What's your lighting intensity (dimming) schedule for flower?

Do you guys run your boards / bars at full blast from start to finish in flower? I'm considering going 50% power until the 4th week of flower on my next cycle. It just seems the plants don't want or need extremely high intensity before heavy flower set occurs which is usually around week 4. In the past I always ran my HID's at 75% power for the first 3 weeks or so and then increased to 100% and finally to 115% in overdrive. This cycle I ran all the boards (4x 660w, 2x 100w COB's, and 1x450w) at 100% from the beginning of week 3. I got a lot of superficial light burn on several plants. It doesn't seem to have had any noticeable effect on flower development, but I definitely don't want to see damaged foliage on my next cycle. It's quite possible that I've gone overkill on the lighting for a 12x16 and I may never need to run the 660's at more than 75%. And I've got 2 more 460w boards on the way. Jeez...

Get yourself a lux meter so you can measure your light.. 15,000 to 50,000 lux is what I use..

HydoDan said:

Get yourself a lux meter so you can measure your light.. 15,000 to 50,000 lux is what I use..

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Thanks man. I'm gonna grab one on amazon. I'm glad to hear I can dial the lights in with a lux meter instead of having to buy a very expensive PAR meter. Much appreciated!

jonnynobody said:

Thanks man. I'm gonna grab one on amazon. I'm glad to hear I can dial the lights in with a lux meter instead of having to buy a very expensive PAR meter. Much appreciated!

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Not as accurate as a par meter but it gives you an idea where you're at..

If you have an iPhone the Photone app seems to be good from comparisons I have seen against par meters. I use the app on an iPhone 11 and comparing it to my cheap lux meter shows the lux meter is no where near accurate.
36000 lux on the lux meter is actually around 50000 lux or 750 ppfd on the Photone app with 3500k 80cri.
To get 750ppfd with 2700k 90cri is 33000 on the lux meter.
Comparing cheap lux meter on a 4200k Cmh i get 1000ppfd at only 35000 lux and about the same with 6500k t5 And magnetic hps is 42000 lux for 1000ppfd.
I prefer using my lux meter so I am trying to make notes on all the lights I have.