New Grower GPW...What?

[Balarama]

I think there are more things to put into the equation.
Different light sources produce different spectrums(photons with different energy levels), so it's important to know which type of spectrum suits better the chlorophyle absorption wavelenghts(PAR - photosynthetically active radiation). A huge leap is being achieved with leds, seems the GN rebel modules are the best so far in efficency, thanks to the research in the field.
There are several units of measuring the light's intensity, which are useless for plants, like lumens or the CRI. PAR is the only really relevant.

The fair unit for this type of measure would be GPWH or gram per watt hour, saying how many grams were grown with the amount of energy(per time unit) used by the light source. But the downside of that are the differences between strains and grow methods.
Like growing a Thai plant with 14-16weeks of flowering(not counting veg phase) would be hugely different than some small fast indica autos with chunky nugs.

All that matters to me(it will matter when I will be buying a lamp) are PAR efficency and cost.

 

[Hazy]

This is all great but it takes no account of strength - only weight.
I personally would rather produce 1 ounce of good weed to 2 ounces of run of the mill - or buy if I had to.
Were it a commercial enterprise, some people will pay double or more for the good stuff. You must have seen "Breaking Bad".
This is not a measure of efficiency in financial terms in my humble opinion ofcourse.

Good point...but it begs the question. How do you produce stronger weed? In my opinion it's down to the grower using proper feeding schedules, knowing when each strain is at it's peak maturity and the introduction of stress factors that are known to increase the production of THC, like the introduction of UVB into the grow room, dessication and other well know stress factors....growing it longer doesn't mean you're going to have stronger weed, if that's what you're getting at, especially if it's an Indica, all you do is kill the high and end up with a medical grade weed.

 

[SkatterBrayne]

Grams per watt PER DAY would be the only reliable measurement of efficiency to account for veg time and operational efficiency / turnaround.

Grams per watt alone is a laughable measurement as far as accounting is concerned. It carries little value in assessing operational efficiency,, nor does it carry value in projections, or in calculating cash flows.

It is a decent guideline, formulated by internet stoners who justifiably have no accounting background lol

PS:'Quality measurements are impossible, and irrelevant. No industry has a formula to quantify quality. Quality is determined by consumers in the marketplace, and its only derivative is pricing.

Also watts are much more relevant than PAR when making operational calculations, because watts are an expense, and must be accounted for as such. PAR only exists in the plant world, where economics do not exist.

 

[Lardy]

As a psychologist, I was once asked by a Doctor how he could measure my efficieny in "Fixing" his patients.
There are too many variables and that along with growing is an Art not a Science.
You may have a 600 watt bulb - but is it running on full power? Your water cylinder, oven, water pump, air con blah blah are all drawing off the same supply. And so may be your neighbours.
You cannot measure these things at all accurately - give up but by all means try to improve your grows but it's not possible to measure and compare SCIENTIFICALLY against somebody else's.

 

[Balarama]

@skatterbrayne
PAR is a unit of efficency, so it matters most. Plants benefit from a higher PAR value; lights with higher PAR consume less watts for putting the right photons on the plant's leaves.
I agree you pay for watts, but the plants and your wallet benefit from a good watt usage.

 

[SkatterBrayne]

@skatterbrayne
PAR is a unit of efficency, so it matters most. Plants benefit from a higher PAR value; lights with higher PAR consume less watts for putting the right photons on the plant's leaves.
I agree you pay for watts, but the plants and your wallet benefit from a good watt usage.

If you are using proper spectrums of light, that means you are more efficiently using your wattage, which will be directly reflected in your performance numbers regardless.


PAR measures the efficiency of plants, that does not mean it has a place in calculating monetary efficiency. Are you suggesting somehow coming up with an accurate formula which will provide a weighted average for each spectrum of light, which can then be used to calculate operational efficiency?

Implausible would be a severe understatement. It cannot be done.

Improving the par of your lighting will improve your yields, but it has no place in these calculations.

 

[Magic]

" Thread of the day":Sharing One: wish I could put in some input like the posts above but I'm but I can say I notice a lot of factors do matter a lot of growers are using the same lights and roughly the same area and are achiving far different results.Watts, par, wavelenth, grow size, pot size, nutes use, and one of the biggest factors of all is grower skill and genetics used. My 2cents

 

[Lardy]

Unless in a Lab. none of this means diddly.
I'm not knocking those that like numbers and graphs - enjoy if you need those to be comfortable.
But there are some things that cant be fittted into a formula- sorry.

 

[Hazy]

Unless in a Lab. none of this means diddly.
I'm not knocking those that like numbers and graphs - enjoy if you need those to be comfortable.
But there are some things that cant be fittted into a formula- sorry.

Yeah i mean who needs formulas when they're growing... i just throw a random amount of feed in a random amount of water with a random pH, keep the light at a random height from the plants and keep them on a random amount of hours.

As a psychologist,

Now that means diddly.

 

[Balarama]

Are you suggesting somehow coming up with an accurate formula which will provide a weighted average for each spectrum of light, which can then be used to calculate operational efficiency?

Improving the par of your lighting will improve your yields, but it has no place in these calculations.

I'm suggesting this: if we can't find the right formula for that, it doesn't mean it can't be done.
Improving yealds = more grams = more g/wh => improving PAR = improving economy of the growth.

This must be true and it can be seen in the evolution of the leds spectrums.

Cheers:thumbs: