LED light option

It covers 1m x 1.2M

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Most white LEDs don’t have a very good spectrum. Just blue with a yellow phosphor. They look okay to humans but not very good for plants. Recent COBs have better phosphors so they have more red, But if they get some good sunlight, this does not matter.

How much power are you running in your 3 watt LEDs? Their efficiency goes way up when you run them at 1/2 to 1/4 power.

You should look into building a light with cobs. You can get good coverage out of them, and easy enough to put together.

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Well I have 4 leds running in series from a 2amp power supply then back to a terminal then off to another 4 leds & so on, I run 35 off each power supply, I have 2 power supplies running scattered lights just in case 1 fails so I can still run the other half until I fix it. I did see a youtube video of a guy growing 2 tomato plant in separate small cupboards, 1 with blue red, the other with white only. Cant find the link. He found the blue red grow had same growth but had collapsed down onto itself & the leaves were soft like the stalk, however the white light was much stronger & grew well?? so I changed my lights to mostly white

I think Ill be ok as long as I keep sun hours up, thanks I will look into that option

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I have read a paper published in a scientific journal comparing red/blue LEDs to white and they found the white did better. It may be that blue LEDs and red LEDs each have a very narrow bandwidth, and they miss some wavelength(s) important to the plants. That’s probably why the commercial light manufacturers have started including some other colors and white.

COBs use a custom mixture of phosphors to get a much broader spectrum than monochromatic red. And they seem to be working very well for me. I have about 46 watts per square foot of 5000 K and 3500 K and they vegged very fast and are blooming like crazy.

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Sounds like you have it covered, did you make them or off the shelf, what
brand have you got?

Still have not got an answer on what causes this problem with many on the
leaves? Ph is 6.7, tds about 450, some fungus gnats but under control, I
think. just nute with sweed concentrate, any ideas?

Sorry photo

As you can see from previous shot that the plants look quite healthy, just going into flower Im a bit worried that it might effect the yield

My lights are all DIY based on Vero29 COBs and DIY drivers. I am somewhat of an electronics geek. If interested you can look at my DIY Cheap Drivers thread.

Some calmag would probably fix that. Well, not fix damaged leaves. But it should straighten out new growth.

Totally agree , I am loving the switch over to cobs

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Im a wanna be electronic geek😎, would love to have a look, thanks.
Any thoughts on adding earth worms to the mix? We have heaps here in Aus

Great. Ill pop down and get some, whatever is the best nute for the
flowering stage, I asked a question regarding earth worms in the mix, any
comment?

That’s the million dollar question lol.

I think you’d be better off working with earth worm castings than the actual worms. But I’m not real big on the different soil amendments and how to use them sorry.

As far as what to buy, there’s hundreds of options all of which will work. Most companies offer a two or three part nutrient solution that you mix at different ratios and are close to complete. I think from there, calmag and silica are probably the most common supplements. But needing them depends a lot on what’s in the growing medium you start with, and how much photosynthetic energy your plants are producing. From there, there are pk boosters, sweeteners, beneficial bacteria, and lots of other products available too.

Good call, Ill throw in some molasses as well.

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There is a whole hobby of worm farming. My neighbor feeds his worms kitchen waste and brews “worm tea” from the run-off. Says his plants (not cannabis) love it.

I always throw stray earth worms into my garden pots, not my MJ. I only grow indoors, but if I did grow on my patio I would put worms in their pots too. The worms not only provide their poo, but also airate the soil. I think it’s a great idea and I don’t see how it could hurt.

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Thanks guys, I originally made an enquiry on a physics site about the use
of ultrasonics to shake up the soil to aerate, the result was just the
opposite, it would compact it.
That’s when I thought I’m getting too far from nature again, then worms
sprang to mind.

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