Just purchased the SF2000 and am looking for some advice on how to use it for my autoflowers - from sprout to chop. The manual just includes a small pic with suggested hanging distances for germination, seedling, veg, and bloom. Nothing said about the dimmer switch. Any insight beyond this would be greatly appreciated. My setup is described below.
-What strain: Sour Diesel Auto ILGM
-Age of plant/what week of flower: 11 weeks and 7 weeks
-Method: apotforpot - soil on bottom, coco on top
-Vessels: 5 gal fabric pots
-PH and TDS of Water, Solution, runoff : consistently 6.5
-PPM/TDS or EC of nutrient solution if applicable: N/A
-Method used to measure PH and TDS: cheap pH pen
-Indoor or Outdoor if indoor, size of grow space: Indoor 2’ x 4’ x 7’
-Light system LED, MH/HPS/CMH/Fluorescents, or other: SF2000
-Actual wattage draw of lights: don;t know
-Current Light Schedule: 20/4
-Temps; 78-80’s day, 70’s night
-Humidity; Day, Night: 40%
-Ventilation system; Fan blowing in, vent hole on top (homemade panda film tent)
-AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier: Humidifier (for winter)
-Co2; No
Hello @SourDC I have a couple sf2000 and I run mine about 50% at 30" unless I see stretch all plants are different and they want more or less light, as my seedlings get to about 6 nodes without moving the light it’s naturally closer because they grew I’ll then turn it up to like 80% making sure they stay 25" or more for the autos as soon as I see em starting to show flower I’ll go to 100% and as they stretch I let them grow to the light again keeping them between 16 n 18 inches for or the remainder of the grow… sometimes you need to back off on light at the end again you have to watch because plants are different more sativa dominate strains like more light to finish where indicas will probably want a little less
I do the autos n photos the same by watching the node spacing I try for more node space in the main stem for better air n light penitration then when the branches are developing I try to get the nodes on the branches as close as possible for better bud production this is done by less light for more space and more light to get em closer… this is for both autos n photos
Lol sorry for the book I’m on my third cup of coffee I babble without coffee… good luck
Great feedback, @MeEasy. The 30" is quite a lot more than what’s recommended. Did you learn this by trial-and-error, or is there a reference somewhere online that yu benefitteed from? Thx!
It’s my personal preference only like I mentioned I like a little more node spacing on my main stem, again my opinion the node spacing helps with light and air penitration and requires less training you don’t have to remove leaves to get light into your lower growth but od course strain genetics plays a big role in how they grow no matter what you do
I just found this pic in my collection it’s the recommendation for the sf2000 from sf it has % and distances… I guess I stay at max recommend until flower then I increase the intensity
So I have the sf2000 light in the 4x4 tent. I roll with the light all the way up the whole time. Not sure if it really matters that much in the long run. Only in the sense I think it just makes them stretch more? I did just start growing indoors and I do autos also.
Hi @Justifed , welcome to the neighborhood. I’ve actually changed my approach on how I run my lights and it seems to be working well. I started running the sf2000 at 100% start to finish and use distance to adjust the intensity. This gets the plants used to the brightness of the lights without the intensity so it’s not a shock later on when it’s time to increase the intensity. My plants haven’t shown any stress since I changed.
With my bigger lights I do it very similar by setting them up as high in the tent as possible until I get to 100% then use distance when it’s time to go. I’m able to run then way closer than before which allows me to get the dli at the canopy up over 50 or 60 which means a foot down into the plant is getting a dli over 30 making for some massive long colas this is my last grow in my 4x4 under a sf7000 running 100% at 14-16" off the canopy
The sf7000 I have is the original design that doesn’t have enough red in the spectrum so I’m not happy with it but I’m working on changing the boards on it
this is my last grow in my 4x4 under a sf7000 running 100% at 14-16" off the canopy