SPIDER FARMER SF4000 LED Grow

[Bubba]

Josey said he has a 3x3 and a 5x5

He asked about description saying 4x4 vs 5x5.

 

[oldfogey8]

Always buy another tent LOL 5
But 5x 5 rotating plants every now and then

I always rotate and randomize plant placement when not SCROGging…

 

[oldfogey8]

1500 will fry them silly. 1000 to 1100 is about max unless CO2 is utilized, which I don't mess with. Most who do aren't doing it right from what I see.

Bubba

Agreed. I said 1500 with CO2 supplementation.

 

[oldfogey8]

He asked about description saying 4x4 vs 5x5.

I don’t see that.

 

[Bubba]

I don’t see that.

"the manufacturer claimed it was sufficient for a 4x4 tent. Now on Amazon, they say it is good for a 5x5"
Look again

 

[Bubba]

Agreed. I said 1500 with CO2 supplementation.

It will still fry them. 1500 way too much. Give it a whirl and see.

Bubba

 

[oldfogey8]

"the manufacturer claimed it was sufficient for a 4x4 tent. Now on Amazon, they say it is good for a 5x5"
Look again

 

[oldfogey8]

It will still fry them. 1500 way too much. Give it a whirl and see.

Bubba

Black Dog

Gavita

 

[oldfogey8]

It will still fry them. 1500 way too much. Give it a whirl and see.

Bubba

Sunlight

 

[Bubba]

Black Dog
View attachment 299339

Gavita
View attachment 299340

Never heard of black dog, gravita is very well thought of. Lots of choices at that price point.

Problem with super powerful lights is when not used in commercial setting. Worse in a tent. 1500 at the canopy will fry things. Most plants will not use that much.

As par increases, plant picks up more nutes, grows faster...up to a point. At 1500, it can't absorb nutes quick enough to take advantage.

If you are a competent breeder properly equiped, you can breed a strain where you will know these parameters. (That step alone is over most hobby growers heads, certainly mine). With that knowledge and with proper equipment, you can calculate how much cow and max par it can support.

In my 4x4, 1500 to 170p would be useless as I would have to raise it so far to get 1000 par or so that I would have no grow space for height.

Some of the latest led allow closer to the canopy without burn, but still. I typically have 3 to 4 ft plants. At 20 inches, where par is around 1000 par or so I start running out of height.

At 1500 (at what ever height) I would have to raise it so far I hit the limits. If I had a large room with several of those mounted to ceiling
Would work, but I use tents.

Bubba

 

[Bubba]

Sunlight
View attachment 299341

All that info is just great. Let's see that 1500 to 1700 in a tent and how it goes.

Are you in a tent, or open grow room? Have you those lights? Or shopping them?

Bubba

 

[oldfogey8]

PPFD is flyheight dependent so yes, in a tent you are pushing the envelope. Growers who use CO2 supplementation are able to go above 1500 umols/m^2/sec which enables the plants to use CO2 efficiently. I am not and never will be in that subset of growers. I don’t doubt that many are able to make use of higher intensity in their tents though. If sunlight gets up over 1700, then with proper acclimation, tented grows should not be that different. I have not tried any high intensity lights so I can’t speak to how well they work or don’t work. I just go by what I have read. If these spider farmer lights were frying everyone plants, nobody would be buying them. Diminishing returns? Could be. Again I don’t know and can’t justify the expense to try them as my crappy low-end LED’s work fine for my needs. I was just trying to give the OP some information. I know for a fact that the SF4000 was advertised as good for a 4x4 tent last year. The title now says 5x5 but the fine print says 4x4 for flowering which is where the rubber hits the road. Nobody has a hard time getting results vegging or sells harvested plants before flowering them. My 2 cents(though due to inflation, it is now worth 1 cent)…

 

[Bubba]

If I was going to buy another light, I would get a Spider Farmer light. I have only heard good things about them and seen some nice grows with them. As I recall, like me, you grow for personal consumption. For me, I can’t justify spending the money on a high end light. The higher yield(and probably somewhat better quality) of high end lights would swamp me with more bud than I could smoke(and share) in my lifetime. When I was looking at them last year, the manufacturer claimed it was sufficient for a 4x4 tent. Now on Amazon, they say it is good for a 5x5. Looking at the PPFD map though, it still has values for a 4x4 footprint. There is data out there indicating the 700-900 umols is what the plant needs in flower(up to 1500 I think though a lot of growers say you need CO2 supplementation to take advantage of the higher ‘intensity’). Since I can’t find a PPFD map for a 5x5 footprint, it is hard to say how well(and how evenly) it would illuminate a 5x5.

