New Grower 1st time, growing 3 types of autoflower

[TWH21]

Nope we don't do that here, nor flame people. Everyone has to learn somewhere... and Muddy is a very well known seasoned grower. I would take his advice any day. I am sure if you use the information on this site you will be able to produce some nice looking female plants.

lol well thats good, yea ive been doing allot of reading up. you guys just amaze me all these grows!! and they look so good! props props! now my lighting is 4 26W good enough or should i go bigger?

---------- Post added 10-06-2011 at 07:16 AM ----------

No worries, we welcome new growers here. You'll find there are many people here who are more than willing to help anyone who shows interest and is willing to listen to the advice given. That's why I moved your thread to the New Growers forum. Joe Dirt and I mod this forum and will be here to give you any help you need.

well thanks man! :clap:. I promise you guys a good grow :buds:

 

[Hermitian]

lol well thats good, yea ive been doing allot of reading up. you guys just amaze me all these grows!! and they look so good! props props! now my lighting is 4 26W good enough or should i go bigger?

If you are using overhead lights, then you want between 50 Watts (minimum) and 75 Watts (maximum) of plant spectrum output per square foot of "floor" space.

I have qualified this with the phrase "plant spectrum output" because the Wattage rating on bulbs is for the electrical power they use, not the amount they emit. HPS bulbs are notoriously inefficient, they output a lot of heat compared to useable light, although the higher the power rating the more efficient. For example, A 600W HPS yields about 400W light + 200W heat, but a 900W yields about 750W. Notice with HPS you can end up paying twice for electricity if the heat generation causes you to also run fans and air conditioning. In contrast, the T5 High-Output Full Spectrum (6500 Kelvin) bulbs made by Philips or GE are 92% power efficient. It does take a lot of T5 HO bulbs to get 75 Watts per square foot, but it is worth the effort. Plants prefer intense diffuse light to directed semi-coherent light. The latter is what you get with HPS.

 

[Nelson]

Interesting light assessment. Different lighting types register different effeciencies. Nothing I have ever read suggests that there is anything but bulbs that convert more than 1% of the watts into light the rest is all heat. Maybe you should start giving your effeciencies in foot candles or even better in PAR units at different heights. Penetration is also important so maybe it should be measured with the plant canopy in place.

Maybe I am out to lunch here but others can weigh in and straighten me out.

 

[TWH21]

If you are using overhead lights, then you want between 50 Watts (minimum) and 75 Watts (maximum) of plant spectrum output per square foot of "floor" space.

I have qualified this with the phrase "plant spectrum output" because the Wattage rating on bulbs is for the electrical power they use, not the amount they emit. HPS bulbs are notoriously inefficient, they output a lot of heat compared to useable light, although the higher the power rating the more efficient. For example, A 600W HPS yields about 400W light + 200W heat, but a 900W yields about 750W. Notice with HPS you can end up paying twice for electricity if the heat generation causes you to also run fans and air conditioning. In contrast, the T5 High-Output Full Spectrum (6500 Kelvin) bulbs made by Philips or GE are 92% power efficient. It does take a lot of T5 HO bulbs to get 75 Watts per square foot, but it is worth the effort. Plants prefer intense diffuse light to directed semi-coherent light. The latter is what you get with HPS.

very nice info lol that helps allot! ill have to check out some

---------- Post added 10-06-2011 at 07:44 AM ----------

Interesting light assessment. Different lighting types register different effeciencies. Nothing I have ever read suggests that there is anything but bulbs that convert more than 1% of the watts into light the rest is all heat. Maybe you should start giving your effeciencies in foot candles or even better in PAR units at different heights. Penetration is also important so maybe it should be measured with the plant canopy in place.

Maybe I am out to lunch here but others can weigh in and straighten me out.

well ill pick up all the stuff tomorrow and post a pick of how its set up, now what are these foot candles and PAR units you speak of?

 

[agito]

If you are using overhead lights, then you want between 50 Watts (minimum) and 75 Watts (maximum) of plant spectrum output per square foot of "floor" space.

I have qualified this with the phrase "plant spectrum output" because the Wattage rating on bulbs is for the electrical power they use, not the amount they emit. HPS bulbs are notoriously inefficient, they output a lot of heat compared to useable light, although the higher the power rating the more efficient. For example, A 600W HPS yields about 400W light + 200W heat, but a 900W yields about 750W. Notice with HPS you can end up paying twice for electricity if the heat generation causes you to also run fans and air conditioning. In contrast, the T5 High-Output Full Spectrum (6500 Kelvin) bulbs made by Philips or GE are 92% power efficient. It does take a lot of T5 HO bulbs to get 75 Watts per square foot, but it is worth the effort. Plants prefer intense diffuse light to directed semi-coherent light. The latter is what you get with HPS.

