Color LED Ratio

[FromHolland]

Hello guys. First off, I really love it to see many LED believers and followers all over from the globe! I'm from Holland and here in this country many growers are negative about LED growlights, so I couldn't find many resources here. Since a while I'm interested into LED growing, because in my case HPS pulls way too many electricity and heat.

I have some basic electronic skills and I wanted to buy a LED unit for growing our little green herbs. I can build one unit my self or I can buy one. I'm still doubting for which option I have to choose.

I already have an idea on how to build one unit. I get the leds with a little heatsink (star versions). Mount them on a copper clad board with thermal paste. On the other side I mount heatsinks. I will add a higher platform and mouth this one on the top of the heatsinks and install a couple PC fans. I think this should be enough for the cooling down.

But I see so many different LED units with different color spectrum ratio's. From an another board people said it's better to buy an unit which has one IR led because this causes the plant to make more sticky buds.

So I was wondering guys whats the LED color ratio if you use 7 different colors? I couldn't find many information on this. I found one grow panel which uses the following spectrum and ratio:

Power:
144 x 3W
Colors:
Red 660nm-Red 630nm-Orange 610nm-Blue 460/470nm-UV-IR
Ratio:
112:5:5:20:1:1

As you can see this specs are not complete. I guess they published it this way so people won't use their spectrum.

Which ratio do you guys recommend me?

 

[ellydee]

One of the best lamps available for small grows and it's from Holland;

http://www.bonsaihero.com/ledgrow.html
http://www.ledgrow.eu/Reviews.html

 

[Phaeton]

I have a set of color meters used to measure light from two different LED brands.
One had 2 mmilliwatts per square millimeter of blue, 3 mw/mm of green, and 11 mw/mm of red (HGL)
The other had 7 mw/mm of blue, 1mw/mm of green, and 10 mw/mm of red (Magnum).

In the budroom side by side 448 watts of HGL kicked butt (~10%) over 714 watts of Magnum.

Intensity for both was set at 750 umol per square millimeter per millisecond of total PAR photons. The Magnums had narrower beams and it took two of them at a further distance for the footprint to cover the entire plant with matching intensity.

Both had minor infra red and neither had UV.
Other light types used gave similar results, too much blue slows plant growth.

 

[hempfield]

...
Other light types used gave similar results, too much blue slows plant growth.

By 'growth' did you mean stretch ?

 

[tebos]

Color ratios depend on the LEDs you're using, it doesn't make sense to ask for a ratio in general.

 

[PetFlora]

Ratios

Ratios

I, among others on another forum, have proven that great things happen when only using NW + WW. I have done this with a mix of A19 globes + 4ft LED Tubes

Others have harvested excellent grows using only Cree WW globes

The ratio during the first 1-3 weeks of veg is 40-60% NW (much depends on whether the seeds are Sat dom or Indica dom)

From then on I begin replacing NW with WW, to control stretch

Come by my threads to see this in action

First pic is 3 plants under ~ 115w of leds, only 9.5w is NW
Second pic is close up of undergrowth
Third pic is close up of a different strain (same breeder) under 432w (8 @54w each) of specialty aquarium HOT5 bulbs . As you can see, not a lot of difference. If anything, the LED is outperforming the HOT5


View attachment 237487 View attachment 237488 View attachment 237489

 

[Phaeton]

By 'growth' did you mean stretch ?

No, there is less bud harvested when the plant is done.
When vegging a sativa an overdose of blue in the ratio does control stretch to quite a degree, but in the budroom it lowers the yield as well.
I have found over the years that there is no two areas that will grow identical plants, even in the same city. Possibly the humidity in my rooms never going over 20% ever and spending most of the time at 5% or less is affecting light absorption.
And the response from different strains has an effect also, I grow the same strain for years on end, six plants in fourteen years have been cloned from. This is limited experience in that respect.

I am an autistic savant and growing MJ allows me to play with lights, they are my addiction. At -40 my house is heated by the lights being turned on, windows get opened at -10 F. No car, no plumbing, just a houseful of lasers and lighting mixed with magnets.
I grew poppies through a 200 lb pull ring magnet, thinking of doing it with a MJ plant.

I ramble, been gone a while and new med schedule has me babbling at times.

