Grow Room Design: Imitating Natural Light and Saving Money

In an attempt to further imitate natural outdoor environmental conditions indoors along with saving a few bucks on electricity, I decided to get creative with my lighting configuration and timing.

As you can see I have 4 lights in this 3 x 5 foot flowering room. Each light is a Lighthouse Hydro BlackStar 240 watt UV LED Grow Light. This is the LED equivalent to HPS lighting.

My idea is to break up each light into 9 hour cycles each starting one hour after the other to cover a 12 hour lighting period. Gives the plants 12 hours of light and reduces electricity consumption by 25%.

What this also does is allow the intensity of lighting to slowly increase to full(960 Watts) over a 3 hour period from 6 - 9PM. Full intensity from 9PM - 3AM. Then decreasing from full intensity to completely off each hour from 3 - 6AM. Mimicking not only how the sun increases in intensity, but also how it travels through the sky.

I just started this cycle on October 27, 2012. Now to see if it makes any difference.

For vegging, I also started using the gas lamp routine at the beginning of October. It saves approximately 33 - 40% on the electricity because of the 12-1 light cycle. But also because my cooling doesn't need to be as aggressive during the increased dark period. I know some people doubt the validity of this method. But I've never had plants grow bigger, better or faster under 18-6 or 24-0 even.

I run a full compliment of Dyna-Gro products in an ebb and flow system that feeds both veg and flower the same. (Equal amounts Grow-Bloom-Foliage Pro), Mag-Pro, Botanicare Sweet Citrus, SM90, all at 50% strength. And then 30% H2O2 at the recommended dosage. Nutrient solution remains at approximately 65 degrees and a PH of 5.8-6.0. In expanded clay pellets. I don't change the solution until I've had to add 5 more gallons of water twice. Both times with an appropriate amount of H2O2 for the whole system. Depending on the PPM, I will occasionally add more nutrients at 25% strength as needed.

Veg area typically runs at about 70-75 degrees. Flower area runs at about 75-80 degrees. 55-60% humidity on average.

I'm really excited to see what will happen with this new progressive lighting cycle in the flower room. I can't imagine imitating nature more could hurt. If anything I imagine it would help.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Sounds awesome! I personally havent done this but never figured why someone would. even if you used your 1000watts 24/7 itd only be $30 or so dollars a month. But to each his own. I definitely wanna watch this. start a journal!

On the other hand ive seen people get amazing growth out of the gas lantern method.

Ive always wondered if they make a timer that you can set to decrease light every day until on 12/12

Thatd be helpful haha

Good luck!

I initially tried the gas lamp routine with just a single plant under a single 12 watt led grow light in September. Worked really well. Even while experimenting with supercropping on the plant.

Regarding the energy usage. In the first month alone with both of these new light cycles my bill was $120 less. Well worth it to me. And I've had nothing but favorable results.

Here's one thing I noticed about the gas lamp routine and the specific strain I've been using for the last number of months. Since I've moved to the gas lamp routine the fan leaves have probably doubled in size. Although I did start cutting back on nutrients at the same time. So that may have played some role too. Not sure. But It would make sense to me that if the plants would grow bigger fan leaves under GLR. Because of the one hour interruption in the middle of the 12 hour dark cycle they know not to produce the flowering hormone. However they are getting less hours of light per day.

Maybe it's just fooling the plants...LoL. Seriously. Same strain. Same ingredients. Same environmental conditions. Same mother. The only difference is GLR. And like I said. The leaves are lush, dark green and double the size.

The only thing that is a stick in the mud in this is that I also went to half the nutrients at the same time I went to GLR. Maybe it was the perfect storm. Either way. It's working well for me. And that's what matters most...LoL

By the way. I'm also now an addict to water curing everything. Woooof!!! Water curing is amazing. No odor, smooth consumption, and makes flavorless tincture. All you taste is the alcohol. It takes the dragon out of the Green Dragon.

I even have one batch right now that was water cured 2 months ago. Open the jar and it smells like you might imagine a fresh mountain spring of water might smell. Another one smells like pine tree sap. Another like grilled cheese. Another like really strong citrus. And yet another that smells like my moms chicken soup.

It's really strange. But it's amazing to me. And everything that is left over when burned is white. Cleanest thing ever.

thc.fm said:

I initially tried the gas lamp routine with just a single plant under a single 12 watt led grow light in September. Worked really well. Even while experimenting with supercropping on the plant.

Regarding the energy usage. In the first month alone with both of these new light cycles my bill was $120 less. Well worth it to me. And I've had nothing but favorable results.

Here's one thing I noticed about the gas lamp routine and the specific strain I've been using for the last number of months. Since I've moved to the gas lamp routine the fan leaves have probably doubled in size. Although I did start cutting back on nutrients at the same time. So that may have played some role too. Not sure. But It would make sense to me that if the plants would grow bigger fan leaves under GLR. Because of the one hour interruption in the middle of the 12 hour dark cycle they know not to produce the flowering hormone. However they are getting less hours of light per day.

