How far away do i keep a 150 WATT HPS light away form my plant?

sweetsmoker

Well-Known Member
like i said to allow the light the penetrate the undergrowth properly why ask a q thats already been answered? ..... i wudnt want to stretch my plant when did i say that? i said ilift the light for 1 day a week to encourage the plant to grow vertically, jus something i find wrks after grwing for yrs i have tried all sorts of tweaks and twists. too much toking and thinking bout the girls i guess :) my lights right now are 16" away frm my 6 week old girls they are 10" tall with 8 nodes each nlights htf is that stretched
 

M4A1

Well-Known Member
easy fella put that chest bck dwn, jus my opinion like it or lump it it seems alot of people on here get away wit puttin there lights real close but like i said it doesnt work 4 me , i tried after partaking in a thread like this ages ago. puttin a fan on directly on plants can cause windburn especially if its on constantly. but like i said everyone does it diff and it all works out. your plants look gd as well m8 maybe u shud try getting the light closer though ..........roflmao
Chest back down. I'm just reacting to someone saying none of use grow for real. Don't call people out if you don't want a reaction. I'm sure I could get it closer. Just need a cooltube.
 

kristoffolese

Well-Known Member
Well don't agree. I don't care. But saying none of use grow for real is BS. Yeah I do have my light that close. I am sure the others that said they do also have them that close. What do you want pictures. I know I can provide some check below and i am sure others can as well. I have a perpetual grow going and have had it going for almost a year with no issues with my light that close. Telling someone to put his 150wat light 20inches away is nuts. Thats extremly far away for such a weak light. The plant with sretch for that weak of a light being so far away. Look closly in my picture. You can see a tape measue so you know I can messure now. BTW sence when is air blowing on a plant not healthy?
Yes. We would like pictures. The only way I can figure a plant showing zero heat/light stress from a 400watt hid at TEN INCHES, is for the light to be encased in glass, with double ended air exhaust. So yes- please do like everyone else, & verify your claims by uploading pics.
Because youre talking cfl range. If youre beig honest, Id guess that your bulb is likely old & not putting out the intensity it should. Because fans do nothing to dissipate light intensity. My QB288 puts out 1400 PAR wattage in te center at 12". That can only be processed by plants in full flower, with co2 added. Closer than 10" & the increase in PAR provides little to no increased gains. I use a 135 watt qb288 LED in the veg tent (Cooler than a 400 or even a 150watt hid) & even I was getting a bit of light stress (not heat stress) when I dropped it down to within 12" just to see what they could take. Luckily I was on it, & dimmed it down to 90watts before it caused any real issues.
Now when theyre older, into flower, the amount of light they can take obviously increases. But definitely be careful in seedling/veg. The standard "hold your hand out & feel the heat" method is more trustworthy with HID's. The new, high PAR LED's are so cool running, that you can quite easily give your plants too much light, without over-heating them. I "guinea pigged" a little 1week seedling just to see... At 12" away, it burnt the little lady pretty bad in only 8hrs & the temp NEVER went above 78 degrees! For seedlings, 5-10 PAR watts/ft2 should be fine... Double that for veg... But thats just my experience, & thats with leds.
 

kristoffolese

Well-Known Member
My 250 is 2 inches away. I have glass and active exhaust. Closer the better. Look at that awesome chart, every time you go an inch further, you lose twice as much light, or some really huge amount like that.... Why would you want to stretch your plants Sweetsmoker? Unless you have a small light over a big area, and your trying to spread out the light. Not something I'd do.
Advanced growers know that stretch is a good thing in the right circunstances. It will increase yield by giving more light to the buds. Too tight of node spacing CAN decrease yields if you know your strain & when the timings right for your setup. Obviously you dont want a ton of pure stalk growth... but a bit of controlled stretching can help out in a couple dif ways.
 

xtranger420

Well-Known Member
Not gonna lie, I keep it old school!! Just place your hand underneath the light and if fries your hand it fries your ladies ! But yea it all depends on your temps/cooling system!!
 

kristoffolese

Well-Known Member
Not gonna lie, I keep it old school!! Just place your hand underneath the light and if fries your hand it fries your ladies ! But yea it all depends on your temps/cooling system!!
Also depends on your light intensity - if using LEDs, anyway. TRUST ME PLEEESE... you can absolutely cook your plants on light intensity alone - even if the temp is fine. This is more a problem with younger plants getting too much ppfd... it starts washing the color out, burns the tips, if the green starts to turn to a gray color - dim your light down.
 
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