 

[PetFlora]

Considering all the money you invested in lights, why not a couple hundred in a quality humidifier? Hell with all that wattage maybe all you need is a tub filled with water to evaporate

No, there is less bud harvested when the plant is done.
When vegging a sativa an overdose of blue in the ratio does control stretch to quite a degree, but in the budroom it lowers the yield as well.
I have found over the years that there is no two areas that will grow identical plants, even in the same city. Possibly the humidity in my rooms never going over 20% ever and spending most of the time at 5% or less is affecting light absorption.
And the response from different strains has an effect also, I grow the same strain for years on end, six plants in fourteen years have been cloned from. This is limited experience in that respect.

I am an autistic savant and growing MJ allows me to play with lights, they are my addiction. At -40 my house is heated by the lights being turned on, windows get opened at -10 F. No car, no plumbing, just a houseful of lasers and lighting mixed with magnets.
I grew poppies through a 200 lb pull ring magnet, thinking of doing it with a MJ plant.

I ramble, been gone a while and new med schedule has me babbling at times.

 

[Phaeton]

PetFlora:
I keep it dry on purpose and dilute the nutes and go slightly (5.5) acidic. This gives the plants a really high flow rate.

Wave point has a new T5, oddly enough they call it the "Super Cola". The red portion uses identical phosphors as Zoo Med's Florasun but then skips the orange, yellow, and green, going straight to blue.
It is supposed to make Eel Grass grow like crazy, but with it's name and spectrum it sure sounds designed for us.
I remember your using a lot of the same aquarium tubes I use and just in case you hadn't checked their site in awhile...

 

[PetFlora]

Thanks P. I haven't really kept up with HOT5 bulbs as I am shifting more toward leds. Just not getting the mileage out the T5 tubes. Plus, the LED tubes are doing a hell of a job, but the engines are farther apart than I would like. I bought 2 T8 shop lights and retro-wired for the led tubes.

My first grow with tubes wasn't great due to not having them until 15 day of flower, this time the went in as soon as leafs were big enough to process the additional photons

2x 2 panels (39-70w) are now available: they provide a virtual homogenous light. They (2 WWs) will be my next buy.

I find that ~ 30% 460-550 range very important

In my Bad Boy HOT5 I use 2 UVL Aquasuns in both veg and flower. From ~ 5 weeks on I add ZM Florosuns + CWs on the outsides. Once buds start developing I move the CWs closer to the center, move the ASs to the outsides + add UVL Red Lifes

PetFlora:
I keep it dry on purpose and dilute the nutes and go slightly (5.5) acidic. This gives the plants a really high flow rate.

Wave point has a new T5, oddly enough they call it the "Super Cola". The red portion uses identical phosphors as Zoo Med's Florasun but then skips the orange, yellow, and green, going straight to blue.
It is supposed to make Eel Grass grow like crazy, but with it's name and spectrum it sure sounds designed for us.
I remember your using a lot of the same aquarium tubes I use and just in case you hadn't checked their site in awhile...

 

[Phaeton]

I grew three strains in a row that loved UVB. Smaller plants but worth the trade. The current strain (two years now) has not liked UVB, it still came out smaller but the smoke is not improved. UVB was removed.

Swapping back to a strain that likes UVB and fluorescents are the only affordable source. The veg circle pictures has 16 bulbs with 10% UVB and another 16 bulbs with 2% UVB. This is the veg prep circle, the bud circle has 8 T5 high output 12% UVB bulbs. Two hours by one of these and the skin peeled off the edge of my ear lobe.

If the strain is sensitive to UVB it is worth putting it in the light ratio.
Just finished up the new light circles and am all stoked about the new strain, supposed to be Silver Haze but some question has turned up on confusing the source.

 

[MeanBean]

Is that a Hydro Grow Light?

 

[PetFlora]

The more I test my ideas the more I learn I have been right from the start. If you want sun type results, you begin by combining it's multi-spectrums and let the plant determine what to use. I am getting comparable results using only NW + WW leds (115w) as I am with 432w of hot5s (UVL Aquasuns/Red Lifes + Zoomed Florosuns + Quantum Flower + one Coral Wave. I am expecting to double the led wattage soon with 2 @ 39w panels. I expect this to blows the doors off my hot5

Posted new pics today at 2 mo + 2 days

PetFlora:
I keep it dry on purpose and dilute the nutes and go slightly (5.5) acidic. This gives the plants a really high flow rate.

Wave point has a new T5, oddly enough they call it the "Super Cola". The red portion uses identical phosphors as Zoo Med's Florasun but then skips the orange, yellow, and green, going straight to blue.
It is supposed to make Eel Grass grow like crazy, but with it's name and spectrum it sure sounds designed for us.
I remember your using a lot of the same aquarium tubes I use and just in case you hadn't checked their site in awhile...