[CamZ]

150-200 par, 70-80% rh, 6.8-7.2 ph, 77-83f. If you can get some micorizea on them as seeds it will significantly improve germination speed and help prevent pathogenic infection.

[CamZ]

VIPARSPECTRA 2024 KS3000 LED Grow Light 320W with Samsung LM301H Osram Diodes 4 Bars Grow Light, 3x3ft Coverage Full Spectrum Uniform PPFD Dimmable Daisy Chain Growing Lamp for Indoor Plants Veg/Bloom https://a.co/d/h24iIn7

Here is the 3×3 version of the Vipar bar light if you are interested. It’s like 340 currently and they are running a coupon deal for like 40 off on Amazon right now. It’s 320w vs 480w, but you’d have to really have things dialed in to be pushing 480w in a 3×3.

The Tarantula is a great light. I have seen a couple reviews on it. Still think the far red is undesirable, but that’s just my opinion. Seems a little overkill, but it’s always nice to have the option to put it in a 4×4 later if you want to, though that puts other lights back in the running. Either way, hmu if you want any more opinions. Good luck with your decision.

 

[CamZ]

Nice writeup. I can tell you put a bunch of work into that.

[CamZ]

Let me just throw in another light for fun. Idk if you are familiar with GreenGoblin510 but these are the lights he uses. They are very good, very large, and very affordable. If you wait for a sale you can get one for like 450. I think they were 386 USD or something stupid low during Black Friday. They make a fold 6 too, but it says they are sold out rn. I don’t even need lights but almost bought one on black Friday because that deal was so unbelievable.

Medic Grow Fold-8 Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights for Indoor Plants – 760W, Full Spectrum, 4X4, 5X5, High PPFD, AC 110-277V

And just because it’s his website and the deal is stellar right now here is Chris’ recommendation.

VIPARSPECTRA 2024 KS5000 LED Grow Light 500W with Samsung LM301H Osram Diodes 6 Bars Grow Light, 4x4ft Coverage Full Spectrum Uniform PPFD Dimmable Daisy Chain Commercial Grow Lamp for Indoor Plants https://a.co/d/exD4xUs

[CamZ]

Keep us updated. Would love to see pictures of a 6 month old plant when it nears the end 🙂

[CamZ]

7 is almost perfect for soil. I would call like 6.7 perfect. Looks like you’re on top of the watering anyway. I’m not used to everyone having those meters or I would have said that lol. I have to add that to my questions. You can lower ph pretty easy by adding elemental sulfur, but it’s fairly strong so you have to be careful with it. I don’t think you have any real issue though. Did this just start on those leaves recently? Sometimes little stuff like that just happens. Your plant looks very healthy. The leaves on the bottom always do that as they age. The little yellow spots usually happen when leaves lay on eachother in my experience.

[CamZ]

It is very difficult to ascertain the percentage of red based on a spectral reading. I had around 17-18% including the percentage in my white diodes. Yeah, switching from hps is good for the wallet.

Percentage far red is important, but it coincides with the amount of blue photons. Blue photons cause plants to stay more compact. It’s more of a balancing game. The sun has around 20% far red, but also has a very high par intensity and a ton of blue photons during the growing season.

Light coverage is more important than spectral makeup to me, to a degree. None of them are bad, 4 was just my prefrence based solely on spectrum. If 1 has a better footprint then pick that one. The current science just says far red is a waste of money. Adding extra promotes the opposite of what growers want indoors.

Check these videos out if you want to learn more. Keep in mind the last video was based on preliminary research. More expressive of the Emmerson effect than the usefulness of far red. Dr. Bugbee has said himself that it is more efficient to replace those diodes with white diodes.

[CamZ]

The photosynthetic “weight” of red photons is high, but they aren’t as electrically efficient as blue leds. I believe it’s something like 3 to 1 red to blue, in terms of photon production per watt anyway.

[CamZ]

Far red produces a plant response that makes the plant think it is under a canopy and being blocked from sunlight. It causes the plant to produce hormones that make it stretch to reach the light. You get long internodal distance and stretchy plants. I build my own lights and learned this the hard way. Beyond far red is ir, which we feel only as heat. Heat+leds=shorter life and wasted energy. The heat you feel from a light fixture is electrical inefficiency, which= your $.

The phosphor coating on blue leds makes them produce white light and you get a very good balance by mixing something like 3000 Kelvin and 5000 Kelvin leds and then adding 660nm reds because they are very photosynthetically and somewhat electrically efficient. Phosphor coated blues already produce enough far red inherently.

[CamZ]

No problem. I imagine with 2 more months it will reach the light just fine lol. Glad your grow is going well. Look forward to seeing you in the responses. Not to many people answering questions on here and the help is always appreciated.

[CamZ]

Welcome! I’m not entirely sure I understand your question. It sounds like you are creating tons of tops with all the LST. The plant splits it’s hormone development once the “true top” is lost. If you continue with LST it will keep growing horizontal until you stop. The hormone tells the tallest part of the plant that it needs to reach as high as it can. More tops of equal height=less of that hormone for each top because the plant can only biologically produce a certain amount.

It really just sounds like a genetic trait of that strain. Were you expecting it to grow taller based on breeder information?

[CamZ]

I like the last one. Number 1 has too much far red. 3 looks to have a similar amount, plus I can see a UV spike, which has been identified as bad/wasteful for leds.

2 looks like a very red heavy spectrum. Not terrible, but not my favorite.

4 looks the most balanced and complete. More red than blue and a decent amount of green. Should provide dense growth and have good penetration.

[CamZ]

Just looks like your overwatering a little bit. Try waiting a little longer between waterings.

[CamZ]

If the issue is actually phosphorus that might help. I don’t think it is potassium, but there is no guarantee it is caused by that 100%.  If we are wrong and you add it you could make the issue worse by creating a further imbalance. If you decide to add it in, be sure to mix it at a half or possibly quarter dose. Boosters are meant to be added in to shock the plant into producing more growth with nutrient stress. They should really only be used 1 or 2 times and it’s generally a feed followed by plain water with the next watering. As you can imagine, it’s very easy to burn your plants with them. Boosters are normally 100% bioavalible.

If you mix at 1/2 or even 1/4 strength and water it in you should notice the issue stopping. If it stops then that was your problem. Sorry I can’t give you a concrete answer. I’m just not entirely positive, though it could be an irregular phosphorus deficiency. Potassium will generally cause more yellowing. Phosphorus causes brown spots, but that pattern seems off.

[CamZ]

What I can tell you for certain is that you’ll need to find something with a percentage of immediatly avaliable p and k if you choose an organic booster. The way you can determine that is by looking at its solulability. Aside from organic inputs, there are a myriad of pk boosters in the synthetic range. IMO none of them are anything crazy. I would just try and find a small amount of jacks 0-12-26 since it’s just p and k. Again, I would wait for Chris before making any decisions.

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