Morning Lemon AK-47 Collaboration

THE LOWDOWN ON LED LIGHTS Seems like comparing LED lights is like trying to buy a new mattress. They’re hard to really compare without actually trying it out or comparing the given specifications. The scientific terms can be very confusing and can be misinterpreted by many a new grower getting into cannabis cultivation. I’ll start by saying it’s very important to use special eye protection when working around LED lights they can cause permanent damage your eyes. LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights are becoming very popular for a variety of reasons. One reason is they use a lot less electricity compared to HID (High intensity discharge) lights. Next, they put off less heat which is ideal for growers using a smaller tent or grow room. Also, the manufacturers have been tweaking their grow light spectrums making them ideal for growth and bloom stages. Lastly, they are often rated to last for 50,000 hours of use which is about 5.7 years of running your lights at 24 hours a day which most grower don’t do. So essentially, they are well worth the investment. With all those benefits there must be a down side? Yes, high quality LED lights can be very pricey. I have always felt that you should always buy the best items you can truly afford and this is one of those times. If your serious about growing this will be your most expensive investment in your grow set up. Making sense of LED light wattage. Let’s start with the diode wattage you may see 3-watt, 5-watt, 10- watt etc. being used in lights. The quality, number and color spectrum of the diodes differ between manufacturers. The interesting part is these diodes don’t actually use their full wattage. They may only use ½ or less of their rated wattage. The reason for this is heat. It’s the enemy of the diodes and excessive heat will shorten the life span of them considerably. When buying lights, they will have a “heat sink” or heat exchanger to draw heat away from the diodes this could be an aluminum fin type design or an extraction fan or a combination of both would be ideal for a well-designed light fixture. Some manufactures actually deceive buyers in my opinion by listing the total wattage potential of their lights not the actual wattage drawn by their lights. Example: Your light uses 100 five-watt diodes. 5 watts x 100 diodes = 500 watts. This how most/some manufacturers will advertise their lights. But wait the true amount of wattage that the light was designed to use to power that 5-watt diode is 2.5 watts. Hence 2.5 watts x 100 diodes = 250 watts. This is the true number of watts your light draws during use. It is very important to look for the true actual wattage that your lights will draw in order to estimate the size needed and to compare lights before purchasing them. Use the true actual wattage draw to determine the light size for the required area. The following is a basic guide for “Novice” growers using the bare “minimum” amount of wattage needed for a half way decent successful harvest of 32 watts per square foot. You can expect to get 0.5 to 1.0 gram per watt from your grows. For advanced/experienced LED growers I recommend using a higher wattage light in the 50 to 60 watts per square foot for the same areas will/could increase your final harvest amounts, quality and density of your buds but using a PAR meter is highly recommended to measure the light intensity to prevent damage to your plants and buds. Larger grow spaces will typically use more than one light to meet the wattage needs required. Quick Guide (Minimum to Maximum) 1' x 1': 32 watts (~32 watts to 50 watts to 60 watts) 2' x 2': 128 watts (~128 watts to 200 watts to 240 watts) 2' x 4': 256 watts (~256 watts to 400 watts to 480 watts) 3' x 3': 288 watts (~288 watts to 450 watts to 540 watts) 4' x 4': 512 watts (~512 watts to 800 watts to 960 watts) 5' x 5': 800 watts (~800 watts to 1250 watts to 1500 watts) 4' x 8': 1024 watts (~1024 watts to 1600 watts to 1920 watts) 6' x 6': 1152 watts (~1152 watts to 1800 watts to 2160 watts) For experienced LED light growers using advanced measuring techniques and manufacturer specifications using the following terms to get the most out of your lighting investment. PAR is the amount of light in the 400 - 700 nm color spectrum that can actually be used by the plant. PAR does not measure the amount of UV, Far Red and Infrared that could play a part in trichome formation and cell quality. PPF measures the total amount of PAR emitted from the lighting system per second. PPF is measured in umol (Micro moles) per second. I will shorten this to just