White LED vs Red Blue White LED Grow Test w/Time Lapse - Lettuce Ep.1

The white LED brand is Roleadro. It is 115 watts at the wall. The Blurple light is 130 watts at the wall and is generic brand. Info for these lights can be found in the links below.

I used the nutrient trio from General Hydroponics. I started off with a seedling dose and then jumped to the aggressive vegetative dose after the plants had their first few sets of true leaves. I started the test off with 6 gallons of water in the container and ended with a little over 3 gallons. The entire grow was over a period of almost exactly 1 month in a consistent ambient temperature of 68F.

The PAR output was kept under 300um of light at the plant canopy with a short period of slightly over 400um in the highest spots, but was adjusted quickly. This is when the minor tip burn occurred. The PAR output on the lights was almost identical and the center PAR measurements are 1000um/6" - 400um/12" - 200um/18" on both lights. The type of lettuce was "Black Seeded Simpson" from Burpee.

The time lapse camera used was a Brinno TLC 200 Pro with the kit lens. 1 photo every ten minutes. The night cycle was removed in post and the remaining clips were sped up in post by roughly 200%. If you look closely you can see most of the growth actually happens at night. The lighting hours were 17 on.

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For some interesting growing tips and tricks, try this link

[НовиСадСрбија]

Considering you grew lettuce which does NOT flower or produce fruit... its perfectly logical that it DOESNT need red light which is important for flowering and "fruiting"and not vegetation and most full spectrum leds have 60-70% of red led diodes... Just saying.. You should do some fruit grow actually ... If you did send a link

[ecapsezinoloc]

This video was about a million times more helpful than Google search was in finding a clear answer

[timgoffard]

There’s also the added benefit of enjoying your beautiful green plants under normal light rather than feeling like you’re stepping into a darkroom every time!

[gkmackey]

"I didn't grow plants in this video, I grew answers" You better copyright that. Thanks, great information.

[kap]

you just solved my 1 year problem in 4min, really appreciated

[stipevloole]

The reason why you got bitter taste of the R&B light is that under such condotions leafy vegetables tend to synthesize isotiocyanates in a higher degree. The enzyme called myrosinase which synthesizes isotiocyanets from glucosinolates is in that case not inhibited by the natural light and if there is predomenance of red and blue light. Overall thanks for the cool video!

[nonofyourbusiness]

"I swear im just growing lettuce"

[FITLify]

Two years later and this video was a million times more helpful than other videos and google searches thank you!

[michaelcarey]

There was more red light in the "white light" LED panel, which caused the leaf to become larger... however, despite the size of the leat, the nutrients/phytochemicals produced in the leaves are pretty constant, so the "bitter" taste in the predominantly blue light was due to these flavors being concentrated into less biomass, but equally healthy leaf as the white-grown, which actually had more red light.
The leaf morphology (size) was affected by the spectrum. The amounts of phytochemicals responsible for taste were not, and in probably equal amounts "per leaf", but not "per gram".

[goodgoat]

The red/blue lamps should be considered multi-spectrum and not full spectrum. White lamps are actually full spectrum. It would be interesting to see a comparison with fruiting/flowering plants and non fruiting/flowering plants under 2700K, 4000K, and 5000K LED lamps and compare the results. Nice hands on experiment, thanks.

[eyeswideshut]

I just germinated seeds in hours, put some pepper, tomato and broccoli seeds in a brown napkin yesterday. I've got them in soil two weeks and nothing yet but I'm ready. I put in paper towel to make sure viable and broccoli and peppers already popping tails...yay!!!

[fullsik]

Great video short and sweet and answered exactly what I wanted to know, would love to see the same test on a flowing plant in the bloom stage to see if the results differ

[chrish]

Done something similar on my last grow, purely accidental.Started grow under mars hydro purple, friend gave me a white led spider farmer 5 weeks into grow.Results were beyond belief, best I ever had.This 50/50 mix seems best of all, just my take on things!

[PuraVidaPhotography]

I appreciate your concise but fact packed video! I've been experimenting with different lights for starting seedlings lately and your findings have been really helpful. Will be sure to check out more. Cheers!

[Digitalhunny]

You set my mind at ease regarding my choice of already purchased white lights. This was great thanks a bunch! 🤗🇨🇦

[angiegracie]

Thank you for this test. I bought white light leds only because I don’t like working under colored light. It’s nice to know I haven’t had to sacrifice quality. LIKED 👍

[evilace]

This guy was not looking for answers to his questions but was giving only facts that presented.
Excellent presentation.

[GaminginHDR]

I can't wait for part 2 this is an exciting video, thanks to your experiments I've been able to optimize my grow system, thanks for all your hard work Ryan!

[ZacharyMelo]

This is a much better video format than your older videos. It's clear you're dedicated and improving! I've noticed the same bitter taste with plants grown under blurple.

I'm putting together a 250w fixture of 150w warm white COB and 2 50w 'full spectrum' cobs from Lustreon - we'll see how she goes.

[nichmon]

Thank you much for this video. I am studying grow lights, in order to get a head start on my summer plants.