Nft For Greens/spinach

[h4ppyf4rmer]

yeah, yeah, I know spinach and greens don't have THC in it, but I know quite a few farmers that grow more than cannabis.

I want to setup an NFT system in my basement for spinach and greens. I know how the NFT system works, I'm looking for inexpensive grow lighting for a system that may have 20 feet of 4" sch40 pvc with 3" netpots every 8 to 12". So the pipe would be 10' out, 10' back with u-turn at one end and the res at the other.

basically the grow area will be 10' x 1' .

I supposed I could use two 4' 2-bulb T5 fixtures with a reflector , I just don't really want to deal with bulb changes.

any cool ideas would be great
thanks

 

[dnewsome2]

yeah, yeah, I know spinach and greens don't have THC in it, but I know quite a few farmers that grow more than cannabis.

I want to setup an NFT system in my basement for spinach and greens. I know how the NFT system works, I'm looking for inexpensive grow lighting for a system that may have 20 feet of 4" sch40 pvc with 3" netpots every 8 to 12". So the pipe would be 10' out, 10' back with u-turn at one end and the res at the other.

basically the grow area will be 10' x 1' .

I supposed I could use two 4' 2-bulb T5 fixtures with a reflector , I just don't really want to deal with bulb changes.

any cool ideas would be great
thanks

That's a good question. Do you go with red and blue LED close to the plant or do you go 3000k Cobbs on the ceiling? Plus you want to think about what you're doing and you don't cause anything to bolt to seed although that's usually temperature related I think the light may be a factor.

 

[dnewsome2]

You could probably make a nice-looking long straight run with 6500k t5.

 

[dnewsome2]

Something like this might not be bad.http://m.ebay.com/itm/PopularGrow-1...%3A20aa601e15d0aa4910ed9b9ffff93237%7Ciid%3A8

 

[dnewsome2]

It would be nice if you could daisy chain them though.

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

That's a good question. Do you go with red and blue LED close to the plant or do you go 3000k Cobbs on the ceiling? Plus you want to think about what you're doing and you don't cause anything to bolt to seed although that's usually temperature related I think the light may be a factor.

I don't want to do COBs, I don't think you need that kind of intensity and it would be really expensive. I'll be doing it in my basement without a tent where it's pretty cool year round.

You could probably make a nice-looking long straight run with 6500k t5.

I've thought of this, I just don't want to deal with bulbs and always wondering when I need to replace them...

Something like this might not be bad.http://m.ebay.com/itm/PopularGrow-108w-Red-Blue-Led-Grow-Light-Bar-Design-Plant-Seeding-Growth-Bloom-/192219713096?epid=0&hash=item2cc1300e48:g:K6UAAOSwFnFV-7WK&_trkparms=pageci%3A12d215bc-639e-11e7-ae47-74dbd180e7e8%7Cparentrq%3A20aa601e15d0aa4910ed9b9ffff93237%7Ciid%3A8

It would be nice if you could daisy chain them though.

Those LEDs look nice, just don't know the coverage of them. I could easily build my own, I just don't know where to start when it comes to dark leafy greens that stay in the veg state. Maybe @sixstring might have some good ideas for low power strings of LEDs.

I could always make something if I knew spectrum and power needed for this.

 

[dnewsome2]

I don't want to do COBs, I don't think you need that kind of intensity and it would be really expensive. I'll be doing it in my basement without a tent where it's pretty cool year round.



I've thought of this, I just don't want to deal with bulbs and always wondering when I need to replace them...





Those LEDs look nice, just don't know the coverage of them. I could easily build my own, I just don't know where to start when it comes to dark leafy greens that stay in the veg state. Maybe @sixstring might have some good ideas for low power strings of LEDs.

I could always make something if I knew spectrum and power needed for this.

I know you can get away with less power with a lot of your leafy greens. I've seen a lot of stuff where commercial Growers are using red and blue LED.

 

[dnewsome2]

I think they said 11 watts per square foot minimum. I ran 20 watts per square foot on some leafy greens. And it worked pretty well but I kept it just as close as you could.

 

[dnewsome2]

I have found that growing leafy greens indoors it is best to harvest them young when they are tender and sweet. I cut them twice and then I start new ones. Except for heads of course. If you never let it get over 75 they won't bolt to seed on you and they will grow great on 10 to 12 hours of light per day. I personally tried to keep mine in the low 70s it made it a lot sweeter if you're not careful with your temps it will be bitter.