umol. PPFD is a measurement of the amount of Photosynthetic Photon Flux per unit area. DLI is the total amount of PAR the plant has received per day. It is calculated as Moles per day. Our goal is to work our way up to a “minimum” DLI in the 38-40 mole range when in bloom. https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/blogs/news/horticulture-metrics-par-ppf-ppfd-dli Using manufacturers PPF/PAR reading grids to help adjust your light distance, spread and intensities are very useful to get a general idea of your light’s potential. But the best and only way to accurately measure these is by using a PPF/PAR meter. These readings will be essential in determining the optimum amount of light your plants will receive during different stages of growth and bloom by calculating the DLI (Daily light integral). This not wattage is the most accurate way of calculation your true lighting needs. https://www.waveformlighting.com/horticulture/daily-light-integral-dli-calculator LED Light Intensities for Auto Flower Cannabis Recommended LED PPF/PAR Values / DLI Based on 20 hours of light. Seedlings 150 - 200 umol / DLI 10.80 - 14.4 moles per day Veg up to 9" 450 umol / DLI 32.40 moles per day Early bloom 500 umol / DLI 36.00 moles per day Mid bloom 650 umol / DLI 46.80 moles per day Late bloom 750 umol / DLI 54.00 moles per day Ripen 400 umol / DLI 28.80 moles per day *** Use extreme caution going 700 umol or higher @ 20hrs/day this could cause light burn. https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/LGBQM https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/full-spectrum-quantum-sensor/ Why is this so important? Keeping the light intensities in specific ranges will prevent your plants from over stretching, maximize photosynthesis/growth and trigger your plants natural response to protect itself from intense lights during bloom by producing copious amounts of trichomes. Even though natural sunlight in midsummer can be as high as 65 moles a day at its highest intensity in higher altitudes where cannabis grows naturally, we need to be very cautious about taking it this high with artificial lights to avoid crop damage. Each strain or phenotype you grow will need to be tested to determine how tolerant they will be to the light intensity and stress. ***NOTE*** This is for photo period growers reading this information. Since you are only running your lights 12 hours per day during bloom you can push your PPF/PAR readings higher in order to achieve the desired DLI needed for proper bud development. Using a PPF/PAR in the 900 to 1000+ umols range during peak bloom will get you into the 38.88 to 43.20 mole per day. You may be able to take this higher depending on the strain’s tolerance to light. Plant signs of excessive light stress would be the leaf blades curling along the serrated edges, folding up in a canoe or taco like shape in order to conserve moisture. If not corrected this will lead to light burn which will be seen in the leaves closest to the lights starting to discolor or turning a lighter pale green or yellowish green with brown edges and tips. So, if your lower leaves look fine yet your upper leaves show these stress signs back your lights off a bit for a few days until they show signs they are recovering. If in bloom if the upper white pistils on the buds are drying and curling prematurely this could be a sign of an intensity issue also. If it is affecting mostly the dominant main cola re-positioning the highest point to the outer edges or corners of the grow area will lessen the light intensity leaving the lowest parts of the plant more directly under the light. Direct center under the lights is always the highest intensity. The effective use of different light color spectrums will influence vegetative and bloom growth. To put this in basic terms using a heavy blue spectrum with produce shorter stockier plants while heavy red spectrum will encourage over stretching if used during the vegetative stage. Heavier red spectrum is typically used to encourage bud development while in bloom. While there aren’t any definitive studies done on why the red spectrum benefits bud development it is still used as an industry standard. Quality lights will use the proper proportions of each color spectrum to balance and promote growth or bloom. Essentially, it’s termed as full spectrum lighting because using the entire spectrum is important to maintain the overall health of your plants during both stages. Some led light manufacturers use the addition of color spectrums outside of the PAR range of 400nm to 700nm including UV-A, UV-B and Far