Anyone try side lighting?

[beard o]

I still prefer growing old school. My light source is HID, metal halide in veg, high pressure sodium in bloom.

I start my seedlings under 800w MH. Once the get a few sets of leaves and begin LST, I switch over to a 1000w MH until the first week of bloom. Then I switch over to a 1000w HPS for the balance of the grow.
I've always been happy with not only the amounts, but also the quality of my buds.

But I'm always looking to improve.
I got to thinking. I've got a couple sets of 50w LEDs. I'm thinking about hanging them on end, and trying to light up the sides of the plants to increase light on the lower branches.

Even with LST combined with the 1000w HPS, the upper canopy blocks light to the lower buds.

Thoughts?

 

[Canachris]

Hi there, I use to grow under MH / HPS and would add side lighting with CFL,s not sure if it made any difference but it didn't hurt anything so you could try. not sure about the spectrum aren't HPS 2700 K ? not shur LED would be too different. But I'm no expert

 

[BigBudsBunny]

Use side lighting with hps - no more bottom popcorn buds

 

[Fenderbender]

Yeah I'm just finishing with one 190w led from above and a 140w led as side/under lighting and rotating it couple times a day..and well can't complain.. big plant, big buds.
Lower buds also grow plump and no leaf senescence of the lower leaves until late in bloom.

I had a big discussion in another thread that sent me on a whole journey of reading about how leaves synthesise as claims were made that the bottom of the leaves did not photosynthesise but they are just a bit less effective and lighting them from both ways ensures a lot of photosynthesis taking place.

I kinda still want a geodesic dome grow room.. where all of the dome is led, grow the perfect round bush in the middle.

 

[beard o]

This is interesting because I just read a very favorable report today regarding "under canopy" lighting.

I guess is somewhat similar to side lighting. However, the supplemental lights are directly below the canopy, and shining up.

I have several sets of extra low watt LEDs, and I'm thinking I'll try it this week. My plants just went into flower a week ago, and will be going into their stretch period.

 

[Wastei]

It all depends on the layout of the grow room. When setting up bigger grow operations in proper lanes side lighting makes all the sense.

Most people use LED's on top and HPS's as vertical lights hanging between the lanes without any hood. You loose very little usable light from the HID's that way.

 

[440Organics]

I recently added side lighting into my grow room using 6-Barrina 4ft 100 watt T-8 Full spectrum LED bars. I have 2 bars on each side wall and 2 bars on the rear wall around 3-4ft from the floor. My main overheads are Carambolla 1000 watt full spectrum led hoods i have 6 of them mounted to a custom made rack for a total of 6000watt above and 600watt from the sides. Ive noticed a huge difference in everything from the health and vigor during veg and the gain in flower production and size. Almost no popcorn/superficial buds with the side lighting and also seemed like it lessened the stretch phase/amount come flower time as well.

 

[Sativa1970]

When I grew under bulbs I used T5s on the sides. Now I use overhead LED but still have 60wat LED per side lighting. In veg It promotes more horizontal growth. In flower those thumb nail size popcorn grow to the size of a thumb with the extra light. I keep my side lights roughly 6-12 inches below the canopy because that is where the top light has the most distance to travel and shading but still has good bud sights.

Going lower you are lighting less productive bud sights and bottom of leaves that are less photoactive. You will still see some gains but much less efficient use of light.

 

[Hafta]

Definitely use side lighting, turn popcorn into bud.