vegetative lighting

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mcfanders

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I have plants (3) in vegetative state using 400w MH lamps. The plants are getting large and not a great deal of room so I have supplemented light of "Bright Effects" 3900 lumens, 2700K 300W near the bottom aimed up to give more direct light to the middle of the plants where light does not pass sufficiently. Will this be helpful or is it a waste? I know it should have been moreon the blue end, this one is soft white, but will this be beneficial at all?
 
This will likely cause competitive stretch, the light shining under the leaves will confuse the plant.
 
Roddy is right on with what he's said. When plants have light reflected so that it hits the underside of the leaves, it *sees* this light as being reflected by another plant next to it that is "competing" with it for sunlight. Nature has enabled plants to respond to "competitive growth" by sending more growth hormones to the top of the the plant and making it grow faster and taller.

With MJ, that means you'll have a lanky plant with very wide spacing between the nodes and fewer budding locations.

Bottom lighting is NOT good for your harvest yield. Just the opposite. If you're going to add lights, aim them so they hit the TOPS of the leaves, not the bottoms. This will keep competitive growth from happening.





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If you are running out of room now, what are you going to do when they double or triple in size after the flip to 12/12?
 
Roddy said:
This will likely cause competitive stretch, the light shining

under the leaves will confuse the plant.
Thank you Roddy for your advise.
 
Thank you Stoney Bud. Will the soft light 2700k be of any supplemental value to the metal halide 44 watt if positioned above?
 
I wld look into HO T5's mcfanders.... Tightest growth I have gotten in veg has been with them.
You might want to come up with a plan now....if you are almost out of room in veg then flower will not be fun at all for you...they usually double in size and some can triple....:holysheep:
 
mcfanders said:
Thank you Stoney Bud. Will the soft light 2700k be of any supplemental value to the metal halide 44 watt if positioned above?

The effect of light on plants can be summed up pretty easy. Light is actually physical particles called "Photons". They have mass. They have weight. They have substance.

Photons that are within a spectrum that can be used by a plant in photosynthesis are used by the plant in that manner. The quantity of photons that strike any given square inch of light absorbing cells on the plant are what determine how well the plant will grow.

Other factors with inside grows like heat, humidity, nutrients, temperatures above and in the root zone, pH and content of the water and pests all have the ability to alter the growth of the plant in conjunction with the light given the plants.

It always cracks me up when a newbie says "Its only a weed after all, all ya gotta do is throw it in some dirt and water it".

That's true if you want a seeded crop of plants that have survivors at about a 50-1 ratio, with the "1" being the survivor.

When adding lights to a grow, many things have to be considered;

1. Is it going to add enough light and add it effectively to substantiate the costs and labor of adding it?

2. Is it the correct type of lighting for the application being used?

3. Would it be more cost effective to use another type of light instead of one I just happened to have laying around?

4. Am I using the proper light or am I trying to justify using the one I want to use?

Sorry for the long answer to a short question, but there is so much more to the equation then just using whatever light you happen to have on hand already.

Canopy management, Temperature management, nutrient and water management and root zone management are all just as important as the lighting. The lighting also plays as part of each of those factors also in terms of root health and growth, nutrient take-up, stem elongation and structure, leaf size, health and positioning and plant temps.

I aways advise people to attempt to plan their entire grow BEFORE planting a single seed or taking a cutting.

Learning BEFORE you have problems is WAY easier than trying to learn how to fix problems that were caused because you didn't learn before the problem was caused.

Yes, any additional light that is of a spectrum your plant can use will add to it's overall growth as long as it causes no other problems in itself.
 
Thank you for your time and effort again Stoney Bud. That helped.
 
mcfanders said:
Thank you for your time and effort again Stoney Bud. That helped.

You're very welcome, McFanders!

That's what this site is all about! Later, after you've become more experienced, you'll also help others here and keep the tradition going.

Good luck to you!
 

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