China made cheapo led grow light

[Gthumbz89]

My new purchase of a 300w (190watt actual power draw) 10 band led arrived today. I am very pleased with it thus far. It is very bright. At a foot away my light meter goes nuts and gives a reading that is off the charts. I find that there is not very much information about the actual foot candle intensity that is needed to grow orchids with leds as the main concern with them is par (I don't have a PAR meter). Hopefully I don't fry my plants in the learning curve.

my room looks like a whore house because it is now a most beautiful shade of pink from this behemoth of a light. Not the best for viewing the plants, but the ten degree difference in growing temperature and the ability to more fully enclose the case to raise the humidity more than makes up for the alien shade of pink that is coating my room.

I'll keep you all posted on how the plants respond. I plan on buying a PAR meter to make this a more scientific experiment. That way I can take measurements of how far away the plants can be grown from the light and still bloom.



Bye for now.

[Gthumbz89]

It seems that this light is so bright that it has attracted the attention of the local authorities. They will be mighty surprised to see a bunch of flowers instead of marijuana if they get a warrant.

[naoki]

Looks nice, which one is it? It's difficult to tell the distance from the photo, but the phals seems to be way too close to the LEDs. I have to put at least 10" or so even with my 28W, old-fashioned 2-band (R+B) LEDs for Phals. Yours will be putting much more light.

[Bloomin_Aussie]

Hahahaha... did they come knocking?

[Gthumbz89]

Originally Posted by Bloomin_Aussie

Hahahaha... did they come knocking?

No they did not come knocking, but I did have a curious police officer parked directly across from my house. I suspect they need more to get a warrant than a brightly illuminated pink window. Who knows maybe he was there on other business.

[RandomGemini]

Originally Posted by Gthumbz89

No they did not come knocking, but I did have a curious police officer parked directly across from my house. I suspect they need more to get a warrant than a brightly illuminated pink window. Who knows maybe he was there on other business.

I actually had the neighborhood watch captain stop by my house after I installed my 75 gallon reef aquarium, which had metal halide lights over it that were so bright that you could see them from the street. LOL!

His first question was, "What are you growing in there?" He was completely shocked when I said, "SPS Corals and tridacna clams." LOL!

[Gthumbz89]

Originally Posted by naoki

Looks nice, which one is it? It's difficult to tell the distance from the photo, but the phals seems to be way too close to the LEDs. I have to put at least 10" or so even with my 28W, old-fashioned 2-band (R+B) LEDs for Phals. Yours will be putting much more light.

10 Band 300W LED Full Spectrum Grow Plant Flowering Hydroponic Hydro Light Lamp | eBay

Here is the link to the ebay page. It has all the specifications and relevant information.

Yes I suspect it is too much light for the phal. My footcandle meter was giving off a reading of around 1500 footcandles. At high par that is sure to cause problems. The light is already mounted pretty far away from the plants I'll take a measurement when I get home to let y'all know the exact distance.

The other plants are miniature cattleyas and a Sedirea japonica. Both of which can take more light, but we'll see how they do.

Does anyone know how long it takes to develop a purple tint to the leaves?? My metal halide didn't even come close to providing the purple tint everyone talks about without scorching everything, so I have no idea how long to wait to move the light around.

---------- Post added at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 PM ----------

Originally Posted by RandomGemini

I actually had the neighborhood watch captain stop by my house after I installed my 75 gallon reef aquarium, which had metal halide lights over it that were so bright that you could see them from the street. LOL!

His first question was, "What are you growing in there?" He was completely shocked when I said, "SPS Corals and tridacna clams." LOL!

Ya, it is pretty shocking to people when they realize you have a nerdy hobby instead of a drug addiction. They must think we are the worst drug growers ever because we don't even attempt to hide the lights

[kaede]

Originally Posted by Gthumbz89

My new purchase of a 300w (190watt actual power draw) 10 band led arrived today. I am very pleased with it thus far. It is very bright. At a foot away my light meter goes nuts and gives a reading that is off the charts. I find that there is not very much information about the actual foot candle intensity that is needed to grow orchids with leds as the main concern with them is par (I don't have a PAR meter). Hopefully I don't fry my plants in the learning curve.

I have the same light which I use to grow bonsai for a long time, and it works great.

My wife and I just got into orchids recently. From your experience, what is the range of distance for phals to thrive and bloom ? Thanks !

[Gthumbz89]

Honestly, it is complete guess work figuring out the
distance from the light. I ordered a PAR meter a while ago, but I never received it. My phal has been growing and blooming very well when my footcandle meter reads 1000 fc. That is about 2 feet away from the light.

I have been growing with these lights for a few months now and they seem to work great. I have had plenty of new roots leaves and flowers. The leaves are slightly smaller than the old ones, but I have no idea if that is a result of me reducing the fertilizer dose or not.

[Gthumbz89]

A quick update!!! I caused some bad bleaching on my miniature cattleyas by having the led light a foot away from the leaf tips. I have since moved it two feet away. I read on a marijuana forum that around 24 inches is a good distance. I do believe that Mary Jane needs around 2,000 fc at minimum to grow if that gives you some sort of estimate.