Setting LEDs at the right height to select phenos "thriving in intense light," killing the weak
- Thread starter Apostatize
- Start date
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
There is really very little point in asking for advice re how close to keep the lights unless you talk a bit about powerlevels. We keep our lights at 4-6" but we use really big fotops boards on low power.
Power supply bring attached or not to your lights will really not influence how close you can k3p them.
The main factor in getting big buds under led is getting environment right in order to support your light levels. Less is more usually
Power supply bring attached or not to your lights will really not influence how close you can k3p them.
The main factor in getting big buds under led is getting environment right in order to support your light levels. Less is more usually
Apostatize
Well-Known Member
thanks, had an electrician buddy hook up a room with up to 60 amps ... just in case. i'm using a lot of it.
I'll take some pics when I have some buds formed ... it's all heavily LST'd so that the entire plants is so the lights are close and there should be no significant drop off (i.e., there's no plant area that I'd expect to only have enough light for popcorn buds).
bk78
Well-Known Member
60A? You must have a pretty massive operation going to be using that many amps?
Apostatize
Well-Known Member
Not really, it's "up to" 60A, more like 55A, in one room. There were two spare breakers, so my electrician friend cut a hole for two outlets and wired them.
Problem initially was that, in this old house, two rooms share 20A. Actually, I think they have 20A capacity but are wired for 15A ... something like that. I didn't realize the rooms shared a breaker, my friend set up 2 so he wouldn't have to come back out. They're in the room with more going on. And I don't have to share the 15A between rooms.
But recently, I tripped one of the breakers after adding more fans and an extra light in one tent. It's really just a matter of making sure I distribute the power correctly, grouping cords so that none of them exceed 15A. I went ahead and bought a 20A extension cord for one outlet. Gradually, I'll upgrade my other extension cords/surge protectors to 20A ... 20A stuff is a lot more expensive (if you just walk into Lowe's expecting a deal).
Problem initially was that, in this old house, two rooms share 20A. Actually, I think they have 20A capacity but are wired for 15A ... something like that. I didn't realize the rooms shared a breaker, my friend set up 2 so he wouldn't have to come back out. They're in the room with more going on. And I don't have to share the 15A between rooms.
But recently, I tripped one of the breakers after adding more fans and an extra light in one tent. It's really just a matter of making sure I distribute the power correctly, grouping cords so that none of them exceed 15A. I went ahead and bought a 20A extension cord for one outlet. Gradually, I'll upgrade my other extension cords/surge protectors to 20A ... 20A stuff is a lot more expensive (if you just walk into Lowe's expecting a deal).
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ComfortCreator
Well-Known Member
I find it an interesting question but to me it skips past all the more important ones.
Genetics, imho, is most important. Then environment, lighting and nutrition next.
If all of those are already optimized -- its your favorite strain(s), it grows well, potent, good terps, then I think sealing the room and adding CO2 will increase yield and potency to their max.
THEN if you still want to find that perfect pheno, and by this point you are a breeder ready to sell high end strains, selecting from your already culled choices to find the one that handles intense light the best would be of modest benefit but would allow you to claim it thrives in intense light.
To date I have never seen a description mentioning this...pheno selected for intense lighting. But it can be done. I hope you see where Im going with this and on your side. Its an interesting question but not one that will result in a better quality plant necessarily.
Terps become the critical question. Not only can it survive intense light but could it retain its terp profile?
Genetics, imho, is most important. Then environment, lighting and nutrition next.
If all of those are already optimized -- its your favorite strain(s), it grows well, potent, good terps, then I think sealing the room and adding CO2 will increase yield and potency to their max.
THEN if you still want to find that perfect pheno, and by this point you are a breeder ready to sell high end strains, selecting from your already culled choices to find the one that handles intense light the best would be of modest benefit but would allow you to claim it thrives in intense light.
To date I have never seen a description mentioning this...pheno selected for intense lighting. But it can be done. I hope you see where Im going with this and on your side. Its an interesting question but not one that will result in a better quality plant necessarily.
Terps become the critical question. Not only can it survive intense light but could it retain its terp profile?
ComfortCreator
Well-Known Member
I will also add that if you phrase this thread as a question instead of an experiment, I bet some pros here can already answer this!
Apostatize
Well-Known Member
Great suggestions! Often, I write these threads late at night ... I phrase threads to garner a certain amount of attention/interest ... but asking a question is more of the norm/expected format. I can do that, I'll write a succinct question and then bullet-point a short summary. Thanks!
Highlife42
Well-Known Member
Im confused a tad sir. Besides from what I read you having issues and replace plants with more plants...Seems as if you have conditions to dial in above and below topsoil. Its not the lights or the height. Again, optimal conditions for optimal growth.
Apostatize
Well-Known Member
True. Still had last harvest's late-bloom feeding volume on my mind when I started the new bloom cycle. I've straightened that out.
Otherwise, I try to keep the grow medium stuff simple. Grodan blocks, all Gen Hydroponics' 8 phases in stocks of 35 gallons-worth of each phase made before Day 1. I just add X ml of stock to gallons and advance to the next phase after about 6 days. I don't really look under the hood closer than that. pH is straight, the air's cooler and lower humidity now that I've increased fans ... it's coming along. Mistakingly going too light on feed for a couple days definitely revealed some things I need to address.
