Can you run too much light?

[Sunshinegrower]

My flower room is 10'x18' and 10'x10' basically an L-Shaped room. Right now I'm flowering 8 big ladies in 25 gallon smart pots with 8 - 1k Magnum XXXL 8" hoods over each plant. I wanted to see what would happen if I drop in some vertical 1k bare bulbs. Right now I have add 3 more bare bulbs so they sit in the middle of 4 plants. Sorry about not having any pictures, but am still unsure on how to remove all the meta tag stuff off them safely. I still want to add 1-2 more 1k lights vertically. I have been growing for a good 3 year run now so I feel I know what am doing for the most part, but wanted to hear others thoughts on it. I don't care about the power bill, but what I care about is pulling the largest cola's ever!! Everything else in the room is dial in such as temp, humidity, but I don't run Co2 and I know I should but at this time I can not install the outdoor unit so I'm limited to exhausting which totally works well. I have noticed the plants are sucking down the water and I have bumped up the nutes and they are doing wonderful. I just flipped these girls about a week ago and before they where getting 2k MH so light shock is not a problem and when I flip them I do most of the lights and do the last few over a week. Just wanted to see what you have to say...

Thanks!!

 

[MTgrower]

I'm not sure what you mean by not being able to get the outdoor unit with regards to CO2. I run indoor, water cooled burners to produce my gas and it comes out of the burner at 79 degrees F. You can run too much light if the plants can't use it, but you are talking about getting light below the canopy, and that is a good thing. You should really add the CO2 if you are going to be running that much light for so few large plants. They can only respire at the maximum rate if all the limiting factors are dialed in. CO2 is one of them.

 

[Sunshinegrower]

I'm not sure what you mean by not being able to get the outdoor unit with regards to CO2. I run indoor, water cooled burners to produce my gas and it comes out of the burner at 79 degrees F. You can run too much light if the plants can't use it, but you are talking about getting light below the canopy, and that is a good thing. You should really add the CO2 if you are going to be running that much light for so few large plants. They can only respire at the maximum rate if all the limiting factors are dialed in. CO2 is one of them.

Yeah the place I can't not have an outdoor condenser unit and I'm not going to buy some cheap or costly portable A/C. Yep I'm lighting from the bottom of the canopy so that little stuff becomes big stuff. I would love Co2, but if the room is exhausting all day I can't keep the Co2 levels up.

 

[CannabisJohn]

Yeah the place I can't not have an outdoor condenser unit and I'm not going to buy some cheap or costly portable A/C. Yep I'm lighting from the bottom of the canopy so that little stuff becomes big stuff. I would love Co2, but if the room is exhausting all day I can't keep the Co2 levels up.

What about a window unit with a box built around condenser with fan exhausting the hot air from condenser? Just a thought. Or condensing unit inside with exhaust and intake to keep room cool where unit is?

 

[Sunshinegrower]

What about a window unit with a box built around condenser with fan exhausting the hot air from condenser? Just a thought. Or condensing unit inside with exhaust and intake to keep room cool where unit is?

What would you think I would need for cooling BTU's running 8-1k in Raptor/Magnum XXXL 8" duct vented with cool outside air running on 650cfm exhaust fan and 4-1k bare bulbs, 1 -70pint dehumidifier? I know if the room will get in 100F if the exhaust is not working.. My guess is 16,000 BTU just from the 4-1k bulbs.

Okay on the window A/C and portable don't they exhaust the room air? So if I was running Co2 how would this work?

 

[efnscreenames]

no such thing as too much light.. only by product is heat and that could be a problem

 

[iscrog4food]

actually there is such thing as too much light. That being said I dont think you are in danger of that with your setup if I understand you correctly. You can actually kill plants with light intensity but it takes a lot. That being said you could shock your plants inadvertently in your setup. I would recommend not switching from veg directly into full light. give them a week in the flower room, but keep the light cycle as you would in veg until they get used to the light. maby start with the overheads on for 3 days, then start turning the vertical bulbs one or two a day untill they can take the full light without getting all limp. Once you have all lights on and you can see that the plant is growing then flip light cycle. If you cant run your flower lights 18 hours for heat issues you can but another light in the room to keep the cycle regular for that week while they acclimate.

 

[MakinGoo]

I'm thinking if u can keep ur temps good then no worries..

 

[SSHZ]

As was said above, heat is your issue- not amount of light in your situation.....

 

[Sunshinegrower]

actually there is such thing as too much light. That being said I dont think you are in danger of that with your setup if I understand you correctly. You can actually kill plants with light intensity but it takes a lot. That being said you could shock your plants inadvertently in your setup. I would recommend not switching from veg directly into full light. give them a week in the flower room, but keep the light cycle as you would in veg until they get used to the light. maby start with the overheads on for 3 days, then start turning the vertical bulbs one or two a day untill they can take the full light without getting all limp. Once you have all lights on and you can see that the plant is growing then flip light cycle. If you cant run your flower lights 18 hours for heat issues you can but another light in the room to keep the cycle regular for that week while they acclimate.

