Lighting Cobshop.net info, questions and answers

[Jraven]

Thanks for that...yep I never was quite sure where to put them at first but a week or two of experience and I feel a little closer to having my space dialed in.

Everyone seems to hang them a different heights. But 20 inches could be too close for seedlings. I have 5 plants at 17 days old and one autocob per plant at 28 inches as well. that seems to be good at this point of their lives. I lower to 20 later on. your plants are looking good.

 

[BigSm0]

I just left my room. Some plants grew quite a lot in the 14 hours I was away. The lights got close and could tell the leaves didn’t like it. Some were under 20” away and the plants are about 1-2 weeks from preflower stage.

 

[lunarman]

I just left my room. Some plants grew quite a lot in the 14 hours I was away. The lights got close and could tell the leaves didn’t like it. Some were under 20” away and the plants are about 1-2 weeks from preflower stage.

If you did a time lapse on those 14 hours the video would be over in a second, but you'd see amazing growth.

That's autocobs for ya Bigsm0.......

 

[Green Goblin]

So far from trial and error as far as dialing in lighting height with the auto cobs, for me anyway, I start off at 35-36" or so then by flower end up at about 24-26" give or take a little ( no reflectors ).

 

[HemiSync]

I don’t know folks. I think more testing is required on this light height thing. I started up my 2x2x3’ tent with seedlings and clones for another of my projects and have had an AutoCob over them since before they came above ground. What’s amazing is that the fabric pots are 8 inches tall and the highest I could get the cob was still about 6 inches from the top, so we are losing 14 inches out of 36 available leaving a mere 22 inches of space between the pots and the cob. Here are a few pics of how they have been doing so far. The really screwed up looking clones are not because of the light but because they came from flowering girls and are in the process of reversing back to veg.
The last pic of the girls in the tent was taken right before I started traveling this week so will be interesting to see if the survive a week under the cob will growing into it.

They seem to be doing good so far and the tallest is now only 17 inches from the AutoCob.

Thought I'd update here, the plants did indeed fatten up in the second week. They seem real happy to me! The lights have been at @ 20"
View attachment 904154
Here's a DP Blueberry. I have since raised the lights to 28" (actually just hours ago) and the leaves have already flattened out.
.View attachment 904160

Everyone seems to hang them a different heights. But 20 inches could be too close for seedlings. I have 5 plants at 17 days old and one autocob per plant at 28 inches as well. that seems to be good at this point of their lives. I lower to 20 later on. your plants are looking good.

I just left my room. Some plants grew quite a lot in the 14 hours I was away. The lights got close and could tell the leaves didn’t like it. Some were under 20” away and the plants are about 1-2 weeks from preflower stage.

So far from trial and error as far as dialing in lighting height with the auto cobs, for me anyway, I start off at 35-36" or so then by flower end up at about 24-26" give or take a little ( no reflectors ).

 

[BigSm0]

I assume when you say clones you mean photos? When I ran photos with AutoCobs I parked them inches away. The closer I could get them the better.

As far as heights go there are waaaaay to many variables that go into a set in stone number. When people ask me a height question my head spins when I think of all these things below.

One cob in a 2x2 is less light than 2 cobs in a 2x4. This is easily overlooked but very important as light spreads.

Your hours of lights on

Your plants size. Days and weeks give a good idea but I have seen large plants at day 20 and tiny plants at day 60.

Strain, I notice extreme cases here. Some strains like the auto gorilla I have run a lot of will grow with low light and absorb extreme light without any signs of stress.

Walls and wall reflectivity. If you have one plant in a 8x8 tent vs one plant in a 2x2 tent. What’s on the walls matters too. I have read that flat white paint is more reflective than the shiny silver material inside of tents. Even down to a tents walls. Are they loose and wrinkled or is it tight and snug.


One major thing I have seen and mentioned earlier is that light stress is often mistaken for nutrient issues. If the tops are yellowing and the bottoms are bright green than it could be light stress. But if the whole plants yellowing than it’s probably a nutrient issues.

 

[Green Goblin]

Certain strains will tolerate different intensities, plus like Sm0 said space has alot to do with it as well...For me, in a 2'7 x 2'7 space, 2 cobs ( currently running a 6500k & 3500k ) get started off at 35-36"..The reason I say give or take a little is because after watching the leaves closely for a few days, you'll know whether to back off a little or not...Serrated leaf edges will raise up, the leaf can look like it wants to curl up on each side taco like and blotchyness will follow if not corrected and continue to worsen...I started these off at about 36" and as they have grown obviously have been raising the lights a click or two on the ratchets here or there but have been watching the leaves and they suggested raise it,especially at only 11 and 10 days old..Giving a definite lighting height and telling someone this is the height you should use is difficult, but it is a starting point..It is up to you to make a decision based on how your plants respond and take action accordingly based off your own judgement..Do your plants look good to you? Granted meters will help to give you an idea, but your plants will tell you how they are tolerating it.

 

[Thegermling509]

Im interested in buying one of your autocobs sm0. When will you restock the 4000k autocob? Thanks in advance!

 

[HemiSync]

I assume when you say clones you mean photos

Just to set the record and I should have mentioned earlier, in that last picture of them out in the sunlight, the four marked as Crop Circles are autos the two biggest photos are from seed and the rest are all clones taken during flowering. The light cycle was 24 hours a day for the first week and then 16/8 as soon as I put the clones in. Something I read about needing dark cycles for root development.

 

[BigSm0]

Im interested in buying one of your autocobs sm0. When will you restock the 4000k autocob? Thanks in advance!

I do have a few 4000k but I am out of 6500k. If you order the 3500k and leave me a note I’ll make sure you get what you want.

The shelves are getting bare. I’ll have plenty of everything back in stock in 2 weeks time. Until then I’m keeping my fingers crossed it slows down a little.