I thought hps has the highest lumen per watt around 140 compared to 90 on t5's and considering hps an t5's are not listed in par watts i do not have a clue how you came up with your above figures even though i do beleive t5's have a higher par ratio compared to hps but hps has over 50% lumens to begin with
so in short hps convert more light per watt so its nothing to do with the heat from a t5 and does a 900w hps exist?

this is a complete 6 and 2x3's conversation as theres no right answer to be had and the above is a point of view

back to the post i have grown under 125w cf and i could of used more light so if temps are permiting add more for flower if you can

 

[TWH21]

I thought hps has the highest lumen per watt around 140 compared to 90 on t5's and considering hps an t5's are not listed in par watts i do not have a clue how you came up with your above figures even though i do beleive t5's have a higher par ratio compared to hps but hps has over 50% lumens to begin with
so in short hps convert more light per watt so its nothing to do with the heat from a t5 and does a 900w hps exist?

this is a complete 6 and 2x3's conversation as theres no right answer to be had and the above is a point of view

back to the post i have grown under 125w cf and i could of used more light so if temps are permiting add more for flower if you can

ok cause as of right now im going to use 200W cf at the least just for one plant i mean i can bump it up to 300W actually i might just do that lol :thumbs:

 

[agito]

200w sounds good long as your above the 125w i used I think you could do 2-3 under 300w in that space

 

[TWH21]

200w sounds good long as your above the 125w i used I think you could do 2-3 under 300w in that space

haha NICE you just made my day, i dont want to rush anything so we will see about throwing the other two in their. the only thing that worries me is big buddha gets pretty big doesnt it? i cant find anyone who has grown it on here before

 

[flwr]

Happy growing and welcome!

I am a newbie grower who is having quite a few setbacks myself. All of the MG Organic soils (potting and garden) have slow release ferts. Not sure on the Potting but the Garden Soil is full of bark. Personally, I wouldn't use it again for my MJ. Also, pH is important! I didn't have the $$$ to fork out for better soil and a pH meter. I didn't really want to do the hour drive to a hydro shop either. Now I am paying the price with my expensive seeds. I will be using organic soil from a hydro store next grow. Probably something not as expensive as OF maybe Roots etc. Also, I ordered a pH meter from ebay for $13-14. Not top of the line, but others use it on this site. It gets the job done. You might be able to use the MG soils if you get the pH under control.

 

[Nelson]

A light source is usually measured in Lumens but as the light source is used various measurements as how much of the light being produced is actually directed onto the plants from a certain distance. The unit that is used to measure that is a foot candle. When you are using light for Photsynthetic Active Radiation that is how much of the light actually helpa a plant grow the foot candle is given in PAR units. The infra red spectrum and UV spectrum are filtered out and the remaining part is called PAR units. Most of the heat is in the infra red spectrum from most lights.
When you filter it out you can see the effeciency really dives down. The other effect is the fact that light in the longer wave lengths such as infra red has a much better penetrating affect and makes it to the bottom of the plant easier than the higher spectrums. The full spectrum light is highest at the top of the plant where it is of course higher in intensity because it is closer to the light source but also because the higher spectrums are not filtered by the folliage. To measure intensity you must use a PAR meter to get accurate readings of the usefull light spectrum. It is usually measured top of plant, mid plant and ground level.

I don't have a PAR meter cause they are expensive. I end up useing an old 35mm. camera light meter and my readings are only good for comparison readings between different types of light. These readings are not very useful for any real experimenting and reading your results or doing any real science on the different light bands. For that you not only need a PAR meter but a PAR meter with an accurate set of filters to measure each color band. We are talking several thousnd dollars for this kind of meter. Google both Foot candle meter and PAR meter on google and read until your head spins. I have a Physics degree and I have already done all this stuff. I remember a lot of it. Good reading my buddies.

very nice info lol that helps allot! ill have to check out some

---------- Post added 10-06-2011 at 07:44 AM ----------


well ill pick up all the stuff tomorrow and post a pick of how its set up, now what are these foot candles and PAR units you speak of?