About those LEDs implementation phase

[Crispyfried]

So I've set up my LEDs, they're four of the solaroasis bars. I sprouted a variety of the holiest of seeds in one large container under a 200 watt CFL for heat purposes. Once enough of them sprouted, I switched to the LEDs. For the first day or two the LED array was way too high :stoned: , like two feet, so I moved it down to the recommended height of 14 inches. This height is recommended so that the LED light is spread out evenly by the time it reaches the plants, but LEDs can be placed probably as close as you want. After two or three days the seedlings showed some growth, but they were growing slowly. This could be due to low temps, like 65 F and probably lower at night, and some of the seedlings aren't directly under the LEDs. There is one seedling in the middle of the container with six seedlings around it. The center seedling is getting the most LED light, and is at least twice as big as the other seedlings, and the other seedlings are all the same size. So it seems that LED placement is highly critical. A day or so ago I added two 42 watt CFLs on either side of the seedlings to bring the temps up a bit and provide more light, and growth is still about the same as with pure LEDs. No pictures today, but I'll keep this updated. I think that the LEDs are best for bigger plants, making LED placement less critical. Oh yeah, and if somebody can post pics of week old seedlings I could compare their growth rate.

[busteruk7]

ello this is a pic of my week old white rhino seedling hope this helps ya m8 :)
this was grown under a 200w envirolite blue spectrum
cheers all :)

[Crispyfried]

Oh cool then the LEDs seem to be just as good as a 200 watt CFL.

[MonkeyRacket]

Good to hear, the plants do take 2-3 weeks to really get well established. I'm flowering under 6 pro grobars myself. I use 4 bars on the top and 2 side bars. The light penetration is amazing and way better than my 250watt metal halide.

[MonkeyRacket]

If you aren't already doing it, try staggering the bars for more even lighting. Solaroasis recomends a single 60 watt bulb (they didn't specify what kind but I am assuming incandescent) for increased infrared light which is beneficial to tomatoes and I would assume cannabis, it would probably raise your temperatures as well. Temps lower than 60 F will slow growth, try and aim for low to mid 70's.

[Swizzy89304]

2 female Lowryders at day 13 and 15, just to show how fast they grow in 2 days.
They get bigger every hour.

[LIP]

Yeah, they really do grow more every hour!!!

Mines are already on their 3rd set of leaves lol!

[Crispyfried]

They are starting to show some faster growth now, and that awesome that you're using LEDs also. I may add in some more LEDs, and I did stagger the bars but probably not very well.

[Zandor]

Where is the picture of the lights in action?

[MonkeyRacket]

My humble setup: http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?p=731186#post731186

[LIP]

Ahh, well even though it seems to be working for some people, im still gunenr stick to my MH/HPS/CFL set up.

Although, saying that i think i might be going into a few LPS's to.

[Crispyfried]

My setup is basically like MonkeyRackets, but on a smaller scale. I'll post some pics when my plants get a bit bigger.

[Crispyfried]

Update on my grow, plants are growing nicely, still using the LEDs plus one 42 watt CFL. The CFL is lower than the LEDs so the plants are leaning a little bit towards the CFL. I had seven seedlings but just pulled all but the most desirable three, hopefully at least one of those three will be a female, otherwise I'm screwed. I planted a variety of strains from a mixed bag, so I have little idea what the remaining plants are, but two are super short and appear to be indica, maybe Afghans. The third plant is a monsterous one that has Afghan-like leaves. If there are males and females I'm hoping to breed this huge strain with the super short ones and see what their offspring are like.