Answered How much and how close? LED/Seedlings

jpcyan2

jpcyan2

In Bloom
Having never used LED's to start seedlings, I'm unsure how much wattage and what distance is suggested for the first few weeks?

I'm using Daylight spectrum 5000k, 60W equivalent, medium base, standard replacement bulbs with the plastic domes removed. Rated at 800 lumens each.
Currently have 2 bulbs about 12" inches above the starter tray. I can run as many as 6 bulbs with the fixtures and space available.
The tray is 1/3 smaller than a standard seedling flat.
I know there will be a learning curve switching from CFL to LED and appreciate all the info and advice I've already gathered from y'all.

So.. How many bulbs and what distance would you use?

1- 42220.jpg
 
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NotAquaMan

NotAquaMan

In Bloom
Download "light meter" by "my mobile tools dev" it's a lux meter. It's not the best meter as it's simply an app and lux is not the best measurement to use but it will get ya dam close to the ideal intensity as long as your not using blurples since some of that light falls outside the spectrum measured.

Seedlings about 5k, slowly increased every few days by about 3-5k increments.

Early veg 20kish

Late veg 40kish

50-75k flower
 
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Deebs

Deebs

The Sentient Naturewalker
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NotAquaMan said:
Download "light meter" by "my mobile tools dev" it's a lux meter. It's not the best meter as it's simply an app and lux is not the best measurement to use but it will get ya dam close to the ideal intensity as long as your not using blurples since some of that light falls outside the spectrum measured.

Seedlings about 5k, slowly increased every few days by about 3-5k increments.

Early veg 20kish

Late veg 40kish

50-75k flower
Click to expand...
Awesome man! I have been wanting to grab something like this. Thx~
 
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jpcyan2

jpcyan2

In Bloom
Heh, I don't own a smartphone.. I do have an el cheapo light meter that I have figured out pretty well by years of testing CFL in various position, fixtures and hood setups. I know what works and what the readings should indicate with those. Maybe I can use that as a baseline.

The tent is just shy of 3x3 and 5ft tall. Normally the top is used for clones in a bubbler and the bottom for Mothers. Sometimes for vegging.
The lower part of tent uses an 8 bulb, 2ft T-5, which is down to 2 working bulbs.
Looking forward to replacing that with a real LED board ;)?:D
The flower room has a 4x4 and a 2x4 tray with a 1K Super ES HPS on a rail/mover.
Replacing that with an LED seems like it might be pretty expensive up front. I want some experience and test time in on the LED's before I go there.

Good stuff and answers, thanks!
 
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JL2G

JL2G

Jesse Loves 2 Grow
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Q-36 Space Modulator
I have 5 of them in a row in my 1'x3' seed starter box. Three 5000k, and two 3000k ones 60w each, no domes on them either.
For seedlings I have them about 10"-12" off the tops of the soil.
As they pop and get bigger i let them keep going up and to about 4" away before I start moving it up. I have them attached to that shelf.
20191203_184741.jpg
They can actually be within an inch or two with not burning in my experience.
I move them up for better light spread at four inches distance though.

I've done large arrays as well.
This was used in my veg room but it's been flowered under as well.
See how close they can get to a full blown plant. Almost touching before any burn.
20191012_065756.jpg
My growmie is using it now since I upgraded last year for my veg room. Gave him the bro deal of free. Lol.
 
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NotAquaMan

NotAquaMan

In Bloom
JL2G said:
I have 5 of them in a row in my 1'x3' seed starter box. Three 5000k, and two 3000k ones 60w each, no domes on them either.
For seedlings I have them about 10"-12" off the tops of the soil.
As they pop and get bigger i let them keep going up and to about 4" away before I start moving it up. I have them attached to that shelf.
View attachment 8320
They can actually be within an inch or two with not burning in my experience.
I move them up for better light spread at four inches distance though.

