Lighting LED Question

[Chester]

I'm helping a friend grow in a 24x21x48" space using the light listed below. Not the light I recomended, but it's what I got to work with. My question is how would you go about starting a grow using an unfamiliar LED ? I'm thinking start them w/ CFLs until they have a few leaves and then introduce the LED a little at a time, or am I being too conservative. Any distance to canopy recomendations for seedlings would be appreciated also. I use an LED currently that has a veg & flower switch.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/200794760371?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

 

[Muddy]

Start them right under the LED. Set it about 16" above the plants and raise or lower it as needed to maintain node spacing of about 1".

 

[endive]

Muddy pretty much nailed it!

Your footprint will be directly dictated by the distance to the plant(s). That said, you may not want to try blooming more than one plant under that lamp.

You might as well start the sprouts under the LED, then add CFLs as supplemental lighting as necessary.

 

[Groff]

I agree. Just started a grow (sig) using the same reasoning. IMHO, that LED is way underpowered to take on the task alone, from everything I've seen around, not experience though. Don't forget LEDs run underpowered and the vast majority of the sellers rate it at Nº Chips x Watt, not the actual power draw. For instance mine are 240w Blackstars, but the actual power draw is 50% lower.

 

[Chester]

Thanks guys ... I just heard from the seller - 18-20" to start then 2-3" thereafter ... not sure I believe the 2-3" ... I sure wish my friend had purchased the light I recomended ... I'm bringing 4 42w daylight CFLs to get things off the ground. May need to use them for the whole grow.

 

[Chester]

Two day drive up the east coast and I got to my friend's house and got to see the light. Sweet spot seems to start about 8-10" below the light. Since he wanted to grow in a 2x2x4' UHaul wardrobe box he may be better off with this light than he would have been with the light I suggested to him ... The grow is using 3 gal pots and 1 gal root pouches ... I'm only going to stay here for about 3.5 weeks which hopefully will be enough time for these to start to flower. My last auto Blue Mystic grow was showing pistils real good by the 3rd week. Aside from learning a new LED I expect this grow to be trouble free. My goal is to show my friend how simple autos can be compared to photo plants. I was last here in May and planted six photos in his backyard which were about 4 feet tall and flowering nicely until a helicopter flew over his house and he yanked them all and pitched them the first week of September ... I had planned on helping him start the auto garden and cure his outdoor crop in the same visit ... Here's a couple pics. I'll update in about a week, assuming there's anything worth snapping a pic of ... Thanks again for the input all ... I'm gonna take Muddy's advice and start them about 16" and raise and lower from there ... The light is on now because I like to give the seedling something to aim at as it's breaking out of it's shell.

 

[Chester]

Took 6 days for all to sprout. I buried them a little deeper than normal and the indoor temp here is about 10 degrees cooler than at home ... I had to go digging for two of the seedlings . Used a toothpick to carefully extract dirt from over the seed til I got to the sprouts and then left them alone to come up the rest of the way on their own. The seeds I didn't plant too deep sprouted on the 4th day ... that makes a 2012 total of eleven Nirvana seeds planted, eleven germinated. Light currently hangs about 16 inches above the tops. I may line the inside w/ mylar tomorrow to try and get the most out of this light. I have a timer, any suggestions for when I should start them on 18/6 rather than the 24/0 they're at currently ?

Will post pics when there is something worth seeing ...

 

[GoAuto6]

:smokebuds:

 

[Chester]

One has been up for a week and the other three about 4 days. All just barely alive. I added 4 x 42 watt 6500k Daylight CFLs today ... shoulda done it a week ago but I wanted to give the LED a chance. As soon as I added the CFLs the plants all started standing tall and looked like they had a purpose ... The bulbs raised the temperature inside the box to about 78F much better than 63F, it will cool down naturally when the lights are out instead of always being too cold ... I prefer to use a good LED but this one isn't cutting it ... it makes a nice supplement to the CFLs ... I am once again enthusiastic about this grow.
:smokebuds:

eta: 12 hours after adding CFLs two plants have grown new leaves ...

 

[Chester]

The CFLs did a nice job of perking things up but not like a good LED would ... I am awaiting the delivery of a Blackstar 180 veg/clone ... trouble is it won't arrive until two days before I'm supposed to leave ... why do good ideas always take so long to come to me ...