TeaTreeOil
Well-Known Member
Yes, the noon sun is about 10k lm/sq ft. But not even half of the sun's spectrum is plant-usable. 5,000 lm/sq ft is plenty when using a highly plant-friendly light source, like plant-specific fluorescents.
CFL Efficiency - A Stoner's Challenge
- Thread starter Topher89
- Start date
Topher89
Active Member
hahaha, it gets complicated! You have to think about the light in two planes. Grab a plate and head for the sink! Here is what you do.
1. Place plate under sink, and turn water on.
2. Water falls in a STREAM untill it hits the plate, where is dissipates across the surface.
If you leave the water running, the excess spills out, and more comes in to fill the surface. Now, think if it with a bottle of water instead of a faucet. The water inside is enough to cover the surface of the plate (make it a big saucer for vegtables!) If you were to shrink the plate, but keep all the water, then the water would have to get deeper, right? (if it didn't spill off, of course)
Well, the AMOUNT OF WATER in the bottle is the lumen. That is how much covers the surface of the object.
The depth of the water can be attributed to a foot candle, where it is the intensity of the water on the object.
Light has no weight, so it is hard to make sense of it in numbers! if you could simply weigh light, it would be much simpler... Oh well! I hope you can visualize what I am describing!
Topher89
Active Member
I am currently providing about 4800 in my flowering chamber, and 2500 in my veg. Jorge Cervantez has a chart saying a plant can use up to 10,000 foot candles of light. I wan't to see RESULTS from people using less. i wanna see people from seed to harvest with 1000! I am looking for all numbers in between! I want to put together a comprehensive list that can give a rough estimate into the amount we *really* need.
Topher89
Active Member
Here is another amazing thread to support "lumens" adding. Again, the phrasing is incorrect, but the info is spot on.
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/83378-16k-lumens-hps-vs-cfl.html
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/83378-16k-lumens-hps-vs-cfl.html
I
Illegal Smile
Guest
That would be an interesting study. I would guess it wouldn't conclude much about "what we need" because that is a value laden term. If all the data were there you could plot a curve on a graph. I would guess "efficiency" would fall off sharply below 2000, peak at perhaps 5000, and then you'd have diminishing returns up to 10k. I know people getting a half pound dry out of 2 sq ft and 4 plants with 4-5k (per sf) and that's what I shoot for.
TeaTreeOil
Well-Known Member
Plants can use more than 10k lm/sq ft. Not really the issue. Yield does not increase at a constant rate with more and more lumens, it's a game of diminishing returns. After 6-8k lm/sq ft(HPS, less for fluoros, but it'll still be more watts), you're actually providing more total radiant energy than the sun will(per day), as the sun doesn't give plants 10k lm/sq ft all day, but only for several hours around noon, on a clear day, in direct light(that's kind of iffy). Artificial light is providing the full force pretty much from a few minutes after turning them on to when you turn them off.
For flowering marijuana, nothing beats an HPS, but that's only part of it. Fluorescents are unmatched for vegetative growth(efficiency). MH is great, but it has a fairly short bulb life, and loses lumens quite rapidly(replace at least once a year as it'll be under 70% of the original lumens with regular use). While T8/T5s last a few years, at which point they're putting out 70% of the original lumens, and the T5/T8s are actually just as or slightly more efficient per watt. Granted MH can veg bigger, taller plants more easily, and has a good deal of useful UVA/UVB(bad for humans, good for plants; fluoros also emit some useful UV -HPS doesn't). Conversely, Fluoros can more effectively veg a larger number of smaller plants with less watts.
Topher89
Active Member
This right here is why I think that 10,000 is not the goal I should be striving for! Perfectly said. I am now simply looking for logs showing CFL success. I want only cfl lighting! If any of you have your own, please feel free to link them to me! Great talk thus far guys, you all kick ass.
Topher89
Active Member
So I am down to three plants in my flowering chamber... Two confirmed males the other night. I reduced by veg box to 6 CFLs instead of 8, and the temps have gone down about 8-10 degrees. That puts me at 3200 footcandles per square foot... Right above where I should be. if only I could get my seeds to germinate better!
homegrow0420
Member
Hey Toph, how it going man. You've been posting in my grow for a while now so I figured I'd stop by and take a look. Sorry about them males bro, wish I could help on the germin man, all I do is pu t my seeds in a cup with about an inch or less of water and check it every 12-24 hrs. I pull the seeds and put them in soil one by one once a tap root appears, leaving the rest in the water. I continue checking until all the seeds have cracked or 4-5 days have passed. At that time I throw out whats left and thro in more seeds and water until I have the number or seeds crack that I'm looking for. Not 100% germ but it works fo me. Looking forward to the side by side grow. Thought it might be interesting if we compete for yeild since we have such similar grow styles. If your interested stop by my grow and post or pm me and we can figure how many plants a piece we wanna run and what not.
