Is this extra light safe for my plant?

[Spacedude22]

Quick summary to give y'all info:

This is my first grow ever, and I seem to be getting decent results with this auto-flower. It is now in the 6 week of flowering. I planted on May 16th.... it is running a little behind because the light I had for it was way to strong. So, it bleached a few leaves and made the plant hold off on its flowering growth and continue its veg growth. Now I have the perfect light for it and it has continued with flowering.

So, my plant is receiving good light for all the top growth. However, since it is in a bucket the lower half of the plant gets zero light... like it is completely dark 24/7. With that being said my humidity stays at 48-55% and temp around 70-73 degrees Fahrenheit. I recently added two 6w Led strips to the bottom half of the bucket and now the under side of the plant gets light, but that means the strips are pretty close to the plant. The light strips are only making direct contact with maybe two leaves and the rest are around 1-2 inches away from the strips.... is this bad for the plant? Or can this help the bottom growth that has been in the dark 24/7 for the past 3 weeks?
FYI: the temperature has raised to 74-76 degrees Fahrenheit with the added strip lights.

Here are some photos of my buckets intake fan with the strip lights on and off while the main top light is on.

Exhaust fan that is closest to the light where the main cola is

Inside of bucket with strip lights on and off

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[MrFortwenty]

Yellowing leaves are normal in flowering, especially near the end. Extra light can't hurt, but I certainly wouldn't have it so close it's touching leaves...even if it's only 2

 

[Spacedude22]

How would it effect the lower bud areas if they get zero light? They are in darkness 24/7 without the light strips

 

[MrFortwenty]

What's your main light, and how are they in darkness 24/7?

 

[Spacedude22]

My main light is a 135w UFO led light, and my plant is growing in a bucket.... you can see this on the first picture of the whole plant. So the whole top area is receiving light, and the lower half of the plant which is in the middle of the bucket... is in pitch black darkness

 

[MrFortwenty]

A: get a better light with better penetration
B: move your strips so they aren't touching anything.

Although I'm not sure you'll get much since your main led is sorta crappy. Make sense since the buds don't seem to be very big

 

[Spacedude22]

They aren't that big because I had a 180w led light which burned my plant.. so it slowed down its flowering growth for about 2 weeks. It is very behind, if I would have changed my light sooner I would have already been harvesting this week I believe. I'll see how it goes in a few weeks and show some updates

 

[MrFortwenty]

Flowering with a ufo led might not be the best. But I guess wait and see.

 

[Spacedude22]

What do you recommend?

 

[MrFortwenty]

If the 180 burnt it, move it up. It would have to be sitting awfully close to have that happen.

 

[MrFortwenty]

Lots of threads on picking the right led. Budget, grow room size, how many plants you want to grow etc etc. I'm growing one plant in a small area and have a 400w led.

 

[Spacedude22]

I have very limited space, around a 5 gallon bucket sort of space .

 

[MrFortwenty]

I've got one 5 gallon in my grow area as well. Maybe get a tent, their reflective inside and that might help a bit. But honestly you'll probably want a better light.

 

[Spacedude22]

I think I might see how this 135w works out, either way it was a free seed so this grow is sort of an "experimental grow" if you are curious to see how it goes I'll keep you updated for sure.. if not so good results come out then I will definitely invest in another light

 

[MrFortwenty]

For sure, you should start a grow journal like I did. Then everyone can follow along and assist if needed. Funny you say "experiment", that's the exact thing I said in my journal.

 

[TorturedSoul]

My main light is a 135w UFO led light

The "135w" UFO-style LED panels that I've seen were all only actually around 48-watt units. The sellers just called them "135w" because, hey, 135 sells better than 48. And they justify it because the number of LEDs multiplied by the "class" of the LEDs equals 135.

If you've got growth down low that is not adequately lit, and growth on top that is, it might have been better to simply have removed that undergrowth so that the plant's resources would have all gone toward development of that upper portion that's (arguably) receiving adequate light. You'd probably have ended up with more bud, better, bud, denser bud....

 

[Spacedude22]

I read that it's not good to trim an autoflower.. and I have a few more weeks for the plant to flower and dense up

 

[Spacedude22]

I read good reviews about the light so I jumped and bought it... hopefully it wasn't a mistake, only the end result can tell if it was a good buy