1 plant under led question..?

I'm ditching 400w hps lamps in my seven 3ft x 3ft tents. I'm going to replace them with led lighting.

My question is...

'If I were to grow 1 plant in each tent under led, Does it matter as much if the light doesn't cover the sides or corners very well?' I mean with the plant getting all the light to itself, surely it would be getting enough light to thrive and naturally spread the energy through the whole plant.

However, If I were growing 4 smaller plants in the same area under same led, surely it would affect the plants more just having ,most of the light firing down the middle? So the corners where the plants are aren't getting much light, also 4 plants are fighting for all the light in the middle.

That's all I want answering please.

Why not just get a led with the proper footprint for your space? Kind of the point of led vs hid aside from the improved efficiency

Boatguy said:

Why not just get a led with the proper footprint for your space? Kind of the point of led vs hid aside from the improved efficiency

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I'm trying to. I'm in the market for leds now. I have another thread going to try and choose the right led. I just want to know the answer to the question in the 1st post please. A 400w hps grows nice buds at the edges of my 3ft x 3ft tent and their par is not good, especially in the corners. So for 1 plant would it really matter that much in a 3ft area? A 3ft x 3ft tent is an led friendly size tent. The panels that are shaped like qb's are rectangle, so the coverage is better in some areas than others. Would a single plant still fill that area and thrive?

I can reduce my electricity by half which will save me over £3000 a year.

How can a rectangle board be perfect for a square tent? I just don't get it...

If you are hung up on qb's, personally, i would go with one of these per tent https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/lamps/products/hlg-300-v2-rspec

I am more of a fan of cob's.

I grew under led for 5 years. I'm betting if I got a 200w led panel which barely even covered 3ftx3ft and grew in coco, in a 5 gallon pot, in a 3ft tent I could still grow a big plant. I want to reduce my electric use and I don't enjoy growing under hps like I did with led.

I'm going to buy some leds this week. There are some at my local hydro shop that I'm interested in. I like the idea that if it brakes I can just go down the road and it gets fixed.

Ive got an HLG 300v2 non r-spec, flowered 2 plants in a 3x3 area last run. and it BARELY covered both plants. Im using it for a single '2x2 plant now and its much better suited for that

madvillian420 said:

Ive got an HLG 300v2 non r-spec, flowered 2 plants in a 3x3 area last run. and it BARELY covered both plants. Im using it for a single '2x2 plant now and its much better suited for that

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Do you run it dimmed? I have run mine(cob rig) as high as 225 in a 2x2. Anything beyond that i start getting leaf twist burning etc, unless i nearly double the height of the fixture from the canopy

Fevs. said:

I'm going to buy some leds this week. There are some at my local hydro shop that I'm interested in. I like the idea that if it brakes I can just go down the road and it gets fixed.

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Just please dont let them talk you into buying a Black Dog or some other gimmicky blurple. Theres really no way for an HLG to "break" unless you dropped it or spilled some water on it or something. The diodes have insanely long life spans and dont burn out like on the old school ones. It comes with a warranty, even from authorized retailers selling at a discount. I kept the shipping box just in case i need to send it back for any reason, im sure they would send a free label if requested.

Boatguy said:

Do you run it dimmed? I have run mine(cob rig) as high as 225 in a 2x2. Anything beyond that i start getting leaf twist burning etc, unless i nearly double the height of the fixture from the canopy

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Nope, full blast. My area is a fairly large closet, not a 2x2. My plant canopy itself is '2x2 (SCROG+LST). Its pretty cold here in Chicago at the moment so heat is no issue, as a matter of fact im adding a viparspectra 450w i had laying around within a week or two when i get a new power cord for some needed heat and extra light to hopefully fatten these buds up for the last few weeks of flower. How low are you hanging yours? i dont go by height i use a par/lux meter

madvillian420 said:

Nope, full blast. My area is a fairly large closet, not a 2x2. My plant canopy itself is '2x2 (SCROG+LST). Its pretty cold here in Chicago at the moment so heat is no issue, as a matter of fact im adding a viparspectra 450w i had laying around within a week or two when i get a new power cord for some needed heat and extra light to hopefully fatten these buds up for the last few weeks of flower

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Gotcha. I am jammed up in this lil tent. Gotta upsize this space.

Boatguy said:

Gotcha. I am jammed up in this lil tent. Gotta upsize this space.
View attachment 4455007

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I got a cheap IPOWER tent from amazon for vegging in a separate room and im surprised with the quality. 36x36x56 for around $60. Some Gorilla tape to fix light leaks and youre good lol

madvillian420 said:

I got a cheap IPOWER tent from amazon for vegging in a separate room and im surprised with the quality. 36x36x56 for around $60. Some Gorilla tape to fix light leaks and youre good lol

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Mine is a gorilla. Too much money for what it is. Will be buying on the cheap next time.

madvillian420 said:

Ive got an HLG 300v2 non r-spec, flowered 2 plants in a 3x3 area last run. and it BARELY covered both plants. Im using it for a single '2x2 plant now and its much better suited for that

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It would be interesting to see it grow 1 plant in the 3ft x 3ft, not 2. If it's doing well in a 2x2 surely it could do well with 1 plant in 3ftx3ft?

I'm in the UK. These are the choices I have.

@Boatguy Beautiful plants you have there.

Fevs. said:

@Boatguy Beautiful plants you have there.

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Thanks!
First run with a "water only" organic soil mix. At 3wks from flip now, If they stay like this im sticking with it.

Nice. You got worms in there?

Fevs. said:

Nice. You got worms in there?

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No worms. Not a no till reusable soil

Boatguy said:

If you are hung up on qb's, personally, i would go with one of these per tent https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/lamps/products/hlg-300-v2-rspec

I am more of a fan of cob's.

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I think one of these is better because you can spread out the light a bit more: https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/kits/products/260w-xl-qb-v2-led-kit

..or two of these: https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/kits/products/135w-qb-v2-rspec-led-kit

Exact same amount of output as the 300, just less expensive and more versatile.