Is anyone growing HOT PEPPERS with CXB3590? Recommended Color Temp?

When I read on hot pepper forums I constantly read about how some recommend using very cold LEDs, like 5000K if not 6000K. I am currently growing with CXB3590s, the "standard" 3500K, 36V, CD bin like most do. (And NO I have not the slightest complaint, my plants and "medical plants" grow like total MoFos)

Just wondering whether someone has experience in comparing results of a 5000-6000K daylight COB with the 3500K ones? It was always my understanding that 3500K MIGHT POSSIBLY be sub-optimal for vegging, but that this is made-good for when flowering. (And I assume that hot peppers have similar requirements like weed).

In other words: My theory is that a 3500K COB may result in better fruits/bud...and this is obviously the most important thing. I can't even see someone successful flowering/fruiting with a 6000K light? So why do those people say to use cold lights for peppers? Or is this some outdated information? (Most of those articles were written before CXB3590 were available)

I agree with your thinking. Traditional warm white lights would be considered a poor source of blue, but cob led 3500K and above or 3000K high CRI has more blue than other low K sources. I don't have experience flowering peppers inside but have used 3000K 80 CRI to veg them to about 6-8 inches before being planted outside. Not long enough to observe the morphology of a more mature plant but they weren't spindly at that stage. I think even the low K low CRI would do a decent job.

Im curious where these pepper websites are. Im here because the knowledge of leds is much better than any chilli sites.

I use cxb3070's at 3500k and am having better results than my old mars hydro 300. Still not fruiting as my mars hydro did some damage before i changed over to cobs.

The reason a lot of people like blues is to get them to grow a lot indoors without fruiting before putting outdoors ie winter when they normally slow down outside.

in saying that im a noob to cobs and indoor chillis.

flexy123 said:

When I read on hot pepper forums I constantly read about how some recommend using very cold LEDs, like 5000K if not 6000K. I am currently growing with CXB3590s, the "standard" 3500K, 36V, CD bin like most do. (And NO I have not the slightest complaint, my plants and "medical plants" grow like total MoFos)

Just wondering whether someone has experience in comparing results of a 5000-6000K daylight COB with the 3500K ones? It was always my understanding that 3500K MIGHT POSSIBLY be sub-optimal for vegging, but that this is made-good for when flowering. (And I assume that hot peppers have similar requirements like weed).

In other words: My theory is that a 3500K COB may result in better fruits/bud...and this is obviously the most important thing. I can't even see someone successful flowering/fruiting with a 6000K light? So why do those people say to use cold lights for peppers? Or is this some outdated information? (Most of those articles were written before CXB3590 were available)

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I used 72v cxb3590 5000k for starting my peppers indoors this year. They loved the 5000k for the first 2 months.

Have not compared with my 3500k, they were being used for different crops.


I used the 5000k because I built the light specifically for veg****

Correction, when they talk about 5000-6000K, they're often talking about fluoros.

On the other hand, it's "funny" that I even ask since I can see the result of growing with 3500K right there with mine. They are definitely not "spindly", but they are VERY tall. But then I am growing in Hempy Buckets, grow rate is just crazy. They started fruiting some week(s) ago so I will see how the 3500K COB will do. By the way, those I have outside in the real Spanish sun are way, way smaller

most peppers even the bush types are ever fruiting\flowering long day sun loving summer plants. I haven't grown them under artificial lighting except as starts. But I recommend a wide fat spectrum with an overall temp around 5000 K. Think midsummer sun July. Keeps vegetative growth going for continued fruit and flower production.

If you have enough light your main problem will be to feed them enough to keep up with fruit production and disease control (late blight early blight etc).

Peppers love sun and love heat. Crank em up, they can be a hydro machine.

I used CXB3590 3500K with my peppers and tomatoes earlier this year before kicking em' outside. Started from seed and waited until they started to bear fruit before placing em' outside. I also had some tomato plants under Vero 29 4000K. The 3500K seemed to do well for the peppers, as they grew huge and tasted good and spicy. The tomatoes between the 3500K and 4000K were similar in visual properties, with there being one huge broad in the bunch #geneticsuperiority.

flexy123 said:

When I read on hot pepper forums I constantly read about how some recommend using very cold LEDs, like 5000K if not 6000K. I am currently growing with CXB3590s, the "standard" 3500K, 36V, CD bin like most do. (And NO I have not the slightest complaint, my plants and "medical plants" grow like total MoFos)

Just wondering whether someone has experience in comparing results of a 5000-6000K daylight COB with the 3500K ones? It was always my understanding that 3500K MIGHT POSSIBLY be sub-optimal for vegging, but that this is made-good for when flowering. (And I assume that hot peppers have similar requirements like weed).

