Lighting Grow From Underneath?

[LLLou2]

The light from below will compensate for the upper branches blocking light to the lower branches, so I think it is a good thing , BUT, you need to be sure that the Kelvin output of the bulb is close to 2700k. otherwise you are just wasting electricity. Bright does not = correct color spectrum, and the plant wants it's light in a certain spectrum of the color range,,,,,,just like a woman.:jointsmile::jointsmile:

[Faddenator]

The light from below will compensate for the upper branches blocking light to the lower branches, so I think it is a good thing , BUT, you need to be sure that the Kelvin output of the bulb is close to 2700k. otherwise you are just wasting electricity. Bright does not = correct color spectrum, and the plant wants it's light in a certain spectrum of the color range,,,,,,just like a woman.:jointsmile::jointsmile:

That's only true for flowering, and it's not 100% essential. Just helps the buds thicken up since the the extra red in the spectrum promotes the creation of chloropyhll B better than blue.

I think Side lighting is very important when not using HID lighting. Even then it can help fill light gaps. It may help a LITTLE to have it pointing at the underside of the leaves, but moving it to the side would undoubtedly be more beneficial.

[ShastaCoMan]

they are the correct color spectrum, the box shows they are 75-85% of natural sunlights color range, so they should work PDG

[usda101]

I don't think it's the underside of the leaves that anyone is worried about....it's the underside of the buds when they are in flower! Light being sent from all angles is going to produce better buds....that's why people use mylar or other reflective materials to help reflect as much light onto the plant as possible! :jointsmile:

exactly

[ShastaCoMan]

i picked up a couple of these off of amazon to have as backups, just in case something goes out during indoor season

Amazon.com: 400 Watt Electronic Switchable Ballast Hydroponic Grow Lamp System with Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium HPS Light Bulbs, Cord + Hanger, GYO2002: Patio, Lawn & Garden

they come with an auto-switchable digital ballast, reflector and hangars, 1 400W HPS and 1 400W MH bulbs. ill tell you what, for the money what a setup! very basic, but shit, it even has a 2 year waranty. the reflector design is OK i guess, but shit, you couldnt build a light setup and buy two bulbs for what this whole setup costs. PERFECT size also for closet grows ( i veg my clones in the closet and move them out to the grow room when they get about 12"). great value on this set guys. basic and inexpensive, but WELL worth the money. if you need a primary or backup grow light, this is the one to get. comes ready to go. just attach the hangers, put in the bulb you want to use, plug it in and go..im gonna post this out of this thread to, just in case anyones interested.

[khyberkitsune]

The way chlorophyll works, usable light passes through one-way. Lighting from the underside is wasteful, you're better off putting the light inside the canopy, not underneath it.

If you had a centrifuge and could make a suspension of chlorophyll in a test tube, then had an incandescent light to observe the tube, you'll see two different things depending on the orientation of tube and light relative to you. If you held the tube in front of you and had a light next to you, you would see the tube as green. Now, take that light, put the tube between the light and your field of vison, suddenly you're seeing red. This is a characteristic of aggregate chlorophyll. Now the little bit of reflecting light from the undersides of the leaves hitting the tops of other leaves helps, yes, but otherwise quite a bit of light is being wasted.

I've tested this many times in my younger days. Underside lighting is rather wasteful, side or inside lighting is much better.

[demoreal]

I did not read the responses but I am sure they were along the lines of my opinion.
Undersides is wast full, Side lighting is much more efficient.
:jointsmile: