How to grow closer thand one inch from light

Using the inverse square law, I have discovered that our lighting techniques are terribly inefficient due to distance, and math through the inverse square law proves it..
I did some research on light and found out something very interesting...
Thinking of the inverse square law for light, people usually talk of the light intensity measurements in different units of measure, but lumens are calculated at one foot away for this 100w equivalent of an incandescent at the same distance away, and the bulbs in lumens further than 1 foot away and closer than, what it be I wondered, and I thought it would be interesting to chart out the actual light intensities of an ordinary cfl 100 watt light bulb...
I did some inverse square calculations for a 100 watt cfl, 23 watt actual compact florescent bulb at different distances, and am very surprised from the results. I checked the actual light intensity in watt equivalencies from 24 inches down to .01 inch, and here is the results...



First collumb is the Inches of light away

Second column is the watt equivilant of an incandescent at that distance away

All calculations are made with an ordinary 100w cfl light bulb which the bulb companies claim that their 100 watt bulbs are the equivalent to an incandescent 100w bulb at 1' away even though it only draws 23 watts



24” away 25 watts
23”-29w
22”-32w
21”-32w
20”-36w
19”-39w
18”-44w
17”-49w
16”-56w
15”-64w
14”-73w
13”-85w
12”-100w – this is the rating of the bulb at one foot away at 1600 lumens

Now watch closely at the numbers, here is where it gets interesting

11”-119w

10”-144w
9”-178w
8”-225w
7”-294w
6”-400w
5”-576w
4”-900w
3”-1,600w
2”-3,600w
1”-14,400w
.5”-57,600w
.25”-230,000watts
.1”-1,440,000 watts
.01”-144,000,000 WATTS! Wow!

one only needs to calculate the lumens from the wattages equivalences


I was so impressed with this knowledge, and so puzzled as to why people do not grow closer that 1 inch on all sides of their plants to obtain copious amounts of thc glands oozing from the plant lol, well, we can always hope for that
Here are some pics of a setup i made, only the plants did great, only it got hot in my room, and they bleached out, but I believe that careful control of temps and proper controlled airflow, scientifically calculated and monitored could yield plants that are miniature, but powerful in strength, which would be great... So I post this in hopes that someone out there could steer me further to the correct approach to success with the idea They were really growing great but something happened I suppose it was the heat in my room that day, unless too much light? Couldn't though the plant be trained to take the light? There has GOT to be some way to use the data learned from the inverse square law to achieve a nifty setup

Firstly watts are useless..I was hoping you had measured lumens....also I thought bulbs were rated at 1 foot not 2...plants can only handle so much light, on average the sun throws 7k lumens per sqft. Plants can handle up to 10k. This equates to about 110-120k lux I don feel like figuring exactly.. but yea your on the right track. I grow with 24-23 watt bulbs and some 42 s for side lighting..pulls a lb. Bud quality is better than my 600watt hps

Most keep cfls about an 1-2 inches away.

Your dead on, the closer the light the better. Just controll the heat
And you get super tight node spacing, why grow stems?

I run 400w induction flouro @ 6 in about 900-1000 Umoles par.
A 1000w hps with terrible specta can own due to its 2000 Umoles par @24 in.
i hope adding another 400 Riant light will get me close to 1000w hps levels with far less heat, 10yrs bulb life, and better spectra

I think this is fascinating. I don't see any reason you couldn't train a plant to be an absolute beast for watts. Get yourself a handful of sorted bag seeds and start taking clones of them to see if you can find one that has a higher tolerance for light then the others and start breeding her. Little things like this are exactly why I like growing and the growing community. Stoners are born inventors. I had an idea this morning for a cabinet specially designed for burping and curing jars I plan to build.
My feeling is this, even if this idea turns out to be completely hair brained and totally baked, we will still probably learn something. And when you think about it; the worst case scenario is that you'll fail miserably

I have just subscribed to this thread.

The only way I could see plant being 1 in from a light is scrog LEDs.
I tried getting some really small wattage led 660nm in this range once an it burned the leafs....

Very interesting point. But the numbers cannot be right. Maybe watts is not a very good unit of measurement. I have been using cfls for longer then hid. Cfl light diminishes very rapidly. I have never measured. But take a 23 watt bulb hang it touching the center of a white wall. Now draw waves outwards marking 100% 75% 50% 25% light. I have seen cfl produce better veg results then hid. the only thing is they do produce heat. And a couple dozen of those is far more dangerous then an HID. First off you have to rig it up.
If you really must flower with them because they are easy. I recommend one 23 watt cfl per 6" sq. at a distance of no more then 6". That is my best guess. I use cfls and and a 1000 watt in my 5x5 room. I figured it would take 100 23 watt cfl bulbs to compete with my 1000 watt. Which gets as close as 12". I am trusting my eyes though. And I am aware that our eyes cannot see all of the blue and red light.

If you got a lb. off cfl. You are a very cool dude.

I.C.it said:

someone out there could steer me further to the correct approach to success with the idea View attachment 2812106View attachment 2812107They were really growing great but something happened I suppose it was the heat in my room that day, unless too much light? Couldn't though the plant be trained to take the light? There has GOT to be some way to use the data learned from the inverse square law to achieve a nifty setup

Click to expand...

I just figured out what this is. WOW! all I have to say is cool, but not. Light does not trump any other element of growing conditions. And my plants grow faster then the size of one cfl a day, besides one week of stress after cloning. It is Hot as hell inside a cfl.

