LED help

808kauai

Member
I was thinking about getting me those 4 panel 14 watt led panels from ebay... will those work?? I need some help... thanks
 

BigBlunt89

Member
i hear they are good for rooting and vegging clones but not much else
i have used and evader 135w it set me back a little over £100 but was totally worth it
 

808kauai

Member
What's a good LED lighting to get u from start to finish?? Can't really get a MH or HPS cuz of the heat issues... thanks
 

Cloudz2600

Well-Known Member
Go ahead and get a Blackstar 240w flowering model. A lot of people buy that BS model and have had great grows using just that. Although they sometimes use more than one. I find the BS is the cheapest LED panel available while still having good quality craftsmanship.
 

Lululady

Member
My experience, and my experience only, with disclaimer that I am a newbie. I got a 135W Blackstar LED flowering UFO I was supplementing with CFL's. It seemed to work great for a while. While my two plants were young, they would stretch toward the LED's. Then the larger plant, the one moved under the LED when both would no longer fit (one plant had been sickly child since birth, for unrelated reasons, almost chucked it many times. 3.5 months later, it has finally turned the corner), inexplicably started going downhill, leaves yellowing, mottling, getting brown spots. Somebody on the forum suggested I get rid of the LED and go with CFL's. It made me sick because my biggest investment had been on that LED, I'd been trying to do this on the cheap, but eventually I listened and got rid of the LED. My plant started turning around. I read other posts on the forum that described similar symptoms with LED's to the ones I was experiencing, symptoms which didn't seem to fit any of the other common problems described, e.g. nutrient deficiencies, I can't swear that the problem was the LED, it could have been coincidence. I was making other changes, as I suspect I had more than one problem. But it's my educated guess that the LED was a big contributor. If I were to go with LED's again, I would be more careful about which kind I bought. Some brands come recommended by experienced growers around these parts, I found four brands that were consistently touted. Sorry, I don't remember their names anymore. They are also even more expensive than the Blackstar though, more than I'm willing to spend (more in the minimum $500, better if spend $1000, range). Personally, for now I like my CFL's, I'm using 110W T5's (2 55W 24in), a single 125W grow bulb and total of 75W (3 25W) household, for a total of 310W. They are very reasonable, and heat issues are minimal, as well as energy usage. Perhaps I'm not getting the optimal growth rates seen with MH and HPS, but my two plants finally are looking very green and healthy and growing fast. (I don't want them growing any faster, I've only got a 5 1/2 ft space. Just started 12/12, they are ~2 ft,, pots are 1 ft, they're growing about 2 in/day.) As a newbie, I'm not so sure that lighting is a significant obstacle at this point. When they call it "weed", they're lying to you. It is by far the most finicky "weed" I've ever dealt with. I'd get some experience growing under your belt before making major investments. I know that I've found reasons that growing several smaller clones (try with my next grow) instead of one single large plant will probably work out better for me. You too may find the lighting you want or need may change in the process.
 

Cloudz2600

Well-Known Member
Just curious, but besides bleaching I've never heard of LEDs being the cause of the problems you listed. How would they of caused that?
 

trevronious

Well-Known Member
I can't see how lights in general would cause those problems, let alone specifically the LED.

Personally I use Blackstar models because you won't find better quality for the money. Are there better, more powerful lights that can be used? Yes, but they cost increases exponentially. Bottom line is you get what you pay for, like anything in the world. To answer your question... do not get a no name LED from ebay.

Do some reading on the LED forum, you'll learn a lot.
 
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