DIY Flowering Initiator thoughts (basically ripping off the inda-gro pontoon)

Hi all,

Been reading quite a bit about people who have had great results by using flowering initiators. A popular one is the pontoon sold to supplement the Inda-Gro induction lights. From what I have read, there is a definite benefit in making sure the plants get 660nm during the lights on period, and as soon as the lights go out hitting them with 730nm for 10-15 minutes. This seems to put the plant to sleep, which if not initiated through the 730nm, can take about 2 hours. The benefits of initiating the flowering process include being able to use a different light cycle to take advantage of the fact that the plant no longer required 2 hours to get to 'sleep'. This means more light and more growth. It also assists in getting plants to finish much sooner as Inda-gro have documented.

I am interested in building my own. This will be supplementing my 3000k CXA3070 array that I have built. I am not in any rush as I have yet to start yet. I have looked at a few different options and it seems that building my own for once may not be the best way forward.

Does anyone have any recommendations for what kind of LEDs I should use for this? A lot of people use the Luxeon rebels, but there are also LEDengin units out there as well which are much more powerful.

Does anyone know what kind of power output I should be looking at? I would imagine it would not require a massive power output. I think the inda-gro one puts out something like 60w of 660nm and 40w of 730nm. Those number may be slightly off but I know they don't use a massive amount of power.

I have thought about going to alibaba and getting these and customizing them to entirely 660nm and 730nm (1 + bar of each spectrum)
http://gehl-led.en.alibaba.com/product/610908098-213829313/14_3watt_led_grow_light_bar_for_sale_DIY_led_grow_strip.html.
Grab some in 660nm and some in 730nm and just stick them in the tent. Any thoughts?

Does anyone have any input into the idea of flowering initiators? What is your experience. I have seen captainmorgans setup with the floodlights - I quite like that too if it proves worth it.

Cheers guys.

You may want to talk to PetFlora who uses BML Spyder. The same company makes stand alone "light bars" that are apparently customizable as far as LED colours, etc... This may serve your needs for this type of application.

I personally have zero experience with these lights, so I cant say anything about them.

I checked out those BML light bars as I saw someone talking about them - Probably was Petflora.

I like them, however the price really starts to get away from you once you spec a few up. Ix2 foot fixture of 660nm is $269! I appreciate that they are high quality LEDs and the construction is top notch, but I don't think this is something that I need to go this crazy on.

I spoke to someone at the company I linked to above, about a few options. The light bars from them in 660nm and 730nm (separate fixtures) seems reasonable in terms of price and shipping. I also spoke to them about one of their lights they sell for aquariums. I mentioned that I would like a fixture with 2 independent channels with a power cord for each of them to allow for easy control using a normal wall plug timer. I specced up a 120w unit with 60% 660nm and 40% 730nm. This was also not too bad in terms of cost, but I dont think I need a 120w unit considering the inda-gro pontoon is <60w and it is for a light that can stand up to a 600w-1000w hps. I am thinking that it is not so much the intensity and power of my light but merely it's presence. I suspect that a 50w fixture will be sufficient considering my end-game is to be running about 8 x cxa3070 @ 50w.

I've been using the 730 nm for well over a year. You need very little,my 10 watt floods will cover a 8'x8' area. If your going to make a red booster or a 730 light, look at Steve's LED for the parts and I would use a mix of 630 and 660 if you make your own,if you want to buy something quality go to growlightsource.com and tell Bill I sent you. The cheap chinese stuff is a gamble and they don't always put out they spectrum they promise.

Thanks captainmorgan - Thanks for the info! with a years experience with the flower initiator, would you say it is worth the effort? Would you mind listing some of the benefts that you have found?
How much 630/660 would estimate I should go with? I notice that you are running an almost identical setup as me at the moment with your COB CXA's. Your build has given me a lot of inspiration and ideas for the next 4 that I will build. Thanks!

The 730 nm will shorten flower time and add to your yield. I usually run my lights at 13.5 for flower and that adds 12.5% more light energy for the plants vs 12 hours and without 730 nm at 12/12 the plant thinks it's only getting 10 of dark but with 730 nm at 13.5 the plant gets 10.5 of dark. Growlightlightsource.com has links to literature about it and they have red boosters too.

The CXA3070's peak at 610 nm so I would add a 50/50 or a 2/3 ratio of 630 and 660 and add 10% to 15% of your CXA's output,if you have 200 watts of CXA's add 20 to 30 watts of the red mix. That's using quality reds like the luxeon ES's on Steves LED,if you use cheap chinese reds you would probably need more.

captainmorgan said:

The 730 nm will shorten flower time and add to your yield. I usually run my lights at 13.5 for flower and that adds 12.5% more light energy for the plants vs 12 hours and without 730 nm at 12/12 the plant thinks it's only getting 10 of dark but with 730 nm at 13.5 the plant gets 10.5 of dark. Growlightlightsource.com has links to literature about it and they have red boosters too.

The CXA3070's peak at 610 nm so I would add a 50/50 or a 2/3 ratio of 630 and 660 and add 10% to 15% of your CXA's output,if you have 200 watts of CXA's add 20 to 30 watts of the red mix. That's using quality reds like the luxeon ES's on Steves LED,if you use cheap chinese reds you would probably need more.

Click to expand...

Cap'n A new 50-watt flower initiator https://www.growlightsource.com/50-watt-flower-initiator-730nm-far-red-phyto-dep/