My LEDs are killing my plants!

[Terp]

When I first set up these lights couple weeks ago, I put a perfectly healthy GG4 and a Green Crack under them to veg a bit. The leaves started yellowing, wilting and, clawing right away. I pulled them out from under the LEDs and put them back under the 400 MH and they are growing fast and green again.

I dismissed this as the LEDs being to close and warm. They were at 12" and I didnt have a thermometer at the time.

Now I put 3 Chem 4 under the LED lights and they are doing the same thing. But now I know the temp is only 74° and lights at 18"

These LEDs are killing everything I put under them in a matter of a couple days and start growing fine again after putting the back under my MH.

WTF??????????????????????

Before (3 days ago):

Now:

 

[Terp]

Nothing has changed other than moving them to the other side of the room and putting them under the LEDs.

 

[Highpotanoose]

I don't think it's the lights,plenty of great grows completed with those lights

First off let me you to

Secondly if you take a minute and fill this out you will get plenty of help

REQUIRED INFORMATION FOR GROW SUPPORT

What Strain is it?
GG4 and Green Crack
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages?
How Many Plants?
3
Is it in Vegetative or Flowering Stage?
Vegetative
If in Vegetative Stage... How Long?
If in Flowering Stage... How Long?
Indoor or Outdoor?
Soil or Hydro?
If Hydro, Reservoir size?
If Hydro, Reservoir Temperature?
If Hydro, what type of Medium?
If Hydro, what type of Setup?
If Soil... What is in your Mix?
If Soil... What Size Pot?
Size (Wattage) of Light? How Many?
Is it Air Cooled?
Temperature of Room/Cabinet?
RH of Room/Cabinet?
PH of Medium or Reservoir?
Any Pests?
How Often are you Watering?
Type and Strength of Fertilizers used?
Size or Square Footage of room?

Even helped you start filling it in by pics
Is that coco?
What is PH? Going in and run off?

 

[Terp]

I have been growing my own for over 15 years. Its in coco and every condition is perfect. These are Chem 4. These plants have sister plants that match and been together since I cloned them them just 8 ft away under a 400MH doing perfectly.

When I removed the GG4 and Green Crack out from under the LEDs and back to the MH they came right back to life and are doing very well.

Its the light, I just dont know why. It really upsets me because I had really high hopes for replacing my HIDs and spent good money on these.

PS: Its the standard full spectrum.

 

[Highpotanoose]

I have been growing my own for over 15 years.

How many of those years have you been growing with LED?
LED is a different animal so to speak

I would check your PH first

Then if it is good maybe add some mag

But if you have been growing for 15 years you don't need me to tell you to check your ph


Good Luck brother

 

[ibaba]

light shock bro, changing from MH to the LED is too much for them! better to start under the LEDs, or you could try introducing them slowly to the LEDs....

 

[Antics]

Try a height of 30" to start, and slowly work to 24". As the plants get bigger, You can go as close as 18" or so in Veg. Flower they can usually tolerate 12" distances.

And make sure you supplement Calcium and Magnesium in addition to your normal nutes. The LEDs will make your plants hungry for Ca and Mg.

But I can agree, it's definitely not the lights. They work fine, they just take some getting used to. I had similar problems, combined with PH issues that had me confused for a bit. Once you get the hang of it, you're going to love the light. It just has different settings than CFLs or HIDs.

 

[PrimalUrge]

Try a height of 30" to start, and slowly work to 24". As the plants get bigger, You can go as close as 18" or so in Veg. Flower they can usually tolerate 12" distances.

And make sure you supplement Calcium and Magnesium in addition to your normal nutes. The LEDs will make your plants hungry for Ca and Mg.

But I can agree, it's definitely not the lights. They work fine, they just take some getting used to. I had similar problems, combined with PH issues that had me confused for a bit. Once you get the hang of it, you're going to love the light. It just has different settings than CFLs or HIDs.

Best response right here.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Dear Terp, I am sorry to see your plants grow like this. It is a little different when you grow plants with LEDs. Please be sure to use less water and nutrients, but more cal and mag, Also, please keep the PH around 6~6.5, room rate at 50%. As you are still doing veg, I suggest hang the light above your plants more than 24''. Hope this helps.

 

[ChanandlrBong]

It looks as if they're reacting to the way the led's distribute the light. I would sacrifice one of your plants to science and leave it under the lights until you get real answer, see if they adapt. The LED is less intense and much more diffuse. I know my plants struggle for a bit when they're moved from T5 to MH, this, of course, is the opposite scenario. I put MH 3 ft. above new transplants and lower or raise lights and plants, respectively, a few inches each day until they're in optimum distance. Same for moving them MH to HPS.

