Comment

Moderator Comment by TCLynx on June 8, 2013 at 6:41pm

Different lighting for different purposes is definitely something that indoor growers look at.  And I tell you the same variety of lettuce grown under different lighting or temperature or nutrient conditions will definitely look very different.  There are so many variables.

But definitely if you want nice dark red lettuces or purple basil you need a certain amount of UV light.  I notice stuff out under the sun is very different from the stuff under the different greenhouse plastics.

Comment by Randall Wimbish on June 4, 2013 at 6:55pm

I inquired today as I said I would.  They turned out the lights for me and I took pictures on my phone. They are doing a comparison with a 600 watt hps HID against the 300 wat, eight stript illumatex commercial grade Neosol NS. The reason for that test is because they are also doing large sweet red pepper plants and red okra.(besides the lettuce) The LED plants are fruiting with one okra and several peppers about the size of chicken eggs and the lettuce is two varieties one red and another that gets red tips. The LED is totally out performing on the color and the fruiting. The HPS had one pepper on the plants. red tips on that variety but still green on the red variety.  This is not A.P. This is Hydroponics. They are using linked reservoirs using the same nutrients.

Moderator Comment by Jon Parr on June 2, 2013 at 11:27pm

Cool. When you go, ask to see the lettuce in natural light, or incandescent. You may be surprised.

Comment by Randall Wimbish on June 2, 2013 at 8:20pm

I only saw the lettuce under the lights while on. Once they told me what my cost might be, if by chance the guy from illumitex meant that when I was talking to him, I became pretty much un interested  in the data but, the guys in that shop are very straight forward with me.  I am going to be in there Tuesday for some media so I will find out more.

Moderator Comment by Jon Parr on June 2, 2013 at 7:54pm

Randall, if it's convenient for you, I'd like to hear the specific data and progress of that test. I presume you are reporting the apparent color of the lettuce with LED and HPS lights on, or did you get to compare them under natural light? Artificial grow lights are, well, artificial. Thanks

Comment by LogicalHydro on June 2, 2013 at 6:25pm

I agree, the LEDs are very attractive lights. Did they specify why they were comparing HPS against LED? It doesn't make a lot of sense for lettuce, I would have went with MH or Fluoros. They should show kW usage for the 2 during the grow. That would make them look even better. That price does sting a little though.

Comment by Randall Wimbish on June 2, 2013 at 5:41pm

A while back, I had to pick a customer of an auto repair shop at his work. When I arrived I realized I was at illumitex  l.e.d. lighting company. The guy told me if I was really interested in one of their grow lights I could talk to the local hydro a.p. shop and he would make me a bad ass deal through them.  My local shop showed me a comparison test that was under way. Hps vs the illumitex  l.e.d..  The red lettuce under the hps was green and under the led it was red. Green lettuce under the hps was kinda yellow and very green under the l.e.d.. They also told me that all the other led.s they tried didn't perform well and were in the closeout area but that that one was so far working good.  At this point I liked what I saw but even if I got my hands on one of them at cost I could not justify it. Still too much money.

Moderator Comment by TCLynx on August 14, 2012 at 6:38pm

Eric just made a thread for this Jacking over to the

Threadjackers

Moderator Comment by TCLynx on August 14, 2012 at 6:30pm

I once asked the question about using potassium chloride instead of salt but I never really got an answer back from the people who know more about fish than I do.

It seems to make sense to me that the potassium chloride would work to provide the chloride mitigating nitrite poisoning when dealing with such cycling up issues, but as I am definitely not a chemist, please do more research and don't take my word for it.  However, I don't know that one would want to constantly be adding the chloride if using potassium chloride for the potassium supplementation.

Moderator Comment by Jon Parr on August 14, 2012 at 5:54pm

Mask on, gettaway van idling out back

The reason I inquire about KCl is that I have not, and probably never will have, the luxury of buffering up. I have never had my pH naturally go below 6.8 (and that was a miracle), and as I understand KCl will not affect pH, and yet still supply usable K and Chloride. However, I'm not the chemist I thought I was in high school, so feedback is appreciated

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