LED Light Bleaching?

Organique04

Well-Known Member
Plant has been responding well to a LED Ufo grow light. I noticed a couple very small spots on a leaf or two. Spots look exactly like a drop of bleach hit the leaf? Is this caused by the light being too intense, or close? I have the light about 11" over the tops.
 

Organique04

Well-Known Member
I dont want to add anything becuase of a couple spots. Everything is lush and green for the most part. Just curious if the LED being close causes this bleaching.
 

BLOCKER

Active Member
this bleaching everyone goes on about is usaually calmg def, but its hard to say if your led is too close without knowing which led it is, whether its using 1 -100 watt diodes or has lenses etc..
 

edispilf

Active Member
Hey! Not saying that BLOCKER isn't right, but I would raise the LED 6 inches or so and see if that helps. They can definately cause some burn or bleaching. Raise it and try it for a week and see what the new growth looks like. I had to get used to the light before I could mess with the other stuff. 1 thing at a time. good luck!
 

Organique04

Well-Known Member
this bleaching everyone goes on about is usaually calmg def, but its hard to say if your led is too close without knowing which led it is, whether its using 1 -100 watt diodes or has lenses etc..
My LED light is a 135 watt Veg/Bloom with 3 watt LED's.
 

edispilf

Active Member
Hey man also what hours are you running per day? I try not to run 24 w/LEDS cause the plants need a break from that. run 18/6 if you're not. good luck.
 

Organique04

Well-Known Member
Hey! Not saying that BLOCKER isn't right, but I would raise the LED 6 inches or so and see if that helps. They can definately cause some burn or bleaching. Raise it and try it for a week and see what the new growth looks like. I had to get used to the light before I could mess with the other stuff. 1 thing at a time. good luck!

Thanks that what I am doing, more or less playing with the height of the light. I started with the light at 13" over plant. Everything looked green and fine. So I lowered it to 10.5 " and observed a few days later. Now I see a few tiny white bleach spots on a few leaves up top. So I am gonna back it to 12" now, dont want to burn anything :-)
 

edispilf

Active Member
yeahman. Like he was saying it kinda depends on the angle of the lens and stuff as to the perfect distance from the tops. More or less you just need to play with it a bit and see what is comfy for you. peacey
 

Scotch089

Well-Known Member
I am 99.999999999999~% sure there is not a "no name brand" UFO led light out there that is going to "bleach" a plant.

Not saying anyone is wrong, Ed is going at it right and so is Blocker- you want to start with the least stressful diagnosis for the plant first, docking the light back 4..6" would be just that.

But this wont tell you what the problem is right off the bat... nutrient uptake is directly affected from the amount of available light, intensity, PAR, heat (all relevant variables that come from your light's height) so it would be taking up less Calcium with less light, get what im saying?

I've learned the hard way recently, plants under LED's are calcium eating machines.

Not making any suggestions beyond keep an eye and open mind. Good luck.
 

Campo Cultivator

Well-Known Member
its not calcium they need its magnesium and yeah they need it supplemented in the feeding regime or you will come into problems as the grow progresses
I think the mag supplement is the biggest factor between a great led grow and a medicore one
10.5" seems very close to me although ive never done a led grow with less than 250 watts with that I found 18-20 inches was the optimum height
Ive never had a problem with bleaching because of the light being to close what I found in flower the resin production seems to dry up on the tips of the colas and the hairs flatten when to close and the leaves shrugging from the light in veg
hope this helps
 

Scotch089

Well-Known Member
Thank you for the correction on the Mg, seriously.

I've had a 90w UFO 8" give or take, away from my bagseed mother before we moved so yea you sound right on the money with 10.5.

lol and ironically I now push 294w (2 pro grow 180's) in a cab and 18" is my personal promise to the kiddo's, better mixed light, happier plants.
 

Organique04

Well-Known Member
yeahman. Like he was saying it kinda depends on the angle of the lens and stuff as to the perfect distance from the tops. More or less you just need to play with it a bit and see what is comfy for you. peacey
As far as angle I know the leds are supposed to be mount at 90 and 120 degrees.
 

Organique04

Well-Known Member
Thanks. I plan on adding another ufo as soon as I get the cash. This one is a Christmas gift to me :-) I have been observing my girl and dont see any more spots. So I am keeping the height at 10.5 as she seems to be responding well. Do you think one 135 Watt LED will do a single plant alone?
 

Organique04

Well-Known Member
its not calcium they need its magnesium and yeah they need it supplemented in the feeding regime or you will come into problems as the grow progresses
I think the mag supplement is the biggest factor between a great led grow and a medicore one
10.5" seems very close to me although ive never done a led grow with less than 250 watts with that I found 18-20 inches was the optimum height
Ive never had a problem with bleaching because of the light being to close what I found in flower the resin production seems to dry up on the tips of the colas and the hairs flatten when to close and the leaves shrugging from the light in veg
hope this helps

Very good information. My 135 watt LED is small, hence thats why I thought 12" or so is a good height. What is a good suppliment to add Magnese?
 

Organique04

Well-Known Member
Hey man also what hours are you running per day? I try not to run 24 w/LEDS cause the plants need a break from that. run 18/6 if you're not. good luck.
Im only running it on 12-12. I vegged through 2 weeks of flower with Cfl only.
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
I am 99.999999999999~% sure there is not a "no name brand" UFO led light out there that is going to "bleach" a plant.

Not saying anyone is wrong, Ed is going at it right and so is Blocker- you want to start with the least stressful diagnosis for the plant first, docking the light back 4..6" would be just that.

But this wont tell you what the problem is right off the bat... nutrient uptake is directly affected from the amount of available light, intensity, PAR, heat (all relevant variables that come from your light's height) so it would be taking up less Calcium with less light, get what im saying?

I've learned the hard way recently, plants under LED's are calcium eating machines.

Not making any suggestions beyond keep an eye and open mind. Good luck.
my no name ufo will bleach plants if put to close it has the ur and ir diodes
the spots where from water more then likely droplets on the leaves while the light was on
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
Very good information. My 135 watt LED is small, hence thats why I thought 12" or so is a good height. What is a good suppliment to add Magnese?
i know this is a old thread but was this the ebay special ?
with the epistar chips . whats the lighting config on it ?
i have a few of these thee bloom ufo i run at about 12-14 inches
th 7 bands i have i push back to almost 2 feet on seedlings and about a foot keeps the ir or uv dont know which there right next to each other one of those diodes bleaches badly
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
plants usually look like there praying when they need magnesium leave tips point up like if you stand up and make a Y with your hands
they call it praying for magnesium
 
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