[Lesson In Lamps] Hanging Heights (Part 1 of 3)

The way you hang lamps affects your intensity, coverage area and overall growth. It's important that you get it right.

This is part 1 of a 3 part series

• Part 1: Hanging Heights (this article)
• Part 2: Lamp Coverage
• Part 3: Running Lamps

Here you'll learn how high to hang your lamps.

Your exact hanging height depends on the fooprint of your reflector.

Hang your lamp too high, and three things will happen:

1. Your footprint widens, and lots of light is lost to walls

2. Your intensity drops too low, as light is spread out over a wider footprint.

3. Your grow room becomes too cold - in winter, this isn't what you want.

1. Your footprint is too small and doesn't cover your entire tent.

2. Where there is light, your intensity is too much for plants to cope with.

3. Your grow room grows too hot and you scorch your canopy layer.

Your exact height depends on:

• Your reflector footprint
• Number of lights
• Your tent size & shape
• The plants you're growing

But as a general rule, here's how much of a gap you should leave between plants and your lamp

HID lamps (HPS & MH) are very high intense, to make sure you don't burn plants, you need to leave a safe gap between your plants and canopy.

You can propagate under any size light. If doing this:

• Position your propagator off centre
• Make sure you leave a 150cm gap between the top of your propagator and bottom of your reflector (600W and 1000W lamps)

You only really want to use propagaton lights for cuttings, seedlings and mother plants.

Your choice of reflector has a big impact on your hanging height - it's repsonsible for your light footprint.

The higher you go, the narrower your reflector should be. The lower you go, the wider it should be.

Just look at the Adjust-A-Wings reflector - you can adjust your wing position to suit your hanging height

Wing setting: narrow
Distance: 45 – 60cm

Wing setting: wide
Distance: 25 - 35cm

Wing setting: medium
Distance: 40 - 50cm