HSS 90w LED Grow

Decided to take the plunge on LEDs and got the PPF400 from Haight Solid State. It's a 90w panel and if people want I'll put up the specs they have on their site. I'm growing 6 clones from my Mango x Kush plant that is currently flowering under a 150w HPS.

The plants are in 6" pots and will be for the remainder of their lives. Right now the light is on 24/0 and will be switching to 12/12 next weekend to keep them small. They are currently sharing space with 4 newly rooted clones that will be moved to a pc case when these start flower.

My goal is to get between a quarter and a half oz per plant (about 0.5 - 1.0 gpw). Temps are currently around 76F under the LED, compared to around 90F on the HPS side of the cab. This pic is from a couple days ago, I'll get new ones up hopefully tomorrow.

cool, how much that light cost you? I've been contemplating trying leds for a very long time now.

It was pretty expensive, $264 shipped. I've seen a lot of good grows with lights from other manufacturers, but I wanted to try something different and it fit my space better. Any idea what kind you'd be looking at if you get one?

I've been buying most of my supplies from htgsupply since whenever i email them and ask for a frequent customer or larger multiple item order discount theyve hooked me up. So i was looking at this http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-Gen3-UFO-LED-Grow-Light.asp thinking of getting 2. I'm sure i can get them down to $125 each if I try. I'm just scared i'm going to buy them and then find out i got screwed. their advertising of their leds looks and sounds great but it almost seems to good to be true and ive not been able to really find any reviews of it, good or bad. What do you think of this statement of theirs?

"In the past we have sold LED UFO units made by others, (the same ones still being sold by everybody else out there). Some of our customers had decent results, others were mostly disappointed. We realized that the LED light was a big part of the future of indoor growing, and we decided it was about time that somebody produced one that actually worked. We enlisted the help of a PHD Botanist to get to the root of why the previous LED UFO lights were not working so well, and what could be done to improve them.

We discovered many things in the past 18 months in our engineering research:

1. Other LED UFO’s provide the wrong spectrum for plant growth, the spectrums are “close” but not a match to those required for maximum photosynthesis.
2. Other LED UFO’s were the same item, produced at the same Asian factory, just with different brand names.
3. The marketing for these units was vastly different depending on the seller, but most sellers stretched the truth (to say the least) when advertising the results and the spectrums produced.
4. The other LED UFO’s use of the wrong spectrums of LED was no accident; it was a cost saving measure. Buying the correct spectrum LED is much more expensive than buying an “off the shelf” LED used for traffic signals."

darkdestruction420 said:

I've been buying most of my supplies from htgsupply since whenever i email them and ask for a frequent customer or larger multiple item order discount theyve hooked me up. So i was looking at this http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-Gen3-UFO-LED-Grow-Light.asp thinking of getting 2. I'm sure i can get them down to $125 each if I try. I'm just scared i'm going to buy them and then find out i got screwed. their advertising of their leds looks and sounds great but it almost seems to good to be true and ive not been able to really find any reviews of it, good or bad. What do you think of this statement of theirs?

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I'm a bit wary of it in part because of the power draw they claim. They say it uses 2w diodes and pulls 90w with 3 fans, but I counted and there are 45 diodes in the pic which means that either they are running them at very close to max output or they are bluffing on the wattage pull. Most major companies won't drive the LEDs that hard because it shortens their lifespan. If they are bluffing on the actual pull of the light, they already covered themselves by putting "The power use of the G3 LED UFO GROW LIGHT is approximately 90 watts each."