 

[dnewsome2]

 

[dnewsome2]

One of those ultra thin cheap $20 straight blue and red panels from eBay produced this. 20 watts at the Wall.

 

[sixstring]

have you ever looked at these bridgelux strips ? 10 feet worth of these in 3500k and 4000k alternating would be the shizzle
http://www.bridgelux.com/sites/default/files/resource_media/DS130 EB Series Datasheet Rev A_0.pdf
might be able to find a driver that would run them all or 1 driver for each color

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

have you ever looked at these bridgelux strips ? 10 feet worth of these in 3500k and 4000k alternating would be the shizzle
http://www.bridgelux.com/sites/default/files/resource_media/DS130 EB Series Datasheet Rev A_0.pdf
might be able to find a driver that would run them all or 1 driver for each color

you know what?? You are nothing but trouble for me!!! now I'm going to have to go off and figure out all this stuff, see how much it will cost, how to put it together, what drivers I'll need, heat sinks, hangers, ..... so much work for me!!!! };-)

Those things do look nice and digikey has them.
They are all an inch wide.
11" = $4.12 Vf@700ma = 22.1V
22" = $7.41 Vf@700ma = 22.1V
44" = $14.68 Vf@700ma = 44.2V

I can see getting ten 22" versions running perpendicular to the 3" NFT channels. I could probably get 4 channels at 8 inches (on Center) under this many lights.

I definitely can get something like this to work, hard part is figuring out what I need to a heatsink....

 

[sixstring]

you know what?? You are nothing but trouble for me!!! now I'm going to have to go off and figure out all this stuff, see how much it will cost, how to put it together, what drivers I'll need, heat sinks, hangers, ..... so much work for me!!!! };-)

Those things do look nice and digikey has them.
They are all an inch wide.
11" = $4.12 Vf@700ma = 22.1V
22" = $7.41 Vf@700ma = 22.1V
44" = $14.68 Vf@700ma = 44.2V

I can see getting ten 22" versions running perpendicular to the 3" NFT channels. I could probably get 4 channels at 8 inches (on Center) under this many lights.

I definitely can get something like this to work, hard part is figuring out what I need to a heatsink....

I dont think you need heatsinking if you run them soft like 700ma.worst case you can just grab some 1 inch flat bar stock aluminum from home depot and use that as the frame and heatsinking.the leds are so spaced out and the board is made well.dont jump the gun just yet bro theres also samsung led strips that look similar and use the same 561 like the quantums and also wont need heatsinks if ran soft.you wont need alot of power/intensity for the majority of leafy greens :)

 

[sixstring]

Cutter has a bunch of cool shit as well.prices are in Australia kangaroo dollars but it you look closely it shows usd under it.

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

I dont think you need heatsinking if you run them soft like 700ma.worst case you can just grab some 1 inch flat bar stock aluminum from home depot and use that as the frame and heatsinking.the leds are so spaced out and the board is made well.dont jump the gun just yet bro theres also samsung led strips that look similar and use the same 561 like the quantums and also wont need heatsinks if ran soft.you wont need alot of power/intensity for the majority of leafy greens :)

I'm in the planning phase, you know I'll have to investigate all possible options with spreadsheets and ... I can't help myself, I'm an engineer, lol.

My wife and I eat a ton of leafy greens salads for lunch. I still have my 26 year old daughter living with us that eats a lot of salads, my 23 year old son, on the other hand, is still eating mostly junk food still, lol

 

[sixstring]

Heres the samsungs @4 ft with built in wire connection

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

Heres the samsungs @4 ft with built in wire connection

I wish the Samsung strips spec sheets had spectrum charts, I didn't see any

 

[sixstring]

I wish the Samsung strips spec sheets had spectrum charts, I didn't see any

Im on my phone now but I'll have a look at the digikey site when I get to a pc.hard site to navigate on my phone lol.but i believe the Samsung strips come in all the normal colors 2700,3000,3500,4000,5000,6500.i would use 3500k no matter what brand you end up with.good all around full term spectrum.led has alot more blue than people realize, its a much fuller spectrum than hid

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

Im on my phone now but I'll have a look at the digikey site when I get to a pc.hard site to navigate on my phone lol.but i believe the Samsung strips come in all the normal colors 2700,3000,3500,4000,5000,6500.i would use 3500k no matter what brand you end up with.good all around full term spectrum.led has alot more blue than people realize, its a much fuller spectrum than hid

no worries, I'm not in any hurry };-)