Just made the transition

ic0n · Feb 28, 2013

Just swapped out my 150W HPS and CLFs for a 300W Grow Pro triband LED Panel. I was surprised how beefy these things are, it must weigh 5 times what my HPS did. Ive got it above my girls about 6" and they are 1 week into flowering. How am I looking spacing and lighting wise? The box is only about 2 sq ft so it fits pretty well under the light.

mtlhaze · Mar 1, 2013

looks like a good unit. Cant wait to see the plants in final weeks.

ic0n · Mar 1, 2013

So far so good, I checked them this morning after the light had been on for a while (12/12) and the temps were right at 68 at the floor at 70 at the canopy which is about 10 degrees cooler all around than with my HPS and CFLs. Should I be keeping them right off the top of the canopy or is that 6 inch range what I would be optimal?

SnotBoogie · Mar 1, 2013

6 inches is good.

The only "problem" i would forsee switching from HPS to LED would be the time your plant takes to reconfigure its chlorophyll to take full advantage of the narrower bands of light.

ic0n · Mar 1, 2013

SnotBoogie said:
6 inches is good.

The only "problem" i would forsee switching from HPS to LED would be the time your plant takes to reconfigure its chlorophyll to take full advantage of the narrower bands of light.

Could this be a problem with vegging under cfls and then switching to LEDs? I've got my veg/clone chamber powered by 6 cfls right now with some seedlings in it and don't want to stress them out too much when they grow up enough to go into the big box.

SnotBoogie · Mar 1, 2013

Let me explain.

Bear in mind this was explained to me, i am not a primary source, though my experience does correlate.

All the different types of chlorophyll are present in the plant. BUT, the plant will tailor which are most concetrated based on what light is falling on it. I.e, if there is no 460nm blue light, the chrlophyll that is adapted for that wavelength will be lying dormant in the plant while it cranks up the activity of the chlorophyll that are being used most.

CFLs have a nice smooth spectral distribution, so chances are that a wide range of chlorophyll are active. If you were to then switch to LED that is only putting out a few narrow bands of light, the plant's chlorophyll will have to adapt to take maximum advantage of the new spectra it is recieving lots of, while the others become dormant.

My theory is that you would be forcing the plant to reconfigure its photosynthesis, thereby losing energy/time.

So to answer your question - No, i dont think it would shock them, BUT if you were vegging with the LED spectra, your plants would already be adapted for those wavelengths and thus would be more "at home" when you put them in to flower: meaning they are better adapted to get the most out of your LEDs.

I say again that i have no experimental backing for this or any real knowledge of plant biology. This is based on my own experience, reading on here, and a conversation over a spliff with a plant biologist who explained chlorophyll to me

ic0n · Mar 2, 2013

SnotBoogie said:
Let me explain.

Bear in mind this was explained to me, i am not a primary source, though my experience does correlate.

All the different types of chlorophyll are present in the plant. BUT, the plant will tailor which are most concetrated based on what light is falling on it. I.e, if there is no 460nm blue light, the chrlophyll that is adapted for that wavelength will be lying dormant in the plant while it cranks up the activity of the chlorophyll that are being used most.

CFLs have a nice smooth spectral distribution, so chances are that a wide range of chlorophyll are active. If you were to then switch to LED that is only putting out a few narrow bands of light, the plant's chlorophyll will have to adapt to take maximum advantage of the new spectra it is recieving lots of, while the others become dormant.

My theory is that you would be forcing the plant to reconfigure its photosynthesis, thereby losing energy/time.

So to answer your question - No, i dont think it would shock them, BUT if you were vegging with the LED spectra, your plants would already be adapted for those wavelengths and thus would be more "at home" when you put them in to flower: meaning they are better adapted to get the most out of your LEDs.

I say again that i have no experimental backing for this or any real knowledge of plant biology. This is based on my own experience, reading on here, and a conversation over a spliff with a plant biologist who explained chlorophyll to me

Makes sense thanks for explaining

ic0n · Mar 3, 2013

So far so good. One of the girls was wilting a bit, I was surprised that it needed the same amount of water if not more. Temps are soooo much better than with the HPS and CFLs in this small area. Here they are out of the box after a week and a half of flowering. Ill take pics outside of the box until they get too top heavy.

mamakush · Mar 4, 2013

SnotBoogie said:
My theory is that you would be forcing the plant to reconfigure its photosynthesis, thereby losing energy/time.

I mostly agree with your explanation. I just want to offer the OP one qualification on this particular statement: plants are good at adapting to changes in environment. Any slowing down in photosynthesis resulting from a different light source will be short term. The rule I've heard from several sources is that your plants will adjust to the new spectrum in about a month. Then it's quality and loww energy builds all the way, in my experience

SnotBoogie · Mar 4, 2013

I would absolutely agree that it is not necessarily long term (not even a month IMHO).

ic0n · Mar 4, 2013

Thanks for the replies, they seem to be doing really well right now so I don't think its got a huge impact on them but we'll see as the grow progresses.

ic0n · Mar 10, 2013

Things are still going along fine. The color of the foliage seems a darker then with the HPS. Has anyone else experienced that? Just over 2 weeks of flower.

ic0n · Mar 16, 2013

Week three. While these guys are smaller since I didn't veg for nearly as long as I have in the past, they appear much healthier than when I had my HPS/CFL combination. I would guess its a combination of things due to the much

lower heat and lack of UV/IR and over all increased PAR but that's just a guess.

SnotBoogie · Mar 16, 2013

3 weeks since the flip or since first flowers? Looking good man I have also noticed darker foliage with leds. I thought it might be because the leaves arent so dehydrated by the heat all the time. Would love to know why though.

ic0n · Mar 16, 2013

SnotBoogie said:
3 weeks since the flip or since first flowers? Looking good man I have also noticed darker foliage with leds. I thought it might be because the leaves arent so dehydrated by the heat all the time. Would love to know why though.

Three weeks since the flip to 12/12

ic0n · Mar 23, 2013

Here they are 4 weeks into flowering and looking good. I never got these purple colors with the HPS or CLFs before but its gorgeous (all have been clones of the same original plant). One is a little more pronounced than the other but its coming in on the tips as well. Trichomes are starting to show up pretty well and getting that frost that the widow is known for, pretty excited about this compared to the HPS.

Blueberry71 · Mar 25, 2013

ic0n said:
Here they are 4 weeks into flowering and looking good. I never got these purple colors with the HPS or CLFs before but its gorgeous (all have been clones of the same original plant). One is a little more pronounced than the other but its coming in on the tips as well. Trichomes are starting to show up pretty well and getting that frost that the widow is known for, pretty excited about this compared to the HPS.

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I started a kush plant from seed with a 125w CFL in a small closet and it grew awesome. When i had the cash to get a 200W flowering CFL i switched to 12/12 at week 9 and added a 100W LED Vipar Panel. I went 7 weeks at 12/12 and cropped i could have went longer but wanted to get my next crop going. I ended up with just over 2 ounces of some nice bud and i am actually pretty proud of it and all my friends think i done great. So you should get over 3 oz's i am thinking maybe more. Here's a pic of some of my buds.

Gerry Lane · Mar 27, 2013

I'm very new, have you noticed if you have the led lights too close to the leafs they tend to look like the color fades? Is this common?

Gerry Lane · Mar 29, 2013

Did you go pretty much straight to veg?

litz · Mar 29, 2013

Gerry Lane said:
I'm very new, have you noticed if you have the led lights too close to the leafs they tend to look like the color fades? Is this common?

some leds do that not all of them ....

Just made the transition

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