Idea For Leds... Helpful Or Waste Of Time?

[somethingwit]

So, I am running an AgroLED 432 (265w actual). It has the nifty two switches: Veg and Flower. Sine there is only absolutely inconsistent information about LEDs out there, and how people use them, I have basically started off the 18 hours with one hour of just blue, and the rest of the 18 I leave it with both the Veg and Flower swithes turned on. Lol obviously with both on it is very intense light in there. Things are going well, and I do not have any plants that look like they are complaining.

What I have found out is that on Veg, the blue lights, it is not nearly as intense of light in there, so I am curious to know if when the Flower light is on as well, does it basically wash out the blue enough to be effective as possible?

Anyway, the idea that I have is to stat on the 18/6 light cycle, but I'd like to do at least a quarter or a third of the 18 hours using blue light to increase my veg growth to hurry and fill my screen so that I can flip. Basically start the day by lowering my LED (sine the blue is far less intense), and leaving only the Veg blue on for several hours. Come back later, and raise tot he height I like for both being on, turn them both on, and use them both for the remainder of the light period.

Any thoughts, gripes, complains? Hell, any other ideas? I am in my SCRoG and I just did my first tucking last night, so I am getting more and more amped to see it fill up. Worried that the intesity of both switches being on cuts down on the avaiable blue light the plant can absorb since it is still in veg stage.

 

[jumpincactus]

So, I am running an AgroLED 432 (265w actual). It has the nifty two switches: Veg and Flower. Sine there is only absolutely inconsistent information about LEDs out there, and how people use them, I have basically started off the 18 hours with one hour of just blue, and the rest of the 18 I leave it with both the Veg and Flower swithes turned on. Lol obviously with both on it is very intense light in there. Things are going well, and I do not have any plants that look like they are complaining.

What I have found out is that on Veg, the blue lights, it is not nearly as intense of light in there, so I am curious to know if when the Flower light is on as well, does it basically wash out the blue enough to be effective as possible?

Anyway, the idea that I have is to stat on the 18/6 light cycle, but I'd like to do at least a quarter or a third of the 18 hours using blue light to increase my veg growth to hurry and fill my screen so that I can flip. Basically start the day by lowering my LED (sine the blue is far less intense), and leaving only the Veg blue on for several hours. Come back later, and raise tot he height I like for both being on, turn them both on, and use them both for the remainder of the light period.

Any thoughts, gripes, complains? Hell, any other ideas? I am in my SCRoG and I just did my first tucking last night, so I am getting more and more amped to see it fill up. Worried that the intesity of both switches being on cuts down on the avaiable blue light the plant can absorb since it is still in veg stage.

wat do the user manual recommend. if ur in veg why would you activate both veg n flower lighting. What does your manual say. can the unit be run with both spectrums without burning your boards???

 

[somethingwit]

wat do the user manual recommend. if ur in veg why would you activate both veg n flower lighting. What does your manual say. can the unit be run with both spectrums without burning your boards???

No joke, the only directions or "recommendations" that it gave was to keep it a minimum of 12" above the canopy. On the box it basically just says that you can use this one light through the whole growth cycle. Below is a link to the light that I have in case you know of some place that I am missing for imperative information.

What I am trying to figure out is what will my plants benefit from the most? Should I blast it with all the lights and all the intensity and glory it has? Or should I just leave veg on, which is considerably not as intense, and move the lights closer? Where the light since at right now, if I am only going to use veg light, I need to move it down a few inches to get it a bit brighter on the plants (only moved it up because of the intensity of both switches on).

Straight up, I cannot find any technical stuff on this, and honestly, every forum you go to everyone has their own opinion (which I do like).

I guess an easier question is during the veg stage of the plant, does it benefit more from only the blue veg lights (since I do not have one of the newer LEDs that allow you to adjust the intensity level of the different channels)? Or does it benefit even at that stage from the red part of the spectrum as well?

 

[Bannacis]

Having both veg and flower lights on does not take away any from the blue, it still has same intensity it did by itself. Blue is not going to look as bright (intense) as red. But i would use both in veg, and in flower first couple weeks use both, in middle of flower all red, then finish with both.
I noticed with leds that the plant will grow short and internodes will be tight. I like a little more stretch for training purposes. So adding red spectrum will encourage them to stretch.
In veg the more lights the better...Bigger in bigger out.
Be careful how close you put the lights, leds at close range can cause bleaching to the tops (in flower).
If your leaves are drooping, raise your lights until you see them reaching up. if they are reaching up too far then lower lights.
Some strains react differently to the ratio of spectrum lighting in veg, more of a trial and error scenario.

 

[somethingwit]

Be careful how close you put the lights, leds at close range can cause bleaching to the tops (in flower).
If your leaves are drooping, raise your lights until you see them reaching up. if they are reaching up too far then lower lights.
Some strains react differently to the ratio of spectrum lighting in veg, more of a trial and error scenario.

This is exactly something that I am working on, and keeping an eye on everyday. I just do not believe that I have found that sweet spot. Sometimes, the leaves will be droopy, and others they wont.The ones that are below the screen an inch or two always seem a bit droopy. But the ones right at the screen and above the screen a bit, if they droop, I kinda attribute it to too much water (I'm still working on going longer between waterings.