I do know some people use their lights to veg with great results, but I haven't seen much in the way of people satisfied with their flowering ability. These new ones might be better though, who knows? If you can get a good deal on them compared to anything else available then it might be worth the investment. If nothing else you get a bomb veg light or a side light to provide a better spectrum in flower.

the jury is still out on LED's ive tried them and they were ok for babies, but not impressed so far, no doubt in a few years they will be better, but now there are these plasma lights, it does my head in because everything is getting complicated, just because its complicated dont mean its good, i still recon the best budding lamp for $ is a 600 HPS. CFL's are good for vedge., i think $$$ has a lot to do with the complication of a relatively simple process, like the snake oil sold as nutes, where you need A&B plus additives C&D and then boosters E&F, FFS whats wrong with good soil?

nog said:

the jury is still out on LED's ive tried them and they were ok for babies, but not impressed so far, no doubt in a few years they will be better, but now there are these plasma lights, it does my head in because everything is getting complicated, just because its complicated dont mean its good, i still recon the best budding lamp for $ is a 600 HPS. CFL's are good for vedge., i think $$$ has a lot to do with the complication of a relatively simple process, like the snake oil sold as nutes, where you need A&B plus additives C&D and then boosters E&F, FFS whats wrong with good soil?

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That's one thing I like about the Haight light though, it's simple. Red, blue, and white automotive rated LEDs on a big aluminum heat sink. No moving parts, nothing to wear out, just simple and straight forward. If I had the space and venting ability to run a 600w HPS I probably would have and then get an LED after a harvest with the 600. My space is limited though, and the air from the cab recirculates in the same room so can't really cool much. Don't even need good soil, either peat moss and perlite, or coco, then a complete veg nute and complete flower one. I'm sure the additives are useful but I don't see any reason to invest in them with how small my grows are.

Plasma lights are far out IMO. Dialing in the spectrum on those things are a pain in the ass. No doubt the most cost effective way for highest yield per unit of space is a 600 W HPS hands down, but LEDs have made some significant strides. Your plants look sick btw. Noticed some intervienal chlorosis. Givin em too much nutes?

Yeah I gave them full strength nutes right away but had to dial it back a bit. Also burned the shit out of them with CFLs when I was away for a few days before putting them under the LED. All of the new growth since then has been very healthy though so I'm not too concerned. Most of that lower growth will be trimmed off before I flower them anyway. This light seems to do a great job of vegging them at least, so far they've only grown vertically at most 1/8" but all of the lower growth is exploding and meeting up with the original tops of the plants.







The tip I'm pointing to is the original top, the other 4 have all come up to the same height.

Looks really good. What's the specs of your LED panel?

The guy at my local hydro store is starting to sell little panels and the LED light bulbs. The LED light bulbs are $20 including tax and they screw right into a regular light socket. As for the wattage and such I have no idea yet.

subbed for the LED show!!! glad to hear you have got things back in order upon your return!!! I hope they all pick back up for ya!!

I'd love to try and flower with LEDs, but what light to buy!!!!!!!???? Does ya head in!

Toolage 87 said:

Looks really good. What's the specs of your LED panel?

The guy at my local hydro store is starting to sell little panels and the LED light bulbs. The LED light bulbs are $20 including tax and they screw right into a regular light socket. As for the wattage and such I have no idea yet.

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It's 90w, mix of 6w red blue and white diodes, no fans. Those little bulbs at the shop probably aren't good for much other than spotlighting individual bud sites.

stoneyluv said:

subbed for the LED show!!! glad to hear you have got things back in order upon your return!!! I hope they all pick back up for ya!!

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Thanks man, this thing produced some really good veg results so far. I moved it down to 4" above the tops to begin flower. I don't think 6 plants all grown straight like this will give me max yield, but if they flower well then going to try a 1 or 2 plant scrog under it next time.

Adz. said:

I'd love to try and flower with LEDs, but what light to buy!!!!!!!???? Does ya head in!

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Yeah, there are a few really dependable options that are giving consistently good results. I went with this brand to try something different and because it fits my space well.

Subb'd! Looks good so far. Mad props for trying a different light than most of the other led users! I've always been interested in the hss leds since they use higher wattage diodes. what was the customer experience like with them? Are they friendly and knowledgable? Return messages promptly? I ask because customer service is important to me when making purchases like this.

puffenuff said:

Subb'd! Looks good so far. Mad props for trying a different light than most of the other led users! I've always been interested in the hss leds since they use higher wattage diodes. what was the customer experience like with them? Are they friendly and knowledgable? Return messages promptly? I ask because customer service is important to me when making purchases like this.

