What is the most economic microgreen setup?

anomolies

anomolies

Well-Known Member
I got bored and drew a little diagram :p. I read a few topics (mostly outdated) and there seems to be no consensus, so I'm wondering what you guys think would be the most cost-efficient and productive setup, in a limited indoor space.

I was thinking four, 4'x4' shelves, arranged in a square, illuminated by 4 cxb3590 pointed outwards from the middle. Seems that on paper the upfront and overall cost of a vertical grow would be drastically lower than using t8 led fixtures.

If you arrange 3 more of these into a square, the inner shelves would receive double the lighting. That's 16, 4'x4' shelves
For the outside shelves, mylar could be used to catch wasted light.
Each shelf width would have to be short enough for the light to penetrate throughout. Ledil Angelina reflectors or something with an even wider angle. You are now growing 256 sq ft of sprouts in a 64 sq ft space and using at least 1/4th the lighting as opposed to having a 4' fixture on every shelf. Could this work? 800w of cxb3590 for a 256 sq ft vertical space.

or am i just high? lol
 

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Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
anomolies said:
I got bored and drew a little diagram :p. I read a few topics (mostly outdated) and there seems to be no consensus, so I'm wondering what you guys think would be the most cost-efficient and productive setup, in a limited indoor space.

I was thinking four, 4'x4' shelves, arranged in a square, illuminated by 4 cxb3590 pointed outwards from the middle. Seems that on paper the upfront and overall cost of a vertical grow would be drastically lower than using t8 led fixtures.

If you arrange 3 more of these into a square, the inner shelves would receive double the lighting. That's 16, 4'x4' shelves
For the outside shelves, mylar could be used to catch wasted light.
Each shelf width would have to be short enough for the light to penetrate throughout. Ledil Angelina reflectors or something with an even wider angle. You are now growing 256 sq ft of sprouts in a 64 sq ft space and using at least 1/4th the lighting as opposed to having a 4' fixture on every shelf. Could this work? 800w of cxb3590 for a 256 sq ft vertical space.

or am i just high? lol
Click to expand...
I don't get it
 
anomolies

anomolies

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
I don't get it
Click to expand...
I'll label the diagram better.

and maybe 4'x4' is too big of a footprint for a single cxb3590 to cover, but how with some adjustment to light distance this could work? I really want to try it, just want to know if a cree cob is the way to go.
 
weed-whacker

weed-whacker

Well-Known Member
ur talking about vertical shelves covering walls and 200w cobs side lighting them?

no, this is not a good way to use LED

interesting approach though
 
anomolies

anomolies

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
So 4 cobs per "yellow circle with 4 arrows "?
Click to expand...
yea. I redrew so it's less confusing now, lol

weed-whacker said:
ur talking about vertical shelves covering walls and 200w cobs side lighting them?

no, this is not a good way to use LED

interesting approach though
Click to expand...
well, people have suggested 4 Vero 10's per individual shelf, how much wattage is that? I'm just trying to figure out the least wattage necessary to grow healthy greens

you could even angle the shelves so the light hits better.
 
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welight

welight

Well-Known Member
anomolies said:
yea. I redrew so it's less confusing now, lol



well, people have suggested 4 Vero 10's per individual shelf, how much wattage is that? I'm just trying to figure out the least wattage necessary to grow healthy greens

you could even angle the shelves so the light hits better.
Click to expand...
Maybe this is what you need

Cheers
Mark
 
weed-whacker

weed-whacker

Well-Known Member
anomolies said:
yea. I redrew so it's less confusing now, lol



well, people have suggested 4 Vero 10's per individual shelf, how much wattage is that? I'm just trying to figure out the least wattage necessary to grow healthy greens

you could even angle the shelves so the light hits better.
Click to expand...
4 vero 10s is def a better approach, ur talking about needing a ppfd of around 200 so even 20-25w per shelf is enough
 
mauricem00

mauricem00

Well-Known Member
anomolies said:
I got bored and drew a little diagram :p. I read a few topics (mostly outdated) and there seems to be no consensus, so I'm wondering what you guys think would be the most cost-efficient and productive setup, in a limited indoor space.

I was thinking four, 4'x4' shelves, arranged in a square, illuminated by 4 cxb3590 pointed outwards from the middle. Seems that on paper the upfront and overall cost of a vertical grow would be drastically lower than using t8 led fixtures.

If you arrange 3 more of these into a square, the inner shelves would receive double the lighting. That's 16, 4'x4' shelves
For the outside shelves, mylar could be used to catch wasted light.
Each shelf width would have to be short enough for the light to penetrate throughout. Ledil Angelina reflectors or something with an even wider angle. You are now growing 256 sq ft of sprouts in a 64 sq ft space and using at least 1/4th the lighting as opposed to having a 4' fixture on every shelf. Could this work? 800w of cxb3590 for a 256 sq ft vertical space.

or am i just high? lol
Click to expand...
to get a 4 by 4 footprint you are going to need to mount that single light pretty far away from your shelf. LEDs have a narrow power beam angle. seems you could use that space more efficiently by surrounding a MH or CMH bulb with shelf's
 
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