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

OneHitDone

Member
Hey guys and gals - Let me introduce myself as I am new to posting over here but this definitely ain't my first rodeo.
Been growing indoors under lights since the early 2000's. Yes I grow cannabis but that is not the focus of this thread.
I am a HID / Fluorescent type of guy but also dig led and always looking at and trying the new tech.
Honestly led has yet to impress me to the point of converting my whole garden over, especially when it comes to growing leafy food crops such as lettuce. I have a massive thread elsewhere on the web where not 1 led grower has yet to produce what I would consider a QUALITY head of lettuce comparable to an outdoor field grown specimen.

So, what we have going here is another one of my whacky indoor lettuce growing adventures. As those who have followed my thread in the LED section know - lettuce is not the easiest crop to produce under led.
@HydroGrowLED has been kind enough to sponsor several of the members on this site with free gear to run and check out the companies tech and spectrum. I was one of the chosen ones due solely on my pursuit of the ideal led for growing food crops indoors I suppose.
So, what we have here is a 22"x22" tent with a custom fabbed NFT Hydroponic system where 9 lettuce plants will be grown to full term under the HydroGrowLed 42X fixture. Fixture pulls 71.7W from the wall putting this grow at approximately 21.5W per Sq Ft.
Lettuce seeds are germinating in rock wool cubes which will then be moved to the nft channels and fed Master Blend 4-18-38, Calcium Nitrate, and Magnesium Sulphate for the duration of the crop.
I have dialed the fixture in at the recommended height of 16.5" above the seedling tray and will maintain this distance the best I can as the crop grows.
So join along for the ride as I get this show started.

I'll start with a few photo's of the nicely constructed fixture. Nice touch with the filters over the fans!!
 

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OneHitDone

Member
Even thought the light is comprised of mono diodes and none of them are white - the light does not appear "Blurple" at all in person. It actually is even "whiter" than these images project.
 

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OneHitDone

Member
A couple days later and I had a bit of sprout action so this show was on the road
 

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OneHitDone

Member
So here we are 2 days later. I over-seeded a bit so it's time to do some surgery and thin them out.
Test #1 for a light source to grow lettuce is weather or not the seedlings emerge without having a long neck goose stretch to them.
Did the HydroGrow Led pass this test?? ✔︎
 

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OneHitDone

Member
Decided to throw in a cannabis clone just to get a feel for how they grow under these lights until the lettuce is ready to be spread out
 

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OneHitDone

Member
I believe I am about to slide into day 7 on this grow and I must say the plants are looking strong :weed:

I have also added a pair of fresh lettuce seedlings to the lower left, we'll call it plant site #1 just to see how a young sprout will mature out at the corner of the coverage vs dead center under the light.
Brother OneHitDone ain't fucking around and I don't pull no punches - this test is as transparent as it gets :hump:
I have attached a screenshot of a Day 7 plant from the Cornell University Lettuce CEA Handbook for reference:
http://cea.cals.cornell.edu/attachments/Cornell CEA Lettuce Handbook .pdf
 

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Glad to see the post is working now for ya! Hope you don't mind that I moved it to the grow diaries section. I think it will have a better home here.

So far how are you liking the results?
 

OneHitDone

Member
The light is performing beautifully this far but pretty soon it will be go time.
This site? Not quite sure - no "liking" and can we even PM?
 
I get PM's from people, so I know it's possible, but perhaps not before you have a certain number of posts or days online? I'll have to ask. This forum is way slow compared to several years ago when I used to be here. Feels almost like a ghost town. I've looked for the option to PM you but can't find it available. Here they have the "Did you find this post helpful" which is basically a "like", but the UI here leaves much to be desired. I sent an email today asking about the UI and the possibility of updating it to something newer like several other competing forums where traffic is currently high.
 

OneHitDone

Member
I get PM's from people, so I know it's possible, but perhaps not before you have a certain number of posts or days online? I'll have to ask. This forum is way slow compared to several years ago when I used to be here. Feels almost like a ghost town. I've looked for the option to PM you but can't find it available. Here they have the "Did you find this post helpful" which is basically a "like", but the UI here leaves much to be desired. I sent an email today asking about the UI and the possibility of updating it to something newer like several other competing forums where traffic is currently high.

