By Peat
Cucumber Grown Using LED Lighting
Submitted on Fri, 2009/10/16 - 6:55am
Last updated on Wed, 2009/11/25 - 1:17pm
This next project is to grow a cucumber using the 'UFO' type 90 watt LED light...
Here is the Product detail
The cucumber seed is an all female Zeina F1 Hybrid. I've modified a disused kitchen cabinet and have installed the LED light, air pump, temperature/humidity gauge, digital timer and an oscillating fan in the enclosure. Temperature is around 28°C (82.4° F), I would have ideally liked this to be lower but that would involve cutting out a hole for an extraction fan - I'll live with this for now.
The AeroGarden Classic is just the container, I have stripped it out of the water pump and central housing. In it's place is an airstone powered by the air pump, the pod is an AG6 longer type which reaches down into the water, the seed has been planted in stabilised rockwool.
Nutrients are FloraMicro and FloraMato, I will be using the same dosages as the Cuke III grow.
The lighting cyle will be 18 hours on and 6 hours off.
Weekly Pictures
Fri, 2009/10/16 - 1:15pm
#2
It's not a simple as adding green LED's, they, apparently don't do much for the plants growth as they are outside the photosynthesis range.
The LED's are very specific, they must be in a certain range to benefit the plants. Generally, the usual blue for vegetative and red for flowering, but, there is lots of discussion on what range of red's, blues, or even white LED's to use; you then get into ratios of red to blue and it goes on...
The output of mine is 'supposed' to equal a 400w HPS lamp, this is up for discussion but the fact remains that they do work - and cost a fraction of the price in electricity use. The also don't generate the heat that HID lights do, you can touch the LED's and only feel mild warmth, perfect for putting in cupboards and not worrying about heat stress on your plants.
I think that LED is the future (NASA uses them on the space station), but it does need to evolve further to compete fully with the normal MH/HPS light on the market.
We shall see how good this is when I grow my cuke, same nutes, medium and cuke seed as Cuke III. It's going to be very interesting as I've always wanted to get into LED grows, well, now I have. 
Fri, 2009/10/16 - 1:32pm
#3
I'm very interested in this light. Can't wait to hear how it goes!
Enjoy
Fri, 2009/10/16 - 6:20pm
#4
Peat - yes, I understood the green light would be useless to the plants. I was thinking purely in aesthetic terms - whether by adding some percentage of green LEDs, I might be able to balance the light to some less objectionable color. For use outside a cupboard. 
That's really supposed to be equivalent to a 400W HPS light!?! Wow! Running cooler than fluorescents is nice enough, but running cooling than those HPS's (and ideally, having less human-retina-scorching light in them) is awesome!
Love the cabinet pictures!
Fri, 2009/10/16 - 6:22pm
#5
P.S. Did you buy that light or cobble it together? Mind if I ask how much it cost?
Fri, 2009/10/16 - 9:25pm
#6
Hi Peat,
Cool! Really equal to a 400 W HPS?? Like Gisette is asking, is it available commercially? I can't wait to see the grow!
Beth
Fri, 2009/10/16 - 11:12pm
#7
Ooh. Reading your post, Beth, I thought to google on the name, "ufo led lights". Check it out!
http://www.sunlightsheds.com/led_systems.htm?gclid=CNCuzJeaw50CFado5QodSUojrw
They have a 50W model too...
Definitely looking forward to seeing your results, Peat!!!
Sat, 2009/10/17 - 3:34am
#8
That's right, these UFO types come in 90 watt & 50 watt models - lots of them out there on the market.
I researched this for many many months before I parted with my cash, as you see, they aren't that cheap at the moment. I've seen peoples grows and they do work, although I think the manufacturers claims of 400 watt HPS equivalent are stretching things a little.
If they work as well for me, then goodbye heat producing limited lifespan HID, and hello to cheaper electricity bills and a very long lasting unit. 
PS - If you look here, there is some more information on the unit I bought, click on the 'information' tab to learn a little bit more.
Tue, 2009/10/20 - 1:39pm
#9
Week 0 - Starting Week (Tuesday 20th October 2009)
Here it is then, the AeroGarden (well, part of it), as you've never seen it before. 
Lets see how this LED technology stacks up then...
Dosage: FloraMicro 3.2mL, FloraMato 3.2mL, EC of 0.80 and pH at 5.5
Tue, 2009/10/20 - 7:37pm
#10
Wow. You've been busy in this cabinet! Let's see... air pump, thermometer/humidity meter (as a controller or just display?) and a... humidifier? The blue line is an air hose and the copper line... no guess on this one. 
Quite a cabinet! How much height is there for the cuke?
Wed, 2009/10/21 - 11:22am
#11
Very busy, the thermometer/humidity meter is just a readout, the humidifier is just a small oscillating fan - doesn't do anything else but blow air. The blue line is actually my mains cable to the power strip on the left wall, the copper pipe I could do nothing about - it's the water drainage for my boiler which lives above... I'm stuck with that stupid pipe unfortunately.
The height, I can only manage 13 inches max from top AG base to the LED light. Not much, so the plant will have to manoeuvred away from the light when it becomes big - nobody said this would be easy.
It's one of those grows which are probably more trouble than it took to build the cabinet, but, I wanted to do the light thing so I went ahead - I'll have to work around the problems as I go along...
