OlgaStruthio
- 9
- 3
That was an outstanding reply.With LED watts really isn't an accurate way to judge light spacing and quantity, its a decent guess for home growers in tents, but for what you are doing it really isn't the best way.
LED lights are all different, you have the ones like Mars which have no dual lenses, 90 degree beam angles and a ton of chips packed onto a pcb board... or you have things like fluence which has a bunch of chips, spread evenly over a large surface area, or you have cobs with a single high wattage chip that spreads generally around 114 or 125 degrees or LED arrays with dual lenses and 60 degree angles which don't spread much but give off super intense "beams" of light....
So with all the different applications of LED, and the incorporated way they are mounted, and the beam angles, wattage tells very little of the story.
The best is to go by PPFD or Micromoles per meter squared every second.....this is a measurment of "PAR" light.
Since plants have certain requirements of light per day, not having enough light will lead to decreased metabolism, fluffy nugs, less cannabinoids...whereas too much light can also slow metabolism, cause burning of leaves or buds (with LED typically referred to as bleaching) and so on...
So best to look for a panel that outputs at least 500umol/m2/s-1 of Par light across your entire canopy or more (500 is the bare min for optimal results according to most current research).
Most growers actually look for around 800-1000umol/m2/s-1 on their canopy for the best results.
How do you find this info?
The lighting companies should provide a 4'x4' grid at multiple hanging heights that shows PAR readings every 1/2' to 1' on the grid. This "mapping" allows for you to see at "X" height, the pattern or output of light intensity across this 4x4 area. You want to look to make sure your entire canopy is getting at least 500umol/m2/s-1 of PAR light or more.
Many cheap LED companies will not provide these charts as they are generally clueless how plants actually use light. Never use a LED manufactures "recommended" coverage area as 99 times out of 100 they are wrong and usually are inflated estimates with no scientific backing or rhyme or reason to them.
Most good LED companies will provide you with this information, at least they should if they actually want buyers to make educated decisions on horticulture lights based on plants needs for light. (Its call DLI or Daily Light Integral).
This IMO is the only accurate way to judge plant lighting according to actual plant metabolism. (spectrum has little to do with metabolism, and more to do with morphological growth effects).
Also... the type of LED setup you go with has a lot to do with vertical space.... with LED its very possible to grow amazing plants without lights hung 4-6' over the canopy like the days of HPS or HID... You can literally have plants grow right up to certain LED fixtures....(less intense LEDs spread evenly over a huge surface area)
Or you can choose LEDs that have a very intense light, narrow beam angles and hang them in a similar fashion to HID/HPS lights 4' over the canopy...
Taking your grow style into consideration will determine the best type of LED fixture to go with.... If you want to use LED's like traditional HPS, then go with something that is a small fixture, dual lenses, high wattage but small surface area...
If you want to grow more of a sea of green style, vertical grow (stacked) or have short plants then its best to get a large LED fixture with LEDs that are less intense spread evenly over a large surface area....
Its all about the light penetration and what is necessary.
Hope this helps.
Thanks :) I kind of know a little bit about plant lighting ;)That was an outstanding reply.
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Thanks! I think this is sort of like the game I've been playing for years. Flood the plants with lots of light, probably a bit in excess of what's really needed. The plants love it, and there's still plenty of light even if some lights dim a bit, bulbs need replacement, ballasts need repair, glass is dirty, etc.For design, I would plan for 25-35w psf during veg phase over your 3x3 tables. For bloom I would plan for 50w psf. For CO2 I would increase to 100w psf bloom.
hope that helps
peace
Yeah for veg 3000k vero.i flower with a bunch of different colors but the 2700k are my favorite. I have panels with all 3500k some with all 2700k some with a mix of 3500k and 3000k and also a mix of 2700k and 3000k.but the 2700k rock it in flower.Your vegging and flowering with a 3k bulb/cree?
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