I was thinking the same thing myself - you could fire a cannon through this place :laughing:

Need to get in contact with you, I have some suggestions to help regain a respectful position in the grow industry
 

RoostaPhish

Well-known member
Veteran
You need 50 posts to pm. This should also be in general gardening forum if about lettuce. Looks like a nice setup. And I was checking out these lights the other day once I noticed there threads. There are actual a lot of people on these forums you just have to venture out of your thread.
 

OneHitDone

Member
Day 10 lettuce update: I will post here first as this is where HydroGrowLed can respond....

I am starting to see some of the "leather leaf" type issues most led's exhibit.
I have a strong belief that the light is TOO intense at the current 16.5" recommendation. Probably about 9 mole's a day too intense.
HydroGrowLed - can you give me a proper height to hit just over 200umol center par reading?
Cannabis clone is shying away at this intensity right off the bat too.
 

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OneHitDone

Member
Notice the lack of elongation on the leaves when compared to the Day 10 Cornell Reference
 

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Day 10 lettuce update: I will post here first as this is where HydroGrowLed can respond....

I am starting to see some of the "leather leaf" type issues most led's exhibit.
I have a strong belief that the light is TOO intense at the current 16.5" recommendation. Probably about 9 mole's a day too intense.
HydroGrowLed - can you give me a proper height to hit just over 200umol center par reading?
Cannabis clone is shying away at this intensity right off the bat too.

Thank you for reporting this and showing it in the images.

To get a 200 umol center reading with a near average of the same intensity over the center 1x1, you would hang the light at 24". Perhaps with the reflective mylar of the tent the intensity is simply too bright at 16.5". I know when UW ran the test it was at a 300-400 umol fluence rate, which they balanced with a Li-Cor inside the tent and then later the grow chamber. The lettuce also had thicker leaves under LED, which I suspect is due to the high ratio of red to far red in our product. Perhaps you have other insight?

Go ahead and run the light at 24" for now and see how it impacts the leaves. If you'd like I can send you a PAR meter to dial it in over the next week, just let me know.

In case you hadn't noticed already, it appears you have (or had) spider mites on your clone. There are little white dots all over the surface of the leaf in upper left center.
 

OneHitDone

Member
Thank you for reporting this and showing it in the images.

To get a 200 umol center reading with a near average of the same intensity over the center 1x1, you would hang the light at 24". Perhaps with the reflective mylar of the tent the intensity is simply too bright at 16.5". I know when UW ran the test it was at a 300-400 umol fluence rate, which they balanced with a Li-Cor inside the tent and then later the grow chamber. The lettuce also had thicker leaves under LED, which I suspect is due to the high ratio of red to far red in our product. Perhaps you have other insight?

Go ahead and run the light at 24" for now and see how it impacts the leaves. If you'd like I can send you a PAR meter to dial it in over the next week, just let me know.

In case you hadn't noticed already, it appears you have (or had) spider mites on your clone. There are little white dots all over the surface of the leaf in upper left center.
If you want my honest insight - if running led lighting take DLI, Par, etc. values from sun light and other sources and throw them out the window.
Even each led spectrum seems to invoke a different plant response even at the same "par" reading.
I will raise the light to 24" and observe and repost over the next few days. I also suspect the outer corners will have better coverage at a higher fixture height :yummy:
 
If you want my honest insight - if running led lighting take DLI, Par, etc. values from sun light and other sources and throw them out the window.
Even each led spectrum seems to invoke a different plant response even at the same "par" reading.
I will raise the light to 24" and observe and repost over the next few days. I also suspect the outer corners will have better coverage at a higher fixture height :yummy:

You have a lot of testing now with LEDs and Lettuce, so I value your opinion. Hopefully raising the light will lessen that leathery effect, if not we should try to examine other causes. Your edges will certainly have better coverage at 2'.

But you are right that plants will saturate out at different DLI depending on how efficiently they can utilize a spectrum.
 

OneHitDone

Member
Day 11 and typically the transplant day in commercial production.
I feel root development is sufficient to move to the nft channels so here we go......
You can see the lack of elongation has prevented them from sticking up very far out of the channels but hopefully the recent increase in lighting distance does the trick.
 

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