40w LED lights for outdoor flowering? Yay or Nay?

[drkpink1977]

Ok. So here's the thing..I live in MD and back in June it rained for an entire 3 weeks non stop and then went immediately into the 90s with humidity as high as 80%. I'm still sinking into my lawn!! I took a major stress hit and saved my girls by repotting the water soaked plants, fertilized with Alaska fish emulsion and also Dr. earths Lime granules due to a steady 5.0 PH and the fish Emulsion breaks your PH down to 4.5 as so other nutes and minerals aren't broken down except for how they need to be...So I finally get my soil under wraps and in healthy conditions but the Non-existent light was the major issue. .sure my plants grew and thrived with what little light they had and what they were able to snag up during the last 2 Months..I'm on week 4 of flowering and week 23 of my grow season. I just want to know what everyone's take is on putting my girls under some extra full spectrum (red and blue) LED lights for a few hours a day...Would it help my buds? Will it hurt my plants given their outdoor grown? I just don't know what to feel. I have an idea, but it's too late in the game for me to make any haste decisions.. I guess basically my biggest question is if I were to string something up, am I able to put the lights on them while outside? I do not want to bring them indoors...And if it's OK what and how much?

 

[Roy Growin]

We had a similar summer over this side of the pond - months of wet followed by a scorching heatwave
Your plants will love all the light they can get, so supplemental light of any kind will be beneficial
One guy I know used a PIR Halogen floodlight as supplement, worked fine but a red/blue LED would be even better as it's pure PAR light at both ends of the spectrum - it will not harm your plants, it will improve your buds

One question tho - your pH seems very low - pH 5.5-6.5 is normal; low end for hydro nutes, higher end for soil

 

[Fenderbender]

Sure, as greenhouses & lights aren't a strange combo at all, plants get loads of natural & cultivation lights.
Getting energy to those buds will definitely help.. not sure what you want to accomplish with 40w though, Unless you're going to put one close to each bud?

 

[SmokingWings]

due to a steady 5.0 PH

Which water is this? Or what has a pH of 5.0?

he fish Emulsion breaks your PH down to 4.5

Yes. And it should quickly start to move closer to a neutral pH as the soil starts to do its job.

 

[drkpink1977]

I actually had no way to test my soil until about the beginning of July when I was able to buy a meter. I kinda suspected it was a PH issue and also lighting after about 2 weeks of problem solving and filtering out other possibilities. Once I got the means to purchase the correct the PH issue, it was about 4 weeks as stated that my PH was finally perfect. It still is in 2 of my plants which I'm positive are the same stain. The 3rd one is def different and my PH is once again sitting at a 5! Line was added about 2 weeks ago, just haven't seen a change yet. And I use RO water, except for when it rains of course. My RO is a perfect 7. The rain water always drops it by a whole point...

 

[drkpink1977]

Yea I'm not really sure either. That's why I was asking about the lighting as a supplement...I have the 4 head full spectrum light strips that are only good for seedlings and flowering. I only have 3 plants, so if I use all 4 of the light sets I have (so 16 strips) would it be worth me setting them up?

 

[Fenderbender]

I have no idea what to imagine with that, each light is 40watt and has 4 10watt strips?

 

[SmokingWings]

The rain water always drops it by a whole point...

The normal pH for rain and melted snow will vary from about 5.0 up to 5.6 and sometimes going up to 5.8 or 5.9. so it seems your rain water is about normal.

I actually had no way to test my soil until about the beginning of July when I was able to buy a meter. I kinda suspected it was a PH issue and also lighting after about 2 weeks of problem solving and filtering out other possibilities. Once I got the means to purchase the correct the PH issue, it was about 4 weeks as stated that my PH was finally perfect. It still is in 2 of my plants which I'm positive are the same stain. The 3rd one is def different and my PH is once again sitting at a 5!

It is about impossible to measure the pH of the soil you are using without doing a proper slurry test several times in one day. Or, to send a sample of the soil off to an agriculture laboratory and have them do a proper test. If you are measuring the water that comes out of the pot at the bottom you are actually measuring the pH of that water. The pH numbers will change just about every time the water is tested.

Best thing is to measure the pH of the water before it will be used and keep it as close to 6.3 as possible. If you are using rain water at a slightly lower pH then just use it. The soil and microbes will do what is necessary to readjust the pH to get it where it will do the best.

also Dr. earths Lime granules

It often takes Lime a lot longer than we realize before it breaks down and changes the pH of any soil.

 

[Roy Growin]

It often takes Lime a lot longer than we realize before it breaks down and changes the pH of any soil.

In the garden [for brassicas] lime takes about 2-3 weeks regularly watered in
During that time no compost/nutrients should be added or K/Ca [IIRC] can bind together and become fixed, unavailable

 

[drkpink1977]

You know it just dawned on me that I've never tested the actual rain water itself. I only know in my area it can range from 2 to 25! Most of my nursery ranges from 5 or 6. Literally no in between. I have tested my Tap which we have RO. It's perfect@7. Since I've purchased my meter I check them 3 times a day. I check their Mositure, their nutrients and their PH. Right now 2 of my plants are at a solid 5 and thriving for some reason and their drenched in rain water after 3 days of rain. The 3rd is at a perfect 6.5 and it's not producing fuller buds like the other 2 are; but, it's a different strain. It may just produce the way it is and I wouldn't know the difference. Lol. Idk. It's my first grow and with unknown genetics. I know their all 3 sativa's and the 2 that are the same (or it seems) could be hybrids. I actually am so anal about this grow simply cause it's my first and we own a nursery. Although you can apply many gardening techs to the 250 varieties we own, the girls are very different and that's got me hooked..

So I literally just checked them; along with a few garden varieties to test my words, The whole lot is rain soaked and sitting at a solid 5..They have been a 5 most of my grow..I apologize, I said I bought my meter in July and it was in fact June. So how's it crazy that their thriving this way with such a low PH. It got down to 4.5 once and that was when I transplanted the final time into 7 Gal fabric pots, with the added lime it Rose to no higher then 5.8...

 

[SmokingWings]

I only know in my area it can range from 2 to 25!

You might need to get the pH pen calibrated since pH can be measured from 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral.

The pH of battery acid is .8 and that is strong enough to burn skin, turn it red and cause pain. A couple of times with a rainfall measuring a pH of 2 would kill off lawns, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, and farm crops.

 

[drkpink1977]

It's not digital.. I literally let my plants dry out to the point I still had 1 green "ok" till it read the color red and "dry" and then watered them with my well water. My PH was at a 6.5. It then rained for 3 days and now all three plants are sitting at a solid 5! So dummy me didn't pay no mind to a thing called TA... I'm convinced it's days of rain water that keeps them low due to the Total Alkalinity of my soil after heavy rainfall...They won't show any signs of over watering or anything...But I swear I can almost smell the Alkalinity if that makes sense. Like the lightest Ammonia smell. How do I fix that? Otherwise I'm learning that my well and also my RO (drinking water) is perfect. The rain here once measured a pH of 18! It was in a report after a major hurricane many years ago and makes sense given sediment and minerals etc... Im basically on sea level by the ocean and surrounded in clay dirt. My well was dug 650 ft just to tap into. That's crazy! Our rain is just brutal here I guess and all the better reason to start in doors ...ugh!