Have you decided on what light to use?
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LED and BUD QUALITY
- Thread starter Tropical Sun
- Start date
I was looking at a Sanlight Evo but any recommendations are more than welcome. The growshop where I go has plenty of options, Gavita etc. Thinking of this one for the 152x152x225 sativa tent. Costs around 600€ with the dimmer etc but I've heard only good about these.
Ive not tried them but all users seem happy with them. Though you wont flower that hole space well, you need two of those to do a 5x5/150 tent.
Im not in completely in love with the spectrum but im a bit of a nitpicker with diy experience so i have the luxury of being able to choose exactly what i want and like. Im sure youll be happy with it though. Most of the peeps at the icmag i spoke to where very happy with it.
GROWCAST voucher code for 20% off HLG us site. They usually run something like this twice a year, croptober and 4:20. Hope it helps someone 
chiesesganja
Well-known member
I was using CMH/LED for flower but PGE costs are ridiculous here in Cali. I turned the CMH off. PGE made it SUPER expensive to grow our own here..
After switching from synthetic hydro nutes to organic my EC meter isn't reading the same when I compare the recommended concentrations. Do you think should be sticking to EC readouts when mixing the concentration?
No idea. Never tried leds with organics. Its still bottles right?
The best grower i know, the only one ive seen hit 2g/w with +400w of leds per meter, the way he deals with nutes is that he runs 1 part mega crop and some calmag and doses by spoon. If they look hungry he just adds a little to his usual measure. If he got burnt tips he use a little less. But he doesnt really do much checking of ec and ph, he just knows how his nutes, water and plants act from experience. Id be lost trying to do that.
Just keep your eyes peeled but keep on measuring and try to establish a base line. First time you may have to push a bit over to find where your plants start to be over fed. Sorry its the best i can do for you
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Great to see your grow Chiese, great plant health especially for all those watts youre throwing at them. Loved the bud you had me sample
Sanlight seems to have two different spectrums depending on line or version:
Do you know which one you got?
ReprobateMind
Active member
Thats one solution, the most available at the moment. But 60% is about 100w per board, at 24": if my memory dont fail me this is the reced hanging height at 100% giving light levels around 800-900ppfd in a 1m2 tent. That would mean youre getting light burn without pushing your grow hard at all, maybe around 600ppfd. I cant guarantee you since the par map seems to have disappeared from HLG web, but this is what i seem to remember.
I urge you to try out some of the advice in a orderly fashion in your next grows; youve got a hell of a light but only using it at just over half capacity. The best place to start is with vpd and dialing in environment. The whole point of having a great light is to put it to use, and to enjoy better results. Its a very nice feeling to really master your grow and keep on pushing the boundry
That's too much work for this dinosaur
I'm gonna sell the light and buy a CMH or HPS.
I hope i didnt push you towards thatThat's too much work for this dinosaur
but i have to admit i dont like the +160w per board approach, it just get so hard with high hanging height and not being very symmetric for a square tent. Should work better for something slightly larger than a 4x2 though
ReprobateMind
Active member
No worries. I grow in a basement with dehumidifiers. I've had the light for a year and every grow turns to shit and I know it's from the LED and my ignorance on how to use it properly. It's just easier for me to hang a carbon filter, inline fan, and light in a tent and just add water and nutes and not really have to worry about varying temps, humidity, PPF, PPFD, μmol, etc.
ReprobateMind
Active member
No worries. I grow in a basement with dehumidifiers. I've had the light for a year and every grow turns to shit and I know it's from the LED and my ignorance on how to use it properly. It's just easier for me to hang a carbon filter, inline fan, and light in a tent and just add water and nutes and not really have to worry about varying temps, humidity, PPF, PPFD, μmol, etc.I hope i didnt push you towards that
The main thing about growing with leds is just to reverse climate from HPS: what used to be temps max 80F becomes min 80F for full intensity. If your setup allows this then the rest is very easy, just as you say, water and nutes, just a little higher. Hope youll try it out
Ca++
Well-known member
Mixing by the bottles instructions, could offer a basic EC reading, that can then be watched for the rises and falls expected.No idea. Never tried leds with organics. Its still bottles right?
The best grower i know, the only one ive seen hit 2g/w with +400w of leds per meter, the way he deals with nutes is that he runs 1 part mega crop and some calmag and doses by spoon. If they look hungry he just adds a little to his usual measure. If he got burnt tips he use a little less. But he doesnt really do much checking of ec and ph, he just knows how his nutes, water and plants act from experience. Id be lost trying to do that.
Just keep your eyes peeled but keep on measuring and try to establish a base line. First time you may have to push a bit over to find where your plants start to be over fed. Sorry its the best i can do for you
I have used organic, and the delay between adjustment, and seeing effect, was a bit hard to work with. Reactive feeding is hard work, when you need to wait days to see if things worked. Each thing in the feed, taking a different time to become available. Weather and microheard depending.
Best bet is follow the bottle. I was to waste, but a recirc could be a different ball game. As you get converted products back to the tank.
I used the mistakenly sold bottle up quickly. Mixing with other feeds destined for tomato's as the P in it was crazy high. Major brand, I'm happy to forget
Herbal-Essence
Well-known member
with a heatmat I pretty much hit exactly these temps now. but I still struggle to get the nutes dialed in correctly on organic soil mix. Last round (my first LED grow, and the first grow since about 10yrs) I didn't have these issues once I've adjusted the temps(well had mildew instead -_-), but I used a different soilmix with mineral nutes in it, seems to me that made all the difference...?
I don't have any EC meter or anything like that, so I kinda go by look and feel, might not be the best approach for this issue, but I'm stubborn
I guess the easiest fix would be to go back to the mineral soilmix next round...
soil with mineral nutes was Compo Sana QBE (German brand)
and the organic soil I use atm is Plagron Royal Mix
If you have a decent ec/ph pen its as easy as measuring just measuring input and runoff while maintaining a climate that maintains a healthy transpiration; basicly seeing that "leaf boner" where leaves are hanging and sagging.with a heatmat I pretty much hit exactly these temps now. but I still struggle to get the nutes dialed in correctly on organic soil mix. Last round (my first LED grow, and the first grow since about 10yrs) I didn't have these issues once I've adjusted the temps(well had mildew instead -_-), but I used a different soilmix with mineral nutes in it, seems to me that made all the difference...?
I don't have any EC meter or anything like that, so I kinda go by look and feel, might not be the best approach for this issue, but I'm stubborn
I guess the easiest fix would be to go back to the mineral soilmix next round...
soil with mineral nutes was Compo Sana QBE (German brand)
and the organic soil I use atm is Plagron Royal Mix
Quality coco (theres some really bad brands) with hydro nutes, measuring input and output, and being able to get your climate inline for transpiration and then you will not have these problems, its as easy as that. The problem with failing led grows is usually that the user figures you can skip on one of these things or grow the same that they used to with hid; stubbornly doubling down on the same thing grow after grow. Im not saying this is your case but i urge you to at least try once before getting rid of the HLG. Once.you get it right and beat all your expectations its a really good feeling.
If you do do that then go with the CMH ( provided you have the canopy height) bare bulb 1x 315 over a .8m foot print. I did really well with two 315s Agro lamps over a 1.2 . Keeping it cool in summer was a bit of a pain but if you can up your humidity to suit then 30c temp isn't an issue .That's too much work for this dinosaur
HPS may yield you a little more but the flavour, terpine/bud quality and density is far superior from the CMH also I find plants love them, I never have issues under those lights.
I ran two tents for ages one with 1000w air cooled HPS and one with dual bare bulb 315 CMH. Same clones , same feed same environment temps ( temp sometimes a bit higher with the CMH) I would get nute issues with the HPS but never with the CMH
ReprobateMind
Active member
Thank you. I'm gonna put a 315w CMH in a 3'x3' tent.