It sounds like you got a good idea of what I have going on. In the veg they get florescent, but also 2k in MH towards the end. Then when they get flipped I turn the lights on in stages so now I'm at 12k total 8k overhead and 4k verticals. I'll run about 5k overhead the 1st day, and over 3-4 days depending on how much wattage they got in veg I'll turn on 2k a day till I reach that 4 day mark of 12k.

Do you know anything about running MH in the flower or when flowering switching up lighting up on the 8th or so week to 8hrs on/ 16off? I read this on Attitude Seed Bank from one of the line of seeds they're selling. It was in the growing notes for that seed. I have done the 48 hours before harvest to see if that gets me more crystals, but it's too hard to tell. It has worked out well though for me because some days I'm not ready get so this buys me a few extra days.

I would really like to get some pictures up on this site to show you all, but worried about the meta-tag on the pictures and how to remove it, Any advice.

Thanks you all for the help!! I love the fact that I can get on my computer and find people that are willing to help so much.

 

[efnscreenames]

well if you say theres a such thing as too much light.. dial the sun down considering it produces trees compared to bushes indoors.. the more light, the more bud youll have, period. you just have to keep your temps in check.

 

[OregonMedical]

Yes, it is possible to run too much light. I had a friend who attempted to run 4 1000's over 2 4x4 tables. The environment was perfect but the plants folded. I don't remember the reasoning but he researched it and believed it was too much light.

 

[Sunshinegrower]

well if you say theres a such thing as too much light.. dial the sun down considering it produces trees compared to bushes indoors.. the more light, the more bud youll have, period. you just have to keep your temps in check.

The temps are doing perfect and I have been dropping in verticals 1k hps (and even threw in 1k MH just to see) and at this point I don't care about how much light vs. flowers, but more of a test. I'm really liking running 1k per plant over head with 8" ducted hood and dropping in the 1k hps, but I tried a wing style cheap-o hood so the base of the bulb is at the ground and screw the wing to the wall flat and honestly am liking it. I thinking of doing a few more.. It's time to run some test and give up on the rest.. I know I'll get a phat ass harvest with a phat ass power bill, but just having fun.. Someone tell me the safest way to get picture on here so I can show you all.

 

[ttystikk]

What about a window unit with a box built around condenser with fan exhausting the hot air from condenser? Just a thought. Or condensing unit inside with exhaust and intake to keep room cool where unit is?

CannabisJohn knows his HVAC shit, if he has some ideas about cooling your room, I'd do some careful research on it. I'm thinking you could even run the air you're getting rid of from the hoods as cooling air for an AC unit. Make the condensor section the last stop on the way out of the room...

What would you think I would need for cooling BTU's running 8-1k in Raptor/Magnum XXXL 8" duct vented with cool outside air running on 650cfm exhaust fan and 4-1k bare bulbs, 1 -70pint dehumidifier? I know if the room will get in 100F if the exhaust is not working.. My guess is 16,000 BTU just from the 4-1k bulbs.

Okay on the window A/C and portable don't they exhaust the room air? So if I was running Co2 how would this work?

I think I can answer this one for you: I run a very similar lighting setup; 8 x 1kW in 8" magnum xxxl hoods, ducted and vented. I run a water chilled system in the room, but to answer your question about AC, no they generally don't exhaust the air they're cooling in the room, because that would basically defeat the purpose of the AC unit. If you can exhaust the warm air coming off the back of your AC unit, like a boxed window unit, and get that air out of the room, you'll be way ahead.

Those magnum xxxl hoods are very good at shedding excess heat with ducted air venting. You won't need as much cooling in the room as you might think to handle the residual heat from them. The 1kW bulbs you have mounted on the walls are of course another story...

All said and done, it would be a big step up in yields if you could get the room sealed and run CO2 enrichment. You're most of the way there already with the dehumidifier and vented hoods, so why not?

 

[efnscreenames]

if his plants wilted its because they were to close to the plants.. people running that many lights usually have them 10 feet or more above the canopy. Theres a article in Last months HT that showed DNA seed farm and thier lights are 20 foot above the canopy.. its all about space if you run 4000 watts of light in a 10 x 10 are when one would be suffcient thats just nuts.

 

[efnscreenames]

CannabisJohn knows his HVAC shit, if he has some ideas about cooling your room, I'd do some careful research on it. I'm thinking you could even run the air you're getting rid of from the hoods as cooling air for an AC unit. Make the condensor section the last stop on the way out of the room...



I think I can answer this one for you: I run a very similar lighting setup; 8 x 1kW in 8" magnum xxxl hoods, ducted and vented. I run a water chilled system in the room, but to answer your question about AC, no they generally don't exhaust the air they're cooling in the room, because that would basically defeat the purpose of the AC unit. If you can exhaust the warm air coming off the back of your AC unit, like a boxed window unit, and get that air out of the room, you'll be way ahead.

Those magnum xxxl hoods are very good at shedding excess heat with ducted air venting. You won't need as much cooling in the room as you might think to handle the residual heat from them. The 1kW bulbs you have mounted on the walls are of course another story...

All said and done, it would be a big step up in yields if you could get the room sealed and run CO2 enrichment. You're most of the way there already with the dehumidifier and vented hoods, so why not?

I run a portable in my rooma and it just exhaust the heat from the motor and pulls air from the outside to cool the motor the air inside stays inside as long as everythings sealed