Maybe it's just fooling the plants...LoL. Seriously. Same strain. Same ingredients. Same environmental conditions. Same mother. The only difference is GLR. And like I said. The leaves are lush, dark green and double the size.

The only thing that is a stick in the mud in this is that I also went to half the nutrients at the same time I went to GLR. Maybe it was the perfect storm. Either way. It's working well for me. And that's what matters most...LoL

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DAAAMN if it saved you $120 i dont even wanna know what your whole bill is.

Whats your kw/h price? and do you run more than the 1000 watts for those lights? not including the hundred or so watts of fans and what not.

and ivebeen meaning to try the GLR but i feel like itll wear more on the bulb so ive havent wanted to try it and not realize my bulbs blown for a day or so because i check mine every few days.

hope to see the results!

budbro18 said:

DAAAMN if it saved you $120 i dont even wanna know what your whole bill is.

Whats your kw/h price? and do you run more than the 1000 watts for those lights? not including the hundred or so watts of fans and what not.

and ivebeen meaning to try the GLR but i feel like itll wear more on the bulb so ive havent wanted to try it and not realize my bulbs blown for a day or so because i check mine every few days.

hope to see the results!

Click to expand...

LoL. Well. The last two bills were over $350 US. August and September were really rather warm in Southern California.

The nice part about the GLR is that I can run it opposite of the flowering cycle as to not overload the circuit. And the light that comes on in the midst of the dark cycle is a deep red LED on a light mover. Using a deeper red spectrum alone for the GLR 1 hour interruption is best as I can tell from research. You don't need the full compliment of light to break the dark cycle. You could probably even use a single 100W 3000K CFL.

At this point I'm using all Lighthouse Blackstar 240W LED's. So I'm not worried about the cycling on and off. That's why I brought up the 100W 3000K CFL. You could flip that one on instead of your main lighting if you're using HID. And as a result your lamp and ballast would likely last 50% longer...Simple math.

I ran a 1000W Hortilux Eye on a Solistek Digital ballast for one run set at 600W. It worked REALLY well. But the heat was way too much for the summer months here in my environment. I may crank that baby back up in the winter months and use it to heat the house in the middle of the night...LoL.

For now the LED's, especially during the hot months work really well. Yes they did cost quite a bit. But you know what they say, "If you buy right once...You only cry once."

I have a small 5,000 BTU window unit that runs full blast pretty much 24 hours a day. 625 watts effectual(366 watts consumed) of light from 6AM to 6PM. Then about 960 watts effectual(532 watts consumed) of light from 6PM to 6AM. A handful of fans and a 6 inch 440CFM centrifugal fan in the flower room connected to the air scrubber recirculated back into the veg room through the attic.

aaaah i see in cali. well ive heard the electricity prices were crazy there. up where im at im paying less than 8 cents per kw/h so it hardly costs me

60 bucks to run almost 1000wats of lights and an 8000 btu ac. my most expensive bill is less than you saved.

and i feel ya on the heat but luckily where i stay its cold for 8-10 months out of the year. i really only used the a/c for one flower cycle this year so a hair over 2 months. haha

when its cold out, which it mostly is, ill vent air from outside through my 600 and into my flower box for fresh air. heats it perfectly and cools it perfectly

ive always wanted to fuck with a nice high powered led set but the money hasnt been in the cards for a while.

budbro18 said:

aaaah i see in cali. well ive heard the electricity prices were crazy there. up where im at im paying less than 8 cents per kw/h so it hardly costs me

60 bucks to run almost 1000wats of lights and an 8000 btu ac. my most expensive bill is less than you saved.

and i feel ya on the heat but luckily where i stay its cold for 8-10 months out of the year. i really only used the a/c for one flower cycle this year so a hair over 2 months. haha

when its cold out, which it mostly is, ill vent air from outside through my 600 and into my flower box for fresh air. heats it perfectly and cools it perfectly

ive always wanted to fuck with a nice high powered led set but the money hasnt been in the cards for a while.

Click to expand...

Oh man. I would have never spent the $1600 US on the LED's if it wasn't a last ditch effort at a long term goal with only credit cards to underwrite it...LoL. I would likely still be using HO T5's.

I'm going through a divorce right now and the finances became wonky and I knew I was going to be needing to think long term. So...LED made the most sense.

I'm still not sure it's the best answer in contrast to HID. I think both have there place depending on the expected result. If I were running a commercial grow I would likely use HID. But for something inside a personal residence for personal use, I see LED being the most expedient option.

I only started cultivating back in April and I still haven't burned through my first harvest...LoL.

