HPS Distance to Plants

I am almost half way through 2014. Hoping to catch up to 2018 posts in early 2020

blake9999 said:

Remember, this thread is four years old.

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Old thread, but that doesn't mean it won't help anyone

I am always wondering about this. It's one of those questions you can ask and you get 20 different perspectives on it. I think the best way to go about it, seeing as people have different reflectors, bulbs, wattage, area that needs coverage, etc, is using a lux meter. Most, if not all smart phones can give you a rudimentary idea of how many lux's you're getting around your canopy. I plan on buying an actual lux meter though. Right now I use my phone with an app called LuxMeter installed on it. It uses the same sensor that determines how bright the phone screen should be for the light level you're in.

There's a lot of info about this here: https://www.growweedeasy.com/lux-meter/ Here's a copy and paste from that link:
< 15,000 lux – sparse or "stretchy" growth – plant isn't getting enough light
15,000 – 50,000 lux – good amount of light for healthy vegetative growth
45,000 – 65,000 lux – optimal amount of light for cannabis plants in the flowering (budding) stage
70,000 – 85,000 lux – a lot of light, some strains do okay at this light level, but some plants lose their top leaves early under this light intensity, especially plants that are not resistant to heat/light (like many indicas)
> 85,000 lux – at this light intensity, you've hit the plant's "saturation point" which means your plant can't use all the light (be careful of light bleaching!)

One of the issues I have, is with an ever growing canopy area, what is the optimal height to have to give the best all around coverage to the total area. I'm on my first indoor grow though, so I'm sure with experience I won't need a lux meter after a while. Don't need one now. Just another tool to make it a little easier...

distance depends, with a 600watt I keep 16-18 inches between tops and light. When I first started I used to raise and lower the light. I now just raise and lower the plants with various size platforms.

This thread was well worth the bump......not alot of peeps actually consider this in their grow.......lux levels.........not seen the app ...gonna have a look for it now....

Ya but people forget distance is inverse to health. If your not got lush green plants in top condition they will have to be slightly futher away to satisfy transpiration.

If you a good grower you'll get your plants closer, if not keep them futher away.

Not subjective one bit...

FNG Grower said:

I know this subject has been brought up several times before, but I'm hoping to get a lot of feedback from experienced growers who have settled on a specific bulb distance that they consider safe for their plants. I'm still trying to decide whether to use the 600W or 1000W HPS. Assuming that you have adequate cooling, how close to you put your bulb and which type of bulb do you use? Thanks all.

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About 3' with my AC-DE 1000 W w/open hood.

I also can get lights close........but.......too close without burn DOES bleach no doubt about it......

Bleach is too much light, there comes a point with hps where you can exceed the brightest sun, still waiting for that led bleached bud tho...

blake9999 said:

Remember, this thread is four years old.

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so what? I just read it

bullSnot said:

I am almost half way through 2014. Hoping to catch up to 2018 posts in early 2020

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howd the catch up go?