 

[somethingwit]

Blue is not going to look as bright (intense) as red. But i would use both in veg, and in flower first couple weeks use both, in middle of flower all red, then finish with both.

After re-reading your post, this was another thing that I was kind of worried about. Since the blue isn't as intense, if I am running just blue Veg lights, I get the light down to the recommended 12". When I turn on Flower with the Veg switches at the same time, I strongly feel like I need to raise up the light several inches to keep from harming the plants with the total intensity. I worry that since I am raising the light further from the canopy, I will be losing too much intensity of the blue light and there is essentially only the Flower lights intense enough to make it down to the canopy.

 

[somethingwit]

I guess a good question for me to ask (if I haven't already; I have been up all night... ugh), is how many of you run your LEDs on Veg only during the veg cycle, and then flip to Flower only during the flower cycle? What is your experiences with that, and how did it work out for ya'll in the different stages, and compared to other grows.

 

[JustStartedD]

No joke, the only directions or "recommendations" that it gave was to keep it a minimum of 12" above the canopy. On the box it basically just says that you can use this one light through the whole growth cycle. Below is a link to the light that I have in case you know of some place that I am missing for imperative information.

What I am trying to figure out is what will my plants benefit from the most? Should I blast it with all the lights and all the intensity and glory it has? Or should I just leave veg on, which is considerably not as intense, and move the lights closer? Where the light since at right now, if I am only going to use veg light, I need to move it down a few inches to get it a bit brighter on the plants (only moved it up because of the intensity of both switches on).

Straight up, I cannot find any technical stuff on this, and honestly, every forum you go to everyone has their own opinion (which I do like).

I guess an easier question is during the veg stage of the plant, does it benefit more from only the blue veg lights (since I do not have one of the newer LEDs that allow you to adjust the intensity level of the different channels)? Or does it benefit even at that stage from the red part of the spectrum as well?

Use both settings at the same time. Full spectrum is good for the plants growth and u don't lose any blue intensity

 

[crimsonecho]

After re-reading your post, this was another thing that I was kind of worried about. Since the blue isn't as intense, if I am running just blue Veg lights, I get the light down to the recommended 12". When I turn on Flower with the Veg switches at the same time, I strongly feel like I need to raise up the light several inches to keep from harming the plants with the total intensity. I worry that since I am raising the light further from the canopy, I will be losing too much intensity of the blue light and there is essentially only the Flower lights intense enough to make it down to the canopy.

Ok i will tell you this, blue light on your fixture does not have less intensity, your human eye perceives it so. Our eye adapted to see yellows, greens, oranges and to some degree reds brighter while blues look dimmer to us in comparison, especially when the light we see is getting closer to 400nm, on the other end of the visible spectrum, light looks dimmer as you get close to 700+nm.
Thats just how our eyes work. Even with 2 lights that have exactly same intensities, where one emits 420-440nm and other 600-620nm, the 600 nm will look brighter to humans.
Thats why lumen calculations doesn’t work with plants, plants “see” the lights that looks dim to us brightest, except 620 nm, we see that quite brightly too, not as bright as green but bright nonetheless.

 

[somethingwit]

Ok i will tell you this, blue light on your fixture does not have less intensity, your human eye perceives it so.

Alright, well I used to like to think of myself as a smart guy, but I do not know why I did not think about that haha. Lol makes some pretty good sense lol.

 

[gwheels]

Run them both. Veg and flower. Those blurple lights need to push out the wattage.

And when you have a couple of grows get a QB board or strip fixture. You will be happy you did.

 

[somethingwit]

Run them both. Veg and flower. Those blurple lights need to push out the wattage.

And when you have a couple of grows get a QB board or strip fixture. You will be happy you did.

Awesome. I just took a peak in the tent just now and noticed how well everything is doing. I left both switches on, and moved the light up one inch. I do not see anything that makes me concerned, so this is the way I am going. Also, just to confirm, you would use Veg and Flower through the whole flower cycle as well, right? I have also seen others post that they take off the blue towards the very end.

And, can you tell me more about what a QB board and a strip fixture is, and how it is used? Maybe some links or pictures if you have time.

Thanks, bud.

 

[Bannacis]

Ok i will tell you this, blue light on your fixture does not have less intensity, your human eye perceives it so. Our eye adapted to see yellows, greens, oranges and to some degree reds brighter while blues look dimmer to us in comparison, especially when the light we see is getting closer to 400nm, on the other end of the visible spectrum, light looks dimmer as you get close to 700+nm.
Thats just how our eyes work. Even with 2 lights that have exactly same intensities, where one emits 420-440nm and other 600-620nm, the 600 nm will look brighter to humans.
Thats why lumen calculations doesn’t work with plants, plants “see” the lights that looks dim to us brightest, except 620 nm, we see that quite brightly too, not as bright as green but bright nonetheless.

I was just about to say something similar to this...Thanks Crim...

 

[somethingwit]

For sure makes a lot of sense.

 

[Leew421]

The sun does not turn off red and blue for a certain amount of time. I wouldn't try and reinvent the wheel. Different spectrums effect plants obviously. I would have both sets on the whole time. Theres heaps of info out there on the web. Fluence Bioengineering is a good start.