Spectrum question...supplemental LEDS question

sf_frankie

Well-Known Member
Forgive me if I mess up some of the terminology here. I've read a ton about this but its hard to keep track of it all...

I currently run two 720w Alibaba strip light setups, each covering a 5x5 grow space. Despite making a number of rookie mistakes, my first run went quite well. Ended up with some high B+ grade and I achieved my goal of over 2lbs per light. It was great for a first try but I know I can do better with my current set up. One of the issues I had with my last harvest was bag appeal. The nugs didn't frost up like I wanted them to. I also think I can yield closer to 2.5-3lbs per light. One of the problems I think I've identified is lighting spectrum. Long story short, the shitty Alibaba seller didn't send me what I ordered and I ended up with lights that have a color temp of like 3700K, which is great for veg but not so great for flower. I have an HPS flowering bulb in the garage and the label on it says its like 2000K IIRC. My question is, would I benefit at all from running supplemental reds or blues or UV? And if so, which ones do you all recommend?
 

MedicinalMyA$$

Well-Known Member
Added reds should mean added bud (and PAR), although I tend to think it just makes them tighter, yeild for me wasn't drastically different between HPS and MH just they looked way better flowering under more red and produced a little more appealing results. I think genetics plays a part too, some will react great no matter what color you throw at them. I believe UV is more for potency. General advice will be to add reds to bring it down more towards 3000K-ish.
Bruce Bugbee has some informative videos on YT where he trials different spectrums and shows results. Specifically interesting is the results from adding Far Red.

Photobiology Simplified
Far-Red effects
Maximizing Yield
 
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