Led lights for 3x3 tent

[Diza]

Hey everyone!

I currently have a 3x3 spider farmer grow tent with two 100w led lights. I’ve been reading that 250-400watts is recommended but I haven’t really found consistent and solid info to back that up.

I’ve harvested 3 crops now and in my 4th. After learning from the first three grows, I know a lot more and have stepped up my game with nutes, soil, watering, etc. I’ve been growing autos and they always turn out airy. Currently, I’m growing Gelato (first photoperiod) and so far it’s doing amazing but think the yields could be bigger at this point (3rd week into flowering).

After doing some research, many say to up the wattage to prevent airy bud and for bigger

yields. It’s a lot to comprehend so any recommendations would be great. Here’s a pic of my Gelato.

[retiredoldguy]

Hi @Diza yes lights can make a difference in bud density. It is not so much the wattage of the light but more importantly the spectrum it puts out. I must say if your Gelato is a photo and you are only 3 weeks into a 8-9 week flower and you have buds like your picture then you are doing something extraordinary.

[Autotrepreneur]

I can’t say how well it will perform but I’m currently waiting on a Mars hydro fc-e3000 model for my 3x3.
I’ve currently got a couple viparspectra p1500’s which I’m only using one of em right now and it’s doing good at the moment in veg but the Mars supposedly has more leds and better spectrums so we shall see. I’m strictly autos so anything I can do to get the most is what I’m after. But IMO your girls are looking fantastic!!!

[Diza]

Thanks so much! Nice to hear they look good. It’s my first photo and honestly at the start I thought they were autos and was about to give up after month 2 with no flower but then they appeared . I have a full spectrum light coming today, so I’m hoping after I add it, I don’t mess anything up.

[Diza]

Thanks so much! First photo and I’ve started two autos. Hoping my full spectrum light does the trick for the auto especially.

[retiredoldguy]

@Diza If you did not reduce your light to 12/12 on/off then this plant is a auto…Sometimes autos can take longer to mature and really your plant looks like a auto to me but either way she is budding for you…

[Diza]

It’s on a 12/12. They were free seeds from a BOGO sale and when I looked back at the order, it is a photo. The strain is a shorter plant from what I’ve read.

[retiredoldguy]

@Diza ok then take a look at my current Gelato photo grow that is now 6 weeks into flower, this is not a short plant.

[Diza]

Wow impressive! Yeah, that’s what I’ve read…I’ve never grown one before. When I did top mine in the early stages and treated it like an auto. I got these seeds from homegrown and the receipt says auto for the others and this one says gelato feminized. Maybe I stunted it’s growth

[retiredoldguy]

@Diza yea first grows are typically not the best…but you will learn with each grow what makes a difference in your setup. With the current seeds we get they have come from plants that have a mixed lineage…meaning some indica and some sativa. So you could end up with a plant that leans more to one or the other or is right where it was bred to be…As Forest said “pot seeds are like a box of chocolates you never know what you will get”

[Diza]

Haha! I welcome the “box of chocolates” variety The only thing that really matters to me is that I get a sensational high

[Northcountryguy]

I’m running SF1000 in a 27x27, which is 5 square feet. Your 3x3 is 9 square feet, so you’ve got a little more light per sq ft of area than I do. My first grow was auto blueberry and auto tangerine dream. Both a little airy.
Second grow I went to Fox Farm ocean forest soil with a starter plug of happy frog, and used the light distance and intensity called for and 18/6 from the get go. My blueberry autos both grew to thirty inches high, and in week eight are loaded pretty heavily and getting more weight daily.
It’s not the lights.

[Rye]

When it comes to lights, specifically LED lights. Manufacturers make the difference. Without being overly complicated, you need a high end company to get the best light. Not all LED chips are made equally. When the chips are made they are tested and ranked by how much light intensity they produce. Specific companys have contract with the manufacturer to get the top bin diodes. They pay more for them, therefore you pay more. The difference between top bin and 2nd best can be as much as 10%. That’s a massive amount when added up over the whole light fixture. There are only so many top bin diodes manufactured at a time, so companys like HLG, California Light works etc have those top bin diodes almost exclusively, there are some others, but not too many. Then you have the secondary bin diodes, companys like spider farmer, mars, vivaspectra etc. These are great lights, especially when the price is taken into consideration. This is where most people start, fo good reason.

We havent even touched on the temperature of the light (Kelvin rating), PAR/PPAR values, heat by product, spectrum, cost of running, or efficiency at various running temperatures. All those are considerations to be taken into account.

Lighting is an area that will always be intimidating. Theres so much important information to be learned and new concepts that are difficult to understand. And a whole lot of MATH, which is kinda universally hated.

[Victor (Brian Ballard)]

I got the same deal last year, and was not sure the Gelato was actually a photo. I grew them outdoors In the early spring along with the WW autos. They flowered at the same time. The Gelatos actually yielded a little less than the WW, but we’re definitely stronger. I’ve thought about trying some in the tent.