Making the best of a dumb situation...

[Prawn Connery]

I've come to the conclusion 2700-3000K LED has enough blue in it already - if you're coming from HPS bulbs to LED, you'll notice a lot less stretch under 3000K, and you'll have more head room, too, due to the low profile and generated heat.

The more red the better, I say. I'm even running 3000K in veg and it's performing better than 5000K.

[TEKNIK]

I was looking at a 2700k CRI 90 spectrum from Cree yesterday trying to work out how to get the best from both worlds, the conclusion was to have one channel of near UV 400nm to 430nm and 2700K.
This way the blue channel could be turned up if needed for microgreens and a different VEG cycle, the 2700k CRI 90 would be set up to take 2-3 times more power than the blue.
Once I get my samples I will check to see how the spectrums are blending together and post it on here for comment.
I may also blend 2700k with some mono reds to see how that works.

[JayKell]

Man, you guys are absolutely killing me! Sorry for not getting back sooner, life got in the way...

So I thought about the Vestas, and as much as I like them I can't bring myself to dedicate to running only them. Between TEKNIK and rocket soul pushing the versatility of the Vestas, and prawn and rocket voting for 2700k flower, my brains may be scrambled, but I think I finally have a plan. I do plan on running a second flower room at some point, and this could save me.

I will try (2) drivers (150h-48AB) worth of 2700k in flower, and 2 more drivers of 3000k/4000k in veg. Shouldn't need all that power in veg, so it will allow me to tune. If everything works out well, I will just buy one more driver (I have 5) and probably 12 more 2700 k strips. But if it looks like I'm overgrowing my area too quickly, I can move one 2700k setup to the other flower area, put in the 4000k from the veg area, and buy (6) more 4000k strips for the other flower area, (6) at 5000k for the veg area, and one more driver.

Does this sound like a solid setup to start with? I was mostly mid scale (~1000 plants) outdoor before this, and as prawn guessed, my only real experience was with t5s and hps (some additional mh towards the end) for 4-5 months of veg. Can't help but feel like I'm forgetting something...

[JayKell]

Another thought was too use the Vestas (10-12, @800-675mA each) in veg with the drivers I have. Once I have them tuned to the proper CCT for my needs I'd replace the driver running lower wattage with an appropriately sized one and bring the 150 to flower the other area.

This would allow me to trade half the Vestas from veg with the a set of 2700k from the flower area if stretch gets out of hand. If this were the case, I could then figure out the appropriate Kelvin board to blend with 2700k and order 10-12 of them, one set in each flower room, and move the Vestas back to veg with the smaller calculated driver. This may allow more versatility at the cost of losing a little power.

Basically, these both look like great options, and the only thing that would make either one better is knowing what cct I need before I order. Both allow some degree of tuning, at the cost of not making full use of the driver.

Although cutter has no 5000k cri90 option, I am still inclined to go in this direction, but I'd love to hear all of your thoughts on this before I commit...

[Rocket Soul]

I was looking at a 2700k CRI 90 spectrum from Cree yesterday trying to work out how to get the best from both worlds, the conclusion was to have one channel of near UV 400nm to 430nm and 2700K.
This way the blue channel could be turned up if needed for microgreens and a different VEG cycle, the 2700k CRI 90 would be set up to take 2-3 times more power than the blue.
Once I get my samples I will check to see how the spectrums are blending together and post it on here for comment.
I may also blend 2700k with some mono reds to see how that works.

I think that would be a fantastic product, if priced reasonably. Gives your base spectrum for both veg and flower, and a wide violet/near UV on a separate channel. There is an abundance of red options anyways.

[Rocket Soul]

Man, you guys are absolutely killing me! Sorry for not getting back sooner, life got in the way...

So I thought about the Vestas, and as much as I like them I can't bring myself to dedicate to running only them. Between TEKNIK and rocket soul pushing the versatility of the Vestas, and prawn and rocket voting for 2700k flower, my brains may be scrambled, but I think I finally have a plan. I do plan on running a second flower room at some point, and this could save me.

