⇧Brother OneHitDone's HydroGrowLed MEEt's LETTUCE Grow Test⇧

HydroGrowLeds · May 12, 2019

Comparatively our lettuce seems to be at least double the size at Day 11 of what the Cornell handbook says it should be. Our plants are also a much deeper green. Once the intensity is dialed in to the goldilocks zone (maximum growth without the leathery texture) you'll have a fantastic result.

HydroGrowLeds · May 16, 2019

Looking forward to seeing your latest update.

OneHitDone · May 17, 2019

Here we are 5 days later at Day 16
The "Bonsai effect" was kinda set in from too high of an intensity but they are now starting to stretch out a bit.
The last two pics are a close up of the seedlings kept at a lower intensity under the HydroGrow LED and the same seedlings next to Metal Halide "Control"

OneHitDone · May 17, 2019

I may have forgot to mention the varieties being grown here in the thread so here is what we are working with.

HydroGrowLeds · May 17, 2019

OneHitDone said:
Here we are 5 days later at Day 16
The "Bonsai effect" was kinda set in from too high of an intensity but they are now starting to stretch out a bit.
The last two pics are a close up of the seedlings kept at a lower intensity under the HydroGrow LED and the same seedlings next to Metal Halide "Control"

Looks like the leathery texture issue is subsiding on the newer leaves (which appear natural to me in your images). The close-up of the one plant in the NFT channel compared to the seedlings at low intensity, looks to be about the same texture-wise, which likewise seems to match the metal halide. Do you concur?

I just looked over the Cornell study and see we don't get another picture reference until Day 21. I also see they use the same float-type rafts that were being used in a commercial aquaponics facility using our lights to grow lettuce. Is the variety you're growing the same as their handbook?

OneHitDone · May 17, 2019

No, I don't recall what their variety was but it was clearly an even quicker harvesting commercial variety.
That is why "time" is of no concern to me in this first test with your light. I just want to see if I can produce the end product I am looking for with your fixture.

HydroGrowLeds · May 17, 2019

The commercial aquaponics facility I worked with (had about an acre of lettuce/microgreens) was finishing out in about 28-35 days using the floating rafts in a greenhouse with our lights supplementing. I would guess you should be nearly ready in 35 days with the varieties you are growing. They had about 40 umol of supplementation from our LEDs for 18 hours a day (2.6 moles).

OneHitDone · May 19, 2019

Went ahead and potted the second test batch of lower intensity seedlings into some perlite so they can grow out a bit further.
Led plants had to be stuffed between the back hydro channel and the wall of the tent. Not really ideal but didn't want to interfere with the main plants light availability.

Big Perm · May 19, 2019

What's up man. Looking good, lets talk a bit so we can get 50 posts and unlock stuff. This is fucking stupid.

HydroGrowLeds · May 19, 2019

Big Perm said:
What's up man. Looking good, lets talk a bit so we can get 50 posts and unlock stuff. This is fucking stupid.

I wish I had the power to lift the 50 post requirement for you guys. Unfortunately my "mod powers" only apply to our LED sub forum.

OHD - thanks for another update. I get to live vicariously through all of you using our lights to grow. I love following along with your progress and watching the plants develop. I'm happy to see that the change in light height/intensity is resulting in positive changes to unwanted growth characteristics. Hopefully if you do more lettuce runs we can try 250 and then 300 umol to see if where the cut-off is between optimal growth rate and optimal growth characteristics. Obviously 400 umol was a little high. Plants were growing like mad, but the texture wouldn't have made a salad that was pleasant to the palette.

OneHitDone · May 19, 2019

I believe the issue would be trying to dial in on "spot" ppfd vs "Average.
Kinda just gotta determine the "closest" the plant can be to the led modules and stay happy.
It seems like led can cover more area than par meters will say.
The plants just seem to interpret the light differently than light from an hid lamp.
Curios if this 42X would veg a 2x2 with cannabis at 24" to canopy
Once all the lettuce testing is complete I may just have to try that.

HydroGrowLeds · May 20, 2019

The 42X can certainly veg Cannabis, but you'd be better off with two of the 42X models to do so in a 2x2 (as each 42X is only designed for a 1x2 area). You could raise the light up to 24", but the intensity isn't going to grow them as fast as they should. If you want another 42X to play with, just shoot me an email or pm and we can work it out.

You may just want to wait for our new prototypes. I'll be designing the circuit boards tomorrow and will hopefully receive my sample next week. Will give a lot more even spread of PPFD.

Rab.C · May 20, 2019

Great Thread Onehitdone

OneHitDone · May 20, 2019

Rab.C said:
Great Thread Onehitdone

Thanks Rab.C - just keeping it real and as informative as I can

OneHitDone · May 23, 2019

Was on the road part of day 21 so here is Day 22 and comparison between the back of the tent extra low intensity LED and the MH plants

HydroGrowLeds · May 23, 2019

Based on the growth from the low intensity plants, it looks like they could use a smidgen more intensity to keep up with the growth from the MH. Would be awesome to know the umol difference between the two sets of plants.

The leaves on the darker variety of lettuce still look to be a bit thicker than normal, less so on the lighter variety. I'll get another 42X modified this afternoon with a revised spectrum. I'm going to cut the 740nm down by half and the same with the blue by removing the 440nm component.

Bust aside from the thickness, holy crap lol! Way ahead of where day 21 should be.

OneHitDone · May 23, 2019

HydroGrowLeds said:
Based on the growth from the low intensity plants, it looks like they could use a smidgen more intensity to keep up with the growth from the MH. Would be awesome to know the umol difference between the two sets of plants.

The leaves on the darker variety of lettuce still look to be a bit thicker than normal, less so on the lighter variety. I'll get another 42X modified this afternoon with a revised spectrum. I'm going to cut the 740nm down by half and the same with the blue by removing the 440nm component.

Bust aside from the thickness, holy crap lol! Way ahead of where day 21 should be.

View Image

Looking forward to doing some actual "in the garden" tests to solve the Led Lettuce Mystery!

HydroGrowLeds · May 24, 2019

OneHitDone said:
Looking forward to doing some actual "in the garden" tests to solve the Led Lettuce Mystery!

You and I both. I mean it's no secret our spectrum can grow lettuce like freaky fast (which is evidenced by that Day 21 comparison), but it's not just about how big or fast you can grow, it's about the "quality". I use quotes because it's a relative term. For lettuce the quality lies in the taste, texture and feel when eating it, because if you don't like to eat it then who cares how much you have?

So after this post I'm going to start modifying another 42X for you. I'm removing 1 of the 740nm LEDs and the 440nm, and replacing them with a 640 and 660. It's a very minor tweak, but will push the ratios to about 85% red, 10% green and 5% blue. The lower the wavelength in blue, the more it tends to result in thicker leaf tissues. And since lettuce doesn't grow tall, nor is it a shade plant, I feel that our FR ratio might be a little high for it's liking.

I'm excited to finally have someone who is as curious about fine-tuning spectra for various plants as I am. Time to go do some soldering!

OneHitDone · May 24, 2019

HydroGrowLed seems to have a thing with porn......Root porn that is so here we go :underwater:

HydroGrowLeds · May 24, 2019

mmmm, root porn! :dance:

⇧Brother OneHitDone's HydroGrowLed MEEt's LETTUCE Grow Test⇧

Member

Member

Member

Attachments

Member

Attachments

Member

Member

Member

Member

Attachments

Member

Member

Member

Member

Rab.C

Member

Member

Attachments

Member

Member

Member

Member

Attachments

Member