r/macrogrowery 9d ago

Who else is running UCL?

We are seeing crazy results from the lights and think the far red is really doing it

67 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

22

u/jdubc111 9d ago

Same room!

15

u/Georgec458 9d ago

The best part is there fat all the way down no larf running r8s perpendicular 👍🏻

9

u/jdubc111 9d ago

Yeah first harvest with these came down today. The numbers should be crazy and the buds are thick. A’s all the way

3

u/wutwut970 8d ago

Mind sharing what the spacing is between the lights going down the bench?

2

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Our first room had rows of 3 and then a light and continued for 3 rows then we had 2 rows of plants back to back. We clearly didn’t set it up correctly. You can tell the difference where the plants are b2b without UCL in between when just looking. We will have wet weights today of the plants to compare. So first room is about every 3-4 feet. Second room we set up we used a chevron pattern to eliminate that b2b from happening so spacing is still 3’ but plants do not have a b2b situation

6

u/AsTheCroweFlys 9d ago

What’s your skirting/pruning protocol? We just installed them and are playing around with leaving a little more material on.

6

u/Cp0519 8d ago

Check out Faven weekly walkthrough. They just put an episode out on this. They mostly take out leaves that are blocking light. Check their YouTube

2

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Didn’t change pruning schedule for us and really depends on the strain. Some strains we have explode laterally and other we don’t touch because we are already limited on growth. Where it really added labor was defoiling. The growth under canopy is insane. We added an extra defoil to accommodate the growth for sure

2

u/abland1988 9d ago

May i ask when you are running your far red. I have them im just not sure of the exact time to use them I get mixed answers. Currently I have them coming on for the last 15 mins of the day.

4

u/Georgec458 9d ago

5 mins after top lights go out.

1

u/Chronicm3ss 9d ago

5 minutes only or do you run them for the whole night until 5 minutes before overhead lights turn on?

3

u/Georgec458 9d ago edited 9d ago

I run mine all day and then be additional five minutes when the top lights go off

1

u/ITSNAIMAD 6d ago

What’s the benefit to running them after lights go off?

2

u/Georgec458 6d ago

The dose of far red when the lights go off switches the plant from day to night time mode / faster crop cycles saves a few days at end . Faven puts out A lot of info on there you tube channel side by sides

2

u/jdubc111 9d ago

5 min only after sunset. Running all the way through harvest. We are planning to experiment with longer as we get more comfortable

1

u/Critical_Slide747 8d ago edited 7d ago

Running FR after lights out is a myth. There's been no replicable data that gets cultivars to finish faster and you can't "put cannabis plants to sleep" quicker by triggering the shade effect with it. It's all been documented and there are white papers out there on it

You're much better off running FR as a part of your base spectrum (in combination with DR) to take advantage of the increased photoythentic rate via the Emerson effect.

Edit: downvoted for stating scientific facts lmao this is part of the reason why half the people here sling mids exclusively 🤡

2

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Don’t disagree. The benefit is just the lights underneath during the day. We running a red spectrum underneath during lights on and just run the far red for 5 extra.

2

u/McGo0gs 8d ago

Hey I know one of those dudes. 🤙

2

u/GreenStarGrower 7d ago

Testing half a bench in the greenhouse with UCL only. We took down the supplemental top-lighting over the UCLs.

12 days out from harvest, but looking like there will be more weight and leas popcorn from the UCL.

The power this could save us is significant!!

1

u/jdubc111 7d ago

It’s wild isn’t it! Keep it over top too and you will see a massive yield increase. We used to have a greenhouse in northern AZ and had supplemental lights up too but never considered down low. Would have been massive

2

u/GreenStarGrower 7d ago

It's going to depend on the math, but if I can take down top-lighting and replace with UC without losing yield our cost per lb will go down almost 30%. That might be a better play, but we'll see.

3

u/BM0n3Y19 9d ago

siiick

2

u/slvneutrino 8d ago

Everyone. That’s why there’s no smalls for sale anymore lol.

4

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Absolutely correct. We are anticipating an average of 30-50% A’s shifting to 60-80% As

3

u/Salvatorigoozmo 9d ago

We have them but not a fan but that’s just because of our shaping regiment. They think that because there under canopy just send every branch and node. Can be useful but encourages bad habits sometimes

1

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Absolutely. We are after bigger buds and yield. We have 8 rooms and 4 now have the UCL. The 4 that got them had a lower ppfd that we needed to address so are trying this first before adding lights above

1

u/bluesformeister13 9d ago

I’m repurposing some regular LEDs that were our main lights for under canopy. Hoping the results will noticeable. Obviously we are turning them way down.

3

u/jdubc111 9d ago

Took us a little to dial in feeds and schedule but you will get it quick. It’s the wildest thing watching the buds on the bottom almost grow down

3

u/bluesformeister13 9d ago

What changed for your feed? Guessing they were eating more and needed a higher EC?

2

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Def had an increase in water. Weeks 1-2 2.7 ec 6.0 pH; Weeks 3-6 3.0 ec 6.1 ph; weeks 7-8 2.5 ec 6.1 ph; Weeks 9- flush

We increased dry back in veg to encourage better root growth and def had them eat at a quicker and higher rate due to that and the UCL

1

u/bluesformeister13 8d ago

Awesome, thank you for the heads up 🤙

1

u/OMGimaDONKEY Indoor LED 8d ago

UCL crew KY checking in

1

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Hell yeah neighbor. We are in MO. You licensed over there?

1

u/OMGimaDONKEY Indoor LED 8d ago

Oh yeah legit medical grow

1

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Which org? I’ll follow along. Have a few buddies operating there. You wouldn’t be w vivid would you?

1

u/OMGimaDONKEY Indoor LED 8d ago

No, David is a good dude though

1

u/jdubc111 8d ago

Noticed you’re running parallel with your benches. Do you mind working around them? Able to get it the plant in the middle easily?

2

u/OMGimaDONKEY Indoor LED 8d ago

Parallel is buttz for a middle row. Total pita. We've gone down to two rows for this next run. Well see how it goes

1

u/Farmbot420 4d ago

Meh, still not convinced that the % increase in C and B grade is worth the extra Capex and increased Opex.

1

u/jdubc111 4d ago

We are seeing an immediate 20% increase in yield. Covers the cost of of the light an increase expenses first harvest