Lighting Opinions and Assist

[captcold]

Hey all.

I'm starting a grow this fall indoors. I have a 11'x8'm room I want to start a crop of peppers in. They take months, and I want to plant a ton of them to sell next summer. I've got lots of space to take them outside next spring, that's not the point here tho.

What I'm asking for is advice on lighting. I'd like to keep costs as low as possible for power consumption, but, I do understand tradeoffs in price for quality. That said, my value points are spectrum quality and expected life of a unit.

I understand that paying more up front will save money in the long run - but I'm old enough to know that alot of 'features' that add cost don't matter. I think of a 36" television I bought years ago that had 'picture in picture'. Was the hottest thing at the time. Was also the most useless feature ever made. I knew the manager of the place I bought it at. He told me at retail it added about $150 (or 10%) to the price. So, 10% of the cost was for something that'd never be used.

Ok, so a little off track.

I've got a handy little 400w hps that's done me right for a long time. Now, for heat control and power consumption, I'm open to led. There's alot of really cool things happening now with them. And, diy does have it's appeals. I would need to invest some serious time into working it through tho. I'm pretty handy, so it's not too intimidating.

I expect to take a look at some options that fit the bill, and try to find the best fit for my budget and value points. I'm not married to anything atm, but led sounds like the path tbh.

In other words, I'm open to any and all suggestions about lighting, trying to raise some slow growing plants through the winter, and, popping in some proper mj beans too as I go.

I'm going to be spending some time in here over the next week or three, and edjamakate meself about led.

Thanks for reading this far. If you have any thoughts on requirements, total units needed, best quality for lowest price - feel free to suggest. I have no view on brands atm, although some advertise better than others

 

[Arthur]

Hey @captcold am moving inside this fall as well, and have been lookin @ lights etc for my setup. Led seems to be the way to go, I'm leaning heavily twards @BigSm0 cobs, bang for the buck and efficiency.... what kinda peppers you got going? I've got reapers thais, chocolate habinearos... just started 3 sets of supers last week, butch T scorpion reaper crosses, chocolate reapers, and ghost scorpion crosses... beautiful plants!

 

[Hippy_BiotabsF70]

DIY cobs mate. Awesome proven performance Cheap as chips. Economical/efficient. And extremely easy to build. The only thing I had built before making a few cob lights was a tolerance to weed.

200/250w of cobs would replace that 400w light nicely imo.

I honestly couldn't recommend anything else except maybe quantum boards, but haven't tried them myself yet.

 

[captcold]

Hey @captcold am moving inside this fall as well, and have been lookin @ lights etc for my setup. Led seems to be the way to go, I'm leaning heavily twards @BigSm0 cobs, bang for the buck and efficiency.... what kinda peppers you got going? I've got reapers thais, chocolate habinearos... just started 3 sets of supers last week, butch T scorpion reaper crosses, chocolate reapers, and ghost scorpion crosses... beautiful plants!

hey man. I'm looking into breeds now. I'll likely limit myself to a few. I'm looking at commercial grade output atm - ones I've tried over the past couple of years have turned out well, but, I'd like a think fruit skin that holds weight - that whole sell for poundage thing.

I grew out some chilis last year, epic....

 

[Arthur]

https://cobshop.net is his site, and he's a member here. Seems like a great guy (we haven't conversed.... yet but have read thru an awful lot of his posts). Welcome aboard, AFN is probably the most chill growing forum around.

 

[Hippy_BiotabsF70]

200 dollars would be enough to make your own 200w cob system with a nice frame.

 

[arty zan]

Have you grown chillies before? Or is this a first time venture?

As with growing Cannabis is a good idea to read up about the subject before going hell for leather with a big grow.

I don't see the need to start growing your plants over winter.
Some chillies are ready in 60 days some go to 120 days after gemination.
It is important to know your variety & what it's needs are, ie does it prefer a hot house/glass house or is it a variety that doesn't mind the outdoors.
Also find out what hardiness zone you're in and when the last frosts are likely etc.
It is also important to find out what the germination time is for your strains, some take 5 weeks others take just 2 weeks.
Germination occurs in fairly warm conditions 27-32°C.
Germination time and growth/fruiting time needs to be taken into account so you can plan the time for when the crop will be ready.
You may want to stagger you crop by planting a few seeds each week so you can harvest some each week in the harvest time.
On the whole you'll want to keep them under 36C to produce fruit.
Also look into what kind of heat (scovilles) people want to buy no point growing anything with a 2 million scoville rating unless that is the market you are aiming at.
There are 100's of chilli varieties some which are ornamental and sell quite well just as ornamental plants in small pots.

If you want to grow some MJ too there are plenty of people here who will happily lend a hand.
I don't know what sort of experience you have but if it is a first time, start out small and definitely read through other people's journal and pick up as many tips you can.
If you can let me know what you want to do it would much easier to guide you with any suggestions.
If this is all a bit new to you try to define what you want to achieve and what strains of chilli or MJ you want to grow.
On seed site be it chilli or canna they will give you rough time to how long it takes to grow.
Canna seed companies will also let you know if a strain is for beginners or experts, go with a beginner strain if you're new to it.

