Led grow light distances from plant.

taproot

Well-Known Member
Good day friends. I'll start off saying I have a few grows under my belt and have done very decent in the past but I was using hps for both veg and flowering. I decided I wanted to go LED for many reasons. I built me a led strip light using 9x BXEB-L0560Z-35E2000-C-B3 running on a meanwell driver HLG185hc1050a. The light turned out nice, each strip is mounted to a piece of bare stock aluminum for a heat sink and they are all attached in unison to make one nice frame that can be lowered or raised easily. According to my killowatt I can dim the light down to around 98 watts or drive them to the max of the driver which shows to be 220 Watt. My problem is this new system has me so perplexed, I've never had this much frustration with any grow. I sprouted my seedlings and put them into red solo cups with perlite and a hole drilled one inch from the bottom, I done this so many times with great success. This time I've had yellowing and curling of the leaves, brown spots, leaves with purple stems and almost no green in the leaf. At first I thought this was a nut issues despite using the same nuts I have for a long time...dynogrow. I thought it might be a PH issue so I started checking this and it's within range. I bought new nutes as I thought maybe the other ones went bad since they did sit out in the garage this summer. Nothing I've done has made a big difference except......putting them back under my hps light. Once they go under the small (150 W) hps light I have they start looking better within a few days. So, I've made sure it's not over watering as I do have a hole in the cup at the bottom, I've tried new fresh nutes, the PH is good, the room environment is good and there isn't any root rot. I'm doing everything I've done in the past and with the same brand of nutes etc but this time has me so perplexed. I've came to the conclusion that this might actually be light burn with this new led light. I've dimmed the driver and ran it at full blast, I've raised the actual light and lowered it. Has anybody else came from HPS to LED and experienced this ...especially with these super high powered and efficient led strips? Is there a suggested distance from the tops of the plants per the wattage the leds are running at? I was using a thermometer at the plant level and just my eye to gage what was acceptable per how I did it with hps but I'm coming to the conclusion the game changes with these LED/s. This is what I'm dealing with and have been treating as a nutrient deficiency or ph issue and on recent research think it might be
this. I planned on switching to dwc soon as it's getting cooler but this has me so confused and delayed.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-light-burn
 

Humple

Well-Known Member
Good day friends. I'll start off saying I have a few grows under my belt and have done very decent in the past but I was using hps for both veg and flowering. I decided I wanted to go LED for many reasons. I built me a led strip light using 9x BXEB-L0560Z-35E2000-C-B3 running on a meanwell driver HLG185hc1050a. The light turned out nice, each strip is mounted to a piece of bare stock aluminum for a heat sink and they are all attached in unison to make one nice frame that can be lowered or raised easily. According to my killowatt I can dim the light down to around 98 watts or drive them to the max of the driver which shows to be 220 Watt. My problem is this new system has me so perplexed, I've never had this much frustration with any grow. I sprouted my seedlings and put them into red solo cups with perlite and a hole drilled one inch from the bottom, I done this so many times with great success. This time I've had yellowing and curling of the leaves, brown spots, leaves with purple stems and almost no green in the leaf. At first I thought this was a nut issues despite using the same nuts I have for a long time...dynogrow. I thought it might be a PH issue so I started checking this and it's within range. I bought new nutes as I thought maybe the other ones went bad since they did sit out in the garage this summer. Nothing I've done has made a big difference except......putting them back under my hps light. Once they go under the small (150 W) hps light I have they start looking better within a few days. So, I've made sure it's not over watering as I do have a hole in the cup at the bottom, I've tried new fresh nutes, the PH is good, the room environment is good and there isn't any root rot. I'm doing everything I've done in the past and with the same brand of nutes etc but this time has me so perplexed. I've came to the conclusion that this might actually be light burn with this new led light. I've dimmed the driver and ran it at full blast, I've raised the actual light and lowered it. Has anybody else came from HPS to LED and experienced this ...especially with these super high powered and efficient led strips? Is there a suggested distance from the tops of the plants per the wattage the leds are running at? I was using a thermometer at the plant level and just my eye to gage what was acceptable per how I did it with hps but I'm coming to the conclusion the game changes with these LED/s. This is what I'm dealing with and have been treating as a nutrient deficiency or ph issue and on recent research think it might be
this. I planned on switching to dwc soon as it's getting cooler but this has me so confused and delayed.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-light-burn
What are your temps? When using LED, you want your grow space temp over 80°F. Solves a host of issues.
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
What are your temps? When using LED, you want your grow space temp over 80°F. Solves a host of issues.
Right, that's what somebody else said...they stated the leds didn't put off the IR like the hps did. This is another reason that I ran the lights close or turned up. I've had it around 82F to 90F according to the temp/humidity gage sitting by the plants.
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
I run my Quantum board at 100 watts with seedlings at 18" as the plants get bigger I turn the power up and raise the light..
Ok that helps, my custom build using EB series strips is about like your quantum board so that gives me some perspective. I've tried running it at 98 Watt and about 6/8 inches off the tops to 150/180 Watt about 8/12 inches off the tops. I've raised the light to about 14 inches off the tops running at 150W.
 

