[NeWcS]

I am about 8 or so grows in so I know what I am doing. In the past I have always used leds and cfls. My last couple grows have been with just straight led's (2x90w And 240w), This grow and the grow before didn't really take off like grows in the past. The plants are staying really small and growing at a soil like rate (I'm in dwc).

ph 5.8-6
ppm 300-400

I really am not sure what is going on with my plants. I just can't figure it out. I turned off the 2 90w ufos and put my blackstar to the top of my tent. I hope to see some stretch.

[BrownThumb]

I don't know about the too close thing. I think it depends on the light and wattage of the light. I am running a Blackstar 180 as a side light and have that maybe 5" from plants. I have a larger LED that I am not supposed to use any closer than 24" per the manufacturer, but I have been running it as close as 16-18" and growth has been excellent for dirt. I mean we have all heard about light bleaching by now, but.... I would throw those UFO's back in the mix, but I also have no clue why your rate has slowed, unless you're head tripping and it's really not slowed down as much as you think. I do that all the time...

[vukman]

Heya..........the 'new' school of thought and this is being tested and proven over and over again, is that no matter how good the LED's are, plants still need full spectrum light to grow. That is the reason you're grows with the CFL's were 'better' than just the LED's alone.

The red spectrum in the LED's are great for flowering/budding/fruiting but for veg growth, it's the blues which control that. If you look at the results that medmaker420 is having with the blue spectrum in veg, you'll see what I mean.

Also, more and more of the DIY group and the manufacturers are using white light in their units as well....

This is still a very developing and growing field and there still remains a lot to be learned. I can only hope that sometime soon, down the road, a light is developed which will always encompass white light whether WW, CW or NW and then a broader, fuller blue spectrum while in a veg state and a fuller red spectrum while in flower.

Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of 'white' light..........


Good Luck
As always, just my opinion..

[PetFlora]

The higher the wattage and/or the tighter the lens angle, the farther away you have to keep the light. I am using 1 watt panel to 3-7.5w screw bulbs (made with 1 w diodes, and keep ~ 8-10" above canopy

[NeWcS]

@Vukman So based on what you're saying; my slow growth CAN infact be due to the lack of blue/white in my lights?

[vukman]

Originally Posted by NeWcS

@Vukman So based on what you're saying; my slow growth CAN infact be due to the lack of blue/white in my lights?

Yes, it can be but then again, it can be caused be a wide variety of other issues as well.
Just dealing with the issue of lighting, yes, it is known that reds, even though they promote foliage development and fruiting can also stunt vertical growth. That's great if you want nodes which are half inch apart (exaggerated) but I think you get my point.
I am not sure in whose thread this topic is discussed.

It could be either PetFlora, tenthirty or rives (if I forgot anyone who is running a DIY thread, my apologies) but regardless, I think the topic of red stunting vertical growth is mentioned in one of them.

Then, an excellent thread which is run on another site touches upon almost everything to do with light, spectra, wave length.etc..etc.. but just a fair warning.. It does call for a very high and clear understanding of basic light, physics and photosynthesis or else you'll get lost really fast.. Made my head spin the first few times I went through it but it is a must read....

Read This

It is long and technical but very very informative

Good Luck

[NeWcS]

Well I went ahead and added some cfl's to my tent. I hope it works out. If not I am completely at a loss.

[PetFlora]

Day light cfls I hope. Cool whites would be good too, but I am not aware of cw cfls

[NeWcS]

yep. 6500k

[NeWcS]

ok so I added some cfls and am running them and the two ufo's to see if I can get these bitches to stretch.