I've never tried flowering with fluorescent lights. So I can't speak to that. But I have flowered with HID. 1000 Watt Hortilux-Eye with a Solis Tek Digital ballast set to 600 Watts. I lollipopped those girls pretty good and those flowers were quite fat. Larger than a Red Bull can. With the LED's it seems as though the flowers are smaller. But there are a lot more of them. And considering that the trichomes are on the surface of the flowers and leaves...The more the merrier. Make sense???

In the three flowering cycles under the LED's I've noticed more uniform flowers all the way down the plant. But that's also likely a result of my using multiple smaller lights rather than one big one. Better coverage.

Personally I would recommend 4 240 Watt LED's over one 1000 Watt. LED lights penetrate really really well as I have used them. More lights. Lower wattage. Closer to the plants without the heat. And with the specific lights I'm using...The light goes almost everywhere. The most recent generation is more directional and more expensive. I'll be keeping these babies for a long time. I think they hit on something with this generation of lights. I'll stick with it...At least until I can afford Plasma.

thc.fm said:

Oh man. I would have never spent the $1600 US on the LED's if it wasn't a last ditch effort at a long term goal with only credit cards to underwrite it...LoL. I would likely still be using HO T5's.

I'm going through a divorce right now and the finances became wonky and I knew I was going to be needing to think long term. So...LED made the most sense.

I'm still not sure it's the best answer in contrast to HID. I think both have there place depending on the expected result. If I were running a commercial grow I would likely use HID. But for something inside a personal residence for personal use, I see LED being the most expedient option.

I only started cultivating back in April and I still haven't burned through my first harvest...LoL.

I've never tried flowering with fluorescent lights. So I can't speak to that. But I have flowered with HID. 1000 Watt Hortilux-Eye with a Solis Tek Digital ballast set to 600 Watts. I lollipopped those girls pretty good and those flowers were quite fat. Larger than a Red Bull can. With the LED's it seems as though the flowers are smaller. But there are a lot more of them. And considering that the trichomes are on the surface of the flowers and leaves...The more the merrier. Make sense???

In the three flowering cycles under the LED's I've noticed more uniform flowers all the way down the plant. But that's also likely a result of my using multiple smaller lights rather than one big one. Better coverage.

Personally I would recommend 4 240 Watt LED's over one 1000 Watt. LED lights penetrate really really well as I have used them. More lights. Lower wattage. Closer to the plants without the heat. And with the specific lights I'm using...The light goes almost everywhere. The most recent generation is more directional and more expensive. I'll be keeping these babies for a long time. I think they hit on something with this generation of lights. I'll stick with it...At least until I can afford Plasma.

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haha i feel ya. i personally like my hps and if i had the doe id fuck with LEDs. i would recommend 2 600s over a 1000 any day barely.

also the thc grows all over the plant inside and out so that theory is a little unlikely.

but ive seen what they can do and they definitely can DO well over 1g/watt which everyone shoots for.

ive seen people run the single high powered ones and then 2 magnum 357s and had a waaaay better result so your definitely on the right track using mutiple lights.

got a journal so i can take a peak?? hahaha

Ive wanted to get plasma shit FOR EVER!!!

Since the day i saw it. One day theyll be cheap because theyll have "sun in a jar" hahahahaha hope i live to be that old.

Sun in a jar...LoL. I'll be there. Yeah, from what I can tell you've gotta have plasma quite a ways away from the plants. And I don't know many that have grow rooms with vaulted ceilings.

I'm really hoping this idea of mimicking the path of the sun pays off. I don't see how it couldn't. Along with the Orca film on the walls those 4 LED'S are really intense.

I'm jealous of your energy costs. September cost me $359. Ouch...I've got plenty of motivation to get it down to $250 or less. Projected for this month is $248. Looking forward to that.

When I first started doing this I was trying to keep the bill down below $200 by not using air conditioning. But replacing frozen water bottles all day got old really fast. And I was still having root issues. The cost of AC solved a myriad of problems. Nutrient solution at 65 degrees means no problems. At least for me.

yeah i cant wait til its medically legal here. gotta jump on the compitition and the profit margin (which isnt a huge concern to me) is even bigger!

which means i can use more wattage to get more and thus MORE! haha

I remember when i had a cfl grow in the summer. we had ac but no fans pulling air in the box so i had to put frozen gallon jugs in there.

hahahaha

i havent seen too many plasma things besides chameleons but they have the led panels and id just want a straight plasma with no other wiring to potentially short/stop working.

and that bill hurts my sole. i kept my 8000 btu ac runnin on 72 constantly all summer along with a bit over 1000 watts of power.

plus a whole house of people and i was still under $200

come to the east coast brotha!

I'll pass. There's nothing like living in the United States of California...LoL

i feel it. i like the weather over there but the flow of life here is boss.

you got a journal up?

sorry if ive asked that i smoke too much when im on here

I hear ya. Personal use takes on a whole new meaning when you have an unlimited supply...LoL

hahahaha but it seems like as soon as its here its gone. then it sneaks up on you like a week or 2 later its back again

aaaah the circle of life hahaha