Thank you folk for the likes, here are some more pics

lol
I just signed into this a day or two ago, but is it normal for my name to have the word "stranger"? under it? why?
just curious
I'm cautious too, but not a danger I assure you as I value my freedom, so ?I wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize it, hope you like the pictures, its a project i did, but never came to any real conclusions, but it seems to me that if you could find that delicate balance to where the plant is in harmony with the not too much air flow, and yet not too little, not too much humidity, and all too of course, and maybe the light is so intense that maybe it is that one would have to do it hydro due to its faster need for uptake of nutrients and to whats that word resp oh well heres the pics, but are there any i guess i should ask, since i am new here, are there any rules i have broken for to be considered a stranger? I hope not..
But the idea I had on it before i go is and i know through careful observation that if you purposely stunt the plant, it will grow much smaller leaves, so maybe that would be key to the whole thing, course you wouldn't want to stunt it unhealthily, but just make it smaller for the goal of having 4 nuggets growing at all times, and it seems to me that a purpetual harvest may be possible for one person easily if the correct wattage bulbs are chosen, and i bet they should be stronger than the best light out there due to all sides being in that intense light which no other light could possibly match easily, or could it? lol
ok, has any one else tried such an idea?
for all i know they have, i sure would like to see if they had as good as results as i predict they had

please forgive the typos, here the pics

You wrote: ..."I thought bulbs were rated at 1 foot not 2"...
they are at that, I was showing though the lumens that would be measured at 2' in this instance to show how much energy is lost due to the light spreading out so much, and the further away, the more waste of energy, it seems comparable to the old time electronics with the large tubes and resistors, which if miniaturized, which has been done, more efficiency is had, and thats the goal, that and the suspicion that it could possibly be a way to produce a higher beam test thc spin, but as you also said, ..."plants can only handle so much light, on average the sun throws 7k lumens per sqft. Plants can handle up to 10k. This equates to about 110-120k lux"... but why couldn't we find a strain of plant that could exceed the intensity of the sun, I believe it could be done at least to some extent, not sure where the limit is, but would sure like to find out

Lbs? WOW! Sounds blissfully great!

Thanks for your input..

Listen, I really do appreciate your input...par, i google
[h=1]What is Photosynthetically Active Radiation? and hmm, that paste messed up my font, anyway, thanks again, and that other word you used, will look that one up[/h]

The problem I have with keeping CFLs an inch away is that my leaves burn. Even at 2 inches away, I get burned leaves

Thanks for your responce, faster than one cfl a day sounds great, but at what thc beam test spin, in other words, at what thc strength?
I'm just looking for some method not tried to see if some new idea could achieve that perfect plant that would make bliss seem boring lol
if possible?

"Very interesting point. But the numbers cannot be right. Maybe watts is not a very good unit of measurement."

You're right, will make the corrections and add lumens after the watt columb, thanks for the advise


" I have been using cfls for longer then hid. Cfl light diminishes very rapidly. I have never measured. But take a 23 watt bulb hang it touching the center of a white wall. Now draw waves outwards marking 100% 75% 50% 25% light. "

Yes, and if you come in closer, your light intensities increase as you must be aware, I admire you for that 1000w light, but it is 1' away at the closest unless you have the thing pinned flat, which means anything out of that 1' range is not getting the bulbs rated lumen on it cause the plant is out of the 1 foot zone, thats why im looking to better things if possible i don't know maybe it isn't possible, just like to find out


Thanks for the advise, I will fall back on that if need be...think i will try the 100w led on ebay too and see if it would produce something nifty, youtube reviews shows heat from the leds actually pop popcorn, so heat is a problem with leds too...

Stranger danger, stranger danger! Lol it has to do with reputation points and post count....sativas in general handle light better, its not necessarily something the plant can adapt too. Once the plant reaches its saturation point, it can't keep up chlorophyll production at the rates needed, this shows up as bleaching. A higher n diet and increasing transpiration rates help...par is also useless unless you have a fancy meter measuring each photon, I could actually rant a while on that subject..all I will say is, Google par and you'll pull up a bunch of led lighting companies. We use lumens,..my plants do fine 1-2 inches from 23 watt bulbs. In fact with proper airflow you should be able to hold it without it burning you

h thanks for the info qwizoking , you know this is fun, shoulda joined a long time ago, fun to learn, and toke, not necessarily in that particular combination or anything like that

I don't know what kind of bulbs your growing with but if I get closer than 12" with a 600hps it bleaches the leaves

Here is another useful point. LIGHT DEGRADES THC.

So blast away, but at the end your going to have tasteless, odorless buds that don't get you that high.

whats happening to me?

Learn a plant's saturation point. Grow, and learn how to NOT bleach out your leaves. See my sig link. I addressed the high light issue.

The only time I've had the leaves almost touching the light bulb was growing very young seedlings under a typical 4' shop fluor with two regular fluor lamps 1 cool white and 1 warm white. It worked great. I'd hang the fixture using light dog chains and hooks, place the shortest ones at one end and working towards the other place the taller ones. The reflector was cock eyed, or raised higher at one end than the other. This allowed me to provide a very consistent light exposure to all leaf surfaces no matter how tall the seedling happened to be. When the canopy extended in width beyond the reflector by a couple of inches each side, the plant would go under a HID.

UB