I will try (2) drivers (150h-48AB) worth of 2700k in flower, and 2 more drivers of 3000k/4000k in veg. Shouldn't need all that power in veg, so it will allow me to tune. If everything works out well, I will just buy one more driver (I have 5) and probably 12 more 2700 k strips. But if it looks like I'm overgrowing my area too quickly, I can move one 2700k setup to the other flower area, put in the 4000k from the veg area, and buy (6) more 4000k strips for the other flower area, (6) at 5000k for the veg area, and one more driver.

Does this sound like a solid setup to start with? I was mostly mid scale (~1000 plants) outdoor before this, and as prawn guessed, my only real experience was with t5s and hps (some additional mh towards the end) for 4-5 months of veg. Can't help but feel like I'm forgetting something...

Sounds allright but remember that there is a fair bit of difference between 2700k 80cri and 90cri, 90 being my preference.

[JayKell]

I was looking at a 2700k CRI 90 spectrum from Cree yesterday trying to work out how to get the best from both worlds, the conclusion was to have one channel of near UV 400nm to 430nm and 2700K.
This way the blue channel could be turned up if needed for microgreens and a different VEG cycle, the 2700k CRI 90 would be set up to take 2-3 times more power than the blue.
Once I get my samples I will check to see how the spectrums are blending together and post it on here for comment.
I may also blend 2700k with some mono reds to see how that works.

I think that would be a fantastic product, if priced reasonably. Gives your base spectrum for both veg and flower, and a wide violet/near UV on a separate channel. There is an abundance of red options anyways.

It does sound great, I've been looking at hyper violet leds from Stevesleds and rapidled (as well as royal blue, an undecided green and far red) and trying to find out what spectrums I should be supplementing. Of course, my strips aren't even here yet and I'm already planning the next round of upgrades/mods

So I've not run into anything much on the 400-420nm spectrum, although my backlog of papers is still large. What effect are you trying to get from it? A boost in growth from near uv-a, more compact, lateral growth or something completely different? I'd be especially interested if it could mimic some of the uv effects as it would keep me from having to run a reptile light, but I'd love to know what it does regardless...

Sounds allright but remember that there is a fair bit of difference between 2700k 80cri and 90cri, 90 being my preference.

Me too, went with all 90cri strips from cutter for now, and may order more from them (though I'd be happy not to get robbed by DHL again). I can see some difference on the spectrum charts, but how does this translate to what we are looking for in supplemental light? Aren't we just adding a spectrum until we get to a desired percentage or average irradiance? Unfortunately, I ask out of ignorance, but I'm working on it. Gotta find that thread to digitize and get percentages from the spectrum charts...

[TEKNIK]

The reason myself and others are using near UVA and UVA isn't so much for increasing yields it's to increase flavour for herbs and increase THC content.
A tomato is a good example of this, I am sure everyone has tried a big red tomato from a supermarket that looks great but tastes terrible in comparison to a home grown tomato that has been grown in the sun.

[JayKell]

The reason myself and others are using near UVA and UVA isn't so much for increasing yields it's to increase flavour for herbs and increase THC content.
A tomato is a good example of this, I am sure everyone has tried a big red tomato from a supermarket that looks great but tastes terrible in comparison to a home grown tomato that has been grown in the sun.

Ah, for some reason I was under the impression that uva was more to stimulate growth and that uvb was for cannabinoid and terpene production, thank you for setting me straight. Is doing this with near uv safer, better for the plant or more for cheaper, longer lasting diodes than uv? I've read some violet to blue can mimic uv, do certain wavelengths correspond to others (trigger different responses), and intensities correspond with how much energy the plant dedicates to protecting itself (amount of resin vs plant growth) or is it more of an an on/off switch?

[TEKNIK]

I know there have been alot of studies and experiments flying around, I do not know the right answers, one thing that is clear is UVB does have an effect on THC, using UVB with led is difficult, it has a short lifetime and it can be quite dangerous.
As you can not see UVB this causes alot of issues as it is not possible to determine how intense it is or if it is on at all, you need a special spectrometer to see this, i do intend to purchase one of these special spectrometers to help everyone out with this. Regarding UVA and near UVA, it is easier to work with and lifetimes are longer. UVA is present in CMH and HPS, it is not as harmful to humans or plants, I base things off nature and the sun has a fair bit of UVA and near UVA. I am not certain of the ratios required but not having any present at all would surely result in a lower quality harvest, but not necessarily a lower yield.