Amnesia Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Not a problem as yet anyway, just a quick question. For those of you that use a Parabolic reflector how much distance on average do you keep from the tops of the plants to the bulb? On my last grow i kept it a good 12 inches away at all times, no problems at all with that but i've always wondered what the sweet spot is. I've currently got 4 plants at 21 days veg and the bulb is about 5 inches away, the girls seem to be loving it and the leaves are reaching for the sky, not sure if this is a good thing as if they are praying to the light but they do not seem stressed at all and no bleaching has occured yet. I'm a little worried though that this could be too close to the little ones and will cause it in future if not raised, so obviously prevention is better than a cure. Temperatures are never above 28c at the canopy and i have a fan blowing across the canopy and another one through the plants. RH at the moment is only 40% max and i'm struggling to get this up. I realise as the plants get taller you need a better light spread across the canopy so raising it then will achieve that but because they are small and close together at the moment no light spread is needed. There are better pictures in the link to my grow diary below if you would like to see more. How they look now with the HPS on, is this praying thing a good thing and just showing that they are happy? The bulb is a 400w dual spectrum Grolux and Ballast is a Lumatek 400w digital with super lumen switch (currently turned off) and their is good air exchange in the room. Take no notice of the little lettuce looking plant at the front right , thats one of my Sweet Cheeses which had a very bad start due to my poor germination skills using the compost in a pot method, I'm sure she will turn out fine though The couple of marks you can just see on the bottom leaves of the plant at the back right is where the leaves were sat on the compost after re-potting, just saying in case you thought it was the light causing it. Any thoughts or comments on the above questions would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shairiley Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 (edited) Hey Amnesia, I use grostars so they are similair to your parabolics and have mine about 8"s from the top of the canopy but they are 600w lamps any closer a start to get some heat and light bleaching.Just put the back of your hand above the canopy and if it dont get too hot after few mins then leave lamp there jus keep an eye out for light bleaching as you will get this b4 anything starts to burn. hope this helps. Edited January 3, 2011 by Shairiley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnesia Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 Thanks for that Shairiley, the back of my hand is cool on the canopy so i think all is good. I have seen grows on here where a few of the buds are actually in the reflector so they do seem to funnel the heat out pretty well. I'll see how it goes anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playingedges Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Hey Amnesia, I have the same light and reflector as you. Stilll germinating but will report back to you (this thread) during various stages of my grow. My bulb was at 12 inches until this morning when I dropped it to 8. Temps are hovering around 25 and never above 27. Thing is, my humidity is only about 30% and like you, am having trouble getting it up - erm that sounds wrong - getting it higher PE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playingedges Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 10 hours later and I am moving them back to 12 inches - took a peek this morning and the soil was dry. I gave them some water about 12 hours ago - only a spray mind. All the seeds have cracked with 2 of the 9 free from the husk. Now I am worried I have fried them PE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shairiley Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) should be 2ft away for seedlins hps should nae be that close . Edited January 4, 2011 by Owderb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playingedges Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 should be 2ft away for seedlins hps should nae be that close . Shit - seriouly!?! That means I need to move the bulb another 12 inches away! PE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shairiley Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) if its a 600 then 2-3 feet away to start with or you will jus shock them as they jus fragile seedlins, if its a 400 then id say 18-24" away from the top to start with hps are very strong and new seedlins get shocked easy. as you see the growing gradually bring your light down an inch a day or so until you can get it close enough that it dont burn the back of your hand after a couple mins Edited January 4, 2011 by Shairiley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playingedges Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 if its a 600 then 2-3 feet away to start with or you will jus shock them as they jus fragile seedlins, if its a 400 then id say 18-24" away from the top to start with hps are very strong and new seedlins get shocked easy.as you see the growing gradually bring your light down an inch a day or so until you can get it close enough that it dont burn the back of your hand after a couple mins thanks! PE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnesia Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 Mine are not seedlings now anyway but i suppose i was lucky really as the light was the same distance when they were babies, just checked on them and all is very well. I did not raise the light any higher as they look very happy, no heat issues in there at all just low RH but they seem to be coping with it just fine, as they grow taller though i will extend the gap so that the light spreads better. :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnesia Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Just a little update to say that there is no need to worry about how close you can get the bulb to the tops, my Sweet cheeses at the moment are within inches of the bulb and the temps are never above 28c. These Parabolics are superb, the heat instantly goes up through the vents in the shade and out through the carbon filter. The only problem i have now is that the cheeses are around 5ft 8" from soil to tip and are touching the actual inside of the Parabolic and i've now completely run out of headroom! Anyway here is a pic of them how they looked a few days ago, and yes they are the same plants as the first picture i posted in this thread.> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokinterror Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) hi edges/amnesia iv seen a post about humidity cant find the link but the guy was hanging wet towels in his groom to up humidity hope it helps. tokin Edited April 21, 2011 by tokinterror Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnesia Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Thanks for that tokinterror, everything did work out fine in the end although i did have to remove the parabolic as the buds were growing beyond it and the light could not go no higher! R/H is much better too nowadays since i upgraded my intake and now have a mix of indoor and outdoor fresh-air which seems to make the right combination. All the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joint hogger Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 i let them get as close as 2" but they got a bit bleached so the lamps now hanging about 5" now. but im running out of headroom in the 1.8 budbox, the plants still have 7 weeks to go & theres only about 2ft left might have to finish with the old euro. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jailbait Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 might have to finish with the old euro. Careful my euro reflector with a 400 watt light just seems to through all the heat down And cant get closer then a foot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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