The plants that grew slow under the vipar, were they the same seeds u got from verdant?
I'll take down the Pre-98 Bubbas this weekend then I'll cut, dry and weight.
These are my Bubbas from clone, which have been slow growing anyway.
Might have to change genetics?
Cut and dried - 70 grams, Pre-98 Bubba cuts
Vipraspectra 600 and LED RED 90 watts actual.
I'm not impressed, I'll give it another try with a faster growing variety
I honestly don't think it's the strain and more so the quantity of light. I wish I could take par readings of those fixtures.
Vipar will grow and the quality will be good but the light output is not there, so you will not get a good yield. They are using very old technology. I would spend a few extra bucks and buy a DIY kit somewhere. If you aren't able to build one and a fixture is out of your budget, I would suggest a 315w CMH over a vipar.
Maybe good in a school dorm room in a shoebox
It is possible that people are just using 2x900s when 2 1200s would be better. I think I'm going to try 3 - 1200w Vipar per tray (3,600 total/4x8) and see what we get... hoping for the best
I would be interested in seeing this as well as how much power those three fixtures are actually consuming from the wall.
Those "900" and "1200" numbers are completely irrelevant when it comes to LEDs -- they're just there for marketing. Those numbers are the reason why LEDs got a bad name in the first place.
The numbers that really matter are PAR measurements at micromoles per second (umols). Any LED worth its money will have specs showing how many umols they are outputting at a given distance as well as per meter squared (PPFD).
One of the most important things when it comes to LED is efficiency. viparspectras might as well be low power HPS lamps, which is how they perform. Sure, less have less heat due to no IR, but the light output is the same or worse -- they are old tech. The reason I say this is because of their efficiency. Efficiency is measured in micromoles per watt or joule used (umol/j). Essentially, how many umols are output per watt consumed at the wall.
The most efficient HPS on the market is the Gavita DE at 1.87umols/j. The top LEDs on the market are running 2.3+ umols/j, which is why people run LED. You get more light per wall-watt....and that costs money.
viparspectras have no measurements at all, and I'd he surprised if a "900w" produced the same PPFD as a 600w HPS.
Here are some links for explanation on all the jargon I just used.
PAR, PPFD, PPF: https://fluence.science/science/par-ppf-ppfd-dli/
Efficiency and efficacy: https://gpnmag.com/article/plant-lighting-efficiency-and-efficacy-μmol·j-¹/
Thanks for the very detailed reply.
I understand what you're saying and while I don't disagree in the least, apparently these lights have been giving some users a real nice return. From the posts with pics (a few are VERY impressive), they seem to be working out, even if the efficiency isn't the greatest.
Interested in some links! Please share if you can.
At that point, isn't it a little counter productive?
True... I guess it depends on how you look at. See in my case, I got 6 1200 Vipars for about $1,400 (total). So it's worth it to try them out for one run and see how it goes. Even if I end up being down $5,8,1k in yield, I can sell the lights and get my money back out of the Vipars and move on.
I'll only post a couple links to a thread on this board, but you can google search and find tons of images and videos from others using Vipars with good to great results... at least IMHO.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=7973553&postcount=68
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=7974045&postcount=72
Those are nice looking buds, but they do seem to be lacking in the weight dept, IMHO. Here is a pic from my own grow with a 640w COB LED fixture in a 4x4. I'm not sure if you can tell a difference, but I believe there is merit to going with higher quality, full spectrum LED. Not trying to bag on your setup at all bro, just here to help and try to educate people away from spending money on these types of fixtures. More power to you if you want to run them and are successful. Good luck! Would love to see your progress if you start a thread. PM it to me!
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Nice work man! That bud looks about as good as it gets.
I'll check out your grow thread(s).
What lights are you running? You're in soil with a drip system?