LED Lighting Footprints vs Intensity

[wizgrow]

So....... my background is mostly as a Technical PM and I can get a little anal about "specs" and for the last year I have been judging LED's performance a lot by the "over all PAR" based upon the footprint I was looking to cover; not just the highest value directly under the light.

Then just yesterday - I had it mentioned to me by a vendor that the "Over all" it is not so important as much as how the plant receives and responds to it. I guess he was telling me that if it was receiving very intense light on just part of her and made that part real happy that the over all plant would benefit just as much from it.

Now - Tech wise this through me off but as an absolute NOOB to growing I could hardly disagree. I would love to know if there is any validity to this as it would change my purchasing strategy quite a bit.

Thanks guys,
WG

 

[wizgrow]

Single bump and if no biters I will let it go assuming the overall footprint supersedes the intensity.

Cheers,
WG

 

[mdelio]

I think you need 50w per sq foot to grow great tight buds, regardless of the led light manufacture.

 

[OttawaGreen]

I have two led panels that have a footprint slightly smaller the my bloom cabinet. Buds at the edges were smaller than middle. So to maximize my yield i turned the lights 90 degrees so they cover a little more than half the cabinet edge to edge and put on a light mover. Now edge buds are catching up.

The one I use is an agramover seems like a great product so far and was good service from the small American company.

Hope that helps.

 

[OttawaGreen]

Oh and for watts per square foot I have 8 square feet and aprox 600 watts of led working great

 

[wizgrow]

And I thought this a dead subject


Mdelio,

As for the amount of watts per square foot with "LEDs"; this has always bothered me. With HPS I can see this being an accurate method to use. I used a little 250w HPS YEARS ago and just now starting to grow in earnest. So I guess you could say that HPS is before my time...... HHEhehehe that's cool to say coming up on 50 and all

But with HPS it "seems" the tech had not much changed in "decades" - people had a very good understanding of their performance. Keep in mind that the "Lumens" calculation seems more accurate to me which is why the 600's seems to be more efficient the 1000's.

LED's seem to have a great deal of difference in the PAR produced per watt. Just ask anyone with a Budmaster....Or even the new PLED's (Still skeptical for lack of data). Is it not more accurate to ask how much PAR per square foot? Which of course lead indirectly back to my original question

I mean - Plants require PAR not Watts, right?

OttawaGreen,

Dude, you need to start a new thread on light moving PLEASE! I have done some searching and just can't find many people using them them with LEDs. Long ago my buddy used them with HPS to great success. Agramover is what I am looking at well. Hehehe thinking about attaching a 2"x4" to the top of my tent then going from there.........

Thanks for the input guys,
WG

 

[OttawaGreen]

Feel free to ask any question in my grow journal on the light mover. It was $209. Good service, easy to install and looks to be good quality. The owner seemed nice on the phone.