80 vs 90 CRI... Convince me

Hi guys,

I've been outie for way too long! Glad to be back. As my first order of business, I will be replacing my CXA3070 3000k with LED strips. I am already set on getting the eb series from bridgelux. Now my dilemma, I can get eb gen 2 at 3500k 80 Cri and be happy. Or I can special order Gen 3 in 3500k 90 CRI. I have read through so many threads that show higher CRI can be better. But I don't trust the methods, so many variables were not controlled which bias the 90 CRI side.

Personally, I think the grow method is more important than the lights. I grow in Coots mix and I have never had a bad crop. I get beautiful colors from my plants and the flavor and high is better than any of my buddies.

Anyway I got off track. Convince me to go 90 CRi. I'd be interested in seeing terp profiles if anyone has them.

4ftRoots said:

Hi guys,
Personally, I think the grow method is more important than the lights. I grow in Coots mix and I have never had a bad crop. I get beautiful colors from my plants and the flavor and high is better than any of my buddies.

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So my first question is why are you replacing your lights?

Neither is better than the other

they work great together

80 cri has more blue and efficiency lm/watt , 90 cri has more red which flowering plants seem to love.


according to @Randomblame , the best way to approach is to mix both 80 and 90 cri to get the best results and efficiency

One is a more expensive version of being enjoyable to the human eyeball, everything else is by default.....

3500k 90 cri, ime over 3000k 80cri and 4000k 70cri

CMH have 96 CRI.... Gavita Plasma 94 CRI... those Elite HLG have CRI 96..

mixing different K with highest CRI are mine vision of best lights..
adding UVB too in equation is also valuable to have great product
in the end...

Am best weed indoor smoked from CMH or LEC.. but i never tried those Elite HLGs
so who knows,maybe they are better..

Thundercat said:

So my first question is why are you replacing your lights?

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I like the coverage of the strips as well as the ability to run them without a heat fan combo. I am constantly worried my fans will fail and my house will burn down. And when my plants get big they grow into the damn things and burn. Not my style. I want my plants happy!

diggs99 said:

Neither is better than the other

they work great together

80 cri has more blue and efficiency lm/watt , 90 cri has more red which flowering plants seem to love.


according to @Randomblame , the best way to approach is to mix both 80 and 90 cri to get the best results and efficiency

Click to expand...

Abiqua said:

One is a more expensive version of being enjoyable to the human eyeball, everything else is by default.....

Click to expand...

Any data to back it up? Someone give me some terp profiles! Lets bring some real science in here!

4ftRoots said:

Any data to back it up? Someone give me some terp profiles! Lets bring some real science in here!

Click to expand...

CRI is based on what the human eyeball sees and how it perceives it first. It is only plant based by default. There has never been put forth a true plant specific lighting, there have been attempts.
Google CRI and then read all of Bugbee papers or someone of the guys from Purdue. Or bug @PSUAGRO. Or go back and read anything from Stardust sailor.

Its nice that there are tons of K options, but they were never developed for plants. Not that they dont grow great or cant, just that that type of lighting descriptor was not plant-centic at its genesis.
We used to have great thread about nm specific lighting [Bugbee] and what made up a Kelvin temp, etc etc. but most of those minds drifted off to Led company obscurity in most cases....

90 cri for more red and far red.
Downside: little less intensity
Remed: turn it up a bit/lower half an inch

Reading: https://www.rollitup.org/t/cri-test-and-mcree-weighted-results.919923/

Here's a freebie...


Notice the B:G ratio is essentially reversed between the R:B blades and the RGB blades. If all else is identical, increasing CRI will typically increase your green% when buying grow lights because most grow lights are 3500k and lower.

500 μmol/s. white light canopy PPFD, ~95 μmol/s SCL (sub-canopy-lighting)...







Interesting what's happening past ~450μmol/s overhead irradiance...
The PPFD of the monochromatic light was either 50µmol/s (for the white light at 0, 40, 100 and 150µmol/s) or 150µmol/s (for the white light at 200, 450, 700, 950 and 1,200μmol/s)...



I can post the papers if anyone wants...

EDIT:
These are NOT the only papers or documented studies supporting that green is beneficial..

Why not post it straight away, thanks, this is a real interesting article!! Here is the link (Improving Cannabis Bud Quality and Yield with Subcanopy Lighting, DOI: 10.21273/HORTSCI13173-18)

What's great is that they used upward facing strips, 15cm away from the stem. this is a type of lighting anyone could add to their grow, because who doesn't have some room there? Often times the plants grow to touch the sides of the room they are growing in, so lighting from the side can be problematic. Really nice article

10WeekFlushBro said:

Why not post it straight away, thanks, this is a real interesting article! Here is the link

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Sure I can post them again, no problem, it just doesn't seem to be catching on so I didn't think anyone was actually reading them.. Here you go..

10WeekFlushBro said:

Why not post it straight away, thanks, this is a real interesting article!! Here is the link (Improving Cannabis Bud Quality and Yield with Subcanopy Lighting, DOI: 10.21273/HORTSCI13173-18)

What's great is that they used upward facing strips, 15cm away from the stem. this is a type of lighting anyone could add to their grow, because who doesn't have some room there? Often times the plants grow to touch the sides of the room they are growing in, so lighting from the side can be problematic. Really nice article

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You may like this paper too.. Its attached..
https://chuckersparadise.com/threads/spd.433/

ChiefRunningPhist said:

Sure I can post them again, no problem, it just doesn't seem to be catching on so I didn't think anyone was actually reading them.. Here you go..

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Ah yes, I have read these hehe. Many growers haven't been in academics and without some experience and discipline it can be daunting to read some of these articles. Spectrum is interesting, but what I find even more interesting is this sub canopy lighting. This can be achieved easily and sounds like it will very impactful for home growers who use normal lighting from the top. Anyway, I'll quit being off topic cause I don't know shit about 80v90 CRI.

edit: But I get your point (I think), increasing green light will or should have about the same effect as sub canopy lighting.

10WeekFlushBro said:

Ah yes, I have read these hehe. Many growers haven't been in academics and without some experience and discipline it can be daunting to read some of these articles. Spectrum is interesting, but what I find even more interesting is this sub canopy lighting. This can be achieved easily and sounds like it will very impactful for home growers who use normal lighting from the top. Anyway, I'll quit being off topic cause I don't know shit about 80v90 CRI.

edit: But I get your point (I think), increasing green light will or should have about the same effect as sub canopy lighting.

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I'm just noting that a greater green to blue ratio, or a greater green to red ratio, in high intensity overhead white light, ie ~450-500μmol/s, is more beneficial than the other way around. If you read the Terashima paper you can read a theory...

So in my own words, green works better than red or blue past about 500μmol/s white light... So all the red supplementing is good, but don't sleep on green!

this is sub canopy along with above canopy..and the same total wattages?

it is pretty dense info..it is taking me a bit to digest

thanks this is esrth shaking

Need more of a difference for me but my newest COB fixture is 3 years old and still rock a few a51 Cree panels that are all white or white and red discreet diodes.

That 315 CMH is still calling me but I have resisted so far. I think Grower’s House sells more of these than everything else combined.

4ftRoots said:

I like the coverage of the strips as well as the ability to run them without a heat fan combo. I am constantly worried my fans will fail and my house will burn down. And when my plants get big they grow into the damn things and burn. Not my style. I want my plants happy!

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Great answer. I mostly asked because you initially seemed very pleased with the outcome of your current set up. Better coverage is exactly what draws me to strips, or bar style lights.