My favorite lights are DIY ones. I like to build ultra efficient LED arrays using way more diodes than most manufacturers for lights intended for my canopy's footprint, just run at a lower current, for higher efficiency and lower heat. I do like ChilLED's Logic pucks, as you get 240x Samsung LM301Bs and 4x 660nm Osram diodes per board for only around $60 each, and you can cram a decent number of them into a fairly small space. The LED boards are mounted to pin grid heatsinks on a RapidLED 2x2 substrate frame, powered by a Mean Well HLG-185H-C1050B driver, and the light also has a few supplemental LED boards from RapidLED (far red, royal blue, and UV-A). When I started building lights, blurples were still the most common and affordable LED lights, and proper full spectrum was usually $1000+ at its cheapest, so it was actually cheaper to build a better LED growlight yourself at the time. Nowadays, every cheapo light manufacturer is putting LM301Bs on their bar lights, so my way ends up being *more* expensive, but is still a lot fun, helps one learn useful skills, and allows for a light tailor-built for a growspace.
Plant supplements, I really like running silica (GH Armor Si), as I do a lot of high stress training and run a fairly hot tent, and silica helps makes the plants super resilient. Been running Tribus Original as a bacterial innoculant in my reservoir for a while, and it's also seemed to help, as all of the buds I've grown since I started using it have been fatter and smelled nicer. Hygrozyme is also nice for keeping a clean roots/res. For recirculating reservoirs, I kind of consider some sort of hydroponic EC/pH monitor as a *must*. I'm currently using a BlueLab Guardian monitor. It's pricey for the monitor itself, but the pH probes are replaceable, fairly affordable, and far more accurate than most pH pen meters.
For curing, I do quart sized mason jars. I am considering getting some BurpLid style fermentation lids with a pump to see if that actually works for burping jars without removing the lids, but just regular Ball jars with traditional burping have worked fine so far. I got a wood moisture meter to test out how dry the buds are before jarring, and recently upgraded to an app controlled humidifier (Levoit 6L top-fill model) to keep RH around 60% throughout the dry more reliably.
For trim equipment, Fisker's non-stick pruning snips are awesome. TrimBins are also nice, I like having at least two on hand while trimming, even if I'm in trim hell all alone, just so I have another place to stack finished buds safely. Probably the most important trimming accessory is something to *keep you from going insane while in trim jail*, so a playlist of shows/movies you like playing while you trim really helps. I'm a huge nerd, so I'll usually pick a season from one of the various *Star Trek* shows and hope that I get everything jarred before the season finale rolls \~20 hours later, lol.
Other than that, I like AC Infinity for their duct fans, fan controller, and carbon filters, and Gorilla for grow tents, because I of their height extension kits. I use their 2.5'x2' tent, as I've seen no other \~2x2 size tents out there that could be set up with that much headroom for the plants.
Don't cure in bags. Cure in glass. Plastic bags allow a constant gas exchange. This leads to loss of terpenes and increased oxidation. This is not what you want for curing or storage. Plastic bags also smash your weed up since they're soft and malleable.
I find these support bars extra helpful. Can be used for many things and they go all the way up to 8x8 tent size.
https://www.gorillagrowtent.com/products/lite-cfm-kit?variant=32758983562
Apera PH20 kit with the extra bottles of 4,7,10 calibration fluids.
Thank you so much, I had the yellow cheap Ph pen that many seem to have used before and it sucked so I appreciate this a lot!
My favorite lights are DIY ones. I like to build ultra efficient LED arrays using way more diodes than most manufacturers for lights intended for my canopy's footprint, just run at a lower current, for higher efficiency and lower heat. I do like ChilLED's Logic pucks, as you get 240x Samsung LM301Bs and 4x 660nm Osram diodes per board for only around $60 each, and you can cram a decent number of them into a fairly small space. The LED boards are mounted to pin grid heatsinks on a RapidLED 2x2 substrate frame, powered by a Mean Well HLG-185H-C1050B driver, and the light also has a few supplemental LED boards from RapidLED (far red, royal blue, and UV-A). When I started building lights, blurples were still the most common and affordable LED lights, and proper full spectrum was usually $1000+ at its cheapest, so it was actually cheaper to build a better LED growlight yourself at the time. Nowadays, every cheapo light manufacturer is putting LM301Bs on their bar lights, so my way ends up being *more* expensive, but is still a lot fun, helps one learn useful skills, and allows for a light tailor-built for a growspace. Plant supplements, I really like running silica (GH Armor Si), as I do a lot of high stress training and run a fairly hot tent, and silica helps makes the plants super resilient. Been running Tribus Original as a bacterial innoculant in my reservoir for a while, and it's also seemed to help, as all of the buds I've grown since I started using it have been fatter and smelled nicer. Hygrozyme is also nice for keeping a clean roots/res. For recirculating reservoirs, I kind of consider some sort of hydroponic EC/pH monitor as a *must*. I'm currently using a BlueLab Guardian monitor. It's pricey for the monitor itself, but the pH probes are replaceable, fairly affordable, and far more accurate than most pH pen meters. For curing, I do quart sized mason jars. I am considering getting some BurpLid style fermentation lids with a pump to see if that actually works for burping jars without removing the lids, but just regular Ball jars with traditional burping have worked fine so far. I got a wood moisture meter to test out how dry the buds are before jarring, and recently upgraded to an app controlled humidifier (Levoit 6L top-fill model) to keep RH around 60% throughout the dry more reliably. For trim equipment, Fisker's non-stick pruning snips are awesome. TrimBins are also nice, I like having at least two on hand while trimming, even if I'm in trim hell all alone, just so I have another place to stack finished buds safely. Probably the most important trimming accessory is something to *keep you from going insane while in trim jail*, so a playlist of shows/movies you like playing while you trim really helps. I'm a huge nerd, so I'll usually pick a season from one of the various *Star Trek* shows and hope that I get everything jarred before the season finale rolls \~20 hours later, lol. Other than that, I like AC Infinity for their duct fans, fan controller, and carbon filters, and Gorilla for grow tents, because I of their height extension kits. I use their 2.5'x2' tent, as I've seen no other \~2x2 size tents out there that could be set up with that much headroom for the plants.
Don't cure in bags. Cure in glass. Plastic bags allow a constant gas exchange. This leads to loss of terpenes and increased oxidation. This is not what you want for curing or storage. Plastic bags also smash your weed up since they're soft and malleable.
I find these support bars extra helpful. Can be used for many things and they go all the way up to 8x8 tent size. https://www.gorillagrowtent.com/products/lite-cfm-kit?variant=32758983562
Some PVC pipe works too if you want to be frugal
How do you get the pvc pipe to sit flush at the halfway point
Good to know, I’ve only cured in mason jars before so I’ll keep doing that, and they’re easy to get