If you have previous growing experience in eith plants, let me know what kind of experience level your at and we can go from there.

I have only been back in the forums a few days, after a 5 month break so I'm still taking it easy and i have a heavy workload outside of the forums, so I may ask someone to drop by i can't.

all the best
arty

 

[Arthur]

Germinating those super hot's really makes cannabis seeds seem easy eh?

 

[captcold]

Have you grown chillies before? Or is this a first time venture?

As with growing Cannabis is a good idea to read up about the subject before going hell for leather with a big grow.

I don't see the need to start growing your plants over winter.
Some chillies are ready in 60 days some go to 120 days after gemination.
It is important to know your variety & what it's needs are, ie does it prefer a hot house/glass house or is it a variety that doesn't mind the outdoors.
Also find out what hardiness zone you're in and when the last frosts are likely etc.
It is also important to find out what the germination time is for your strains, some take 5 weeks others take just 2 weeks.
Germination occurs in fairly warm conditions 27-32°C.
Germination time and growth/fruiting time needs to be taken into account so you can plan the time for when the crop will be ready.
You may want to stagger you crop by planting a few seeds each week so you can harvest some each week in the harvest time.
On the whole you'll want to keep them under 36C to produce fruit.
Also look into what kind of heat (scovilles) people want to buy no point growing anything with a 2 million scoville rating unless that is the market you are aiming at.
There are 100's of chilli varieties some which are ornamental and sell quite well just as ornamental plants in small pots.

If you want to grow some MJ too there are plenty of people here who will happily lend a hand.
I don't know what sort of experience you have but if it is a first time, start out small and definitely read through other people's journal and pick up as many tips you can.
If you can let me know what you want to do it would much easier to guide you with any suggestions.
If this is all a bit new to you try to define what you want to achieve and what strains of chilli or MJ you want to grow.
On seed site be it chilli or canna they will give you rough time to how long it takes to grow.
Canna seed companies will also let you know if a strain is for beginners or experts, go with a beginner strain if you're new to it.

If you have previous growing experience in eith plants, let me know what kind of experience level your at and we can go from there.

I have only been back in the forums a few days, after a 5 month break so I'm still taking it easy and i have a heavy workload outside of the forums, so I may ask someone to drop by i can't.

all the best
arty

understood, and thanks for the thoughtful questions and insights.

I've a couple of years of pepper growing under the belt, and an intermediate level understanding of horticulture. I've experimented with a dozen varieties so far. I'm inclined to use cloning once I identify some suitable commercial strains. I've played with polytunnels, although heat dissipation is a serious concern where I live. Outdoor grow conditions are largely good.

I'd call myself novice to intermediate in growing dope. I've 5 grows in me now, 3 indoors, 2 outdoor.

The peppers I've been growing this year are good - although too light in weight (thin skin). Good flavor, but I'm growing for weight, and thicker skins and more water retention is what I'm after at first. Most retail buyers trend to heft so I've heard from other growers. There's a pro outfit near where I live - they've been a great resource. I'd be looking at doing our farmer's market (well attended), local restaurants (need quality), and building out some sort of long term model that'll bring in some $dough$. I don't expect to go large as it were. Just enough as a part time gig using the land I own.

I'm currently producing about 1.5lbs per week right now, off of 4 plants. It's all trials at this point. I'm working a couple of models, and build them out if it looks promising. I've been experimenting for 2 seasons now with different ones. The challenge is that they weren't fruit bearing until mid-July. I'll need them fruit bearing by early May if I'm going to have any kind of business model around this. So, the varieties I got this year (Big Early, Super Shepard) required 60-75 days from being 6" tall to producing. From seed, they needed 70 days to get that tall. Another 2 (Peperocini, and a retail Poblano I got seed out of) were tricky to germ, and even slower. But, they're putting out now.

Hilariously, one has to be careful about mixing too many peppers too closely. Pollination by bees and other critters will cross them - a habanero with a bell - giving you a hot pepper where you weren't expecting one or a cold one when you wanted some fire. Ghosts/Bhut Jolokia and the upper scoville stuff - while novel - I don't think is going to sell enough units to make it viable. Might try a plant or two tho for kicks.

I won't get into the weeds here - or root warmers (as perennials, peppers will tolerate temps down to freezing, or even below - but, the roots won't. They need to be kept above 55f, where root warmers are used in higher latitudes where temps dip). I do have a basic handle on where I'm going,

I am just looking for lighting advice on a 8x11' room....

 

[captcold]

Germinating those super hot's really makes cannabis seeds seem easy eh?View attachment 791125

very, very true that

shit dude, those peppers you got rolling are gonna melt through any plate you put them on