is my lights too close for flowering LEDs

got my plants in week 4 since flip so they are past the stretching phase already still slightly growing but not much as height goes anymore. the lights are about 14" away from the tops. i was wondering if this is too close or not?

they do not seem to exhibit any heat stress or anything of that nature but in the past i couldn't keep them closer then 18 inches because they did show signs by tacoing. i am just worried because i don't want to fry the buds and this is my first indoor grow when it comes to flowering but i've some decent experience using these lights mostly in veg only.

they are a king plus LED 2000watt 395W actual draw stated by manufacturer. plants seem to be doing fine but the buds are starting to form as well so im getting a little worried over time should i raise them or just keep them where they are at or what?

did you do the hand test?

hold your hand above canopy for 30-45 seconds, if back of your hand is uncomfortable raise the lights, if it isnt, leave them be

I wouldnt mess with much unless you actually see tacoing or signs of stress.

I looked at your pics earlier, your plants look good.

Altho we could do with a few pics without the god awful purple lol

Doesn’t work with leds. The hand thing. You can keep them real close if you like but 12-16 inches is where i keep them at, normally. Its also about the equal distribution or a uniform illumination around the plants so you can keep them higher too. If they seem ok, leave them be.

crimsonecho said:

Doesn’t work with leds. The hand thing. You can keep them real close if you like but 12-16 inches is where i keep them at, normally. Its also about the equal distribution or a uniform illumination around the plants so you can keep them higher too. If they seem ok, leave them be.

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That's good to know. Obviously they don't give off the same heat as hps

diggs99 said:

That's good to know. Obviously they don't give off the same heat as hps

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Yeah plus no ir. So, they could provide way over 1500ppfd but still fairly warm on your skin. Which could cause bleaching but not “burning”.

diggs99 said:

did you do the hand test?

hold your hand above canopy for 30-45 seconds, if back of your hand is uncomfortable raise the lights, if it isnt, leave them be

I wouldnt mess with much unless you actually see tacoing or signs of stress.

I looked at your pics earlier, your plants look good.

Altho we could do with a few pics without the god awful purple lol

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yea im waiting on the new lights to come in just got so much going on right now but they do seem okay just worried about the buds

If the plants are happy leave them be. The closer they are the better penetration you will get to the lower buds making for better yield . The closer they are the more intensity you are getting which is making the best use of the power the light is drawing. I typically keep my 1k hps 12-14 icnhes from my canopy and the plants love it. The only time it gets raised is if my plants get a little tall and I need more area coverage from the extra height, but I try to avoid that so my plants get as much light as they can use.

thanks i think imma just leave them be and measure in another 2 days. see what happens the buds should start bulking up already

You got reflective surfaces all around your tent (if you’re in a tent). So closer will not mean better penetration with leds in this case. Especially with blurples. They only utilize red and blue which are directly absorbed by chlorophyll a and b so there isnt much light going thru to the bottom.

With hps there is a good amount of green and other wavelenghts which can pass thru or bounce from the lower leaves and gets absorbed by the underside of the leaves and shaded buds. With blue and red most of that light will be utilized at the top leaves and bottoms will not get enough.

So actually, keeping them a bit higher and letting the light reflect thru the mylar and create a better illumination around the plant is a better way. An equal intensity over your whole canopy. Otherwise you’ll give too much light to your top buds but the bottom buds will be behind and probably fluffy.

They will start when they are ready honestly, you can't rush them, and the best buds will come from properly grown, and FULLY matured ripe plants. I think I saw you posting on another thread talking about your current smoke tasting like hay. I kinda think I told you before you cut that batch that it wasn't ready and needed more weeks if I remember correctly. Curing might help get a little flavor back, but cutting plants early, and drying them fast will always result in sub par quality. I'd love to see you harvest a batch right and be blown away by what you can do .

Thundercat said:

They will start when they are ready honestly, you can't rush them, and the best buds will come from properly grown, and FULLY matured ripe plants. I think I saw you posting on another thread talking about your current smoke tasting like hay. I kinda think I told you before you cut that batch that it wasn't ready and needed more weeks if I remember correctly. Curing might help get a little flavor back, but cutting plants early, and drying them fast will always result in sub par quality. I'd love to see you harvest a batch right and be blown away by what you can do .

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yea it smells still like grass and feels kinda wet still it wasn't ready to smoke for sure just wanted to test it out but will try it out again after a few more days. i did a slight prune job on these ones just a few minutes ago clipped like 2 leaves that were shading bud sites that i didn't need and 1 entire kola that would have ended up pop corn anyways because it was only like 3-4 inches long. the ones i pulled are slowly starting to smell sweet kinda like mangoes but hard to smell it because of all that grassy smell. smokes decent otherwise not so much coughing compared to what i usually buy and smoke which is far worse then what i harvested.

and no i don't got a reflective surface i don't have a tent yet got one coming in but probably will be another 2-3 weeks until it gets here. then i need to set it up got new issues that came up so got to look at floor planning all over again.