In other words: My theory is that a 3500K COB may result in better fruits/bud...and this is obviously the most important thing. I can't even see someone successful flowering/fruiting with a 6000K light? So why do those people say to use cold lights for peppers? Or is this some outdated information? (Most of those articles were written before CXB3590 were available)

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if your planning to finish or have peppers all the time i would use a mix of flower and veg lamps like 50/50 of the 3500k and 5000k cobs.and as purplebuds said most peppers like it hot so run that tent or room a bit hotter than weed like 80 to 84f is fine with fresh air moving in there.biggest prob you might find is the plants will stop fruiting if they get rootbound too much so use as big a pot as you can or if hydro maybe do some root pruning once in a while.little higher ph than weed also,7.0 is the sweet spot with my outdoor shit.

I'd use 5k or 4k , peppers don't mind blue light, I seen someone grow peppers(jalapenos) under a 1kw hps so it can be done under many spectrums. I grew some hydroponic peppers under a CFL light last year, got a lot of peppers I think the spectrum was 5k or 6.5k.

peppers(jalapenos) on both sides. center tomato
3500K 80 CRI and 90 CRI both seem to work fine with pepper

robincnn said:

peppers(jalapenos) on both sides. center tomato
3500K 80 CRI and 90 CRI both seem to work fine with pepper

View attachment 3720492
View attachment 3720502

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How were you able to keep yours short and bushy? Did you top them?



The four in the white pots I JUST repotted and moved from my greenhouse upstairs. Those have been grown from seed to now with 3500K 80CRI. (The size of those MoFos doesn't come over in the picture at all, each of the white pots is as tall as a child!)

The one on the side are my old ones which grew in the scorching sun, there is a MASSIVE difference in appearance, those are short and bushy.They also got very "fleshy" leaves, I assume from the sun.

Would you say the new batch is "spindly" or lanky...or should I simply have topped them? I had 16 of those monsters in my Hydro (very tiny 3L Hempy buckets) in the Greenhouse, and I totally reached the upper limit what I can up my light. They are definitely too tall for the greenhouse but they don't seem to stop growing. I'd rather have them bushy like yours.

My logic goes now that a cooler light (say when I add 2 LEDs with 5000K) it might keep the plants shorter and grow them bushier??

robincnn said:

peppers(jalapenos) on both sides. center tomato
3500K 80 CRI and 90 CRI both seem to work fine with pepper

View attachment 3720492
View attachment 3720502

Click to expand...

My dad is obsessed with growing Heirloom tomatoes. He said that he read 3,000k is what they need. All I can say, is they grew SO FAST once he switched the 4,000k's out.

Left over aluminum came in handy... lol .... tomatoes were short (~1.5' tall) and bushy. They're the grape tomato type.

At this point, peppers were either put under the Vero 4000K or put outside, I can't remember but they started under the Cree CXB3590 3500K. Again, the peppers grew super long and were really tasty/spicy.
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This is taken about a month before the above photo and close to two weeks after I transplanted them into bigger containers/ homemade mix. The mix did wonders too. Pepper alpha in the center, with pepper minor in the lower right corner. The rest were more grape tomato plants.

For reference, each space is 16~20 sq. ft in the photos.

Ok I made the stupid newbie mistake not having pruned my plants, they got WAY too leggy. Rather than worrying about the right light temperature I now cut all my greenhouse peppers, learned a little about pruning too. I really want the light energy going into fruits and flowers, and not 6ft tall, leggy plants. Will see how it goes.

@flexy123 No i did not do any topping.
Left and center. had then under 3500K 80 CRI, now under 3500K 90 CRI
The one on right is outdoor. Left and Right started around same time.
Still new to peppers, trying to do some manual pollinating on pepper flowers

What distance did you have your lights at and with how many amps did you drive your COBs? This might also play a role in the way they grow. Mine also got HUGE leaves by the way