Growth Vs Big Bills

[Yamumzbum]

So Im curious about everyones opinions albeit a short opinion


WARNING..

Virgin poll creator was high at time of print with very high chance Ive made a doozie somewhere, apologies.

 

[Indy]

Fuck knows, last grow cost around $300 in electricity alone with the standard 18/6 and 12/12 cycles which produced just shy of 22oz.

 

[Mellow oldfark]

Fuck knows, got a new small hlg led from qbl.
In hope of reduced power consumption.
All going well will purchase another and team them up.
Maybe 24 hour veg be thing of the past if energy saving.

 

[VinDeezle]

I'd say DLI is more important than duration during veg. Considering a dli of 40 is easy enough to hit at 16h, I see no point in running 24 hours.

I haven't noticed a difference running autos 12/16/24 hours, or vegging photos at 16 or 24 hours as I usually keep DLI within 30-50 regardless of schedule

 

[Indy]

DLI seems the way to go now, and it makes a lot of sense to go this way. Just for a couple of reasons alone..

Reducing energy consumption, and the plants are getting their daily requirements. Also, by taking this approach, it should amount to less stress on your plants and gear.

 

[Yamumzbum]

So you can notice the difference in running cost between hd bulbs and led fixtures can you?

Yeh I always thought the benefits probably do not outweigh the added costs.

Especially since that Russian cunt started war and the cost for electricity has skyrocketed.

My quarterly bill is generally around $300 and that's running all my tents.. 2 weeks ago I got my latest bill and it's north of $1000

That's absolutely shithouse

 

[Sun Ra]

So you can notice the difference in running cost between hd bulbs and led fixtures can you?

Yeh I always thought the benefits probably do not outweigh the added costs.

Especially since that Russian cunt started war and the cost for electricity has skyrocketed.

My quarterly bill is generally around $300 and that's running all my tents.. 2 weeks ago I got my latest bill and it's north of $1000

That's absolutely shithouse

That is exactly why I got a 5kW solar system 18 months ago. When I am on 12/12 my grow costs virtually nothing.
On 18/6 it costs me a little but not so much. I know people who are renting can't do it but it is a very good
investment for indoor growers if you can afford it imo.

 

[Yamumzbum]

And you can't own women as slaves anymore goddamnit.

Apparently females need rest and can't work 24 hours a day.

What a crazy world we live in huh

 

[Gazza]

I agree the power prices are out of control, try shopping around for a better deal?

24 hours is good in winter they stay warmer and grow faster which saves time and money.

The best way I’ve found to save on power is grow the cunts outside or invest in solar I’ve got a 6.6kw system but the inverter has a max output of 5000w so you are limited to the size of your inverter.

Pays to clean the panels every six months too.

 

[Yamumzbum]

I'd say DLI is more important than duration during veg. Considering a dli of 40 is easy enough to hit at 16h, I see no point in running 24 hours.

I haven't noticed a difference running autos 12/16/24 hours, or vegging photos at 16 or 24 hours as I usually keep DLI within 30-50 regardless of schedule

That's really interesting about the autos so you're of the opinion autos are happy whether under 12,16 or 24?
I'm just trying out autos for first time

 

[Stiritup420]

Plants would rather have a sleep i feel. That's why they droop when they have had enough light.. I think 18-20 hours is more than enough.

My last bill was $700 but i have 2 grows and 3 A/C. I can usually keep it around $450-500 but times are changing.

The newer bar style LED's are great because they only need to run at about 50% or less on the dimmer for veg. Can have them much lower and maintain spread so i think they might save a little bit of money.

 

[Indy]

So you can notice the difference in running cost between hd bulbs and led fixtures can you?

Nah, not unless your prepared to run each light through a meter, and compare the results.

What i was referring to was LED moreso than HD, because LED tends to dominate the market nowadays. There's no getting around the consumption of a fixed wattage light (like HD), whereas (theoretically) you can dial a LED in to optimum DLI level/s over the period of the light cycle to match the plants daily requirements.. geez.. that done me head in

 

[ShellzShuff3]

I’m a beginner, and tried to find any research on this before my first grow and I couldn’t. Maybe others have links to share, but I haven’t seen evidence that 24hour light makes a significant difference. Just a few anecdotal, no-control opinions.

