Need Some Help/Opinions on Spectrums for My New Panel. Anyone?

[FranJan]

Well it looks like I got some leftover money my government doesn't want so I think I'll donate the 5x60 to my Veg room and try a different flowering panel. Don't think I'll be going with any of the big boys/POS middlemen this round so it's probably another 5x60 from Led Star for me. The spectrum's I'm thinking of using this time would be;

8 x 730nm
8 x 700nm
12 x 660nm
12 x 630nm
6 x 460nm
4 x 380nm
6 x 3500K
4 x 7000K

Was thinking of ditching the 380s and adding UVA/UVB with some of those lizard lights on separate timers. Also I'm still playing around with the red/far red mix. Anyone got any thoughts on this? Anyone got some recommendations? Got about $400.00-$600.00 to spend, so if anyone knows of some panels that really shine at this price, please chime in. Oh yeah, I'll be running this panel as my primary light in a SoG, roughly a 3'x5' area, and have 2 BS 240s as secondary panels. Thanks!

 

[The Lurker]

Hi FJ.

Well it looks like I got some leftover money my government doesn't want...

Never heard of a gov't that doesn't want all of your money.

Anyone got any thoughts on this? Anyone got some recommendations?

Sure mate. Just off the top of my head:

• Yes, go ahead and ditch the 380's; strictly speaking you don't need 'em. Use Reptisuns on a timer if you want to play around with UV.
• Get rid of the IRs and add a few halogens on a separate timer instead. You're gonna stretch your plants with that much constant IR (and those warm whites) on. You want to able to control their periodicity and duration, just like with the UVs
• Axe the blues and warm/cool whites; add neutral white (if they have 'em) instead. Better overall spectrum, plenty of blue already in NW (nearly all commercial whites are simply phosphor-coated blues), better color mixing, enough IR for day-to-day photomorphogenesis (outside of the aforementioned halogens added during later flowering (i.e. supplemental end-of-day IR)).

Too bad you can't DIY and put your reds and whites on separate dimmer circuits, also. And whatever you do, don't add green-only LEDs; use whites instead. Good luck!


Cheers,

-TL

 

[jubiare]

Well the guy here knows what he is talking about, Fran

 

[Thedillestpickle]

recently been reading a little about far red spectrum light shortening the dark period during flower. The oaksterdam university book goes into it a little and theres some info on it around the net.

Basically with blast of far red spectrum light right after lights off you can shorten the night period by up to 2 hours. So flowering under 14/10 instead of 12/12. I've never seen it put into action though only read it as theory

730nm is what was recommended

 

[atb]

700 and 380 are useless. The 7000k and 3500k are okay to use. I'm not a big fan of 730nm I think its better to use 660nm. For 630nm it would probably be better to use less of them and more the 660nm.

 

[FranJan]

Lots of valid views/info here. Thanks to everyone so far. Interesting about using neutral white (and yeah they're phosphor coats). The reason I've got some blue in there is to (hopefully) help offset the stretching from the Far Red. Also 2 things I'm trying to accomplish with this panel. One is to try to produce the Emerson effect, (which is making me think about adding some 650's/680's into the mix), and which is also why I've got the 630's in there. And two, to try get my plants to finish properly. I'm not getting enough amber trichs on my plants for my liking and every grow seems to take 2 weeks longer than it should. I just chopped some Blue Cheese because the trichs on the calyxes had that "tired" look. There was a lot of cloudiness to them, just no amber on the calyxes and just a little on the sugar leaves. I'm starting to read a lot of info now about having Far Red in the mix to get the plants to finish and I've read two articles stating that you need an almost 1:1 ratio of Red to Far Red to get this effect. I've also heard about using IR to shorten the night period. I think that's why Lumigrow is selling those Far Red spots now because of effects like this. Wish I had the money/space/time to experiment a little with that.

 

[jubiare]

I know what you mean about the amber trichs.. It pisses me well off! My experience is that, far reds from halogen are surely helping (I have had them on all the time, not just two hours and all of that). But an other thing, the plant directly under a 40w induction bulb (2700k) has more amber trichs than the others under the halogen... yeah I wish I could experiment more too.. some other reputable folk on an other board says he accomplished faster maturation by adding neutral white CFL's.. so this topic is still an open one to me...... any thoughts guys? (experienced-based thoughts please not just things you have randomly heard)

 

[Thedillestpickle]

Lots of valid views/info here. Thanks to everyone so far. Interesting about using neutral white (and yeah they're phosphor coats). The reason I've got some blue in there is to (hopefully) help offset the stretching from the Far Red. Also 2 things I'm trying to accomplish with this panel. One is to try to produce the Emerson effect, (which is making me think about adding some 650's/680's into the mix), and which is also why I've got the 630's in there. And two, to try get my plants to finish properly. I'm not getting enough amber trichs on my plants for my liking and every grow seems to take 2 weeks longer than it should. I just chopped some Blue Cheese because the trichs on the calyxes had that "tired" look. There was a lot of cloudiness to them, just no amber on the calyxes and just a little on the sugar leaves. I'm starting to read a lot of info now about having Far Red in the mix to get the plants to finish and I've read two articles stating that you need an almost 1:1 ratio of Red to Far Red to get this effect. I've also heard about using IR to shorten the night period. I think that's why Lumigrow is selling those Far Red spots now because of effects like this. Wish I had the money/space/time to experiment a little with that.

Yea it's interesting but also quite expensive and thinking about it now, it does sound like a good way to cause hermies if the far red doesnt reach every part of the plant.


I'm thinking of switching to LED in the future, How much heat do they put off exactly? Heat is the biggest limiting thing for me, not wanting to have to vent to the outdoors or run an AC

 

[FranJan]

Yea it's interesting but also quite expensive and thinking about it now, it does sound like a good way to cause hermies if the far red doesnt reach every part of the plant. I'm thinking of switching to LED in the future, How much heat do they put off exactly? Heat is the biggest limiting thing for me, not wanting to have to vent to the outdoors or run an AC

One of the reasons I use LED is because I can't vent the heat directly outdoors. There is some heat to deal with, but nothing like running a HID. Inefficient diodes, poorly designed heat sinks and builder/designers who overdrive their diodes are some of the reasons you may end up with heat problems when using LEDs.

 

[FranJan]

So I'm waiting on a price quote on a 5x60 using using the following spectrum de jour.

• 10 x 630nm
• 12 x 660nm
• 10 x 680nm
• 8 x 700nm
• 8 x 730nm
• 6 x 460nm
• 4 x 4200K
• 2 x 7000K

Let's see what they say. Probably tell me I'm crazy at first . And I'm thinking of setting the beam angle for the Far Red/IR at 120 degrees, maybe 160, the rest of the panel would be at 90 degrees. And of course the spectrum's will probably change in a few daze .