Started first week indoor flower light cycle for apple fritter strain, trimmed up lower auxiliary leaves, everything looks good. I have very good LED light with 4 intensity settings. Right now setting #2 at 50% power 4 inches from plant tops, plants responding well and are generating new growth. Does the intensity of the light matter in flowering? Change to 75 or 100% power needed at all?
Yes, the intensity matters but there is a range that is most ideal. 4" from plant tops seems pretty close too. Can you provide some info the light you have and the size of your grow space?
@BriscoDarlin I agree with @dbrn32 you are to close to the canopy i would raise light then you can raise the intensity thats my opinion but pictures would help my friend
Not enough information to help with this.
If you dropped to 12 12 you will need to scale up back to the same DLI as you had when you flipped. DLI is the amount of light energy and is expressed as energy x time.
In order to figure this out you need to know how much energy is hitting the plants with a tool that measures this. You can measure in lux or PPFD or candlepower.
Or
You can read the plants and adjust when you see trends in plant growth.
I " bump " my plants in veg a few times. I add energy to the plants until I get a light avoidance issue with the plant and then back down a notch. This requires you to monitor the plants closely at least every 4 hours. Going too fast can cause damage but it is difficult to hurt the plants as long as the environment is allowing them to flourish.
As long as you do not have an active light avoidance presentation in the plant keep going. The max light can also change and this can run you into problems if you are not watching. Stressful training like topping or a defol are a good reason to drop 5% off your lights just due to the stress. A plant that starts to slow drinking is also a call to reduce max lights.
Always search for the most light your plant can take without complaining.
Now for measuring I use a lux sensor red and with Bluetooth that integrates with an app available on the gstore for free. Testing proved to me with the correct spectrum choice in the app it is within 5% of the published PAR map from the manufacturer.
4 x 4 cabinet with reflective walls, using vivosun vs4000 (400 watt) LED. this light has worked very well for previous grows.
Are you using and sort of meter for the light?
Look into the Photon light app for you phone, its free and works pretty well. In flower, you can go up to 45 DLI , which will be around 900-1000 ppfd, the app will measure for you. You also will want to raise the lights to 15-16 inches of clearance to top of canopy to prevent light bleaching. The app will help you dial right in.
Here is the PAR map for your light.
You can see hot spot center and fades towards the end.
I use Vivosun panel lights and grow my plants in a bowl confi
guration so the hot spot is directed at the lowest buds with the weaker lights at the middle and edges covering the tops of the plant.
If you use the photon app you will need to set the spectrum of your light in the app to get it as close as possible. My panels work best with 3500k spectrum as the choice.
Set up a test as the map has a distance to " calibrate " your tool. Mine is within 5% of published specs.
Also note the par map above is taken at 12". Probably too strong to have plants 4" from the center of it.
That’s alot of heat at 4 inches
And a lot of intensity at that height as well.
lifted to 15 inches for now. early flower cycle, will see how it goes