Led light

18 inches is usually prime for the flowering area of your light. They say 24 inch for veg, but that just means at 24 inches you have a larger footprint but at less intensity than would be required for flowering. Closer than 18 is not beneficial and may be harmful depending on how evenly your light distributes various spectrums.

 

one cubic to a cubic in a half

 

Yes, I run mine at 18, but my plant is grown to fit the lightfootprint at 18 inches. Tie an 18 inch ribbon or string to bottom of light to get a general idea and a guage to just how fast things are growing. (note to myself, one of the things I should do today as I get ready to start a new plant.)

 

What light is it? And real wattage.

 

My mars 300 w LED lights are really 135w to 150 w
I can make a custom LED light rated at 280 w and it will be 10 times brighter then my mars 300 W LEDS.
The Custom light kit is 800.00

 

Light has everything to do with a healthy plant.
UV-B light in the last two weeks of budding makes your buds weight 20 to 30% more .
UV-C light emits a deadly ozone .. kills everything that is single celled and has been being used in indoor gardening for decades.
I use UV-C light to kill powdery mildew , I turn the light on for 1 minute a day to kill all mold or PM.

If your grow lights do not have the right color spectrum your plants will not produce.
Growing a MJ plant is easy, but getting a plant to harvest fantastic buds can be tougher then most novice indoor growers are prepared for ..
Me I want the best weed possible.
I smoke 1/4 pound every month.... that would cost me 800.00 a month and the fucking weed has no legs .
As in I only get high for like a hour instead of 4 or 5 hours.
I hate buying weed ……... you don't know anything , like if the grower used fungicides in the last stages of budding...
Or if the weed has mold in it !

My weed is like dream come true , It tastes so good and get me super stoned for hours .
My favorite is Amnesia Haze …..
I have no issues investing into a productive indoor grow system .
Personally I have done what I started out to do. Grow all the weed I can smoke .

Cheers

 

Yes, absolutely, all the other is just hype, real watts matter. First you need the watts, then let the bickering start about par, and cost and efficiency. Your 450 simply means if you add up all the diodes it comes to a total of 450, like 150 3 watt diodes or some other combination. It is how much power driving those itty bitty little diodes that grows pot. My more than enough rule is 50 watts per square foot. But I deal in very small grow spaces like just a 2x2 for one plant, and I need 200w to cover that 2x2 to my satisfaction. Remember, these leds deteriorate a little each month so start with more than you need. I drank the original led koolaid and my first led was sold as a 220w hid equivalent and was only about 150w real and just didn't do the job to my satisfaction.

 

I have an array of grow led bulbs instead of a panel, wattage altogether is just shy of 200. I keep them about 15 inches away and the plants are loving it. I'd splurge on some CFLs to get some side-lighting going on in there. Not that you need it quite yet

 

They veg ok but buds don't really develope into that hard stinky smokable nugget. Many complain that their lower buds were all popcorn or larfe, due to low light. If it's too low watt the top buds will be that way also. To some extent low lights can be compensated for with various bending, tying, topping etc., but it is an uphill battle. Spend it all on the light and coast down from high hog heaven.

 

That 50watt per square foot rule is spot on I think. A 23 watt cfl is 65 watt equivelent, with LEDs it could be half that for the same equivelance. As far as efficiency and distance and heat vs lumens etc., That is going to depend on your setup.
I'm not totally sold on the raw watts argument when it comes to LEDs, just has not been my experience so far.

I'm in my first grow too, made a lot of mistakes before reading up. It's def good to ask questions.

 

Fo

For three plants? Id just fill in the sides with cfls, that panel should be able to do the heavy lifting