Amount of Light #
Plants have different light level requirements depending on the stage of growth and type of plant. Seedlings require very little energy and you may choose to have your light slightly further away during early growth. After plants gain their first set of leaves then you can bring the light closer to give the plants a higher intensity of light. Generally having too much light is better than not enough, especially in totam where we want to encourage dense growth.
The amount of light can be varied by
– Changing the brightness (app only)
– Changing the distance to the plants
– Changing the amount of time (on period)
It is recommended to keep the light brightness high and the distance as close as possible whilst still maintaining good plant coverage. Do not let the plants touch the light else they may discolour due to light or temperature burn.
General Tips (Rules of thumb) #
Seeds – Keep the light intensity (brightness) and times the same as you will for the rest of the grow. We recommend 12 hours+ and 90% brightness. Your light should be positioned around 6 inches / 15 cm away from the plants.
Seedlings – Your light should be positioned as close to the minimum extension as possible whilst still maintaining good light coverage. This will be easier to achieve if growing fewer plants or using two grow bars.
Mature plants – Keep extending the light when the plants get within 1-2 inches, do not let the plants touch the lights else they will have light and/or temperature burn causing some discolouration to the leaves. You can adjust the angle and tilt of the lights to make sure all plants get a similar intensity of light.
Pruning is key to success, make sure all plants are given their fair share of light by pruning away large leaves, trimming back dominant plants and maintaining the height of all plants to be roughly equal.
One growbar or two? #
One growbar is designed to provide enough light for 4-8 plants (depending on the height and coverage of the light).
Two growbars will be needed if you are growing tall plants, plants with high light requirements (e.g. fruiting plants), or growing many plants in one totam. When using two grow bars it is best to position them both at an angle, so that the top grow bar provides light for horizontal and vertical modules, as demonstrated below. This is because the grow bars cast a wide area of light and any light that does not fall on a plant is wasted energy.
Plant Placements/Selection #
As multiple plants share the grow light, it is important to carefully consider what you will grow and where.
Ideally select plants that grow at similar speeds. Pruning can be used to keep the heights similar and encourage bushy dense growth.
When growing plants with a high light requirement (e.g. fruiting plants), make sure they are suitably placed in the system to receive light from one or multiple grow lights.
Pruning #
Having well placed and high intensity lighting is not a substitute for proper plant care. A plant that has not been pruned will not spread densely and will typically always be long and underwhelming.
Please see pruning/plant care guides for more details.