A few ?s 90w LED Trials

[G Cat]

Hi everyone.I started some commercial bagseed to try a 90w LED UFo light and to test the growing conditions of my space befor wasteing my good seeds.right from the start 2 of the seedlings grew faster and thicker than the others so i favored them and kept them closer to the center of LED light source.I did just use random seeds that I saved so i guess that can be expected but there realy is a drastic difference in size.I also have been testing the different growing tecniques Ive read up on(includeing low stress training,topping,and pinching) which you can see in the pics.I have found to have the best results with pinching so I opted to use it on the 2 bigger plants.the biggest has about 8 heads growing rapidly at only about 7inches of height.I was wondering when i should put them into flower?I dont want to waste alot of time on these if theyre going to be males since ive already started my good plants(now that I'm confident of my growroom conditions) Do you think Id be making them flower to early?Please check out pics and give me any feedback.Do the plants look healthy? Do you think pinching a plant this young is to stressfull for the plant?Not sure if Im overlooking anything.Any feedback would be much appreciated.Thanx alot

 

[lowrydergrower775]

If it were me i would wait till they maybe got at the least a foot tall, sorry I don't mess around with 12/12 strains too much and i am sure other growers will stop in. But i have to say they look great man and ill be keeping an eye out for this grow can't wait to see how this will turn out for you.

 

[G Cat]

thanks,I will wait till they get 12inches,just dont want to waste lots of room with them,I just started my Blue Buddhas.i was just tryin to get the room set up right befor I did and I ended up with these 2.dont even know what strain they are.

 

[lowrydergrower775]

mmm yea they should be fine at a foot tall, have you had any previous experience with led lighting? Have you ever grown with hid's? How have you been liking the ufo so far?

 

[G Cat]

Always grown outdoors till now.Easier when mother nature does all the work but like the LED so far.U can keep it real close to tops but not much of a radius of light.i also didnt get into all the specifics of growing till now.im alot older and a little wiser,lol.So im trying to learn as much as possible.

 

[lowrydergrower775]

i am very interested in led's i would like to see their potential. That all you are working with right now just one 90 watt ufo?

 

[G Cat]

that plus 1-100w(equivalant) cfl and 2 60w cfls in a 4 by 6 room

 

[lowrydergrower775]

mmm interesting i like........definately keep us updated

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

If you are flowering with the LEDs, I would do it while the plants are very small. LEDs have virtually no penetrating power--only the top several inches of the plant will receive any real light. Equivalent wattage doesn't count when we are talking about growing plants. How many lumens are your CFLs putting out? You have an awfully large room for the amount of light you have.

 

[G Cat]

dont realy know what you mean by penetrating power.not sure of the exact lumens of the cfls.i could find out but i dont think ive had a problem with light this far but who knows, i might at flowering.i do want to keep plants small though because of height limitations and only plan on growing 4 to 6 plants.do you think i will need more light?what do you suggest?

 

[zem]

theres no "equivalent 100w" for cfl if its 20watts then its 20 watts, you have very little light to flower 4-6 plants. you need more light in flowering, in vegging you wouldnt notice any light problems, you will only notice them once your flowers show up an you find out you got only little popcorn buds. i suggest you do what everyone does, get hps for flowering you won't regret it

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

dont realy know what you mean by penetrating power.not sure of the exact lumens of the cfls.i could find out but i dont think ive had a problem with light this far but who knows, i might at flowering.i do want to keep plants small though because of height limitations and only plan on growing 4 to 6 plants.do you think i will need more light?what do you suggest?

Penetrating power has to do with loss of intensity (lumens) over distance (you may want to do some more reading on lighting). LEDs lose intensity very fast, so your light is only good for maybe a foot or less from the bulbs. Further than that and the light intensity is too little to be effective. It is all about lumens. When plants are that small it is very easy to get decent vegetative growth with a variety of lighting. Just because things look good now doesn't mean that you have enough lighting. As the plants get bigger and/or you get into flowering, it will be a different story. IMO, you are going to need far more light--5000 lumens per sq ft for flowering. Lighting needs are figured by the sq footage of your growing space, not the number of plants you want to grow. A HPS is the best for flowering. The size you need is dependent on your space.

 

[PieRsquare]

The term I've seen in lighting books for what is being referred to as "Penetrating power" is "Light Throw". The reason LED's aren't listed is because there are simply too many variations in LED bulbs currently.

MH, HPS and most of the rest of the light types are all included in International standards (ISO) and backed up with the appropriate formulas that make them very precise. Each individual LED bulb is also rated by each individual manufacturer, but they haven't been ISO certified for luminosity. (At least I haven't heard of it yet.)

The standard for lumens ratings are based on the photon count at exactly one foot from a light source in a very complicated formula that totals that count on the surface of a globe of an exact size, that has it's closest point at the one foot mark.

If you pick up a lighting book at the book store that is written at an engineers level, it will make your head spin like that little girl in the Exorcist movie. There is way more to it than anyone would ever think. Just the terminology leaves me in the dust.

 

[G Cat]

thanx guys for your input.i need the help.what size light would i need for my 4ft long 4ft wide 5ft high room?i was worried about the heat from the hps.i dont have great air circulation.

 

[G Cat]

WELL I DONT WANT POPCORN BUDS!:shocked:

 

[4EVR420]

a 600w hps would do ya right.

 

[4EVR420]

If you have a 4x4 grow area thats 16sq feet x 5000 lumens=80000 lumens, a 600w puts out 90000 lumens+

 

[zem]

but you need exhaust fan there it's a must especially with hps

 

[G Cat]

would there be any possibility of getting a good flower from the leds?even useing 1 light per plant?should i still be bothering with them in the veg room or give up on them completely?

 

[4EVR420]

G CAT, i went the same route you are going right now. i started with a 90w ufo and gutted a minifridge to grow in, the ufo only gave me airy buds. IMO/E they work great for veg but hps is the way to go for flowering. i now have a 400w hps with 6"cool tube it was only $250, my ufo was more than that.