Light distance to just sprouted seeds

Sean1776

Member
So I sprouted seeds in paper towel and than transplanted them to soil. Now 7 of twelve have just started to surface. They are under a mars hydro ts2000 about 18” above the solo cups with the dimmer turned all the way down. Is this sufficient light? I don’t want to stretch to much. This is my first grow and well...

thanks
 

BostonBuds

Well-Known Member
I don't know about that specific light. If they do stretch you can always fix it during transplanting, place them lower in the new pots and cover up the stems to the height you want. This is your first grow, take good notes and see what works. My first grow I started with a single LED bulb hanging from an extension cord.
 

Verrice

Active Member
If you want to take it a little further, since you have a white, full-spectrum LED light, you can use a cheap LUX meter (just can't use them with the purple LEDs, have to use more costly PAR meters for those). Now, I use a T5 flourescent for seedlings, but you can mimic the LUX values, if you like. With these values I get no excessive stretching or burning:

(These are the center-light readings. I do check around the edges of the plants for their readings, and try to keep them from being too far off the center. I'm starting to think the TS3000 is just barely big/strong enough to flower in a 4x4... I'll find out for sure mid-October.)

Seedlings: Start at 7500 LUX, (T5 at about 8-9" or so) and once it is stood up and sturdy I lower the light down to get it into 13.5k LUX territory
Veg: Start at 13.5k LUX (Mars Hydro TS3000 @ about 20" and fully dimmed) and over the course of a couple days slowly raise to 50k LUX via dimmer
Flower: Start 60k LUX (still about 20" from canopy, no dimmer at all)

Of course, other environment variables can come into play, so it is always most important to listen to your plants, first and foremost.

All that said, as @BostonBuds pointed out, and @hotrodharley seconded, I shall third, burying seedlings to a non-stretchy height is a totally fine way to go about it.
 

Sean1776

Member
Thank you. I’m running one ts3000 and one ts2000 in a 4x8 tent. Bought the 600 to supplement if needed. Wish I woulda got two ts3000. Thanks, I do have a lux meter I’ll have to try that after work
 

Verrice

Active Member
Wish I woulda got two ts3000.
You could probably make what you have work with a little testing and careful placement. You need space for things like humidifiers and such anyway, so having a section that isn't lit as well isn't too bad, unless you're trying to fill the whole 4x8 with a SCROG or something.
 

Sean1776

Member
so I got twelve sprouted. I was hoping only 8-10 would. Is 12 to many in a 4x8 or could I make that work. I planned on fiming or topping along with some Lilly popping
 

Verrice

Active Member
so I got twelve sprouted.
Training will likely be crucial to get that to all fit! Right now I have three (topped once and trained into a ring of 10 colas each) in a 4x4, and I can't imagine trying to squeeze a fourth in... there are, however, things you can do... All of which are likely to reduce your per-plant yield, but might help your overall yield.

Keeping them in smaller pots (i.e. 3gal instead of 5 or bigger) will keep the overall plant smaller.
Not topping or FIMing will keep them from going wide, but they will definitely go tall
Shorter veg cycle (make sure they're mature enough, healthy enough, strong enough, though... size along shouldn't determine when to flip)
Super-cropping and LST combined to make them grow narrow

In-short, you can make it work, but it will take effort and planning to avoid getting an overgrown jungle that's too much to manage.

Were it me, and expanding tent space or reducing seedling count was not an option, and I was faced with 12 viable seedlings heading into Veg... hmm... I guess I'd... top each plant twice (in a mainline config) to get four colas each, so I could keep them fairly narrow, still produce a decent yield, but not have them runaway from me vertically either. Then I would focus my training and defoliating to encourage staying narrow, and stay on-point with my light levels so they don't stretch more than necessary. Finally, I think I would probably go for a 3gal pot instead of my usual 5gal (as mentioned above).

Staying ahead of it, and planning what your next training/pruning/defoliation/etc. will be and is supposed to accomplish will help. I use those as a tool to make the plant grow in the direction I want it to. Whatever you decide (cull the herd, or go for it and how), keep us posted, and good luck!
 

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
I've got 9 in a 5x5 I like to keep things square if possible, i used to only work with 4 in the same room but I've only started back recently and time is important, I'm sick of waiting, under weight and crap weed that's why I'm back growing.
Once I get a little stash I'll get back to screening but atm I'm at least going to have to net it, 9 is lot once it gets going and it's going!
I flipped last week so you can imagine.
 