What usually happens is as the tent gets larger, or the footprint gets larger, the corners get weaker. Raising it from there will increase corners and decrease center areas, lowering usually raises center par, lowering corners.

That spider farmer will work fine, many here have used them. Great for hobby tent growers.

Bubba

 

[oldfogey8]

All that info is just great. Let's see that 1500 to 1700 in a tent and how it goes.

Are you in a tent, or open grow room? Have you those lights? Or shopping them?

Bubba

I was shopping for lights. I am no longer in the market. My thought is it is better to have 3 or 4 lower intensity lights that you can spread out to average out the intensity better(better edge and corner intensity). I can’t even remember the original argument to be honest.

 

[oldfogey8]

What usually happens is as the tent gets larger, or the footprint gets larger, the corners get weaker. Raising it from there will increase corners and decrease center areas, lowering usually raises center par, lowering corners.

That spider farmer will work fine, many here have used them. Great for hobby tent growers.

Bubba

Agreed. See my above post on evening out the coverage. Crossed in the mail…

 

[Bubba]

PPFD is flyheight dependent so yes, in a tent you are pushing the envelope. Growers who use CO2 supplementation are able to go above 1500 umols/m^2/sec which enables the plants to use CO2 efficiently. I am not and never will be in that subset of growers. I don’t doubt that many are able to make use of higher intensity in their tents though. If sunlight gets up over 1700, then with proper acclimation, tented grows should not be that different. I have not tried any high intensity lights so I can’t speak to how well they work or don’t work. I just go by what I have read. If these spider farmer lights were frying everyone plants, nobody would be buying them. Diminishing returns? Could be. Again I don’t know and can’t justify the expense to try them as my crappy low-end LED’s work fine for my needs. I was just trying to give the OP some information. I know for a fact that the SF4000 was advertised as good for a 4x4 tent last year. The title now says 5x5 but the fine print says 4x4 for flowering which is where the rubber hits the road. Nobody has a hard time getting results vegging or sells harvested plants before flowering them. My 2 cents(though due to inflation, it is now worth 1 cent)…

The spider farmer isn't going to go to 1700 so it won't be frying anything, but too close and you can still get burn. I fight that in the height battle regularly.

I've grown successfully with cheap lights, it can be done. I had very nice plants (OG Kush) but probably lost a little yield, but I just grow for myself.

Leds are getting better and better. Modern LEDs (Epistar?) Allow all the light closer without burn. Heck, I still have some hps lights too!
Bubba

 

[Bubba]

I was shopping for lights. I am no longer in the market. My thought is it is better to have 3 or 4 lower intensity lights that you can spread out to average out the intensity better(better edge and corner intensity). I can’t even remember the original argument to be honest.

That is exactly how I started, and I think gmo too? Seems like he started with 4 100 watt or so lights? I did anyway. There are advantages to multiple lights, I used 3 100 watt in a 2x4. If one fails, you are still in biz. You can buy them one at a time, one is fine for sprout/veg. Win win. Go for it.

Bubba

 

[oldfogey8]

That is exactly how I started, and I think gmo too? Seems like he started with 4 100 watt or so lights? I did anyway. There are advantages to multiple lights, I used 3 100 watt in a 2x4. If one fails, you are still in biz. You can buy them one at a time, one is fine for sprout/veg. Win win. Go for it.

Bubba

lol. I started with a 4 bulb t5 fixture and grew some pretty nice buds with that for 2 or so years(I supplemented with an additional 2 bulb after some point in time). I had a 2x4x4 tent. I hear ya on the height constraint. LST’d and supercropped up a storm and my plants still would be an inch or so from the T5’s(but low heat and low intensity allows that. I grow for me and Mrs Fogey and we smoke very little so no high end lights are in my future unless I inherit beau coup bucks(unlikely because my lawyer-biological mother is angry at me about my jab status).

 

[Bubba]

Great thing about t5, they can be right on the canopy. Weed hopper has perfected that method.

Bubba

 

[oldfogey8]

They do well for vegging too. Light penetration isn’t great but it is what it is.