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Switching from. 75% to 100%

C

Chubbs9879

New member
First time indoors. Two weeks ago I scorches two of my three babies and turned them yellow from the 1000w bulb I'm using. When I checked and realized what I'd done I turned my ballast down to 75% and now they're coming to and all new growth is coming in dark green and healthy. Should I even consider switching back to 1000w or keep the entire project at the 75% and will it help my yeild either way? I currently have and 3 &1/2" by 3 &1/2' by 8' area with an HPS bulb
 
1000 watt are designed for a 5' x 5' footprint. I don't recommend dimming ballasts but lots do it. How far is the light from your plants? pics would help.
 
Definitely heat and or light stress...The area got up to 117° for about 3-4 hrs. Forgot to plug in fan before I flipped the switch to get started. They went just seedlings but like I said since I've dimmed the ballast they've come back strong and are getting taller and bushier with healthy green new leaves
 
They're in 4yr old composted soil which I used in my outdoor grow this past summer. I'm just scratching the surface here on the whole indoor thing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated
 
750 watts is plenty for your space and you probably won't see enough gain from turning up the ballast to justify the increased bill.
36" is very far away though- it was the ventilation problem that burned the plants not the light proximity. You can move your light much closer than that. I always keep my ballasts dimmed down to 600 watts- and the plant canopy is around 12" away average- open bulbs with reflectors, not aircooled. They can get quite a bit closer than that without burning anything.
Keep movement fans blowing under the lights to avoid hotspots.
If it's not broken- no need to fix it till it is, but- if you're looking for increased light for your plants- rather than turning up the ballast I would keep it at 750 but move it closer, like 18" to start. First make sure your ventilation system is in order. Keep an eye on it for the first day or two to make sure you're not getting hotspots.
 
I've fixed the ventilation and am holding a temp between 78-82° and my soil temp is around 70-73° but I'm extremely nervous about moving the light closer. If I put the light closer won't it make it hotter? I have an air cooled hood but unfortunately I have no vent system other than the main vent fan to the outside
 
If you have sufficient air movement in there with ventilation and movement (desk) fans, then you shouldn't be getting major hotspots under the bulbs. But - put a thermometer at the plant's canopy ,shaded if possible, and see what is actually happening.
If you're still worried- put your least favourite houseplant (or more importantly-your wife's least favorite) close to the light and experiment around with torturing it to see what happens.
 
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Thank you all for your insight on this matter. I appreciate any and all advice on my first venture into the wonderful world of cannabis cultivation. I look forward to figuring out how to upload pics for everyone's enjoyment. Hope to be able to help others in the future once I get some experience. Have fun.
 
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