LED light intensity

KonopCh

Well-Known Member
Take or use?

Take, as in the maximum amount of light it can absorb? No that comes from genetic traits and individual expression. The use of the absorbed light is far lower than what the plants can take. Plants only use 3-4% of sunlight.

Use, is also is determined by genetics but can be influenced by the environment. If you give an optimal environment then your plant will be able to use the light to its maximum potential.

It is better to think the other way around in that factors causing less than optimal conditions will negatively impact results.

More light only means more end product if there is more area, more plants, more veg time, etc as well.



Change the should to might and I would agree. For example, when trying to find the max DLI for lettuce the researchers had to lower the environment temperatures to counter the heat generated from smashing 5k ppfd at the leaf.



When referring to CO2 I think of it as more correct to say available CO2 to the plant. Not a fan of using compressed CO2 delivery systems for hobby unless you are a die hard researcher. Sure they should work if properly run but there are far easier ways to make sure there is enough CO2 available. Increasing airflow accomplishes the same and also helps with heat management, transpiration, etc, but like compressed systems, needs to be properly run. Too much of anything is bad.

25-30c is a good target range. Some genetics that are from colder regions have a lower limit with some easily handling 20-30c. There are other factors to balance with temperature - humidity, VPD, altitude, growth stage, etc.
Seems like guys who don't dim lights from the start like me, are getting bigger plants or actually monsters. It has to be something on this.
 

Slinging PAR

Well-Known Member
Seems like guys who don't dim lights from the start like me, are getting bigger plants or actually monsters. It has to be something on this.

You can reduce your lights on time and increase dark cycle. Saves on power usage and gives options like running multiple chambers on a schedule thus increasing your growing area using the same power budget.

They aren't monsters, they are beautiful creatures bearing gifts of joy and happiness.
 

giantsfan24

Well-Known Member
Seems like guys who don't dim lights from the start like me, are getting bigger plants or actually monsters. It has to be something on this.
I, too, dimmed my lights to start and it seems as if grow rates are slowed which makes sense..maybe too much sense for LED's. I've got a plant that looks like it topped itself, has curved knarled leaves on one arm and it seems as if it can only be one of two things that have caused it. The light intensity or the strain as all the other plants in my space are doing well at least growing "normally" if just a bit slow.

I was running 50w per square foot actual wattage and I've dimmed them down to 40w which seems closer to where a lot of LED growers are. There is an adjustment for me from working with HPS to going LED. Hoping to get it figured out this grow. I'll say this, I like the power savings...man I got the electric bill this month and it's really low comparatively speaking. Happy about that.

Growing out of that "hub" is a single leaf. It looks like it's been topped but it hasn't. Weird. Genetics? Light intensity? Sheesh! I have no clue. Papaya strain.

Top 3.jpg
 

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Genetics. I had one of those last grow. You can get all types of mutations. Sometimes they grow out of it, sometimes one branch grows normally and the other continues to mutate. I've had 3 and even 4 branches per node; nodes with fan leaves but no buds/branches like yours; fused leaves; even numbered leaves; deformed leaves - you name it, I've probably grown it!

Leave it and see how it goes. It might turn out OK, or might end up being a runt.
 

Slinging PAR

Well-Known Member
Genetics. I had one of those last grow. You can get all types of mutations. Sometimes they grow out of it, sometimes one branch grows normally and the other continues to mutate. I've had 3 and even 4 branches per node; nodes with fan leaves but no buds/branches like yours; fused leaves; even numbered leaves; deformed leaves - you name it, I've probably grown it!

Leave it and see how it goes. It might turn out OK, or might end up being a runt.

Mutation!

Yeah there is a lot of variation even within a strain. That is why mother/pheno hunting is popular.

If you are stuck with only a few seeds then you don't have much choice. Get out of that over priced seed gong show and get a reasonable supply source.
 

Streetsports

Active Member
I, too, dimmed my lights to start and it seems as if grow rates are slowed which makes sense..maybe too much sense for LED's. I've got a plant that looks like it topped itself, has curved knarled leaves on one arm and it seems as if it can only be one of two things that have caused it. The light intensity or the strain as all the other plants in my space are doing well at least growing "normally" if just a bit slow.

I was running 50w per square foot actual wattage and I've dimmed them down to 40w which seems closer to where a lot of LED growers are. There is an adjustment for me from working with HPS to going LED. Hoping to get it figured out this grow. I'll say this, I like the power savings...man I got the electric bill this month and it's really low comparatively speaking. Happy about that.

