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“ Many commercial growers today are reluctant to switch to LED lights due to the amount of labor needed to keep them properly positioned .”
On what information are you basing your decision to move your grow lights ?
CW : A combination of personal experience and factory specs . Depending on the size of the garden , you should keep these LEDs anywhere from 12-18 inches above the canopy . However , if you don ’ t pay attention for a few days , you can do some serious damage .
MM : Experienced growers can tell when to move their lights by looking at their garden . In essence , the plants tell you when to move the lights .
Have you witnessed the negative impacts of improper grow light spacing ?
CW : Yes , I have in a few different ways . First of all , if the tops of cannabis plants grow too close to
LED lights , the tops will get bleached out . Also , I have seen poor quality metal light hangers malfunction and cause lights to fall on plants .
MM : Yes . If lights are too close , they will start to burn and wilt a little bit . If they are too far away , plants will stretch to reach available light .
Horticultural lighting has seen a number of technological revolutions over the past 15 years . Currently , DE HPS and LED lights are at the forefront of the industry — our light raising and lowering practices are largely dictated by this technology . Still , our understanding of proper grow light positioning results from an array of sources . Just 10-15 short years ago , single-ended / air-cooled HPS lights were the “ go-to ” technology for cannabis growers . The “ SE HPS era ” gave rise to our current understanding of such important horticultural lighting concepts as PAR light and the inverse square law . This period also taught us to raise and lower our lights to maximize usable light for plant growth . Many commercial growers today are reluctant to switch to LED lights due to the amount of labor needed to keep them properly positioned . In paying attention to this fact , the Minnesota-based company Lift and Grow has developed light lifting machines capable of working in a commercial capacity . Both Chris Watt and Mike Miller are Lift and Grow customers . For his part , Watt tells us Lift and Grow machines “ save time and labor ” and “ will pay for themselves in a year .” Miller highlights the convenience of such systems , stating “ all you need to do is hit a button and the lights move exactly where you want them to be .”
The financial perks of LED grow lights make them hard to ignore , even if the technology requires the laborious task of moving lights . The next few years will likely see the continued growth of LED lights in cannabis , with innovative companies joining forces with growers to help facilitate this technological shift .
sponsored by www . liftngrow . com
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