Better quality LED lights work excellent in grow tents
‘ELLO ‘ELLO to all of you out there in the very green world. I have gotten more than a few letters lately asking about the LED lights I use for TLO (True Living Organics) style growing, so I’ll share my favorite two LED lights with you. Also, I have an awesome little tool for your indoor gardens (two, actually) that will really help you dial in some divine ganja results, and they are both fairly inexpensive and easy to source; let’s get this show on the road…
My Two Favorite LED Lights (Using Grow Tents)
CX-6 Full Spectrum LED 340w by Johnson Lighting
CX-6 LED Full Spectrum LampI really love these LED lights for using in 3-foot by 3-foot Gorilla grow tents, and I have used these lights for well over a year now. In the winter, I always use HID lighting (400-watt Agrosun Gold halide bulbs) in my tents because they are heaters and lights. Over the warmer summer months, I always switch over to LED lights to flower under because they run very cool allowing me to maintain awesome growing temperatures all year without high tech climate control. Full spectrum is really important when growing organically in soil; I know lots of you growers are die-hard HPS (high pressure sodium) and warmer spectrum lighting believers when it comes to flowering, so all I have to say is you need to check out what a fuller spectrum can do.
Great buds under CX-6 LED Full SpectrumI really have no complaints about this light. My growth and yields/quality were all top shelf. I always kept this light about 18” – 24” above plant tops and I ran my tents (at the plant tops) around 86 deg. F. (lights on) and 60 -65 deg. F. (lights off) and it really kicked major ass; in my humble opinion. Here’s a link to the CX-6…
LINK: https://horticulturelightinggroup.com (Go to ‘LED Lamps’ section to see the CX-6 and more.)
C2 Full Spectrum LED by Bysen Lighting
Bysen C2 Full Spectrum LEDAnother LED I am very impressed with here. The C2 is trippy looking for reals, but works like a charm. The only thing about this light is you need some distance between the light and the plant tops. Something about the way those glass domes focus the light makes it much better to have at least 24” of distance here, and I actually always top my plants before flowering under this lamp so I can keep the plants shorter and wider. This light is focused to serve a footprint of about 3foot x 3foot and works primo in tents; I have used this light for several summers now without any issues. Nice light. The first photo of that juicy bud in this article was flowered under the Bysen C2—FYI.
GERMINATION HEATING PAD & IR (INFRARED) THERMOMETER
IFRARED THERMOMETER
Infrared thermometerWhether or not you realize it, the ambient growing temperatures and the consistency of them, is a huge damn deal. Being able to know—accurately—what temperatures are, on leaf surfaces nearest light sources, or using with germination heating pad (see next paragraph). I have been using one of these infrared thermometers now for a couple of years, and I like it a lot. When judging plants in flowering here’s “my rules” regarding temps, to keep them in the awesome happiness range, I like to keep my leaf surface temperature (closest to the lights) below 88 deg. F. my nighttime lows (ambient) are between 60-65 deg. F. My leaf surfaces run about 82-86 degrees in flowering tents. You must have ways to control your growing environment to some degree, either higher tech, or opening doors, whatever. But this IR thermometer is a really solid tool for some accurate readings right were you need them, on the plant surface.
If using a germination heating mat to sprout plants, you can set up your little green childrens-to-be in some nice warm living soil to germinate them. You can monitor soil temps easily with the IR thermometer by hitting the sides of the germination cups. Also, you can easily get soil surface readings. When germinating I like the side readings to be in the mid 70’s or so. Whenever you add some accurate data to your growing you didn’t have before, things happen, good things. Think about getting one of these, it may surprise you how different the temperatures are sometimes from what you thought before you had an IR thermometer. Your plants will love you more for it. Here’s a link to the one I use from Amazon…
SEED GERMINATION HEATING MAT
Seed germination heater matI don’t use these when germinating in the summer months, but I always use them in the cold of winter and they work like a charm—the thing to avoid here is cooking the poor little baybees. While you can employ these when germinating with paper towels, it’s risky, because they can dry out uber fast; which is a death sentence, so just, be thee warned there. These heater mats run right around 100 deg. F. so you want a little buffer of semi-insulation between your germination cups and the actual heating mat. As you can see in the photo, I have little plastic plates I set the germination flats on, and they are pretty thick actually so they dissipate some heat. Doing this my germination soil runs mid 70’s (76-77ish) when measured on the sides using an IR thermometer.
Heating mat used with some insulationSo, hell yeah, I love these heating mats for germinating seeds—which I do a lot of—and you just have to make sure to pay attention to temperature related details. I have heard horror stories from more than a couple of peeps about cooking sprouts to death, so, don’t be those peeps; heh heh. These germination heating pads are available easily in nurseries, and online; my favorite brand here is Hydrofarm for these mats—don’t get super cheap ones. Revski out ? cheers & Happy New Year!
I'm The Rev, and I have been with SKUNK for about a decade now. I hail from Southern California, spent mucho time in Northern California, and now reside in Southern Oregon; always coastal. I am an all natural style cannabis grower and I have written a couple books on the subject - check out True Living Organics 2nd Edition on Amazon - I have been growing for over 45 years, and I have been breeding cannabis for over 30 years. Check out kingdomorganicseeds.com to see some exotic selections. Growing connoisseur cannabis is what I teach mostly, growing it in living soil without using liquid organic nutrients to feed the plant. I am also a highly skilled synthetics grower, hydroponics, aeroponics, DWC/SWC/NFT, Ebb and Flow, and soilless, but I cringe when smoking synthetic grown herbs, so for the last 15 years or so I preach the artisan style of all natural growing, specializing in container growing. Cheers and welcome aboard.