No it was sarcasm it needs the Sun.
Sun over LED, HID. And weak genetics was sarcasm lol.
Many plants just suffer a light deficiency, I use reflective material under plants and cure any light deficiency that way.
The reflective material is used before nutrient deficiency or overdose is considered as am issue by me, if the plants lacks anything i know it wasn’t the light deficiency, then I’ll add nutrients to fix it.
Most of the time it only needed more light to the plant. 2 pics shows one week apart, only the foil was added. It worked perfectly to green it up in no time.
For some reason it won’t let me post the 2 pics… I’ll keep trying
Finally got that through. Let’s try editing the pics in now.
Aluminum dull side out for the win, it was a light deficiency. I rarely give my plants plant food, they get lots of plain water. I want to make sure my plants utilize the law of minimum and the law of tolerance.
I make the seedlings glow from an early stage, and if I don’t use it early and see terrible growth below, simply add it below the plants, including the sidewall. With Mylar you can use it on the sidewalls.
Mylar is not bendable to hold it shape, for below your plants like Aluminum foil dull side out does.
Never use an emergency blanket, it’s basically a mirror 99% reflective and will stress burn plants.
Appreciate the knowledge @Heritagefarms. Dealing with some deficiencies that I cannot figure out and sure enough leaf temp is much too low for LED. I agree with the view that if you need to run a space heater to allow LED to work you’re missing out on all the efficiencies of LED. I don’t know why people take that personally.
Depending on where you are it seems a heater is necessary and additional uv light also. I’ve watched a few people trying to veg with them and when they get them high enough up to not piss off the plants then they are high enough to cause slender stemmed plants. I’m not fully against them I’m just watching the price drop and technology improve so fast I’m not ready to spend any money on them yet. My local hydro store won’t even stock them because he is afraid if they don’t sell fast enough they will become outdated and the price will drop below what he would pay for them him self.
I have always run HID for flower, but have seen a ton of impressive LED growers, and smoked their flower over the last few years. It is all about your environment as an entire system. I like the HPS yields, the CMH bud density, terp levels, and frost, and was using QB’s to veg keepers over the summer. This summer, Im getting more LED to flower under too. The density, terps, and frost again, but different.
HOT weather make LED’s the perfect choice, and COLD weather make HID’s more useful. You can heat a space with HID. The particulars of increasing heating cost vs electricity savings would be interesting to see… Rising energy costs make my outdoor grow more important to me every year. Plus the sun is free, full spectrum, and is environmentally sound.
Or it could be as simple as since LED’s have higher PAR watts, increasing the maximum growth potential; you’re seeing difficiencies which didn’t express under your lower growth system. That seems much more likely, especially if you have 20 years as that means you’ve got a specific flow you follow.
The science behind LED’s is undeniable, we lack the proper info on how spectrum affects pot growth specifically but that’s why so many uni’s are studying it.
There is more to it then just higher par values causing deficiency’s. That can be corrected by adjusting inputs and I’m surprised you would assume I had not taken that into consideration. The full spectrum nature and lack of Uv light is the issue. I see more and more growers admitting it’s the led lights causing inferior product and that they are switching back. They have a limited lifespan just like other types of lighting and cost much more.
Also most comparisons done between led and hps use generic hps systems to make there led product look more impressive then it realy is.
When you compare led par value to a eye hortilux hps bulb running in a digital ballast with proper reflector there is not much difference.
How could “full spectrum” be the problem when plants evolved to grow under the sun, which is full spectrum and more intense? That’s illogical and kinda destroys your opinion based on anecdotal experiences you or others have had.
I just switched to LED’s as the price and quality makes them more logical then HID’s now, with only cmH coming close. There is definitely a learning curve but to blame the light when the issue is the imbalance in the grow room is illogical. In this case specifically the OP has said their on a shoestring budget, are re-using soil and there’s clearly PM; logically those are all more likely to be causing the issues then LED’s, especially the idea that some plants in particular just don’t like LED lights. That’s not how plants work, in my experience when a single plant is showing deficiencies in a crop that usually means it has a higher growth potential and it getting as much as it needs compared to the others. It’s like having too kids, a couch potato and athlete, feeding them the same diet and then being surprised the results are different…
I’m sorry but you can not compare indoor lighting to the sun there are far to many variables . The light spectrum provided by the sun changes threw out the season and has much less blue light towards the end of summer. Can you sun tan under led lights , no not at all. I understand the original post has other issues visible but I am not speaking from that alone , I have ran led lights on a variety of plants and have watched several friends grow with them.
You say you just switched to led so it seems you don’t have much experience with them but are rather just repeating the talking points and sales pitch of the manufacturer. The technology is advancing and when the price comes down enough to make sense I might consider but as of now they are a overpriced trend. Most of them come from China and are incredibly overpriced for what they are.
I ask you this can you define what makes them full spectrum vs hps or metal halide. They put out different ratios of the same light and the led ratio is not ideal for veg or bloom but a in between that allows both with a compromise.
The people I have seen veg under them successfully long term have the lights much higher above the canopy then recommended and we’re having problems with thin stemmed plants. Get them close enough to not do that and the stems turn red/purple and they become very unhappy and no it’s not a deficiency because no amount of additional inputs will correct it. Some may be better then others but that just supports my statement that it is a evolving technology that I’m not ready to spend money on.
If you find your herb to look great but smell and taste subpar under led I suggest a 25watt supplemental UV light from California light-works. If I ever went with led it would be there adjustable spectrum light with additional UV. There is a reason each model of led that comes out has more and more far red lights added. They are trying to fix a known problem.
Yes I would agreee over a long period of time they are cheaper and I would love to cut my electric use in half but for me it’s not worth the the other issues that come with them. My buddy runs high end led set ups and his weed lacks in flavor , looks great and gets you high but lacks smell and flavor and that seems to be the results a lot of people have.
I’m sure somebody is going to jump up and say there’s comes out fine and that may be true to you but I have not seen it , I’ve seen a reduction in quality and I’m not interested in profit margins I’m interested in growing the best medicine I can.
Those look alright but the light is way higher up then recommended as I mentioned previously and I’m not capable of that atm. I keep bonsai mothers and love how close t5s can be with out upsetting them.
I can’t risk losing irreplaceable mothers so I would have to set up a another veg area to test them while keeping back ups under t5s. The way I have kept certain strains for so long is by taking no chances and always having back ups. When I have more space and the tech has evolved to offer grow and bloom specific lighting I may reconsider but as of now there is not much point for me to invest in new changing tech. How many people bought blurples and ditched them for newer led tech , the same thing will happen with the current models when something better comes out. Im happy letting other people work out the details while I watch.
I only flower inside once or twice a year in the winter and enjoy the energy savings the heat from the hps provide.
That’s ok I don’t need you to, I’ve said all I can say and therefore will say no more. To each there own what works for one may not for another, Do you boo boo.
My apprehension comes from personality traits a clinical phycologist would have a hard time explaining
A foundation built on a slippery slope with un even weight distribution.