Wed, 2009/10/21 - 7:36pm
#12
Ooh, 13" is tight. Well, it'll have great light for all of that volume, right? It's just the AG bowl without the base, right? Not that removing the base adds much height.
Well, if it proves out, you might move to a bigger cabinet sometime, or renew your fondness for lettuce. Nifty setup!
Thu, 2009/10/22 - 10:33am
#13
Yes, just the AG base on it's own so that's it I'm afraid - the cabinet was sort of experimental, the next one will be bigger!
Talking about lettuce, I've got all the pieces for the 'lettuce raft' system I talked about sometime ago. Once the cuke has done it's thing then I''d like to build this and give it the LED treatment.
Thanks for the comments on the cabinet, I hope it will be all worthwhile as the LED is all I could really put in there without further ventilation.
Thu, 2009/10/22 - 8:25pm
#14
Ooh, looking forward to the lettuce raft grow!
Sat, 2009/10/24 - 4:38pm
#15
4 Days
A 'mini-update', the little cuke is on it's way...
Sat, 2009/10/24 - 6:01pm
#16
Awwww It's a cutie!
Enjoy!
Sat, 2009/10/24 - 6:05pm
#17
Thanks, I hate waiting for the first sprout to appear - I'm just glad it's up and off to a good start. I can kill it later. 
Sat, 2009/10/24 - 10:31pm
#18
Hi Peat,
I LOVE your experiments! Especially since I can follow in your footsteps . Cool setup. I wish for you a bushel of cucumbers. I hope I can grow at least one!
Beth
Sat, 2009/10/24 - 11:55pm
#19
It looks so funny under those lights! Yeppers, black means it's getting best possible light.
It does look like it's off to a great start!
Sun, 2009/10/25 - 1:23pm
#20
Appreciate the comments - I hope this grow turns out really well, especially if the nutes can be sorted so we can all grow these plants. After all this time and effort, to think that a batch of simple FloraMato may have done the trick...
Gisette - looks like black is good then. 
After tending the AG, when I remove my head from the cabinet, everything is green for a few seconds - really weird. 
Sun, 2009/10/25 - 2:42pm
#21
Never thought you wanted a black thumb, huh?
Sun, 2009/10/25 - 3:03pm
#22
I have every confidence in you Peat. It's going to do great!!
I'm not trying anymore cukes for now. I'm watching this grow with high expectations.
Enjoy!
Tue, 2009/10/27 - 12:58pm
#23
Week 1
So far so good, it's still growing well. Change of nutes today, time to move onto a higher EC dosage.
Eeek, look at all that dust on the base!
Dosage: FloraMicro 6.4mL, FloraMato 9.6mL, EC of 1.6 and pH at 5.5
Tue, 2009/11/03 - 12:37pm
#24
Week 2
No problems so far, plant growing well under the light. Leaves are smaller than the Cuke III grow at this time.
Dosage: FloraMicro 6.4mL, FloraMato 9.6mL, EC of 1.6 and pH at 5.5
Tue, 2009/11/10 - 3:06pm
#25
Week 3
Nothing to note really, it's doing well in it's pink environment.
Possibly my imagination but the leaves look much lusher than Cuke III
Dosage: FloraMicro 6.4mL, FloraMato 9.6mL, EC of 1.6 and pH at 5.5
Mon, 2009/11/23 - 12:24pm
#26
Week 4
Still doing fine, space has become a MAJOR issue now; the cuke is in the light already - this is going to be tricky trying to maneuver it away and give it space!
Dosage: FloraMicro 6.4mL, FloraMato 9.6mL, EC of 1.6 and pH at 5.5
Wed, 2009/11/25 - 1:18pm
#27
Week 5
Lots of cutting back to keep the plant stumpy and away from the LED, I'd like all the light on most of the leaves rather than put the plant in the shade by one light hogging leaf.
Still doing fine, upped the nutes to an EC of 2 now. A few cukes forming which are all under the canopy.
Dosage: FloraMicro 9.6mL, FloraMato 12.8mL, EC of 2.0 and pH at 5.5
Wed, 2009/11/25 - 2:10pm
#28
This looks wonderful, Peat.
Is it already too late to give this guy a bigger reservoir? Given the shape of that bowl, even some plastic storage container of the same dimensions could potentially have 2-3x the liquid volume. Would probably have to keep the AG deck- wouldn't be good for the roots to draw them thru the deck hole. Just a thought.
Wed, 2009/11/25 - 5:48pm
#29
I know what you mean, it's tempting to replace the container but I don't have one that would be easy to fix unfortunately - I feel this cuke grow will ultimately go the same as the others once it starts fruiting, due in most part to the AG constriction...
Oh well, it will prove that LED light can grow plants which is what I wanted to try.
Sun, 2009/12/06 - 6:04am
#30
Sad Cuke Update...
I'm afraid LED cuke is no longer with us due to my clumsiness... I was changing the water and had the bowl out of the grow area on my worktop, the air line was still attached as usual, well, I managed to snag the airline which pulled the whole unit down onto the floor. The cuke was very badly damaged, I've tried to grow it 'as is' but the main stem has snapped and the plant is no more. 
Annoyed springs to mind as I wanted to see the result from the LED, it did look a promising grow and I had high hopes for it under this light.
Oh well, I guess I'll have to reset and start again!!!!
Ooh! Very curious about this one, Peat!
Is the light pleasant at all or just plain weird? I was wondering if it might be worthwhile to add some green led's to the mix just to make the light more attractive, if I tried LEDs.