View Full Version : Optimal LED color temp
banidles
10-04-2014, 01:43 AM
I want to custom order a few 3w diode fixtures from a supplier in China each in about the 120-150w range. It appears that most grow lights from china are targeted towards people who own grow-ops. Yep. I know that many other indoor gardeners use red to promote flowing and budding, but to me this doesn't make much sense when trying to sustain a plant over the long term. I could be wrong. Since bananas are rather heavy on the foliage side, would it be more prudent to get a fixture with more blue than red? I notice that most of the fixtures on the market (LED fixtures meant to replace HPS) are 95 percent red vs 5 percent blue. I am thinking of a 50/50 set up and I am also thinking about making 30 percent of the fixture 4k white, since I absolutely cant stand the deep purple light.
The plants in question are 3ft Musa sp. Dwarf Cavendish.
What do you guess think? any suggestions?
from the sea
10-04-2014, 04:20 AM
i would think a full spectrum setup would be better
banidles
10-04-2014, 04:46 AM
Yeah I have been doing some thinking and I am leaning towards a 5:5:3::2:1 Red:blue:3kwhite:green setup.
Sticking to a strictly blue and red spectrum just doesn't seem to make sense.
Hammocked Banana
10-04-2014, 06:51 AM
Green light is useless to plants. Go with an even mix of red and blue, with your whites, and throw in just a few uv too.
Worm_Farmer
10-04-2014, 05:34 PM
Green light is useless to plants. Go with an even mix of red and blue, with your whites, and throw in just a few uv too.
I am not sure that UV would be a good option. I know Black Lights kill plants.
Hammocked Banana
10-04-2014, 08:28 PM
I have a little experience with led grow lights. The "better quality" lights always had 6-10 little uv bulbs, and generally produce plants with better flavour profiles, although growth seemed fairly similar.
banidles
10-04-2014, 09:58 PM
I have read that UV can irradiate foliage and cause negative effects. Not sure if it is true. I want to maximize the vegetative growth, so I will definitely stack blue. I want to be able to pummel is with red when it mature to encourage flowering. Still leaning towards 50/50 blue:red with plenty of warm white. Maybe stick the red and blue on separate dimming channels. Any other colors I should consider? Even for esthetic purposes.
On a side note I scored a warm mist humidifier and some other accessories today.
redswe
10-05-2014, 01:25 PM
They should have a general purpose plant light I use a cheap one off ebay 300w and it works great .. you can get them for less than $100....If you want a more pleasing light I would just replace part of the red with more white lamps whatever they call daylight or a mixture 3k- 7k. A pure vegging lamp has mostly blue and a small amount of 6k ot 7k white mixed....
Personally I would stick with something they have people using the wrong bandwidth LED's can do more harm than good.Yeah I have been doing some thinking and I am leaning towards a 5:5:3::2:1 Red:blue:3kwhite:green setup.
Sticking to a strictly blue and red spectrum just doesn't seem to make sense.
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