Gospel Dawg
Active Member
I have 2 MARS 2 900w LEDS set for flowering. How close should they be to the tops of my babies?
Distance for LEDs
- Thread starter Gospel Dawg
- Start date
Hosebomber
New Member
About 12-16" during flower. If you start to show bleaching or signs of heat issues, move them up 2-4" at a time until those signs subside.
David Bowman
New Member
Would you happen to know that information with regard to the reflector series Hosebomber?
Hosebomber
New Member
Roughly the same, maybe even a little higher. Remember tho, the reflector series is 3 watt diodes and should be used with a screen or LST/super cropping to keep the canopy close to the same height. If you go below 12" then you're not going to get a good mixture of the spectra. That's when you will start seeing bleaching.
More important than the height, is the coverage of the plant. If you have to move it to 16" or even 20" to get a nice even coverage of your plant, then that is what should be done. The easiest way to tell is if you see deep colored spots from the light on your leaves. You want a smooth blend of the color.
More important than the height, is the coverage of the plant. If you have to move it to 16" or even 20" to get a nice even coverage of your plant, then that is what should be done. The easiest way to tell is if you see deep colored spots from the light on your leaves. You want a smooth blend of the color.
David Bowman
New Member
I have my 96x3-watt ~18" above the canopy and while the top leaves show an even distribution of light, the lower leaves have those dappled color spots which I though were from light interference with the leaves, not from being too close. Am I correct in that assumption?
Hosebomber
New Member
That is correct. If you look at the dispersion pattern of most LEDs it's called the Lambertain pattern. That means the distribution is more of a bell curve than a spreading. 70-80% of all the light will be projected in the first 30 degrees of the half angle or in a 60 degree pattern. The other 60 degrees you receive a much lower photon density. This varies greatly from one diode type and manufacturer to another, but the concept is the same across all of them.
David Bowman
New Member
Cool! I'm going to see if I can notice when the canopy has grown too close to the LEDs by the distribution of light across the surface of the canopy. IMHO, it would be a much better indicator of when the LEDs need to be raised than my current method of inspecting the growth and overall health of canopy leaves.
Moonshine17
Well-Known Member
How far away for veg stage. 2 300w led galaxy hydro. NYCd auto fem & early miss auto fem. most are 5-7" tall. A couple of them are 8-11.5" tall. No lst. They have been topped. Only a 5' tall tent. Ffof/perlite. 70/30. 20/4 schedule. Thanks all.
KingstonRabbi
Well-Known Member
I do 18-24" in veg. Plants haven't built up protection that they will have in flower. Other consideration that hosebomber pointed out is light distribution. I use to let my plants grow 12" from light without light burn. Realized that light spectrum was uneven on canopy so I raised to 18" for both flower and veg.
