I'm considering a 600w-ish 8 bar light for Flower in a 4'x4'.. All diodes will be lm301h's > 80cri and no matter the choice made, I'll be adding the 660 reds.. Now my question is, would it be better to get a single spectrum with 3500k diodes or a dual spectrum mixing 3000k & 6500k diodes ?
Single vs Dual Spectrum for Flower
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farmingfisherman
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2nd provides a nicer spectrum for diagnosis. 3000/3500 is much like hps as far as how the plants looks under them.
All due respect, forget that. You turn the lights off for diagnosis.
Go with the flowering spectrum. It's something I've now got a solid opinion on. I've built two lots of fixtures; one with just 3000K and and another with a 50/50 mix of 3000 and 4000K. The 3000K is markedly better for flowering. The 3&4K mix is not noticeably any better during Veg.
I made the mistake of thinking it was a spectrum issue when I first switched to LEDs. It wasn't, it was me not knowing how to adjust my environment for them. Now I've got that bit figured out, if I was building again I'd run all 3000K without hesitation. To the point where I'm either going to take away the 4000K bars and use them for a veg light, or just use them as is and buy a bloom fixture and swap it out.
Go even lower than you're thinking and get 3000K. You won't regret it.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Doing dual spectrum is quite pointless unless the 2 spectrums are on separate dimmable power supplies. 3000k/6500k - 50/50?? You can just aswell go for 4000k or 5000k, neither are recommended for flowering.
FastFreddi
Well-Known Member
My Timbers have a mix of 3000 and 3500k for flowering...plants seem to love it.
Much better performance and easier climate control than hps, at least for me.
FF
Much better performance and easier climate control than hps, at least for me.
FF
BlackmoreRulz
Active Member
What happens to the flowers under that spectrum?
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Shorter, slightly more potent plants with considerable less yield.
grotbags
Well-Known Member
simple answer is they are chasing efficiancy so they can headline some umol per watt claim.
the only reason anyone on the planet has to use a 5k diode as the base of a flowering spectrum is to claim to be the most efficient. and i bet they aint 90cri either...80 tops, can you guess why?....
BlackmoreRulz
Active Member
That is good to know that I'm not facing a total disaster. I had built a fixture that was meant to be just a veg light out of L09 strips,4 @ 5000k and 2 @ 3500k.
I started an auto in my aeroponic system that I usually use for clones but the thing exploded on me and has got too big to move into my small flowering tent, so now I am going to have to let it go where it is. I guess I am about to find out the difference.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Or they are growing regular leafy greens which are happy lower K. Iirc the Samsung hortistrips are 5000K and 660.
grotbags
Well-Known Member
do you flower a leafy green?
grotbags
Well-Known Member
yer i agree
but i think we have a problem how we talk about "blue" light in an led reference frame, 99 times out of 100 we are talking about a very narrow but quite intense band of blue right at 450nm. but all the surrounding "blue"nm are barely represented, massive gap at around 470,480,490nm and very little bellow 450nm you get a touch of 440 then it drops of a cliff, forget about anything around 400nm and bellow.
these missing blue nm are present in other grow lights in varying quantitys - cmh, metal hialide, t5 flourescents the sun ect...but none in standard led spectrums...we are missing a trick.
most white led diodes are based on the 450nm pump because its the most efficiant way of producing light... but im not sure its the best way for
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
I try as hard as I can to nip every flower from my balcony Basil, to keep it from floweringdo you flower a leafy green?
Only point I was trying to make is that there's horticulture with different needs than flowering bud.
PSUAGRO.
Well-Known Member
That's the nature of the tech, mono based..... Phosphor layer helps the narrow band vs bare encapsulated. We saw the shortcomings with blurple "chloro peak" fixtures in the past . They still worked, but far from optimal.yer i agree
but i think we have a problem how we talk about "blue" light in an led reference frame, 99 times out of 100 we are talking about a very narrow but quite intense band of blue right at 450nm. but all the surrounding "blue"nm are barely represented, massive gap at around 470,480,490nm and very little bellow 450nm you get a touch of 440 then it drops of a cliff, forget about anything around 400nm and bellow.
these missing blue nm are present in other grow lights in varying quantitys - cmh, metal hialide, t5 flourescents the sun ect...but none in standard led spectrums...we are missing a trick.
most white led diodes are based on the 450nm pump because its the most efficiant way of producing light... but im not sure its the best way for
None of us are "sure" until cannabis is federally legal & some solid controlled indoor studies come out imo.
So presently we just throw educated darts at the wall, but I'm personally still r/dr biased for flowering cannabis since 2011
Efficiency/efficacy# is good for business..
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grotbags
Well-Known Member
yep i agree, we are certainly slaves to the current tek, if you wanted to create the "perfect" flower spectrum today even if you are prepared to throw effeciency and cost to the wall you would still struggle because of the diodes not being available at the required wavelengths (whatever they might be?...).That's the nature of the tech, mono based..... Phosphor layer helps the narrow band vs bare encapsulated. We saw the shortcomings with blurple "chloro peak" fixtures in the past . They still worked, but far from optimal.
None of us are "sure" until cannabis is federally legal & some solid controlled indoor studies come out imo.
So presently we just throw educated darts at the wall, but I'm personally still r/dr biased for flowering cannabis since 2011
Efficiency/efficacy# is good for business..
and i agree we are currently throwing darts at the wall regarding spectrum so it follows that the grow light industrys first ever throw of the dart (say the generic 450nm pump 3500k white with added 660nm spektrum that more or less everyone is doing) is not going to be the best dart shot of all time...
efficiency/efficacy# is good for business.. it sure is...