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First time growing, seeking advice..
In Hydroponics

First time growing, seeking advice..


Hey friends

Recently gotten into hydroponics and ive started with lettuce 13 days ago, since apparently its ez to grow. Ive gone with an insanely cheap setup, with the tent, vent and lighting coming in a premade "kit". The LED is a 150w "Blurple" lamp, which, to the best if my research, is incredibly bad, but enough to get started (probably not for an NFT setup tho).

Im 13 days into the grow and i noticed some of my plants are looking a little "leggy", so last night i lowered the lamp so its roughly 30cm (it was about 100cm) above the NFT rack. The problem is, the lamp is obviously nowhere near big enough to cover the whole rack. After approx 12 hours with the new lighting distance, the seedinlings that arent directly under the light have started to curl their leaves up ( im assuming this isnt good).

I guess my question to the community is, could i grow this entire rack with the depicted light, even if it wont produce the best lettuces? Maybe i go back to the original height, because whilst some of the seedlings are looking a little leggy, atleast they all get a little bit of light.

Im aware at this point that this isnt the light to go with, but this is all more just a proof of concept atm… for my next grow im switching to a multi level rack with LED strips on the underside of each level, so this problem shouldnt be a thing… currently just trying to salvage this grow.

Pls be gentle, first ever time posting here… happy to answer any questions y'all may have.

by amartin0594

5 Comments

  1. mr_electric_wizard

    For one thing, there is tons of light that will seep through the net pot holes an into your water which is bad (and will lead to algae growth). As the seedlings getting leggy, it’s not really that big of a deal for lettuce. It’s a trade off between good coverage and leggy, I’d take leggy. I’ve added lights to my setup and my plants seem way happier.

  3. Ok-Bumblebee-5589

    What kind of grow light is that? Id get a decently larger and better light then that purple one. . My Plants absolutely love my Mars hydro FC 4800

  4. Microdoser_Ltd

    You’ve answered your own question, but the answer isn’t one you want. “the lamp is obviously nowhere near big enough to cover the whole rack”

    The perfect solution is to choose between getting a bigger light, or not running the whole rack (if you want lettuce that has a well formed head).

    IMO lettuce leaves taste the same whether they are in a tight head, or looser on a leggy plant, so if your goal is eating, not showing, then run the light as low as you can so it still shines on the outer plants. This will maximise spread to the edges and intensity in the middle, you might get good plants in the middle, but you will still get edible leaves from the edges.

    You seem to have the right attitude that you are on a learning process, and next time will be better. Keep doing that and after a few cycles, the cycle you are on at that point will be great.

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