Too much light?

Delta918

Member
Hi friends,

I have a light bar that is 4’ long and makes allegedly 1700PPF. This bar is now in a 2x4 tent. I used a website and the manufacturers ppf to calculate the DLI to be 110 if run for 18 hours based on the light output. My question is: am I at a point of wasting electricity keeping it on 18/6? (Autoflower)

I have added a pic of the garden for anyone to spot anything wrong going on or comment about anything they see I need to watch for. The 2 left plants are quite short only 12-14 inches tall and older than the one on the right that it is barely taller than the clover.
The plants on left sprouted on June 29 and went under this lamp on July 4. I just thought with all the light they should be huge so I’m not sure what’s the deal with the mini size. Thanks in advance
 

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Renfro

Well-Known Member
What exact light bar? link? How many watts does it pull?

Autoflowers tend to be pretty mini IMO so be happy with whatever you pull. Try running photos in the future so you can veg them longer and get big yields.
 

BegginerGrower

Active Member
Hi friends,

I have a light bar that is 4’ long and makes allegedly 1700PPF. This bar is now in a 2x4 tent. I used a website and the manufacturers ppf to calculate the DLI to be 110 if run for 18 hours based on the light output. My question is: am I at a point of wasting electricity keeping it on 18/6? (Autoflower)

I have added a pic of the garden for anyone to spot anything wrong going on or comment about anything they see I need to watch for. The 2 left plants are quite short only 12-14 inches tall and older than the one on the right that it is barely taller than the clover.
The plants on left sprouted on June 29 and went under this lamp on July 4. I just thought with all the light they should be huge so I’m not sure what’s the deal with the mini size. Thanks in advance
How high you got your LED? I had the same problem with my autos.. someone on here told me it's because my led was too close..so I raised the light an they got way way bigger!
 

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
If it really is 1700 ppf then yes its way overkill .

Link to the light? Find it hard to believe a light with that output would even fit in a 2x4.
 

Delta918

Member
I have to buy a dimmer if I want to dim. I looked at the spec sheet and thought it said greater than 18”. I have a cold frame greenhouse and brought it in for the summer so I could do a few autos until the temps drop and I can take it back outside.
So anyways back to the question, if I don’t dim the lamp, could I use less time on and still achieve max growth?
 

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
So anyways back to the question, if I don’t dim the lamp, could I use less time on and still achieve max growth?
Its an interesting question that ive recently been wondering myself.
But I have never seen the topic discussed and me not been an auto guy can only guess.
Seems feasible that as long as you fill that DLI you could get max growth.

There's one way to find out though so if you do go that direction please document it because i think you might be the first to do so.

Regarding the squat plants, spectrum plays a role, but bugbee recently talked about intensity been as effective as spectrum when it comes to keeping tighter formation and limiting height.
 
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