Growing out of that "hub" is a single leaf. It looks like it's been topped but it hasn't. Weird. Genetics? Light intensity? Sheesh! I have no clue. Papaya strain.

View attachment 4120408
I'm in the same boat as you. Coming from hps to cobs. Light height is tricky without a par meter. I think I've raised and lowered my light 10 times in the last few weeks lol. Everybody says 18 inches but what I don't understand is why the recommended height for both 50w and 100w chips is the same.
 

giantsfan24

Well-Known Member
I'm in the same boat as you. Coming from hps to cobs. Light height is tricky without a par meter. I think I've raised and lowered my light 10 times in the last few weeks lol. Everybody says 18 inches but what I don't understand is why the recommended height for both 50w and 100w chips is the same.
Is a PAR meter what you need?
 

skoomd

Well-Known Member
I'm in the same boat as you. Coming from hps to cobs. Light height is tricky without a par meter. I think I've raised and lowered my light 10 times in the last few weeks lol. Everybody says 18 inches but what I don't understand is why the recommended height for both 50w and 100w chips is the same.
I am in the same boat. I ordered a lux meter because it works 95% as well as a PAR meter for white LEDs. THey're $20-30 on amazon. Get the Dr. Meter brand.
 

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Mutation!

Yeah there is a lot of variation even within a strain. That is why mother/pheno hunting is popular.

If you are stuck with only a few seeds then you don't have much choice. Get out of that over priced seed gong show and get a reasonable supply source.
Haha! If I lived 1000 years I'd never be able to grow out all the seeds I've got! I've been around this industry awhile. :wink:

However, I total agree that seeds - for the most part - are a complete rip. Some argue you can make your money back and that it's a small price to pay. But $200 or more for 10 seeds is fucking crazy.

Now, breeders say there are middlemen and bills to pay and they don't make nearly as much as their retail prices suggest, but they do have it in their power to put more seeds in a pack for the same price. Some, like Shanti (Mr Nice), already do this - their 12-packs often have 15-18 seeds in them.

It's heartbreaking to see noobs who have paid hundreds of dollars for a few magic beans, only to kill them with kindness or discover a couple are unviable or that they only get 2 or 3 females in a pack of 10.

Experienced growers are not immune either. The other day I popped a 10-pack from a known breeder and 2 seeds were underdeveloped and totally unviable - a 20% "loss" (if I'd paid for them) through no fault of my own.

These things happen. But a little bit of good will in the form of a few extra seeds in a 10-pack would go a long way . . .
 

Slinging PAR

Well-Known Member
Haha! If I lived 1000 years I'd never be able to grow out all the seeds I've got! I've been around this industry awhile. :wink:

However, I total agree that seeds - for the most part - are a complete rip. Some argue you can make your money back and that it's a small price to pay. But $200 or more for 10 seeds is fucking crazy.

Now, breeders say there are middlemen and bills to pay and they don't make nearly as much as their retail prices suggest, but they do have it in their power to put more seeds in a pack for the same price. Some, like Shanti (Mr Nice), already do this - their 12-packs often have 15-18 seeds in them.

It's heartbreaking to see noobs who have paid hundreds of dollars for a few magic beans, only to kill them with kindness or discover a couple are unviable or that they only get 2 or 3 females in a pack of 10.

Experienced growers are not immune either. The other day I popped a 10-pack from a known breeder and 2 seeds were underdeveloped and totally unviable - a 20% "loss" (if I'd paid for them) through no fault of my own.

These things happen. But a little bit of good will in the form of a few extra seeds in a 10-pack would go a long way . . .

If they are going to sell seeds for single grow, growers should be given 20+ seeds for the retail prices they are charging for 5. While still outrageous, I think that would be a happy compromise. Grower is going to be able to pick the best plants and toss the rest. 5 or 10 packs aren't enough and it doesn't cost the re-sellers anything more to add in an extra 10.

With legalization happening there will be a flooding of seeds on the market and prices will hopefully drop so more people can grow for themselves.
 

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Completely agree. The most criminal thing I see is the knock-off merchants offering F2s and F3s etc for the same price or more as the original F1s, trading on the name and naivete of those who aren't familiar with their origins.

