Medicgrow fold-8 V1 questions

[The70’s]

Hello all
I own a Fold-8 and just became aware that there are two versions, i own the V1 full spectrum.
It was said somewhere that the V1 isnt a strong “flower” lite….
Do you have any input on this ???

 

[bluter]

Hello all
I own a Fold-8 and just became aware that there are two versions, i own the V1 full spectrum.
It was said somewhere that the V1 isnt a strong “flower” lite….
Do you have any input on this ???

what's the difference?

 

[Fenderbender]

what's the difference?

This lol... F1 adds some deep red.

 

[The70’s]

This lol... F1 adds some deep red.

Thanx man, and has a little less deep blue ???

 

[Fenderbender]

Seems that it's a bit deeper but less intense

 

[Delps8]

Those are veg and flower lights.

These are the spectra for Growcraft (they're out of business as of early this year ±).

I have their X3 model - 330 watts, three light bars for my 2' x 4' tent.

The Growcraft veg has more blue than the Medicgrow V1 so the effect won't be as pronounced but it does make a significant difference.

Blue photons inhibit cell expansion so you get short plants with lots of branches and limited internodal space.

All the plants below used the GC flower light but have different veg lights. All plants were topped and LST'd. The first two are photos, the last picture is of autoflowers. Yeh, not scientific but difference is unmistakable.

The "ideal" set up is to use the veg light for veg and then run the flower light. Having done a handful of grows following that approach, I like the shorter more compact plant but I'll be cutting back on the amount of time I use the veg light. Yeh, I don't want to have to wrestle with Godzilla but the taller plant makes it easier to ventilate and to get light in under the canopy. The two vegetation for the two photoperiods is very, very dense.

If you're using a big light like the Medicgrow you're in a big tent and, unless you want to stuff it full, I'd just go with the F1. If you want to add blue, go with a few Royal Blue pucks from Rapid LED or something similar.

Current grow - OriginalGlue vegged for 31 days

Grow 2301 - forgot the strain vegged for 62 days

Berserko autoflower (aren't they all?) vegged using a Mars SP3000

 

[bluter]

i'd be more concerned over the kitten brand emitters and driver used.

 

[The70’s]

@Delps8
“Blue photons inhibit cell expansion so you get short plants with lots of branches and limited internodal space”

This discribes my growing plants to a “T”
Im not unhappy with the Fold-8, just needed a little explanation. My guess if i wanted to do an upgrade, i would look for a 4x4 lite more geared towards flowering….. how would a flowering lite be discribed

 

[bluter]

how would a flowering lite be described

look at the kelvin of the emitters. 2700 - 3500K is typical flower K. 4000 - 6500K is typical veg k. the higher the number the bluer it gets.

a mix of 4000 and 4500k is a good compromise veg mix. a mix of 3000 and 3500k is a good compromise flower mix.

 

[Fenderbender]

Add some deep red you can switch on for flowering?
I'd be very happy with light that keeps plants short.

 

[bluter]

Add some deep red you can switch on for flowering?
I'd be very happy with light that keeps plants short.

a lack of red spectrum results in less flower development and a less potent plant. the issue with all full spec leds is they have to decide on a bias somewhere, be it to veg or flower, something always suffers as a result.

more and more i see rigs with a veg bias, especially newer mfgrs. blue light looks brighter and therefore more powerful to the human eye, i think the mfgrs use this as a marketing tool. you can easily see it in the pics posted on this site.

i personally default to a flower bias as that is where all the fun is. my own diy rigs are a mix of 3000 and 3500K. i supplement the veg rig with smd burples to get a bit better spectrum. my plants typically take longer to veg, i would do better at 4000 and 4500k.

 

[Fenderbender]

kay but he already has this light, so I'd just add some red to experiment with.
I think my Sanny is 3200k but I don't mind how it vegges at all.