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Thanks man, I'm hoping to get a multimeter at some point to see how much it actually draws at start up and after running for an hour. They respond to emails within about a week, generally not the next day or two like the other company I was considering though. They are helpful with some things, but they also like to just reword what is already on their website. They were honest about expecting not to have much penetration past 1.5-2' from the light. Because of the 120 degree lenses they recommended 6-10" in veg and 4-6" in flower. Overall pretty happy with customer service, but I'd say it doesn't quite match up with GLH in that regard.

So they're getting their first full 12 hrs dark tonight, and I'm thinking that maybe I should put in a scrog screen to try and increase yield. Originally I wanted to grow them "naturally" to see what I got but I'm second guessing myself. What would you guys like to see?

The yield isn't an issue to me as if they bud well without the screen then I'll know I can increase my yield next time by adding it or using another form of training. I feel like trying to get the best yield possible out of them will do more for promoting the light/company, but that doesn't matter to me. This grow is for myself and anyone else interested in how well they grow.

If someone were looking for max yield under this light I'd recommend only two plants and keeping them very bushy and even. With 6 I've started to notice differences in grow between the middle two and the four on the outside. Two would work well because the panel is symmetric and the plants could just be rotated every day or two to keep all growth even.

it's your call dude!! I always like to grow the first ones all natural though. even if it just a new strain, i like to grow it un cut and no nutes just to see what the plant has in her.

scrogs will always maximize your output, it's a tough call to make. i would leave em alone for the first run. but that's me, you gotta do what you feel good about doing! ya know?

stoneyluv said:

it's your call dude!! I always like to grow the first ones all natural though. even if it just a new strain, i like to grow it un cut and no nutes just to see what the plant has in her.

scrogs will always maximize your output, it's a tough call to make. i would leave em alone for the first run. but that's me, you gotta do what you feel good about doing! ya know?

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Don't worry man, I know I've got the final say on what happens to my girls. Was jw what everyone would be most interested in seeing is all. I think you're right though, I'll get the most info out of finding out how they grow under the light without any training. Next round I'll do a two plant scrog under it and see how things compare using two clones of same strain.

so how much area do you think is suffeciently covered? you said it looks good for 2 but the other 4 are not really getting it so im just wondering. do you have any new pics? i'd like to see how its going. i think it would be really awesome if you updated with pics every day or 2 to show how the growth rate is doing too. im going to be(well, continuing, technically) watching this thread pretty close. as for the scrog or normal, it would be interesting to see how they do without any training or anything but like you said im sure you'll pull more with the scrog and i want to see what they are really capable of.

darkdestruction420 said:

so how much area do you think is suffeciently covered? you said it looks good for 2 but the other 4 are not really getting it so im just wondering. do you have any new pics? i'd like to see how its going. i think it would be really awesome if you updated with pics every day or 2 to show how the growth rate is doing too. im going to be(well, continuing, technically) watching this thread pretty close. as for the scrog or normal, it would be interesting to see how they do without any training or anything but like you said im sure you'll pull more with the scrog and i want to see what they are really capable of.

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It covers a pretty good sized area, probably around 28"x22" because of its shape. All 6 under the light are definitely getting sufficient coverage, but because of the location of the lights the ones on the sides get a lot more blue while the middle two get mostly red. The reason I'd expect a two plant grow to do better would just be that each plant would have the same coverage and mix of spectrums so growth would be more balanced as opposed to getting a slightly different structure on different plants.

I repotted 4 of them into 8" pots and left the others in 6" pots. Going to kill tow birds with one stone and compare yields from different pot sizes at the same time. I'll get pics up in a little bit and try to stay on top of getting them every couple days.