HitemwiththeHine

Well-Known Member
How old are they? I just started some babies around 36 inches from my 90 watt QB304. That was almost 2 weeks ago, they are moved to around 24 inches now, and they are praying. Actually probably more like 28-30 in.
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
How old are they? I just started some babies around 36 inches from my 90 watt QB304. That was almost 2 weeks ago, they are moved to around 24 inches now, and they are praying. Actually probably more like 28-30 in.
I'm embarrassed to say, they are about 6 weeks old and I'm just stumped. I've never had these issue like this before...I mean I've had heat stress before with hps but other than that nothing this prolonged. And, as I mentioned everything is the same as the last several runs I did except the light.
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Can we upload jpeg pics, I'm trying to upload a pics but it just says there's an error uploading the file on every one of them?
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Seems like chrome doesn't work for me uploading files....used ff. Anyways, here are some pics. I'm just so embarrassed as all my other grows these would be at least 10 times this size and bushy and green. As I mentioned I even bought new nutes as I thought my dynogrow foliage pro went bad or my ph pen went bad even though it's testing fine with it's calibration solution. I bought some advanced nutes ph perfect for this so I could get fresh nutes and eliminate ph issues. It's really the same as it was with the dynogrow. My water coming out of the city tap is 200ppm so I've tried them at 300/400/500 ppm and not much change. The change I really notice is the hps light seems to be their love. In the picture with the light...please note I raised it before I took this pic, it's generally been about 6/8 inch off the top of the plans.
 

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HitemwiththeHine

Well-Known Member
Seems like chrome doesn't work for me uploading files....used ff. Anyways, here are some pics. I'm just so embarrassed as all my other grows these would be at least 10 times this size and bushy and green. As I mentioned I even bought new nutes as I thought my dynogrow foliage pro went bad or my ph pen went bad even though it's testing fine with it's calibration solution. I bought some advanced nutes ph perfect for this so I could get fresh nutes and eliminate ph issues. It's really the same as it was with the dynogrow. My water coming out of the city tap is 200ppm so I've tried them at 300/400/500 ppm and not much change. The change I really notice is the hps light seems to be their love. In the picture with the light...please note I raised it before I took this pic, it's generally been about 6/8 inch off the top of the plans.
Did you try buying a gallon of RO? I had similar problems to you and switched to RO and they went away. Also it seems like 6-8 inches is a bit close, but it's difficult to get a sense of how bright a light really is in a pic.

Is the one on the left leaning away from the light?
 
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Vd22

Well-Known Member
I got my burples like 32 inches from my seedlings and they responded very well.
 

taproot

Well-Known Member
Did you try buying a gallon of RO? I had similar problems to you and switched to RO and they went away. Also it seems like 6-8 inches is a bit close, but it's difficult to get a sense of how bright a light really is in a pic.

Is the one on the left leaning away from the light?
It's not leaning..I had to tie it down a little. As for the RO I here you and may try that but I mean I've been using city tap for years now with awesome success; in fact coming out of the tap at 200 ppm is dam lucky from what I hear others talking about.
 

ANC

Well-Known Member
Seems like chrome doesn't work for me uploading files....used ff. Anyways, here are some pics. I'm just so embarrassed as all my other grows these would be at least 10 times this size and bushy and green. As I mentioned I even bought new nutes as I thought my dynogrow foliage pro went bad or my ph pen went bad even though it's testing fine with it's calibration solution. I bought some advanced nutes ph perfect for this so I could get fresh nutes and eliminate ph issues. It's really the same as it was with the dynogrow. My water coming out of the city tap is 200ppm so I've tried them at 300/400/500 ppm and not much change. The change I really notice is the hps light seems to be their love. In the picture with the light...please note I raised it before I took this pic, it's generally been about 6/8 inch off the top of the plans.
It's a little confusing, once it looks like it has uploaded your file, click on More Options...
 

HitemwiththeHine

Well-Known Member
It's not leaning..I had to tie it down a little. As for the RO I here you and may try that but I mean I've been using city tap for years now with awesome success; in fact coming out of the tap at 200 ppm is dam lucky from what I hear others talking about.
Yeah 200 isn't horrible but I prefer under 100, and my tap is never that low. I just switched to RO because it's cheap enough and I don't have the problems anymore. I had done a few runs on tap too.

Also I'm not declaring this to be your solution, just adding my 2¢.
 

Humple

Well-Known Member
My rooms don't run over 77 using LED's.
Yeah, you and a few others that I've seen here don't seem to have this common issue. Don't know what the difference is, but I sure as shit know a lot of us need those higher temps. Maybe it's the nutes? Maybe your extra monos? Whatever it is, keep rocking.
 

boilingoil

Well-Known Member
Yeah, you and a few others that I've seen here don't seem to have this common issue. Don't know what the difference is, but I sure as shit know a lot of us need those higher temps. Maybe it's the nutes? Maybe your extra monos? Whatever it is, keep rocking.
No, mono's on these.
DSCN0986.JPG
It's a nutrient profile change is the simple answer.
 
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