Okay so having some GC members argue with me about LED made me research more, I like to learn instead of get butt hurt or fight lol Anyways, this got me thinking which led me to reading which led me to a light calculator from some Coco website... and made me think am I wasting light, power and money using 75-100% light power? Most people say 20-30w/sqft white LED/Samsung chips so if someone did DOUBLE are they really just misunderstanding the purpose of LED and just using more power to barely get gains? For exmaple a 3x3 what would be your ideal watts TOTAL enough to harvest good bud but also spend less? How about 4.5 SQFT how much watts would you run to SAVE MONEY but also HARVEST PLENTY????
LED lights are read in PAR, Photo active radiation, you can download an app for your phone to set the correct PAR for your light, for many thats 8-10 inches, once you got the par then then run the DLI, daily lite intragal I aim for 40, my 3x5 grow space using 2x 250 watt leds at 50% power for 18 hours a day, these are autos, for photos I'd run at 100% for 12 hours
I have that app but I don't hit those DLI numbers lol.... max I can do is 75% and if don't run central AC all 12 hours I'll foxtail and probably seed up in 1 week at 85F or higher This is why I asked, cause people say LED can go higher temp, some say keep cold, other say leaf temp while HPS old journal all have a general consensus on temperature regardless grow size area craps confusing loool Then a few GC members said they cut watts in half using LED which made me realize maybe I'm wasting power and just adding heat? You say you'd run 100% on photo I read to do this too but with tents that's hard af and now seeing you do about 16-20w/sqft AUTO and 30-35w/sqft PHOTO make me question going to 100% as that would put me at 40-70w/SQFT which is almost double what you guys are using lol
in both HPS and led you can singe/burn off those very trichomes we are trying to grow, its why I go low and long, as the plants move to flower I either raise the lights or turn them down, this goes against what I've been doing for years and the weed smells much nicer, tho may take another week or so to get to harvest from here some time back. I too am saving a heap of power over hps light tho I do miss their effects, the latest leds will soon be copying that light HPS color
Yeah funny thing this run I was thinking light might be delaying my harvest as one plant will be my first plant to finish around listed flowering times... so I see what you mean about the light intensity... I believe this is why some of my plants take forever to finish flowering and I screw up the ripening That said, how is your bud density? I'm sure you don't care as you have enough bud heck I didn't at first too, but now consuming a whole plant in matter of weeks or less has me concerned so I'm looking for density = more harvest = playing less catchup every harvest lool BTW you mention low temp better frost and smell but what do you read the room/tent temperature or the leaf one? Online and articles I only see "LED can do higher temps than meter reads due to less radiant heat" is this true or BS? My laser temp gun thing show about 3-4 degrees less over canopy yet anything past 83-85F on my meters causing foxtail/stress
bud density is dense even tight, with HPW I encouraged some stretch, to have wider internodes, lose flower, as I live by the sea as always get mold in the bud if left to long, gaps makes better venting I have an inkbird temp controller, the sensor hangs middle of the room under the led at 6 inches down gives me the rooms ambient, average temp, I got a constant 4 inch extract, a 9 inch backup and a constant 6 inch on the plants, so air is always moving ..lol average temp is 25c/77f my concern is the plants not so much the gear ...lol
I've only ever used a 480w led light in a 4x4. And even then heat was an issue when turned to max for flower. I've never measured my PAR. My first grow went fantastically and I just kept doing the same thing. And as far as bud density for me the last two weeks are critical for dense thick buds. I had to harvest my outdoor crop 10-12 days early last year due to rain and the buds weren't quite as dense as they normally get. Just my 2 cents worth.