I've done large arrays as well.
This was used in my veg room but it's been flowered under as well.
See how close they can get to a full blown plant. Almost touching before any burn.
View attachment 8321
My growmie is using it now since I upgraded last year for my veg room. Gave him the bro deal of free. Lol.
Click to expand...
Beautiful ?
 
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spyralout

spyralout

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JL2G said:
I have 5 of them in a row in my 1'x3' seed starter box. Three 5000k, and two 3000k ones 60w each, no domes on them either.
For seedlings I have them about 10"-12" off the tops of the soil.
As they pop and get bigger i let them keep going up and to about 4" away before I start moving it up. I have them attached to that shelf.
View attachment 8320
They can actually be within an inch or two with not burning in my experience.
I move them up for better light spread at four inches distance though.

I've done large arrays as well.
This was used in my veg room but it's been flowered under as well.
See how close they can get to a full blown plant. Almost touching before any burn.
View attachment 8321
My growmie is using it now since I upgraded last year for my veg room. Gave him the bro deal of free. Lol.
Click to expand...
OG Kitchen Sink light. Where's Mr. Nicholson? Maybe a cameo appearance one day.
 
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JL2G

JL2G

Jesse Loves 2 Grow
Staff member
Moderator
Q-36 Space Modulator
Caddis said:
Do you use these transitioning from
T-5 to LED grow lights or do you start seedlings under the led bulbs?
Click to expand...
Wasn't sure if you were asking me but I'll answer anyways. Lol. ???
I've been led from the get go. No t 5 ever.
The small box was my seed starter, and or clone box from when I only had one room.
Used pretty much constant. Lol.
Does an amazing job for super dirt cheap.
The small box was about $20 in materials to make. 5 bulbs, 50 real watts.
The big light array was about $100. 40 bulbs, about 400 real watts.
 
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JL2G

JL2G

Jesse Loves 2 Grow
Staff member
Moderator
Q-36 Space Modulator
spyralout said:
I never noticed the bedazzled part LMAOOOOOOOO???
Click to expand...
It's a picture of a painting on the wall at one of the local restaurants I used to frequent before covid shit happened.
Jack is a bad ass actor, one of my favorites from the days. That painting too just has his look.
To me it says, " I'm a bad ass, even with bed head and bedazzled. You think I give a fuck? " Lmfao.
 
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spyralout

spyralout

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The spectrum/intensity thing sounds like an "it'll get the job done" vs "precision crafted" type of deal. Like if you had a tiny tack, and you whacked it with a sledgehammer, it would get the job done all smashed up n terrible looking, but with a smaller ball peen hammer it drives it in more precisely.
 
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NotAquaMan

NotAquaMan

In Bloom
spyralout said:
The spectrum/intensity thing sounds like an "it'll get the job done" vs "precision crafted" type of deal. Like if you had a tiny tack, and you whacked it with a sledgehammer, it would get the job done all smashed up n terrible looking, but with a smaller ball peen hammer it drives it in more precisely.
Click to expand...
No different then MH vs HPS. Spectrum actually has more to do with plant structure. Intensity is the amount of photons and that's what the plants use photo synthesize of course there are different receptors for different spectrums and red and blue being the most efficient but contrary to old school thinking green plays a decent roll as does UV and IR
 
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TerpyTyrone

TerpyTyrone

In Bloom
NotAquaMan said:
Download "light meter" by "my mobile tools dev" it's a lux meter. It's not the best meter as it's simply an app and lux is not the best measurement to use but it will get ya dam close to the ideal intensity as long as your not using blurples since some of that light falls outside the spectrum measured.

Seedlings about 5k, slowly increased every few days by about 3-5k increments.

Early veg 20kish

Late veg 40kish

50-75k flower
Click to expand...
Very cool. I forgot about this app. Heres my results from 250 watt of qb132 @ 12" 3000k spectrum. I have planta in veg right now I'm curious to see what its at. They look happy. Same setup 4000k 1587776019050460790913811301619.jpg
46,609. The screenshot wouldnt load
 
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