Procyon 100 is pretty good at growing tomatoes.

HomeGrownLights.com Procyon 100 Grow Test - May 8, 2008

This will be the conclusion of the test. As you'll see in the photos, I removed the Golden Nugget for a couple reasons. It turned out to be WAY to big for my growing area and was smothering out my Tiny Tim (See the first photo before I removed it. Can you even see the Tiny Tim?) I got about two dozen tomatoes from the Golden Nugget, the second photo is a bunch of these 'golden' tomatoes. What convinced me to remove it - I tasted the golden tomatoes. I found out I don't like them! Probably preference, but I just didn't care for the taste. I like the Tiny Tim's much better and any of the other red varieties I've grown before for that matter. The plant was just huge. If you want to grow a Golden Nugget, make sure you have room. The first t

The Tiny Tim is doing much better now and fruited quite a few more tomatoes once it got some breathing room.

Even though I ended up with one plant, I think it would have happened given the circumstances with any light I used. Probably if I started with three Tiny Tims it would have been better as these plants seem to stay smaller, thus could have supported one or two more without the overcrowding.

I think the test was successful. Once again I'm happy with the Procyon's performance. Let me know your feedback and/or questions on the forum.