For veg, definitely. For flowering, I might think about upping it a bit. The poster to this thread was asking about flowering under a 4x2 with a ~$300 light. With the space provided, and my experiences I thought it would help that vegging under shop lights and flowering under a suitable LED light in the 4x4 would seem more reasonable. I put more information into my post so that any other reader who might read the thread can learn from my experiences.
I tend to get wordy and for some odd reason people think it’s confrontational even though I never make any attacks to begin with. I have almost the identical setup to this person, that’s why I commented and posted photos.
I hear you there man. I have flowered in my 2x4 and with some training it’s certainly doable. But the OP already has a 4x4 so to me it just makes sense to use the bigger space for the part of growing that requires more space. I have also flowered in my 2x2. It’s really about getting the best out of what you have to work with in the end.
one thing is spread of light. chips on board leds which i used in a tiny 1.8ft by 1.8 ft scrog had 4 50watt cobs (home made rig- that kinda looked a little ugly but worked) had light coming from all corners and i really should have hooked it up with a dimmer for veg stage…anyway light from different angles such as cobs placed and suited to your setup will spread and hit more plant tips from all angles…on other leds some leds such as spiderfarmers can be raised to get more lumens and intensity of light to outside edges of setup…lowering can increase intensity and par reading in the inner but raising will often raise par reading on outside of tent etc…im looking for one to buy myself, my home made ones the meanwell drivers often shat themselves after 8 months and apparently meanwell quality went downhill and failures became more common…
i dont know if people still use cobs as others coming out are cheaper to buy than making a cob rig…however i had good results sometimes with cobs, but often too much par reading and bleaching as too intense…should have bought a par metre and a dimmer.
8 ounces from 200 watts isnt too bad imo in 1.8 ft by 1.8 ft though so it sometimes got decent yeilds.
thanks for all the replies everyone. gives me a lot to consider. Im actually thinking maybe I could just keep the mother tent on Metal Halide. Anyone have experience taking plants vegging under MH and then throwing them under LED’s for flower?
a lot to concider…room temps size of veg clone area…
personally for micro grow setups i like simple compact flouro 23 watt cfls but they seem to be dieing in popularity in hardware tores here im not sure about everywhere…
the new leds in hardware shops seem to be taking over in sales but i have not tried any for growing seeds or clones.Im sure people on here can help as my info may be too old…
one 23 watt cfl can sprout a 1.5 by 1.5 area full of clones and seeds then one cfl for each seedling in veg… 1 can actually suit 2-4 seedlings or semi vegging plants in solo cups for a while too if needed room…
the best for veg though is 125 watt or 250 watt cfls for faster growth with bigger pots …too little lumens in veg can stunt growth and if going perpetual which it seems like u might, the new vegged planted might not match the flower room after last harvest…lining it all up is a task that takes time to get used to each setup…
people on here can probably help you master lining up all the right lights and timing for seed clones and veg and flower though if perpetual is your thing.
as for metal halides in veg good for cold temps and good growth (cool temps= 600 hps/mh less power than 2400 watt heaters)but power wise in no too cool areas to hot areas leds will be best or cfls or (if hardware store leds have right blue or cool white spectrum) they might be best…metal halides were also sometimes used by older school growers wanting more resin/trichomes…5000k spectrum seems like it worked best 10 000k not so much…others wanted yeild so went with HPS which was well known as flowering spectrm but both work…cooler temps or cool basements…they work well…bigger buds too but imo not as dense as good led grown buds…600watt HIDs were the most efficient to watt…other HIDS came out like ceramic and read good things but never tried myself…
if going with HIDs choose watts for size of area one 400 watt will veg 4x4 from memory and flower 3x3ft…and again HIDs ie mh/hps or ceramic whatevers use less power to heat a room than a heater.digital ballasts can do both mh or hps but hydro shops i worked for all agreed they were not as good as old school magnetic ballasts…this is all old info though…
One of my considerations when researching a new light - if the Samsung diodes listed in any light were actually true Samsung.
I found many sellers listed as using Samsung but without being a Samsung official partner. Now maybe it’s a marketing scheme from Samsung so they can charge the official partners a premium to use the logo, not sure. Either way, if they are listed on the Samsung website, you have assurance you’re getting what is listed in the ad.
I ended up with two Mars Hydro FC 3000 (non EVO, LM301B) from AmZone marketplace. Used-Like new. $179 each. Quite a deal. Looked like they were never taken out of box. So far happy with my purchase.
yeah that’s what I’m currently struggling with… I guess with LED you basically need a space heater in your ‘lung room’ all year round. no way I could let my whole house stay at an ambient 80 degrees to get leaf temps up. I don’t really understand how so many people are using LED honestly, Is everyone heating their tents or something? Or do LED’s actually increase the temps in your tent enough? really would like to convert over to LED but just can’t figure it out in my head at the moment without adding space heater.
I turn the fan to recirculate, when the temperature drops. If it’s -27C, I plug the fresh air intake and put a heater in there. Usually doesn’t get that cold!
Is there anyplace that sells parts of lights? I mean, light bars so that I can build my own light for a fraction of the cost. The only thing I cant build is the led chips but I dont want to solder chips together (my hands shake too much) . Pre-made light bars would be best.
