Outdoors sunlight vs indoor growlight

[Drivejunky95]

General opinion piece. Do indoor grows produce smaller, bushier, shorter "branched" plants ? Both sativa and indica.

Let's assume ideal growing conditions, both inside and out. Different types of grow lights I can't account for. Using 450W LED @ 20".

My own plants are (WW) auto so say strain is cross germinated with ruderalis which are inherently smaller to begin with.

 

[fanleaf]

For starters your 450w led is probably closer to 200w. What's the make and model?

 

[Drivejunky95]

Yep, everything I can provide for the light.

"VIPARSPECTRA"

PAR 450 ( yep, 202W! )

Compares to traditional 400 watt HPS/MH

Has got 3 knobs to adjust Red, White, Blue light levels which was the most appealing factor for buying it (x2)

Per manufacturer specifications ( I sell on eBay, Amazon, etc for a living so I know half this stuff is bullsh!t, and so far proving to be, lol)

Acclimation period ---40"-44" ---10 on /14 off---40% B/40% W/15% R
Seedling/germination--36"-40"--12 on /12 off---60% B/60% W/30% R
Vegetative stage----28"-36" ---18 on /6 off----100% B/100% W/60% R
Flowering stage---20"-28" ---12 on /12 off---100% B/100% W/100% R

Veg Coverage 32" for 2.5 sq ft
Flowering Coverage 24" for 2 sq ft

 

[fanleaf]

Yep, everything I can provide for the light.

"VIPARSPECTRA"

PAR 450 ( yep, 202W! )

Compares to traditional 400 watt HPS/MH

Has got 3 knobs to adjust Red, White, Blue light levels which was the most appealing factor for buying it (x2)

Per manufacturer specifications ( I sell on eBay, Amazon, etc for a living so I know half this stuff is bullsh!t, and so far proving to be, lol)

Acclimation period ---40"-44" ---10 on /14 off---40% B/40% W/15% R
Seedling/germination--36"-40"--12 on /12 off---60% B/60% W/30% R
Vegetative stage----28"-36" ---18 on /6 off----100% B/100% W/60% R
Flowering stage---20"-28" ---12 on /12 off---100% B/100% W/100% R

Veg Coverage 32" for 2.5 sq ft
Flowering Coverage 24" for 2 sq ft

Yep, lots of growers here using that brand. Cool to be able to adjust the spectrum. That's how I build my Cree cob arrays.

 

[Drivejunky95]

Alright, if the light's producing for people it can't be so bad. Manufacturer needs to tighten up their specs though and maybe actually grow some plants with it - lol

Thinking plants grown indoors may be harder pressed to reach their fullest potential compared to being grown outdoors.

If light indoors is poorer quality it may be why plant's dont "branch" out as much given it's coming from one direction.

 

[Drivejunky95]

If no, Imma dumbass, greenhouses produce just fine with grow lights, that's okay... lol

 

[MassMedMan]

Get yourself a par meter or a par meter app. Take a reading under the sun, then go inside and put that meter under yer lights. There will be a huge difference. Huge. It's a fun experiment but can get costly if you're trying to get em even. Good luck and good observations.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

No light can compare to our beautiful Sun

But there are great lights that do a fantastic job indoors

Pros and Cons for each

I live on the surface of the sun so can't grow outdoors, so inside is good for me

Optimum is outdoor durring the season, indoors all year long

 

[Drivejunky95]

There's gotta be good info on lumen (PAR?) to heat ratios out there somewhere. Closer you can get to your plants with less heat stress the better I'm thinking.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

All lights have recommend distances

Led is light stress more than heat, well, most are actually

T5 is more heat since you can go as close as 6" from the tops

Quantum Boards pump out some serious PAR or Lumens if you prefer that, so more light stress than heat as well

If you drop an LED 8" from a plant the light will be an issue as well as heat
12" away more light stress than heat

 

[Chris Scorpio]

There's gotta be good info on lumen (PAR?) to heat ratios out there somewhere. Closer you can get to your plants with less heat stress the better I'm thinking.

Each manufacturer light is different from the rest, so any data would be more generic than scientific

 

[Drivejunky95]

T5 sounds really good for starting seedlings. Maybe plants too.

Been seeing stuff about DIY QBs on forum. Sounds neat. Electricity bill not really an issue if it gets you more for your time.

Think I'll watch out going too strong cause ceilings are only so high. Haha.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

QBs, all I use now, use less watts verses similar lights, so less $$$$ on yer bill

 

[Drivejunky95]

Ya less is good haha. I mine cryptocurrency with GPUs and the bill has shot up about 180 ever since... ha. Worth it tho!

LEDs sounded good but I'm interested in reading about these QBs now