 

[The70’s]

Add some deep red you can switch on for flowering?
I'd be very happy with light that keeps plants short.

The Fold-8 would be perfect !

 

[Fenderbender]

You'd need 1 or 2 stand alone deep red bars with dimmer! if they're high.
as you gotta be careful though.. I've got a 100w of 660nm and if I leave that full on all the time, my crop is against the ground, as everything loses structural integrity.
So you gotta ease it into the other spectrum carefully or timed.

 

[bluter]

i run these burples on a separate timer

they have their own tiny driver. i run them as sunrise/sunset separately on their own timer. it's easy to add them in on newer strip rigs or these old cob set ups. a quantum board set up wouldn't be as easy but i'm sure it could be done.

these are veg bias, but i have deep red flower bias that could be done the same.

 

[The70’s]

So, do you think adding some 600nm’s would be a nice addition, or look for a lite that offers veg/flower phases, if that lite even exists.
How nice to transition from one phase to the other with one lite

 

[bluter]

So, do you think adding some 600nm’s would be a nice addition, or look for a lite that offers veg/flower phases, if that lite even exists.

there are pre-built aftermarket rails you can add for either a flower or veg bias. otherwise they aren't that hard to diy.

How nice to transition from one phase to the other with one lite

back in the hid days near everyone ran two different bulbs or even two completely different lights, high pressure sodium for flower, and metal halide for veg. still guys on the board using them, but they are getting fewer.

 

[Delps8]

@Delps8
“Blue photons inhibit cell expansion so you get short plants with lots of branches and limited internodal space”

This discribes my growing plants to a “T”
Im not unhappy with the Fold-8, just needed a little explanation. My guess if i wanted to do an upgrade, i would look for a 4x4 lite more geared towards flowering….. how would a flowering lite be discribed

Hacking your way through the foliage!

If you're happy with your current Medic Grow light, why not go with their flower light? It is inexpensive ($400) and it has an interesting PPFD map. What's interesting about the PPFD map is that it's got good PPFD numbers at 24". It's not a flamethrower of a light and it has the driver in the body of the light. Assuming that the driver can't be dismounted (I haven't checked) that's not that big a deal because it's got enough output so that you can raise the light to 18" or 24" and still get about 1kµmol. A key issue is that, as hang height increases, the light cast will tend to even out. If you look at the 24" PPFD map, you're getting 1k in the center and almost 900 at the edges at 24". That's really good.

The spectrum isn't red heavy like HPS but, it is red heavy, so it will have a very different impact on your plants than the V1.

The F1 from Medic Grow will let you get plants that are short and compact (as much as you want), with lots of branches and leaves and then, by switching to the F1 after a couple of weeks, you'll get lots of growth. That's the approach that I've taken with my Growcraft lights and it's worked well.

 

[Fenderbender]

@Delps8 say quick question how can I setup a slow veg tent? Like now I got everything going in fast gear and blow up a stem in a couple of weeks. But now I want the opposite.
A veg tent where I can survive clones or mothers and prep vegging plants but as slow as possible, so I can keep some around and slowly always prep some for flowering.
And they should remain short and fatten up, got an 18w blurple on some clones, that's actually not doing bad, but I fear then you get a plant I'd still need to ease in carefully under the other light as she won't be able to deal with that intensity & spectrum properly.

 

[Delps8]

@Delps8 say quick question how can I setup a slow veg tent? Like now I got everything going in fast gear and blow up a stem in a couple of weeks. But now I want the opposite.
A veg tent where I can survive clones or mothers and prep vegging plants but as slow as possible, so I can keep some around and slowly always prep some for flowering.
And they should remain short and fatten up, got an 18w blurple on some clones, that's actually not doing bad, but I fear then you get a plant I'd still need to ease in carefully under the other light as she won't be able to deal with that intensity & spectrum properly.

That's called a "mother" plant I believe and, while I have no experience with that, I'm sure that other will chime in and give you some good info.