24/7 Vegging

@chillbert

For example blue helps shorter node spacing and red induces stretch.. the right balance of blue and red creates desired node spacing with controlled stretch. They didn’t even think green light had any photosynthetic property unless just recently! 

The problem is node spacing is down to the plant strain more than the light spectrum, take my current purple punch, the node space is perfect on the plants, if the node space is too close, it cause more problems as you have thin out the Canopy more in flower and they would grow too short,

The buds could grow a lot thicker increasing the chance of bud root in late flower.

Don't think there many growers going to test difference levels of blue and red light on there plants to get the perfect growth.

From what I gather there are growers using latest best leds (hld scorpion/ think grow etc) which are emitting over twice the usual light per watt compared to hps and achieving 1.8g/watt. Therefore if paying 4-5 times money £ on an led you could ‘get your money back’ figuratively speaking on your first harvest.

 Leds are very effective and I am sure in another 5-10 years they will replace hps but the current cost of a high quality leds and the way they cover the canopy would be a real problem for me, just love the pyramid Shape from the hps, I have a heater in top end of the room and carbon filter in the other top corner, going to fix a fan on the wall and don't lose any floor space.

2 x 600w could cost me about  £800 a year to run (5 crops x 8 weeks)

Leds May cost me £500 a year 

Guess the best setup would be cmh but would be great if they did 500w bulbs ( as 315w seem to low for good light penetration into the canopy) 

Main problem is giving the all the canopy high quality light.

Not filling a room completely with light by using leds or cmh could save £300  a year (£60 each havest)but could also reduce my harvest loads

My flower room ceiling is about 7ft tall and so I can't hang the leds under the filter and heater.

Fans going to shadow a led 

My room is 75cm x 2m.

Even thinking about a 750w de adjust a wing with a heat shield over the bulb could cover 75cm x 2m with a light mover. But this would cost about £600.

What's the most practical led light when adding filter, fans and heaters in the flower room ?

Posted by: @zn

Posted by: @woolieback

even a admin flowers under cmh !

Hehe, love my CMH...closest spectrum to the sun from a light
Beats LED, even the better ones...and it keeps my tent warm...and no bleaching...and lol

Only plants in my grows that get 24/0 is seedlings & clones...I am of the opinion that plants need some rest...others have the opinion that they do not need rest...all good, my way, your way, we still get weed at the end

Roots grow in the dark period too...

You convinced me about cmh and I went to the first grow shop and they said why do you want to use a veg light for flower ? 

And the second grow shop said the same, the most popular grow light is a 600w hps and we don't stock leds

So by the third shop looking for anything in stock, worried about brexit. I brought what I could and they did not have leds in stock.

So the only way one knows for sure is to test for ones self 😉

Find out first hand the pros and cons of each.
Having run hps for many many years, I’m now seeing improvements in my grow by using leds, expensive ones, but how you calculate expense is not as straightforward as it seems.. only after the lifetime of the led use will it’s true value or cost be known..

in my situation I’m seeing a greater ability to control environment more easily. I’m expecting growing in summer will be significantly easier than hps also in my situation. 

Time will show the true costs..  I won’t be buying more bulbs every 6 months so don’t forget to factor that into costings.

Im not suggesting anyone or everyone should jump on leds, just sharing my experiences so far..

For me I don’t mind paying out a bit for something that’s quality build and makes my job a bit easier..  that’s how I’m seeing it so far.. I’d also say learning how to get the best out of them will take a few grows, as it did with hps etc before them 

lots of pros and cons as with all choices in life.. 

You are so right @Jacks Farm about the strain dependent behaviour with regards to light spectrum and stretch.. so each option may suit a particular strain better than another.. One could grow a taller stretchier strain more easily under led spectrum or you could get a short stockier to grow taller under more redder spectrum of hps in theory ?? 
That’s whats interesting to find out as we explore and learn along together at Percys.

I’m looking forward to trying some supplements uvb (from migro probably) once I’ve I’m sure what the leds are doing / not doing for my girls of several strains 

Posted by: @chillbert

I’m looking forward to trying some supplements uvb (from migro probably) once I’ve I’m sure what the leds are doing / not doing for my girls of several strains 

In a controlled way,  you need to stress your plants in flower, let the temps drop very low for a few hours, underwater the plants, turn the fan on high for 2 hours to get them stressed out because resin glands serve as the shield and armor of your cannabis against uvb, strong light, low humidity, herbivores, insects, fungus and more pathogens. 

Posted by: @jacks_farm

Posted by: @chillbert

I’m looking forward to trying some supplements uvb (from migro probably) once I’ve I’m sure what the leds are doing / not doing for my girls of several strains 

In a controlled way,  you need to stress your plants in flower, let the temps drop very low for a few hours, underwater the plants, turn the fan on high for 2 hours to get them stressed out because resin glands serve as the shield and armor of your cannabis against uvb, strong light, low humidity, herbivores, insects, fungus and more pathogens. 

 

For roughly how long would you need to stress them for?

Posted by: @matthew-elton

Posted by: @jacks_farm

Posted by: @chillbert

I’m looking forward to trying some supplements uvb (from migro probably) once I’ve I’m sure what the leds are doing / not doing for my girls of several strains 

In a controlled way,  you need to stress your plants in flower, let the temps drop very low for a few hours, underwater the plants, turn the fan on high for 2 hours to get them stressed out because resin glands serve as the shield and armor of your cannabis against uvb, strong light, low humidity, herbivores, insects, fungus and more pathogens. 

 

For roughly how long would you need to stress them for?

Good question and the main reason I have not brought this up before.

Every plant is different and you really need to read the plant as you stress them, some plants are strong and take loads of stress and others suffer easy and turn hermie, stressed my last one's a little too much but wow it was worth it , its all trial and error 

Best strain should say something like "easy to grow", "great for topping and lst" 

Only stress plants when they look very green and healthy.

I would only do it for 2 hours a day so the plants can recover and fill the buds with resin.

For example my intake fan and oscillating fan keeps the temps in range.

having the 2 fans turn off are going to knock the temps upto 35-39c for 2 hours ( in my setup ) 

Forces the plants produce resin and do the same every night, if the plant stems start to turn purple or the leaves start to drop I will stop doing it or reduce the time the fans are off.

The very edges the leaves will curl up but this is OK.

Lotta good talk in this one guys, enjoyed going thru that.

To the original query, IMO, 24/0 is at the point of diminishing returns.. the % you may get might not be worth the effort. And plats do sleep... go have a look at them just before the lights come on and you'll see. Heh. There are important metabolic processes that occur during the dark cycle so depriving them of that doesn't seem logical..

And I agree with Chillbert and the research that says as long as you have the correct part of the spectrum, plants DGAF lol.  The sun stays relatively constant the whole year (especially the further south you go), and that mafk grows the best reefer, bar none. And yes, I realize there is a redshift in the natural sunlight as the angle of incidence increases as we roll round the sun, but not as severely as the shift between MH and HPS. Decent amount of UV in there too.. 😉

I also think Jack is correct in that the genetics are more important in 'controlling the stretch' and that business about internodal distance than the different colours of light, necessarily. Not that blue vs red doesn't have an effect, but maybe not that severe.. 

And with all this talk about UV and Migro.. I suppose I need to get my diary going hehe. I'll be doing a comparison grow of UVA/B vs no UVA/B using Shane's ARAY 4 and the UVB 310 with a couple Species 8472 clones I have here, and then sending them away for legit lab terp/cannabinoid analysis, HPLC style. See what the data says about that. Should be interesting.. some real science shit!

@templegrower awesome mate, I’ll be intrigued see how that goes 👍👊