Hell, I damaged my most recent plants when I moved them from clone box to veg tent.

I see curling and cupping, but no clawing.

Have you determined the cause of the chlorosis on the old growth? Does it correlate to the light change?

 

[Terp]

I moved the light to over 30". They seem to be coming back. Ill let ya all know how it goes in awhile. Wont leave ya hanging.

 

[PrimalUrge]

I moved the light to over 30". They seem to be coming back. Ill let ya all know how it goes in awhile. Wont leave ya hanging.

5w are intense to plants not use to that kind of lighting.

 

[Terp]

I know all about PAR compared to unusable light so here is my thing. HPS and MH still have more useable light (par) because of their efficiency. HPS puts off 140 -150 lumens per watt. LEDs dont even come close to that with the colors that are used for growing. There are LEDs that have high efficiency (passing hps) but its white and turned up in lab conditions. These colored ones are still pretty low. Much below even 60% of an HPS

HPS still smokes the LEDs even in useable light. AND the LEDs numbers drop off very fast when you move off to the side. (reason I bought 2 instead of one)

It does not make sense to me that they would experience such a shock. So Im still trying to wrap my head around this. I just know that if I cant get my LEDs down to about 12", I might as well be using t-5s

I really want them to work because I really like there ease of use and heat factor. Also it seems they grow better quality buds. Here is just one guy that had some test run in comparison.

We will see. Ill just keep lowering them down when they permit me and judge by the results. Going to mix up a batch of nutes with plenty of cal mag in a few and lower the lights 6" soon as Im done with this post.

 

[k0ncept]

Well I started with LED, and they never killed my plants, my only issue with LED's was trying to figure the correct distance in veg.. I am only using one 144x3 reflector for my veg tent, and in my flower tent I am using 2 Mars 700's.. Check my sig and you can see what they have been doing from start to now..

I am finishing up this pineapple and I have another OG right behind it as well as a few others..

Also I was looking at your pics and that's what my plants do when they are thirsty...

 

[indica4mymeds]

It's not the leds.I had simular problem with haze.
I had lights too close and my leaves did same thing.It's like the plants can't feed or get enough water to keep up with light.
I had mine 18 inches away put them at 24,water lightly daily in the am,especially with coir,upped my humidity and wiped down the glass.
Anyway mine are very happy all leaves upward at angles.
I'd really like to know if the Mars 2 needs to be taken apart to wipe down inside glass or is it sealed?

I'm happy with my mar 2 but for flowering it needs more.Something is missing.If I add one red 26 watt cfl the plant leans towards cfl.
The Sun Series looks like it was made for growers by a grower.
I was going to go back to hps for flower but the Sun Series has my attention.
I bought a Mars 2 400 and if price was a bit lower one or two would have be on its way.

 

[Terp]

Update:
Since raising the lights up to almost 3 feet, the plants have rebounded. I dropped them back down to 2.5" and they are holding (very little droop) Time will tell.

Welder

 

[Antics]

Update:
Since raising the lights up to almost 3 feet, the plants have rebounded. I dropped them back down to 2.5" and they are holding (very little droop) Time will tell.

Welder

Glad to hear things are turning around for you.

 

[Terp]

The highest recommend distance on the website was killing my plants. 3 different strains all very healthy until placed under this led light and returned to healthy after removing. It didnt stop until it was almost 3 feet away and Im sure the PAR value is dismal at that distance due to the reverse square law. The same sister plants next to them under a close open bulb 400w MH is already 6 inches higher in growth.

 

[Antics]

The highest recommend distance on the website was killing my plants. 3 different strains all very healthy until placed under this led light and returned to healthy after removing. It didnt stop until it was almost 3 feet away and Im sure the PAR value is dismal at that distance due to the reverse square law. The same sister plants next to them under a close open bulb 400w MH is already 6 inches higher in growth.

I am also sure, that with your 15 years growing experience, you are well aware that every strain, and pheno has the potential to be very, very different. You may or may not know, that there are roughly 422,000 different plant species in existance, but likely more to account for the species not yet discovered.

It would be almost impossible for a company to test lighting heights on every single species. And to complicate things more, there are potential variations between phenos as well. So we can agree that it's IMPOSSIBLE for a company to test every strain, species, and subsequent pheno.

Now with all that in mind, I'll address your final comment.

Several growers took time out of their day to assist you in correcting the problem. We found that the particular strain/pheno you were growing was not liking the light as close as suggested in the height guidelines, we suggested you move the light up, and slowly lower it. You found this to be an acceptable solution, and noted that the plants were coming back and happier with less droop.

 

[ChanandlrBong]

" due to the reverse square law. "

I think you mean the INverse square law. Intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.