Grow light height with a mover ....

Therrion

Therrion

Well-Known Member
I have 2 x 1000 covering a 5 x 10 scrog. I know with a light rail, I'll be giving up 5" to 6" of vertical due to the size of the hardware. 18" from the tops seems to be the standard, so with the rail, how much closer can I get them? I just trying to figure out if the movers ability to get the lamp closer to the plants cancels out the height you sacrifice with the hardware.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Therrion said:
I have 2 x 1000 covering a 5 x 10 scrog. I know with a light rail, I'll be giving up 5" to 6" of vertical due to the size of the hardware. 18" from the tops seems to be the standard, so with the rail, how much closer can I get them? I just trying to figure out if the movers ability to get the lamp closer to the plants cancels out the height you sacrifice with the hardware.
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Some people swear by light movers, and others (like myself) say it's a waste.

Here's why I think it's a waste of money. When the light moves to one side or the other, the side the light has moved away from is getting less light, while the other side is getting more. You're not adding more light, so your yield/potency would be the same as a stationary light.

I'd read up on this. If they worked really well, many more people would be using them. You would think you'd be providing shady areas more light and increasing your yield, but when you do this, you are taking light away from somewhere else, therefor it cancels itself out. Leaves allow a lot of light to pass through to the lower leaves, but it's going to depend on the intensity of the light. So even shaded leaves are getting light. We don't see the light energy that's passing through the leaves because of the colors that do and don't get absorbed. To humans, it just looks like shade.

"Fan leaves account for the greatest area for the reception of photons on a plant, thus they account for the majority of photosynthesis which occurs within a plant. Cells in the plant's leaves, called chloroplasts, contain a green pigment called chlorophyll which interacts with sunlight to split the water in the plant into its basic components. Leaves only absorb about 15% of the solar energy that hits them, the other 85% passes through-- but they reflect all the green light, which means it looks darker below the leaf to a human than it does to the plant because our eyes are most sensitive to the green spectrum (Shipperke, 03.15.2002)."

I would use the money intended for a mover, for a more powerful light or a second light and hood.

That's just my opinion, and I'm sure others will weigh in.
 
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chiqifella

chiqifella

Well-Known Member
I use movers to achieve massive yields over dozens of plants. I liken it to the fact that clouds do not take away from growth. I've personally measure growth taking place during lights off, so you got that too.
I like the way the sun moves up and over providing so much better penetration than just overhead light, real similar to
the use a light mover.
I can put my hanging lights right into the canopy of my plants without burning any leaves for a really cool coverage and
mixing mh/hps over the whole garden is tits in the ends.
My hardware takes up less than 6 inches of head space for my six foot movers. dont get a chain driven, just dont do it.
 
thumper60

thumper60

Well-Known Member
Therrion said:
I have 2 x 1000 covering a 5 x 10 scrog. I know with a light rail, I'll be giving up 5" to 6" of vertical due to the size of the hardware. 18" from the tops seems to be the standard, so with the rail, how much closer can I get them? I just trying to figure out if the movers ability to get the lamp closer to the plants cancels out the height you sacrifice with the hardware.
Click to expand...
your moving 2 1 ks over a 5x10?? where the fuck r they moving to??
 
thumper60

thumper60

Well-Known Member
chiqifella said:
I use movers to achieve massive yields over dozens of plants. I liken it to the fact that clouds do not take away from growth. I've personally measure growth taking place during lights off, so you got that too.
I like the way the sun moves up and over providing so much better penetration than just overhead light, real similar to
the use a light mover.
I can put my hanging lights right into the canopy of my plants without burning any leaves for a really cool coverage and
mixing mh/hps over the whole garden is tits in the ends.
My hardware takes up less than 6 inches of head space for my six foot movers. dont get a chain driven, just dont do it.
Click to expand...
boy u spout off a lot lets c your setup!
 
charface

charface

Well-Known Member
I have my movers holding 1000w
Air cooled and traveling back and forth less that a three foot run.

I have had them a couple inches away with no burn or bleaching.
But that's too close because it don't hit the other plants at all then.

Im running 5x8? scrog
Just woke up. Lol

My hope was to cure the problem that some of the plant was always in shadow and notably different than the plant portion in good light.

Im not using the mover to get a larger footprint im using it to hit the whole plant.

Haven't finished a run to judge

So far my opinion is that in veg I could really expand the footprint if I wanted
But I just have a small space anyway.
 
