New LED light. How high from plants?

[TCH]

I was running a Viparspectra 300 blurple light i picked up a few years back. I recently picked up a newer LED 150W that was posted in the deals thread. I got it in today and it works great. Now to see if it actually works at growing plants. I currently have it set at 50% on the dimmer and about 30" above the top of the plants. Too close, too far? The white light is so intense off of this thing. I dont want to damage the plants.

 

[heath2019]

I believe you might want to cut the light back about 50% then build backup to full. The spacing between seedling and clones from light is about 4 feet and 3 feet for veg. Might want to check some sites and get more counsel in numbers.

 

[heath2019]

What size tent you got and have you considered hydro ???

 

[TCH]

I believe you might want to cut the light back about 50% then build backup to full. The spacing between seedling and clones from light is about 4 feet and 3 feet for veg. Might want to check some sites and get more counsel in numbers.

It is currently at 50% and about 30" above the plants.

What size tent you got and have you considered hydro ???

The tent is a 3'x3' tent and I have considered hydro, but wanted to try soil this time.

 

[Lenin1917]

However high you need it to be to hit 3-400ppfd, if you have an iphone the photone app will get you roughly where you need to be

 

[TCH]

However high you need it to be to hit 3-400ppfd, if you have an iphone the photone app will get you roughly where you need to be

Thank you. Have an android but I was able to dl that app. With the led at 50%, I actually had to bring the light even closer.

 

[calvin.m16]

However high you need it to be to hit 3-400ppfd, if you have an iphone the photone app will get you roughly where you need to be

I second this, just don't forget with iPhone you need to put a piece of white printer paper over the sensor on the screen so it reads accurately.

PAR Levels (PPFD)
Seedling / Clone: 100 – 300
Vegetative: 250 – 600
Bloom / Flowering: 500 – 1050

 

[TCH]

Plants seem nice and happy this morning after all night under the new light.

 

[pahpah-cee]

The company that makes your light should provide you with a ppfd map. I would just follow there recommendations.

those apps are junk. They’re been proven time and time again to be unreliable. Too many different types of phones out there to establish a baseline. Get a cheap lux meter if you want to measure it yourself.

 

[Synchronicity]

I have viparspectra 150 watt quantum boards, but it is a different model than yours. Has the Samsung diodes and meanwell driver. I use the following PAR values for it:

Seedlings- 200 to 400 (PPFD)
Veg Plants- 400 to 600
Flower - 700 to 900

It turns out that by the flower stage I run them at about 14 inches above the canopy at 100% and it works.

For those seedlings I would run it at 50% or keep them up there where you are at now and gradually crank up the PAR as they approach the veg stage.............

I think that photone app is good enough, but use the one pictured since I cant get the photone to work on my android tablet..............

 

[StareCase]

... I cant get the Photone to work on my android tablet ...

Can you download Tent Buddy for your Android tablet? I use that app for my S9 phone and it's pretty accurate.

 

[Lenin1917]

The company that makes your light should provide you with a ppfd map. I would just follow there recommendations.

those apps are junk. They’re been proven time and time again to be unreliable. Too many different types of phones out there to establish a baseline. Get a cheap lux meter if you want to measure it yourself.

The apps are junk on low end/mid range older phones, any flagship phone made in the past 2 years has extremely accurate sensors in the cameras, especially the newer iPhones. The only reason I ended up switching from android tbh, the iPhone 13 sensor with the Photone app only has a %5 margin of error from apogee par meters it’s as good as it gets without buying a meter and sometimes it’s just easier to finance a phone for $30/mo than it is to drop $500 all at once on a par meter.

 

[TreesUpNorth]

I was running a Viparspectra 300 blurple light i picked up a few years back. I recently picked up a newer LED 150W that was posted in the deals thread. I got it in today and it works great. Now to see if it actually works at growing plants. I currently have it set at 50% on the dimmer and about 30" above the top of the plants. Too close, too far? The white light is so intense off of this thing. I dont want to damage the plants. View attachment 5160042View attachment 5160043View attachment 5160044View attachment 5160045

At 30" in that tent you can crank it. I ran similiar lights in 2x2 tents, and even then at 30" full power would be fine. You can get pretty close....10" maybe 8"....6 you start to get bleaching in flower. But yeah, this fixture is for a 2x2 footprint for flower. Id throw the vipar in there too.

 

[TreesUpNorth]

At 30" in that tent you can crank it. I ran similiar lights in 2x2 tents, and even then at 30" full power would be fine. You can get pretty close....10" maybe 8"....6 you start to get bleaching in flower. But yeah, this fixture is for a 2x2 footprint for flower. Id throw the vipar in there too.

This is the mars ts1000 in 2x2....full power at about 12-14 inches. Livingsoil.

 

[pahpah-cee]

The apps are junk on low end/mid range older phones, any flagship phone made in the past 2 years has extremely accurate sensors in the cameras, especially the newer iPhones. The only reason I ended up switching from android tbh, the iPhone 13 sensor with the Photone app only has a %5 margin of error from apogee par meters it’s as good as it gets without buying a meter and sometimes it’s just easier to finance a phone for $30/mo than it is to drop $500 all at once on a par meter.

Word, I agree with this. From what I gathered the apps aren’t great on android. It’s just too large or a sample pool. iPhone is more reliable (less diversity on their models) and I have heard similar successes with iPhone 12’s and up when comparing to a apogee.

I’m using one of those fake par meters that does the conversion for me. It’s a lux meter that is dressed up.

 

[Lenin1917]

Word, I agree with this. From what I gathered the apps aren’t great on android. It’s just too large or a sample pool. iPhone is more reliable (less diversity on their models) and I have heard similar successes with iPhone 12’s and up when comparing to a apogee.

I’m using one of those fake par meters that does the conversion for me. It’s a lux meter that is dressed up.

Shit, the %5 margin of error I quoted is straight from Dr Bruce Bugbee the ceo of apogee and one the worlds most renowned plant scientists

when my friends and I say “eat the rich” I always add except for Dr Bugbee

 

[Lenin1917]

At 30" in that tent you can crank it. I ran similiar lights in 2x2 tents, and even then at 30" full power would be fine. You can get pretty close....10" maybe 8"....6 you start to get bleaching in flower. But yeah, this fixture is for a 2x2 footprint for flower. Id throw the vipar in there too.

Yep, generally speaking a 3x3 flower space should have ~300w led

assuming photoperiod grow anyways, needs for autos are different because they have longer light hours so you can get away with lower intensity to achieve the same dli

 

[Synchronicity]

Can you download Tent Buddy for your Android tablet? I use that app for my S9 phone and it's pretty accurate.

I only have experience with that Photon app and this one I showed above. I will check on Tent Buddy for certain....... thanx for the thought

yo

 

[hillbill]

I have Photone on IPhone 7 and I think it is about 5% also. I use the free version set to 4000k CMH. Quite close reading to white LED setting on “Pro” version. I sign up for that when setting new lights or changing combinations. I would note that every K rating was the same on every source I tested to what they claimed. HPS, CMH and LEDs, all of them.

 

[turbobuzz]

The company that makes your light should provide you with a ppfd map. I would just follow there recommendations.

those apps are junk. They’re been proven time and time again to be unreliable. Too many different types of phones out there to establish a baseline. Get a cheap lux meter if you want to measure it yourself.

Yep, I agree. Depending on how I hold my Android phone, it reads all over the place. It’s a ballpark guess at best.