So I sprouted seeds in paper towel and than transplanted them to soil. Now 7 of twelve have just started to surface. They are under a mars hydro ts2000 about 18” above the solo cups with the dimmer turned all the way down. Is this sufficient light? I don’t want to stretch to much. This is my first grow and well...

thanks
I say keep all your lights at a proper distance and a consistent distance. You can always adjust your plants height by propping them up on a stand or whatever. I use coffee containers
 

Sean1776

Member
You could probably make what you have work with a little testing and careful placement. You need space for things like humidifiers and such anyway, so having a section that isn't lit as well isn't too bad, unless you're trying to fill the whole 4x8 with a SCROG or something.
I have intake and outtake fans that are going to constantly run. I tested a humidifier but it didn’t make a difference since it seems to be just sucking it out. I wanted to use co2 bags but was told it’s pointless if my fans are always on. Gotta keep the smell down. The RH always 45-60% temp about 80F give or take a few degrees. Highest temp was 85F
 

Verrice

Active Member
I have intake and outtake fans that are going to constantly run. I tested a humidifier but it didn’t make a difference since it seems to be just sucking it out. I wanted to use co2 bags but was told it’s pointless if my fans are always on. Gotta keep the smell down. The RH always 45-60% temp about 80F give or take a few degrees. Highest temp was 85F
LOL Humidity... Right now I have both a humidifier and a dehumidifier running together in one tent! I have that because my ambient RH has been changing so much, lately, I was getting 30% to 90% humidity (daily low/high) in my flower tent. Ugh... so now with the two doing battle in there, it's hovering right around 45 to 55% RH. I wonder if I could just connect the dehumidifier to drain into the humidifier... :lol:

I've heard the same about CO2 and ventilation, but haven't tried or seen any experiments to help say one way or the other on that, yet. I had thought about putting a drip-style CO2 generator as part of the intake to the tent so that my 'fresh' air intake was pre-loaded, but haven't gotten to that. Would have to spend some time thinking about the CFM I run my blower at, vs. the PPM that the generator could produce, over what period of time, etc. Anyone know of some studies or did experiments of their own?
 

Oldreefer

Well-Known Member
All my plants, autos and photos, germ under 96w T5HO 24/0...always kept 2-3 inches distance for 3 weeks..then to a flower tent where cobs and qbs are kept at 12-18" and adjusted as plant needs.
 
LOL Humidity... Right now I have both a humidifier and a dehumidifier running together in one tent! I have that because my ambient RH has been changing so much, lately, I was getting 30% to 90% humidity (daily low/high) in my flower tent. Ugh... so now with the two doing battle in there, it's hovering right around 45 to 55% RH. I wonder if I could just connect the dehumidifier to drain into the humidifier... :lol:

I've heard the same about CO2 and ventilation, but haven't tried or seen any experiments to help say one way or the other on that, yet. I had thought about putting a drip-style CO2 generator as part of the intake to the tent so that my 'fresh' air intake was pre-loaded, but haven't gotten to that. Would have to spend some time thinking about the CFM I run my blower at, vs. the PPM that the generator could produce, over what period of time, etc. Anyone know of some studies or did experiments of their own?
I make my own O2 generator with an old TnB bottle. Thank you TnB
 

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
@Verrice I like the idea of draining the dehum into the humidifier that's clever thinking :thumbs:

During the autumn, winter and spring over the pond we have high humidity as the norm, I've got a rh% relay that I have the dehum plugged into, speaking of which it's getting to that time where Im needing to get the heater in, my dark period is getting down to 16/17c
I run my light through the night when it's cooler and daytime the %rh is lower so maintaining an even keel is a bit easier.
 

Stoner 420

Active Member
do you know anything about dimming the old drivers on ts3000 i know how but what does i/o intensity output? v/o voltage output
 

Lowkeygardener

Well-Known Member
I believe your fixture is 300 true watt full spec. 10% should be around 30 watts. I typically germinate under 6500k CFL’s and keep them super close to the bulb. I used to run this light and if I were to use it during germ I’d probably keep it 10-12” away at 20% and wait for the plant to react.. if she stretches either up the intensity or lower the light, if she gets light stress do the opposite
 

Sean1776

Member
do you know anything about dimming the old drivers on ts3000 i know how but what does i/o intensity output? v/o voltage output
So learned for seedlings I keep the light dimmed all the way down. Once they reach early veg/late seedling stage I slowly turn it up a little about 10-15% till I reach 50% each day(bout 12” from canopy) When I’m about ready to flower (bout week before) I again slowly turn the pot up till I reach about 70%(bout 14”from canopy) Give it about a week and turn it all the way up to 100% till harvest. This worked and still works well for me. My first harvest I did 12 plants in a 4x8 tent and my dry weight was 3.3lbs Oh and I’ve always just left intensity all the way up
 
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