Plant distance to light

[chingy]

Hi there,

 

i have 4 plants under a 400W HID in a cupboard, only about 3 weeks old.

 

i have really good exhaust fan from hydro shop and a little desk fan blowing through a hole in the cupboard as my intake...

 

they are about 4-5ft away from the light, i have done this bc i could see the leaves getting a bit scorched from the heat, should i get something more so that i can have the light closer to the plants??

 

thanks guys...

[chingy]

also guys, should i try to keep water off the leaves? does it magnify and burn like my mothers always used to tell me when i was 5 and watering her azelias?

 

ta

[SoDrysBro]

bout 50cms to 60cms of the plants is good, or use back or hand to test the heat the light is putting out and go off that, try to keep water off the leaves,

[Pickle]

Getting the leaves wet when the sun shines can burn them.

 

I have been told that plants drink better through the leaves, i have also been told that they realy suck it up in the hour after the sun goes down.

 

Give your plants a light spritz with a spray bottle immediately after the sun goes down. You can also make the solution a realy light mix of seaweed concentrate and water and use that.

 

I have also been told to put the tinyest drop of plain dishwashing liquid (none of this bio genetically engineered, antibiotic crap) to the mix to help break the surface tension of the water.

 

In a litre of water add one ml or less (not more, you can get a syringe (baby bird food measurer) from a chemist or pet store for fine measurements), and get a bamboo skewer and touch the end on the surface of the dishwahing liquid and swizzle that in. Remember not too much diswashing liquid, you will see it have the desired effect when you touch the skewer to the water, it will spread across the surface of the water.

 

I can't stress softly softly enough with these measurements. the seaweed concentrate i have is 10ml/9L=1ml/900ml so 1ml/1L is still 9/10ths of it's recomended strength. When you mix small amounts of fertilisers it is very easy to use too much.

[F420]

Dont spray the leaves on an indoors plant, the HID is far more prone to burn the leaves once it comes on. Also spraying when in flower can cause mould.

Theres also no point in providing anything extra via foliar spraying, as long as you are feeding them at the roots.

 

I would leave the light where you have it until the plant starts growing towards it and then drop it to a bit closer.

Sodrysbro is right on with the hand test, you just have to be extra careful with smaller plants as the light can dry them out.

[chingy]

thanks guys...

[Pure]

at a very early stage it is importantt not to burn them but once they get to a certain point you do want to be able to get the light as close as possible to the grow tips without burnign them as you loose lumenens over distance , I use 2 osolating fans in my room one blows as much of the heat away from the shades as I can and the other circulates air around the room and acts as a breeze , my plants atm are 15cm from the light, you do have to watch it during their stretch to make sure you don't burn them buy not checking on them, imo you use your light to it's full potential this way and do0n't waste so many lumenens although I must admit ( I have burned one or two tips )