Also, considering most new strains these days are simply recombinations of the original indoor varieties - skunk, afghan, NL, haze etc - if I was looking at my first indoor grow, I'd start with the established breeders, and then look for vendors who retail them for a decent price and throw in a few freebies.

Grow the freebies, get some experience, then move on to the others.

Someone asked on another forum the other day what the best strain to grow for a first legal grow was.

The response from one of my favourite growers was: "Get a pack of super silver haze and select 2 opposite phenos from it, a strong sativa high and a strong indica high. Although SSH is a quarter century old, it still wins cups all over the world, it's copied and renamed to mask its heritage."

And there you have it. Arguably the best indoor strain ever created that has spawned a million knock-offs and rebranded fakes is a cross of the original building blocks of nearly all indoor strains we see today: Skunk, Northern Lights, Haze.

You could buy an 18-pack of regular SSH seeds and probably spend the rest of your life playing with F2s, F3s, F4s, F5s bringing out expressions of any and all of the above. Throw in a Blueberry line and you've pretty much covered most of the genetic diversity available today.

In the case of original SSH, the high price can at least be warranted.
 

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Completely agree. The most criminal thing I see is the knock-off merchants offering F2s and F3s etc for the same price or more as the original F1s, trading on the name and naivete of those who aren't familiar with their origins.

Also, considering most new strains these days are simply recombinations of the original indoor varieties - skunk, afghan, NL, haze etc - if I was looking at my first indoor grow, I'd start with the established breeders, and then look for vendors who retail them for a decent price and throw in a few freebies.

Grow the freebies, get some experience, then move on to the others.

Someone asked on another forum the other day what the best strain to grow for a first legal grow was.

The response from one of my favourite growers was: "Get a pack of super silver haze and select 2 opposite phenos from it, a strong sativa high and a strong indica high. Although SSH is a quarter century old, it still wins cups all over the world, it's copied and renamed to mask its heritage."

And there you have it. Arguably the best indoor strain ever created that has spawned a million knock-offs and rebranded fakes is a cross of the original building blocks of nearly all indoor strains we see today: Skunk, Northern Lights, Haze.

You could buy an 18-pack of regular SSH seeds and probably spend the rest of your life playing with F2s, F3s, F4s, F5s bringing out expressions of any and all of the above. Throw in a Blueberry line and you've pretty much covered most of the genetic diversity available today.

In the case of original SSH, the high price can at least be warranted.
Where would one acquire "original SSH"?
I have a cross that is supposedly Super Silver Haze x Black Domina and it is Bomb and a fav in my circle
 

giantsfan24

Well-Known Member
Ok so back to a follow-up question to my original thoughts..

I've been doing a lot of research on light intensity. While I know and understand that a measurement of PPFD is the only way to truly know what is reaching the plants in any given place on the floor, I'm don't want to over think this so I looked for an easier, while potentially less reliable, way of getting a handle on how much light to give them.

Here are the specs on my light..

COVERAGE AREA:

5 Square Feet at 18 inches above the canopy

PPFD: 967 μmol/m2/s

POWER:

Total Wattage: 200 W

PAR Wattage: 96 W

PPF: 445 μmol/s

In my research, I've found other noobs like me relating to the wattage per square foot of growing space numbers to simplify the calculation. I know this is an outdated way to measure your light effectiveness, more appropriate for HID lighting, but if there is some way to relate that or calculate that by using the numbers for the specs of my light, that would be really helpful. It's clear to me the 50w per square foot for my space is too much light for 3500, Clu048's. I've dimmed them down to about 32w per sq. ft. to see if that helps. I think growmau5 is running even less that this.

I ask this as I don't have ttstyk or supra's or greengenes mind for this stuff, I'm not wired that way.

On another note, I think we need to remember that in our essence, we are all more alike than we are different. I didn't read through this entire thread until this morning and I've got to tell you, the bickering and vitriol is really childish. It helps no one and shows very little respect for the op. I've wanted to comment on this on other threads but as they weren't mine, it wasn't my place. However...this is a thread I started. I don't mind productive hijacks...bring it but I don't like childish bs.

I really don't care how experienced you are and how you think everyone else sucks. It just shows a level of maturity that I don't play with. So please keep it adult and productive in this thread is all I'm asking and let's help each other get better if that is, in fact, the goal. This may help someone else a few years down the road and it's better if people don't have to sift through middle school to get the answers they're looking for.

Thanks
 
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