Ladies are looking great man, Post some more pics and give us and update!!! I wanna see how things are doin
I'll have a new pic update on monday. Got my veg tank set back up, loaded and roll. Take care man. Stay Lit
Topher89
Active Member
Lights came on on day 11 flowering, and the last male of the bunch has been removed. So out of five healthy plants, we are left with 2 females. I am MUCH more optimistic this time around, so we should see vast improvements over last time! I get pretty bored at work, so if ya'll have completed grow journals that you wann abrag about, please feel free to post me a link!
SO BLAZED
Here are some pics from the ladies!
SO BLAZED
Here are some pics from the ladies!
Attachments
homegrow0420
Member
Hey man, just dropping in again. Diggin the new pics. Plants look very very healthy. I'm curious if you were planning on topping/FIMing? From what I see you prefer to run untopped single fat main cola, I was thinking about trying that with this new crop so I could run more plants in less space. Have you completed any of these single main cola grows? What kinda yield did that give you? How long did you veg/flower in that grow? Do you think it would work well in my style of micro growing (2-4 wks veg/bud 7-10 wksish)? Think thats all the questions I have for now. Your ladies have alot of potential man, I'll stay tuned and litLights came on on day 11 flowering, and the last male of the bunch has been removed. So out of five healthy plants, we are left with 2 females. I am MUCH more optimistic this time around, so we should see vast improvements over last time! I get pretty bored at work, so if ya'll have completed grow journals that you wann abrag about, please feel free to post me a link!
SO BLAZED
Here are some pics from the ladies!
Topher89
Active Member
Hey bro! Thanks for dropping by! I have not done much training, although I have read extensively into it recently. My first grow changed throughout the entire cycle, and I ended up with a couple reaaaal stressed females. Managed to salvage a few KILLER grams from them, but the damage was done early on.Hey man, just dropping in again. Diggin the new pics. Plants look very very healthy. I'm curious if you were planning on topping/FIMing? From what I see you prefer to run untopped single fat main cola, I was thinking about trying that with this new crop so I could run more plants in less space. Have you completed any of these single main cola grows? What kinda yield did that give you? How long did you veg/flower in that grow? Do you think it would work well in my style of micro growing (2-4 wks veg/bud 7-10 wksish)? Think thats all the questions I have for now. Your ladies have alot of potential man, I'll stay tuned and lit
In your grow space, I would go one of two ways. You can either LST the shit out of a couple plants, or grow a lot of juicy one cola plants. It is all up to you. The reason I like to let them grow naturally is because I hate messin with something that ain't broken... If they are growing daily, then I let them do there thing. I think in my next group I am going to try to FIM a couple plants, simply because it seems the easiest of the techniques.
That should be in a week or two, when my newest seeds break out of the ground.
In regards to life cycle, my last plants were harvested after only 5 weeks of flowering. They were pathetic, and I was ready to bring much healthier plants over... So I cut them down and fast dried one. The other is in my bowl as we speak! Dankity dank shit, but hardly any yield at all.
I am high as shit, so if I missed something, hit me up and I will elaborate. ONE LOVE!
livelife8345
Active Member
that is deff coming along MAAAAN!!! good shit good shit!! stayin tuned Bro!!! blaaaaaaayze!!
Topher89
Active Member
Hahaha. Thanks bro! +rep for stickin' around!
So I have had a busy few days off again... I decided to germ a bunch of new plants, so I have a bigger number to flower when I change the lights in a few weeks. I have 11 plants now in the Veg chamber, and atleast one more that has just started to come out of the peat pod. Hopefully I can get 6 healthy females at the end of the month.
Time will tell! Pics coming in a few minutes.
livelife8345
Active Member
plants are bangin bro!!!! shiit i wish!!! my grow was as big as yours!. slowly working towards it lmao ive seen crazy ones but yours is deff coming along good shit!! =). blaaaaaaayze! and might i add just right quick is the veg chamber plants a lil leggy? idk i have fucked up vision but idk maybe there a lil tall?? =D ight man coo blaaaaaayze!!! Smoke =One!! lol
ps thanks for rep!! = got ya back nice grow!!!
ps thanks for rep!! = got ya back nice grow!!!
arcticvapors
Well-Known Member
looking good topher...
Topher89
Active Member
Hey! Yah, the plants in Veg are stretched as shit! When I germ'd the bigger ones, I neglected to transplant them because they germ'd a couple days before anything else.... So they just kinda sat in the dark for about 36hours... So they are leggy as hell. I will prolly LST them... I have been needing an excuse to do it. Lights are off right now, but I will update at midnight.
On a sour note, I got laid off from my job today, so I will be around alot more. I have a few job offers, but I think I will take a week or two and enjoy what is left of the summer.
I have 14 plants in my Veg chamber, so it is rather crowded. Again, pictures later. The two in flowering are now on day 16! Seems I just changed the lights a couple days ago. Couple more weeks and we will have buds forming quickly! Cannot wait!
Thanks again to everyone who has been sticking around, here's one for all of you!
Stay lit.
Topher89
Active Member
Thanks bro! +rep for hangin' around.
arcticvapors
Well-Known Member
+rep right back at ya...nice grow and def worth the read!