How should I run my lights?

[Cwmoore577]

So I’m gearing up for my 3rd grow and trying to upgrade as much as my pocket will allow.

I just placed an order from BudgetLED for the Series 2+ Red Spec 250w (3500k) LED light.

So I’ll have the 250w LED, the 150w HPS (SunSystem HPS 150) and a cheap 100w Blurple LED.
I’ve read a little about hybrid light setups and wondered if it would be best to run both the 250w LED and the 150w HPS together.
If so, should I run them both through the whole veg to flower cycle or just the LED in veg and the LED/HPS in flower?

Should I run the blurple as supplemental light or no?

edit: forgot to say, it’s a 2x4 tent.

 

[Pbass]

If my math is correct you got 8 sq feet there, so with just the 250 and the 150 you are at 50w per sq/ft right? That seems like plenty to me. The mismatch is going to give you some hot spots regardless of what you do because you are going to want the extra light if you can fit it! I think folks would just move their plants around somewhat regularly in that situation. CHeers mate, good luck!

 

[Cwmoore577]

If my math is correct you got 8 sq feet there, so with just the 250 and the 150 you are at 50w per sq/ft right? That seems like plenty to me. The mismatch is going to give you some hot spots regardless of what you do because you are going to want the extra light if you can fit it! I think folks would just move their plants around somewhat regularly in that situation. CHeers mate, good luck!

Yea I’ll have to play Tetris to hang both. I would just flip the plants when I water.

Should I run both through veg and flower?

 

[Grassmaster]

No. You run the least amount of (wattage) required. To Apply the optimal intensity of PAR light required for the life stage of the plant.

 

[TurboBucket]

400watts in a 2x4 Sounds like Overkill and a good way to end up with baked plants.

The LED should be enough to cover that space.

 

[Mike Wright]

The correlation between PAR and watts is different depending on the relative efficiency of the lights. As far as baking the plants, I've run 400 real watts of LED many times in my 2x4 and never had an issue with heat, and certainly could have used more light. I know people regularly run 600 w HID's (with appropriate cooling). I'd say 400 watts of LED is definitely adequate though!

 

[Cwmoore577]

The correlation between PAR and watts is different depending on the relative efficiency of the lights. As far as baking the plants, I've run 400 real watts of LED many times in my 2x4 and never had an issue with heat, and certainly could have used more light. I know people regularly run 600 w HID's (with appropriate cooling). I'd say 400 watts of LED is definitely adequate though!

Yea I’ve read where cannabis is a plant that can handle large amounts of lighting and if you do, CO2 supplementation could help with the heat/light stress.
With my LED I’ll have 250 watts at most if using it alone, most people have said it should do fine.

My main concern is bud density and quality. Last two grows lacked in both and trying to do what I can to improve it.

edit: I think the efficacy of this LED is listed at 2.7umol/j and around 800 PPFD at 18”

Also curious of what y’all think of this case study.

Super Grow LED - Hybrid = LED + HPS Grow Light Case Study

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They did a case study where they used setups with just an HPS and two setups with HPS lights supplemented with 100w LED in one and 150w LED in the other.
In their opinions resin improved, bud density improved as well as dry weight yield increased 10-25%.

Unsure how precise their study was or how accurate those finding are. Plus their setup is using a 400w HPS supplementing smaller wattage of LED and in my case I’d have a larger LED supplemented with a smaller HPS and not sure how it would differ.

 

[Cwmoore577]

400watts in a 2x4 Sounds like Overkill and a good way to end up with baked plants.

The LED should be enough to cover that space.

Also, the LED is dimmable from 100-250w so could be turned down if I did run both.

 

[TurboBucket]

I use 500 Watts over 16 sqft and yield around or over 1000 grams. Without ac or co2. There's no reason 250w over 8sqft couldn't duplicate that. If you feel you need more than that you should upgrade your lighting to something more efficient using at least lm561c diodes if not the newer lm301b.

The LED will provide more "par/watt" than the Hps will. Dim the Hps before you dim the LED.

But whatever tickles your pickle, if you like paying the electric company I'm not gonna try to stop you haha.

 

[Slicknick909]

The budget 250w alone should be plenty, I use their 500w in a 4x4. You may need to dim it in veg but you can run it full blast in flower.

 

[Cwmoore577]

The budget 250w alone should be plenty, I use their 500w in a 4x4. You may need to dim it in veg but you can run it full blast in flower.

I use 500 Watts over 16 sqft and yield around or over 1000 grams. Without ac or co2. There's no reason 250w over 8sqft couldn't duplicate that. If you feel you need more than that you should upgrade your lighting to something more efficient using at least lm561c diodes if not the newer lm301b.

The LED will provide more "par/watt" than the Hps will. Dim the Hps before you dim the LED.

But whatever tickles your pickle, if you like paying the electric company I'm not gonna try to stop you haha.

Ok I’m still learning but did read a lot about lighting for cannabis today. I think like you’ve both said, the LED will give me DLI in the correct range by itself. It hasn’t gotten here yet but it does have the LM301b diodes as well as the Osram deep red and far red.
Can’t wait! Thanks!

 

[Mayne]

use half of total useable watts in veg, max watts when in flower.