do i have too much light

[skimpmaster]

i have a plant that is 4 and a half feet tall in my closet and i have 2 lights above it with reflective covers on top the light are 250w each and the plant is so tall now its only 4 inches away from the lights there is also a thirty w florescent beside it but its small the plant has at least 20 sets of whites hairs just starting to show on the top half of the plant the temp stays in the high 80s in the room during lighting . so is this too much light, are the lights too close ... any help is appreciated. also i keep the lights on 12 off 12

 

[DeweY]

I Dont Think You have To Much Light , Has It Shown Sex Yet?

 

[skimpmaster]

its female i said it has like 20 sets of white hairs

 

[LoudBlunts]

too much light? really no such thing, imho

 

[Psychopassive]

The simple rule of thumb for optimum light is 50w per square foot. Apparently the plant isn't able to use much more than that so adding extra lights just increases the heat. Like anything, you can have too much light.

 

[LoudBlunts]

lol errrrrrrrrrr

 

[M Blaze]

Nah thats not too much light! Hold your hand over the plant and if its too hot for you then its too hot for the plant. Thats the easiest way to tell.

 

[Erysichthon]

yeah generally the more light the better. just curious what kind of lights are you using?

 

[Brick Top]

The simple rule of thumb for optimum light is 50w per square foot. Apparently the plant isn't able to use much more than that so adding extra lights just increases the heat. Like anything, you can have too much light.

That is really a very rough and inaccurate way to judge lighting needs especially when the word optimal is used.
　
A 250-watt HID light will cover an area that is 3ft. by 3ft. A 1000-watt HID light will cover an area that is 8ft. by 8ft. 3 X 3 = 9sq. ft., 8ft. X 8ft. = 64sq. ft.
　
Four 250-watt lights equals 100-watts but it would take 7.1 250-watt lights to get he same area of coverage as a single 1000-watt light.
　
Even with 7.1 250-watt lights you would not get the same penetration of light as you would with a single 1000-watt light.
　
In the case of a 250-watt light for most strains it is senseless to veg beyond about 10 or 12 inches.

Plants will grow enough during flower to outgrow the light penetration capability of a 250-watt light.

The lower portion of the plants will produce little to nothing and what will be produced will be popcorn.

What you end up with is a lot of green and very little to no bud production and you lengthen your overall time pushing back your harvest date.
　
People need to learn light capabilities and grow according to those capabilities and not according to what they want.

Everyone wants massive thick bushes or trees but everyone cannot grow them with their lighting.

You need to find the balance point where if you veg past a certain height what you get in yield will not be worth the extra time added to the overall length of time until harvest.
　
Of course strains will differ in height but even in some shorter strains that are very thick and lush there is a point where vegging can be carried out to long.

While leaves look green and solid to the human eye they are rather translucent and light rays pass through them and hit lower leaves.

But if there are enough leaves the light rays will not penetrate through them all to strike the lower portions of thick lush shorter plants so again you reach a point of diminishing returns where it is not worth vegging past a certain point.
　
Lighting is very misunderstood by many and there are so many theories about lighting that are just to general to be valid. There really is something of a science to it.

 

[M Blaze]

That is really a very rough and inaccurate way to judge lighting needs especially when the word optimal is used.
　

Yeah I was goin to mention that but I thought lets not turn this thread into yet another endless lighting debate coz I believe we already have enough of those threads on this site lol.

 

[skimpmaster]

the lights are regular soft white bulbs