 

[HGO]

all plants need a rest including autos
even just 4 hours of darkness will allow the plant to deal with stress and recover somewhat during the downtime

 

[VinDeezle]

That's really interesting about the autos so you're of the opinion autos are happy whether under 12,16 or 24?
I'm just trying out autos for first time

I shouldn't say "haven't noticed a difference" as they were all with comparable DLI.

I have however had generally unhappy plants running 20 or 24 hours, and leggy plants running 12/12 before I got a Meter and adjusted intensity accordingly.

This was an amnesia auto grown at 12/12 in an 80x80 under a 200w quantum board.

And here's two week stretch at 14 hours with a GDP auto and a blackberry gum auto in a 2x4 with a 240w quantum board.

The benefits of autos can come when you have an underpowered light. For example with a 100w quantum board in a 70x70 at 16" and 20 hours you could reach a dli of 40 easily, whereas a small quantum board just wouldn't have the footprint to hit 800-1000umol/s over the whole canopy in a 12 hour period, and would require a lighting upgrade.

For example here's an ak420 auto that was grown in a 2x4 with a 130w quantum board which equates to 16w per square foot. Would not have been possible to cover that area with enough intensity to reach DLI at 12 hours, hence it needing a 20 hour schedule.

 

[VinDeezle]

To sum it up, using a Meter to assess dli has allowed me to save power/ heat accumulation and still get adequate results. I found (before I invested in a Meter) I was running my lights too far from the canopy and almost full pelt to hit a dli of 60 or more over 18-20 hours, whereas I found I could lower the light substantially, drop the schedule down a few hours, dim the light a bit and still hit an adequate accumulation of flux.

I have saved electricity on AC as well. I need to run the AC less as heat accumulation is less (I'm recycling air not venting).

 

[ShellzShuff3]

To sum it up, using a Meter to assess dli has allowed me to save power/ heat accumulation and still get adequate results. I found (before I invested in a Meter) I was running my lights too far from the canopy and almost full pelt to hit a dli of 60 or more over 18-20 hours, whereas I found I could lower the light substantially, drop the schedule down a few hours, dim the light a bit and still hit an adequate accumulation of flux.

I have saved electricity on AC as well. I need to run the AC less as heat accumulation is less (I'm recycling air not venting).

That's really interesting! What kind of meter do you need to measure dli?

 

[VinDeezle]

That's really interesting! What kind of meter do you need to measure dli?

I just go the cheap way. Using a lux Meter and taking multiple measurements a few inches below cola tips (where most leaves are), I can multiply the results by 0.016 to get PAR (within a few percent as tested with an apogee) and run it through a DLI calculator. I use the one on waveform lightings site. I try make sure every head is getting at least a DLI of 30, and that usually means the highest most central cola is at about 45.

That's around 650umol/s or 40kish lux on the outer colas and 1000umol/s or 60k lux in the hotspot at 12.5 hours.

 

[Tugboat]

That's really interesting! What kind of meter do you need to measure dli?

I just grabbed the Photone app for my phone and use that - nowhere as accurate as a dedicated meter but I reckon it’s close enough for my needs - also has a DLI setting if you want to avoid doing the calcs …

 

[Porky]

I just go the cheap way. Using a lux Meter and taking multiple measurements a few inches below cola tips (where most leaves are), I can multiply the results by 0.016 to get PAR (within a few percent as tested with an apogee) and run it through a DLI calculator. I use the one on waveform lightings site. I try make sure every head is getting at least a DLI of 30, and that usually means the highest most central cola is at about 45.

That's around 650umol/s or 40kish lux on the outer colas and 1000umol/s or 60k lux in the hotspot at 12.5 hours.

What is this DLI you speak of??
Daily light intake I'll guess?
How is it measured?
I should probably look it up!
I have noticed plants don't for me anyway seem to grow any faster from 18h onwards to 24h so I just run 18h maybe I'll drop it to 16h next run and see if I notice any difference!