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Highlife42
Well-Known Member
You'll get it. Bringing plants indoors require lots of attention when new. I would look under the hood (lol) in every step you do until you have a more-consistent/quality grow. Just grow your own meds! 
... So what are your conditions like bro? RH,.temp? Plant pics..etc.? What kind of pots? Im asking bc it seems as if you are wanting more out of your grown than youre getting.
... So what are your conditions like bro? RH,.temp? Plant pics..etc.? What kind of pots? Im asking bc it seems as if you are wanting more out of your grown than youre getting.With all due respect @Apostatize , like a lot of others on the countless forums in the world, there's no point to this thread without pictures.
The premise on which you open the thread is nothing without sharing your pictures, otherwise you're making the assumption that you know for sure about everything that's happening and aren't interested in the feedback of experienced growers.
The one problem I've got with what you're saying is that it seems to be based on the very bad idea that getting your lights as close as possible to the plant is the best way to optimise its growth. Or that a plant being able to tolerate more light than another means that by default this will be the bigger growing more vigorous plant. it might simply be that the plant which grows poorly in a certain condition would grow bigger and stronger and yield more if grown in better ones, which, for that plant, might be less light or more humidity etc.
Like I say, get pictures up and let's see what's happening and if your view on what's going on is accurate.
The premise on which you open the thread is nothing without sharing your pictures, otherwise you're making the assumption that you know for sure about everything that's happening and aren't interested in the feedback of experienced growers.
The one problem I've got with what you're saying is that it seems to be based on the very bad idea that getting your lights as close as possible to the plant is the best way to optimise its growth. Or that a plant being able to tolerate more light than another means that by default this will be the bigger growing more vigorous plant. it might simply be that the plant which grows poorly in a certain condition would grow bigger and stronger and yield more if grown in better ones, which, for that plant, might be less light or more humidity etc.
Like I say, get pictures up and let's see what's happening and if your view on what's going on is accurate.
Apostatize
Well-Known Member
Yes, I'd like to count on at least 5 lbs/4 times a year. Two bloom-dedicated tents are on a staggered schedule, they're about 2-4 weeks apart so I can better manage my labor hours during harvest (and not mess up).You'll get it. Bringing plants indoors require lots of attention when new. I would look under the hood (lol) in every step you do until you have a more-consistent/quality grow. Just grow your own meds!
I don't use pots. I hand-feed Grodan blocks. I'd used irrigation, but I didn't like it. Some sit on metal dish racks, others in plastic buckets, occasionally they go straight on a tray. They've got the opaque caps to protect from algae, but that's about it.
Although I monitor temp/humidity in the dry/curing room, I'm looser about it in the tents (i.e., I just avoid extremes). I intend to buy monitors and all that stuff, I'd just like harvests to pay for it; I think I'm done putting money into this (for a few months, hopefully). Because I believe I got all my major setup adjustments out of the way during my first ten mos./3 harvests, I'll be more comfortable sharing pics when this harvest is done. However, I did post Day 1 pics on another thread (before I replaced the ones hit by lightning; they were dead-dead, not partially-dead or mostly-dead -- Billy Crystal reference).
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Highlife42
Well-Known Member
Found your photo. Get some meters in there to monitor your environment and monitor your feeds. Patience dude. From what I saw your plants look like theyre lacking. Small leaves..Recovery from stresses/environment.etc.
Apostatize
Well-Known Member
Yes, I've recently transitioned from excessive defoliation to more selective defoliation. They'll be in better form in a few weeks. Buds beginning to grow on several bud sites by Day 12.
Most show no signs of burns or anything, but a couple Animal Crackers stressed out like 3 days before I moved them to the bloom tent. Since I posted that pic, I've either replaced the most damaged plants or moved them from the shelves down to the well, where I keep extras. I probably f'd up and gave them a dose of the wrong stuff. Two other plants were affected, but they bounced back to full recovery the next day.
OSBuds
Well-Known Member
As you know, light is the major environmental variable used to drive photosynthesis in plants. However, if temperature, humidity, CO2, nutrient, or media-moisture levels are outside the optimum range for the plant species you are growing, photosynthesis will be limited. There is a principle of limiting factors that has to be considered when cultivating plants. Understanding how each factor will influence plant growth and development, along with the relationship between each variable, will help you make optimal decisions regarding your environmental conditions. Cultivation under high photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) using LED technology is an emerging technique, and depending on your plant-growth facility, there may be some environmental variables you need to adjust in order to achieve your cultivation goals
Highlife42
Well-Known Member
Good idea. If you are heavy pruning, how do you expect to visually see toxicities or deficiencies? Are you giving them adequate time to recover?
Heres a video. Just watch from 4:00mins-4:20mins lol 20 seconds aint bad these days
Heres a video. Just watch from 4:00mins-4:20mins lol 20 seconds aint bad these days
Highlife42
Well-Known Member
You need co2 in there for sure with that many plants. Given the yield expectations.etc And that can be applied natually and for free in most cases
Apostatize
Well-Known Member
The link doesn't show up. And I agree about CO2. A CO2 monitor was the one monitor for tents I'm prioritizing above others. With new fans, I now want to see how much CO2 is present, so I can see how much I'll have to add and, consequently, how much it's going to cost me every month.
Highlife42
Well-Known Member
Sorry. I forgot to paste link.. Look now, should be there in same post. Wait?? How much of what is going to cost each month? Co2?