Red, Infrared. A study of UV-B light during late stages of bloom has shown that this may increase the amount of trichomes produced by cannabis plants. This particular study unfortunately did not include any comparison as to whether or not UV-A light would also produce or enhance trichome development. While both are hazardous to our eyes and skin using these types of lights should be done using extreme caution to protect ourselves from prolonged exposure. https://www.karger.com/Article/Fulltext/489030 https://alliedscientificpro.com/web/content/product.attachment/1256/product_attachment/UV%20in%20Plant%20Photobiology%20-%20White%20Paper For all of the techno-geeks https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6455078/ WEEK 2 UPDATE Growth is progressing well gave the first light feeding on day 10 with Bio Vega, Bio Rhyzotonic which worked out well seems Bio Rhyzotonic tends to be alkaline so adding Bio Vega which is acidic balanced out fairly well. Also applied Azos and Great White beneficial microbes which I will continue to apply every 2 weeks during my grow with my last application in week 6. Using a feeding solution of 50 ml per plant in a circular pattern directly around plants about every 3rd day using a minimal moisture approach. I am also using new pots for this grow and use an electronic moisture meter to gauge the moisture amount at different depths within the pots to make sure the lower portions are not over saturated. PLAN OF ACTION, My goal in the first 3 or 4 weeks is to try to keep everything "leaning" to the organic side in order to allow the natural microbial growth to establish themselves in the soil and root system. It has come to my attention that some chelating agents and chemical fertilizers can hinder microbial growth. Since these microbes do actually produce natural chelates I am confident they will do there job until I obtain a well defined root system with abundant feeder roots. Depending on the growth pattern and flower timing I will switch over to chemical nutrients in order to maximize nutrient uptake during bud formation, bud growth and bud bulking up stages. Seems auto flower plants tend to show Cal/Mag deficiencies around week 6 so adding Cal/Mag into my feeding regime during week 4 has worked out well for me on previous grows. I'm running my temperatures a bit higher at an average of 82 F this grow. Using a infrared thermometer average leaf temperature was about 75 F with an average of 63 % humidity giving me a LVPD (Leaf Vapor Pressure Deficit) of 0.61 kPa. Having your plants in the optimum LVPD ranges helps them absorb Co2 to properly conduct photosynthesis and allows the root system to adequately utilize water and nutrients. Using average leaf temperature is the best way to calculate LVPD. LED lights tend to have leaf temperatures lower than atmospheric temperatures in the grow room. Growers using HID, Fluorescent bulbs typically will have temperatures higher than room temperature. With HPS leaf temperature can be 8 - 10 F higher than room temperatures due to the amount of infrared emitted by the bulb. Recommended LVPD Seedlings/Early Veg 0.4 - 0.8 kPa Late Veg/Early Bloom 0.8 - 1.2 kPa Mid/Late Bloom 1.2 - 1.6 kPa *** Danger Zone*** Below 0.4 kPa / Over 1.6 kPa https://www.dimluxlighting.com/knowledge/vapor-pressure-deficit-vpd-calculator/ https://vpdcalculator.com/vpd-calculator https://www.blackdogled.com/lst Lowered LED grow lights to 18 inches on day 12. PPF/PAR meter reading 350 -400 umoles. Giving me a DLI (Daily Light Integral) range of 25.20 - 28.80 moles. Recommended LED PPF/PAR Values / DLI Based on 20 hrs of light. Seedlings 150 - 200 umoles / DLI 10.80 - 14.4 moles per day Veg up to 9" 450 umoles / DLI 32.40 moles per day Early bloom 500 umoles / DLI 36.00 moles per day Mid bloom 650 umoles / DLI 46.80 moles per day Late bloom 750 umoles / DLI 54.00 moles per day Ripen 400 umoles / DLI 28.80 moles per day *** Use extreme caution going 700 umoles or higher @ 20hrs/day this could cause leaf burn*** PPF measures the total amount of PAR emitted from the lighting system per second. PAR is the amount of light in the 400 - 700 nm color spectrum that can actually be used by the plant. PAR does not measure the amount of UV and Infrared that plays a part in trichome formation and cell quality. DLI is the total amount of PAR the plant has received per day Our goal is to have a minimum DLI in the 38-40 mole range when it bloom. https://www.waveformlighting.com/horticulture/daily-light-integral-dli-calculator https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/blogs/news/horticulture-metrics-par-ppf-ppfd-dli