Lighting Height restriction is a bummer.... how to remedy??

[IfOnlyLegal]

Hello AFN!

Let me start by saying that I love this forum. So many knowledgeable people on here that have a major passion for growing. I could not have done my previous grows without your help (I posted a couple threads back in the day).

So my new setup that I have been slaving over is finally ready to rumble. My major concern is height restrictions.. from floor to ceiling i have roughly 39 inches to play with (roughly 4x4 room). My ceiling is floor joists so I have the ability to place the light in between them to truly get that 39 inches. Given that the pot will more than likely be roughly 12 inches tall, I am l left with 27 inches. Then when you factor in the light being around 12 inches from canopy during flowering, I am left with 15 inches.

My question is.... is there any way around having the lights 12 inches away from the canopy without burning or stunting growth? To remedy this I was looking into dimmable led lights, and my thought was that when the plant starts impeeding on that 12 inches, I can dim the light on top and throw in some side lights? Unfortunately I have not had much time to research lighting in great detail so my knowledge is limited as well as I am having a hard time finding useful pages for similar situations. Does anybody have any advice on where to start, or if there are any alternatives?

All the input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Animatey]

I'm experimenting with dimmable LEDs and height restrictions. You can sort of get away with dimmable COBs but it's difficult, and you'll need a light meter and some patience to make sure they stay healthy. 12 inches is pretty close.

On another note I've seen some guys use ScrOG technique to keep canopies really low, even on big sativas. One guy I follow grows larger Sativas in a 2x2 tent and loses the height from a flood and drain system leaving not much height for the plant.

 

[Machamillion]

opticledgrowlights.ca dimmable and low profile.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

Are you DIY inclined? Bridgelux EB gen 3 light strips would be my choice. Connect a meanwell type a driver and you would be good to go. You have a 4x4 area with no height that needs a strong PPFD. With the gen 3 you'll need around 480 watts. I've ran my gen 2 strips 6 inches from the canopy.

A light strip build whether you make it or Alibaba does is going to be your best choice for low profile. Fluence and many of the other low pro makers are going to be $1200 plus to cover a 4x4. DIY can do better for less than half the price.

Quantum boards are a nice choice as well but the larger ones have hot spots with the concentration of diodes and lesser ppfd at the edges.

What's your budget?

 

[Olderfart]

Hello AFN!

Let me start by saying that I love this forum. So many knowledgeable people on here that have a major passion for growing. I could not have done my previous grows without your help (I posted a couple threads back in the day).

So my new setup that I have been slaving over is finally ready to rumble. My major concern is height restrictions.. from floor to ceiling i have roughly 39 inches to play with (roughly 4x4 room). My ceiling is floor joists so I have the ability to place the light in between them to truly get that 39 inches. Given that the pot will more than likely be roughly 12 inches tall, I am l left with 27 inches. Then when you factor in the light being around 12 inches from canopy during flowering, I am left with 15 inches.

My question is.... is there any way around having the lights 12 inches away from the canopy without burning or stunting growth? To remedy this I was looking into dimmable led lights, and my thought was that when the plant starts impeeding on that 12 inches, I can dim the light on top and throw in some side lights? Unfortunately I have not had much time to research lighting in great detail so my knowledge is limited as well as I am having a hard time finding useful pages for similar situations. Does anybody have any advice on where to start, or if there are any alternatives?

All the input is greatly appreciated.

Hi and welcome back to AFN. You aren't likely to find a friendlier or more helpful place to get information on growing from.

First, I suggest that you choose a light that permits the least distance you can find from the plants - all the major players give you specs on this. I suggest staying away from any light that has lenses over the LEDs - you do not want the light focused in a more concentrated cone for your purposes, you want it spread as widely as possible. I would be looking at a dimmable quantum board setup if I were you, and of course it will need to fit between your joists.

After sorting the light, your choices basically boil down to what you want to do to limit plant height. My off the cuffs are:

1. Choose strains known to be short and LST them aggresively to spread them out.

2. Consider topping, but check to see whether others have made it work with the strain you have in mind.

3. Heresy here I suppose, but you could consider photoperiod plants which offer more control over plant size, and permit more aggressive high stress training.

4. Do an aggressive SCROG to keep a lid on things.

5. Finally, consider using small pots, particularly low ones. You can grow a lot of bud in multiple small plants.

In any case, you can make it work. Even if the odd bud gets toasted there will be others that don't. The only thing worse than having to grow in a small space is not having anywhere to grow at all.

 

[Olderfart]

Are you DIY inclined? Bridgelux EB gen 3 light strips would be my choice. Connect a meanwell type a driver and you would be good to go. You have a 4x4 area with no height that needs a strong PPFD. With the gen 3 you'll need around 480 watts. I've ran my gen 2 strips 6 inches from the canopy.

A light strip build whether you make it or Alibaba does is going to be your best choice for low profile. Fluence and many of the other low pro makers are going to be $1200 plus to cover a 4x4. DIY can do better for less than half the price.

Quantum boards are a nice choice as well but the larger ones have hot spots with the concentration of diodes and lesser ppfd at the edges.

What's your budget?

View attachment 1158510

Sweet light set up Damien! Good idea for the OP. My DIY lights would not be as good because they use ~4" of height.

 

[420Forever]

Hi and welcome back to AFN. You aren't likely to find a friendlier or more helpful place to get information on growing from.

First, I suggest that you choose a light that permits the least distance you can find from the plants - all the major players give you specs on this. I suggest staying away from any light that has lenses over the LEDs - you do not want the light focused in a more concentrated cone for your purposes, you want it spread as widely as possible. I would be looking at a dimmable quantum board setup if I were you, and of course it will need to fit between your joists.

After sorting the light, your choices basically boil down to what you want to do to limit plant height. My off the cuffs are:

1. Choose strains known to be short and LST them aggresively to spread them out.

2. Consider topping, but check to see whether others have made it work with the strain you have in mind.

3. Heresy here I suppose, but you could consider photoperiod plants which offer more control over plant size, and permit more aggressive high stress training.

4. Do an aggressive SCROG to keep a lid on things.

5. Finally, consider using small pots, particularly low ones. You can grow a lot of bud in multiple small plants.

In any case, you can make it work. Even if the odd bud gets toasted there will be others that don't. The only thing worse than having to grow in a small space is not having anywhere to grow at all.

bah, u didn't even mention our own fave light setup, hehe...shame on u ppp

 

[bakEQuatorial]

I'm with Damien on this! Get strips if you are good with DIY. QBs will have hot spots at too low heights.

 

[Olderfart]

bah, u didn't even mention our own fave light setup, hehe...shame on u ppp

Actually, I did in my reply to Damien. Our screwins would use ~4” of the limited height, so the strips might work better in this application - or so went my thinking. OTOH, if the OP can handle a few less inches, our screwins would work a treat.

There you go 420, I mentioned the screwins again, so you can call off the masked dude.

 

[Disburped]

Height is not an issue if you have even light distribution, cool lights and steady air flow, low and wide pot and SCROG. This is bamboo instead of chicken wire. Flood lights spread the light but also the heat, the heatsink is awesome with a fan above.

Kind of low. Regular beer bottle at sea level and height from sand to the bamboo is less than an unfolded leatherman super tool. The flood lights don't need to be raised much more with the right training technique. No pots, growin in cut up trash bag.​