215 Watt LED Grow

[time4tokin20s]

That's a cool set-up.Do you think a few cfl's would keep any stretching to a minimum in a LED grow like that?

 

[Rogue]

They are starting to take off. I think I am going to transplant the best 6 from the 4" pots into the bigger 8" pots tomorrow. I added some computer cooling fans to the light since the last update to make it run cooler. The cooler they run the long they last and the brighter they shine.

 

[Elven]

Well not only do I hope it works but I hope you design and sell them to the rest of us.

 

[gman]

You'll have a great canopy with LEDs, but underneath, not so much. LEDs have poor canopy penetration due to their tuned wavelength.

First of all: "penetration" is something you should simply forget all about. Let's see why you have come to this false conclusion.

You must have seen a blue-red lighting and noticed that there is no light underneath, right? Why? Because the foliage has absorbed the useful components and there is no reflection of red and blue from the leaves. Understood?

Okay. Now you have seen a fantastic "penetration" using a sodium lamp. What has happened? The white light contains a wide spectrum of colors. The foliage absorbs the useful ones (red & blue) and reflects away the rest (green) which bounces in the foliage and you get the false impression that there is a lot of light everywhere. If you measure the amount of red and green inside the foliage it is zero. But you cannot see this due to the green light bouncing all over the place.

Why is this impression false? Because plants do not use the green component. They reflect it away. It is of no use. Seeing a lot of green light proves nothing about the real quality of the light source. Period.

If you have a wide array of LEDs the "penetration" you are calling should actually be a LOT better because the light source is not just one single spot that only gives light to a small part of the foliage. With a proper LED build you will be able to control the "penetration" to all parts of the plant because you can position the leds MUCH better than the single sodium spot.

Remember: what the eye sees is simply the reflection of green colour from the leaves and that is the least important thing about lights.

If you want to get light to the lower parts using an old-fashioned lamp you must use reflective material AROUND the plant (and the light source must give the white light to this reflective surface from which it will bounce to the lower parts of the foliage.

Normal white lights produce a wide variety of wavelengths and most of them do not benefit the plant at all. Infrareds are the most useless part and if there are UV components they are harmful to all life. Why on earth use expensive energy to something completely useless?

I am absolutely convinced that using proper LEDs and the correct wavelengths is the only way to go.

GMan

 

[Rogue]

There has been a lot of talk and discussion this summer over light penetration.
Great Thread:http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28104&highlight=penetration

I believe that having lights in multiple locations like my array should help over all penetration of light on the plant. It is like the use of multiple lights in photography to kill shadows. The shadow created by one leaf from source A gets light on it from source Z so there ends up being no shadow.

 

[papabeach1]

dude..I understand you did the math with par compare with 400 watt

why not get the par match up with 600 watt hps so you can produce more
buds that could be possible IMO just go up with the lumens..
it might run u up like 430 watt.. I updated my thread on hid vs floursec
maybe can be helpful to you..

 

[Elven]

Please keep up the experiment . Without trial and error there is no advancement.

 

[Rogue]

dude..I understand you did the math with par compare with 400 watt

why not get the par match up with 600 watt hps so you can produce more
buds that could be possible IMO just go up with the lumens..
it might run u up like 430 watt.. I updated my thread on hid vs floursec
maybe can be helpful to you..

The comparison for a 600 watt HPS would roughly be one used on a 4' x 5' area. I am using basically 32 watts per square foot, so in my mind that is comparable to most HPS setups on a watt/ft2 basis.

Please keep up the experiment . Without trial and error there is no advancement.

No plans on stopping. I am just keeping updates to weekly right now. I'll put new pictures up tomorrow. The plants are looking good and have been culled to 6 and transplanted into 8" (204 mm) pots.

 

[Rogue]

Here are the promised pictures. That plants are doing good over all. The bottom first true leaves on one are dying, but the rest of the plant looks healthy. I have few yellow tips on some leaves probably from the MG soil.

So what do ya think?

 

[stoneylove]

Wow, pretty impressive right now. Very interested to see if the LED's can flower like an HID. Love to see all the innovation and experimentation that goes on in this forum. Good luck with this, Rogue.

 

[HydroManiac]

Rogue, Nice man!! Talk about no stretching!!

 

[Elven]

nice start

 

[Rogue]

:watchplant:I gave the plants a shot of nutes last night, 'MG Bloom Buster'. They were looking hungry to me. We will see how that goes I know it might be a little early.

I was thinking about doing some form of topping in another week. I am not sure if I will just pinch the top off or to FIM it. Anyone with experience on both know which will make the plant bushier?

eace:

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

There has been a lot of talk and discussion this summer over light penetration.
Great Thread:http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28104&highlight=penetration

I believe that having lights in multiple locations like my array should help over all penetration of light on the plant. It is like the use of multiple lights in photography to kill shadows. The shadow created by one leaf from source A gets light on it from source Z so there ends up being no shadow.

this is why i prefer to use a large array of floro tubes when vegging

 

[HydroManiac]

I just like seeing new methods mind of a true inventor

 

[HydroManiac]

Rogue, any new pics??

 

[Rogue]

Rogue, any new pics??

I mis-placed my camera after last week. i just found it today. I'll take some shots tonight or tomorrow. They are doing good.

 

[Elven]

I mis-placed my camera after last week. i just found it today. I'll take some shots tonight or tomorrow. They are doing good.

Cant wait. hey how do you get your links in your signature like that.

 

[papabeach1]

wow that look awesome... glad you did pull all leds lights really close to the plants... now I see no stretching... man you made me proud!!

ya just need to work on flowering led lights to get better yields/buds

 

[Rogue]

Cant wait. hey how do you get your links in your signature like that.

In the edit signature area type what you want to be displayed, then left click and hold to highlight it. Once it is highlighted click on the the blue circle with the infinity symbol on the tool bar and a pop-up will open for you to enter your link.

Easy as that!:hubba: