Light

[Levitationofme]

I am noticing that many of the Sativa strains i'm reading about in these forums seem to require extra light.

I am wondering what is the best amount of lighting to have is for these strains.

I want to make sure I do not mess that part up when I start my
seeds.

At the moment I am using a 240 watt Black Dog LED in my Cabinet.
If I need more then that, I will have to begin figuring that out now.
The Flowering footprint of the light covers my entire grow area.
There are a couple of SunBlaster t-5 Fluorescents on the walls.
Not sure how effective they are. Makes taking pictures easier

What is the current thinking on this matter?

 

[MostlyMe]

I have no basis for comparison, but I am very happy with my sativas grown under 250 watt hps. They might do better with more light, but they don't 'need' it IMO.

 

[Koondense]

More light is always better if there's not too much heat.
My experience is mostly growing under the sun, so for my indoor i try to replicate the sun's intensity and full spectrum.
Equatorial highlands are home to some strains for whom i believe they need extra light to really develop properly.
So a high light intensity is a must, the only ways to achieve it is bring in more light or get a smaller grow area for same light.
I use 300w dimmable white cob leds and my plants just love it as it was true sunshine.

 

[MostlyMe]

More light is always better if there's not too much heat.
My experience is mostly growing under the sun, so for my indoor i try to replicate the sun's intensity and full spectrum.
Equatorial highlands are home to some strains for whom i believe they need extra light to really develop properly.
So a high light intensity is a must, the only ways to achieve it is bring in more light or get a smaller grow area for same light.
I use 300w dimmable white cob leds and my plants just love it as it was true sunshine.

There is such a thing as too much light. Leaves get this whitish look when this happens. Often seen when people put their seedlings in too much light, but it can happen later in life as well. It won't happen easily for a proper sativa I guess.

Often people assume a lot of light is needed especially for sativas, but I doubt they actually did a comparison. I didn't either, but at least I can tell my product is fine. Often plants adapt to light conditions by increasing or decreasing leaf thickness (decreasing or increasing light absorption), maybe that's why.

 

[Koondense]

There is such a thing as too much light. Leaves get this whitish look when this happens. Often seen when people put their seedlings in too much light, but it can happen later in life as well. It won't happen easily for a proper sativa I guess.

Often people assume a lot of light is needed especially for sativas, but I doubt they actually did a comparison. I didn't either, but at least I can tell my product is fine. Often plants adapt to light conditions by increasing or decreasing leaf thickness (decreasing or increasing light absorption), maybe that's why.

Yeah I know, happened last time with the plant too close to the light.
I was speaking in general, I tend to believe more light equals more plant metabolism and thus more production. If that's what one wants of course.
Comparisons are hard to make indoors because of many reasons, outdoors also for many other more reasons.
I'm also very happy with my buds and yet I know my light(which is pretty intense) would be outshined by the sunlight(flat spectrum) under which most plants would thrive thru all stages.
The light's spectral distribution is key when talking about light amounts, too much 565-610nm(hps) is not same as too much 660nm(led, mono), plants adapt differently to those peaks by developing different leaf tissue structure.
But it all works along with temperatures, humidity, air movement(and so on...) so it's close to impossible to have serious results on the light amount matter alone.

Still I think more is better than less and broad is also better than narrow in spectrum terms. To a certain limit of course.