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sparkygeek

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure of your question but it sounds like you are asking how much the light mover can lower your light? When I installed my light mover, I wanted it higher so I looked at the opposite... There are multiple connection points between the light mover and the light providing multiple options for raising/lowering. @chiqifella's reference to clouds outdoors sums up my view also... Drawing 5 watts of power, I believe it has upped my yields. I find that it's more useful for spreading out the heat than dramatically increasing grow space sq. footage. I usually adjust the distance the light mover travels as the grow progresses... wide travel early in flower, narrowing the distance as the grow progresses... It's not adding extra light so, the more travel, the less light intensity at the plant so you really don't want that much travel. With a fixed 1000 watt HPS, the hot spot is hotter and smaller, requiring diligence to keep the plants from growing into the hot spot... Just keep in mind that, when power goes out, the hot lamp stops wherever it is... Even the heat emanating from this recently turned off lamp can fry flowers that are unlucky to be underneath... Best of luck!
 
Therrion

Therrion

Well-Known Member
sparkygeek said:
I'm not sure of your question but it sounds like you are asking how much the light mover can lower your light? When I installed my light mover, I wanted it higher so I looked at the opposite... There are multiple connection points between the light mover and the light providing multiple options for raising/lowering. @chiqifella's reference to clouds outdoors sums up my view also... Drawing 5 watts of power, I believe it has upped my yields. I find that it's more useful for spreading out the heat than dramatically increasing grow space sq. footage. I usually adjust the distance the light mover travels as the grow progresses... wide travel early in flower, narrowing the distance as the grow progresses... It's not adding extra light so, the more travel, the less light intensity at the plant so you really don't want that much travel. With a fixed 1000 watt HPS, the hot spot is hotter and smaller, requiring diligence to keep the plants from growing into the hot spot... Just keep in mind that, when power goes out, the hot lamp stops wherever it is... Even the heat emanating from this recently turned off lamp can fry flowers that are unlucky to be underneath... Best of luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the response. That is exactly what I was asking. It isn't about the light spread as much as hot spots. You provided the answer i was looking for.
 
Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
Good thread.
Ive heard people say a mover gets up to a 25% increase in yield. Not necessarily from the extra footprint that can be obtained but by helping with canopy heat and hotspots and also getting light to all areas of the plants.
 
S

sparkygeek

Well-Known Member
Lucky Luke said:
Good thread.
Ive heard people say a mover gets up to a 25% increase in yield. Not necessarily from the extra footprint that can be obtained but by helping with canopy heat and hotspots and also getting light to all areas of the plants.
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The increase in yield is noticeable... The reduced canopy heat is likely a major contributor as the plants metabolic functions slow considerable above 79 F... Have a good one!
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Lucky Luke said:
79f is only 26c. Any research link for that claim that applies to cannabis.?
I know maize has an optimum tempt of 30-40c (http://plantsinaction.science.uq.edu.au/content/1471-plant-response-high-temperature)
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I was thinking 79 was really low as well. Around 95 (inside), and your plants are using all their energy to stay cool. Above 85 (again, inside), and their performance starts to suffer.

Outside, where there is a massive amount of circulation, they can handle temps above 100!
 
S

sparkygeek

Well-Known Member
Lucky Luke said:
79f is only 26c. Any research link for that claim that applies to cannabis.?
I know maize has an optimum tempt of 30-40c (http://plantsinaction.science.uq.edu.au/content/1471-plant-response-high-temperature)
Click to expand...
No, no research link... I'm constantly trying to optimize my flowering time. I've noticed a considerable uptick in productivity if I keep my temps below 79F. My characterization of the plant's metabolism slowing may be inaccurate. Maybe the plant is just working harder to stay cool and unable to focus on building flowers. The results are the same. Best of luck!
 
S

sparkygeek

Well-Known Member
JSB99 said:
I was thinking 79 was really low as well. Around 95 (inside), and your plants are using all their energy to stay cool. Above 85 (again, inside), and their performance starts to suffer.

Outside, where there is a massive amount of circulation, they can handle temps above 100!
Click to expand...
Nice flowers! Easy to see where Super Lemon Haze gets it's bulk!
 
S

sparkygeek

Well-Known Member
JSB99 said:
Did you mean "Super Silver Haze", which is in the pics below?
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No, I meant Super Lemon Haze (kind of why I said it) of which Super Silver Haze is one of it's parents... I've never grown Super Silver Haze but I've been growing Super Lemon Haze since 2012. Since it appears you do not know how to take a complement, you can rest assured I won't be sending any more your way...
 
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