LED Lighting

I am looking for feedback from people who have actually done a full grow with LED lighting.
I am contemplating getting a LED system soon and any advice is appreciated.

I run 2x bubbleponics 2x 90W UFO's (4th gen) and I love them. did a 1 plant trial run and i love them.power bill stayed the same. also and heat is no problemo.

SG

how would you compare the length of grow and potency to that of a grow done with a HPS light?
How many plants are you covering with each light?

Somewhere on this forum is a grow diary of a guy that had a $5000 set up and 2 plants, which turned out lanky with small buds. LED lights do not produce enough of the full spectrum of lights, only red, blue, and orange. Marijuana needs a broader spectrum of light to grow and reach it's full potential. LED lights will be the wave of the future, but at this time, they are still lacking in the quality. True, your light bill will go down, but your yield and potency will take a DRAMATIC hit to the final out come. If you are growing, why waste time on small buds when you can pay a little more and buy a 400w light? It puts out everything LED lights do, but with far better buds. Sure, you may pay an extra $50 a month on your electric bill, but you gain soooo much more with potent buds. Don't get me wrong, you can grow buds from beginning to end with LEDs. However, after that first harvest you'd wish you didn't pay that much for lights, and instead used the money to pay your electric bills over the course of the year; while at the same time, producing 2x or 3x as much buds (giving you much more return). LEDs are completely inadiquet.

It's all relative isn't it. Depending on the needs of the individual grower LEDs could be exactly what they want. It is not correct to say LEDs are inadequate. After all didn't NASA develop them into their current application as grow lights due to their ability to cause photosynthesis in plants..? I have seen LED grows on RIU that blow your theory out of the water. Search the forum for LED Grow and check it out for yourselves. Experience is the best teacher. And what works for one may not work for another.

Hi I have posted many pics and many bits of info on others threads regarding LED'S ill post my most up to date pic on here to give you an idea of whats possible, I will add though, they work best with cfls cos of the wider spectrum output but they are very good expecially the ufo variety if you want to see/learn more visit my thread or check out my albums - STELTHY ps this was taken at week 1 of flowering just changed into 12/12 on 12th Jan got more pics to add this Friday - STELTHY

Thanks for the feedback guys. I think I got the info I needed.
Right now it seems like it would be way cheaper for me to buy a 600w HPS than deal with getting several UFO's or 1 large one. Maybe one day when they make some advancements in the technology of LED grow lighting I will contemplate it again.

Thanks again for the help.

Ya its all relative about money, my journal will start soon, and based on the theory up top by Bry I will say you are wrong the new 4th gens are way better than the 2nd, my quads being better then dual bands. We will see tho, I might throw in a 6500k and a 2700k jus for shits and gigg's


SG

Hey, Different strokes for different folks. If you enjoy small closet grows and you don't have the adiquet space to put in a proper HPS, then maybe CFLs and LEDs might work for you; however, if you want to grow anything larger than a foot and a half, with more than an ounce of airy buds, then space and 400-1000w HPS are the way to go. Lumens have no affect on marijuana. It's not the Lumans that the plants prefer, but the spectrum. LEDs have lower lumens, but produce more of the blue or red spectrum (whichever one you are immitating), but only those spectrums specifically. Better to be safe than sorry, than to invest and be discouraged after harvesting a half assed crop.

I agree, doing it right is ultimately is what will determine your yield and health of your plants.


SG

Snowchild said:

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After all didn't NASA develop them into their current application as grow lights due to their ability to cause photosynthesis in plants..?

Click to expand...

In theory, perhaps, the answer is yes. But performance certainly was not thier top priority.

NASA chose LED's for the following reasons:
1. Unit wieght restrictions.
2. Low power consumption.
3. Rugged durability.

LED's first caught my eye because NASA was playing with them - I was impressed and did a little digging. Come to find out, here on Earth, these three things aren't nearly as important as PERFORMANCE!

I have been growind with LED's for 2 crops now and I love them I recommend 1 90w light per 1.5 plants my plants grow extremely fast and healthy and the buds are dense and tasty. At 6 weeks since taking the clones home this grow is over 2 ft tall and I have about 9 colas per plant so far though that will double in a week or so more I have 3 90w UFOs in my closet with 5 plants and it is more than enough. they cost almost nothing on my electric bill and generate no heat so you can leave them on a 24 hour grow cycle. Cannabis plants use only 2 light spectrums for photosynthesis red and blue everything else being put out by your light is wasted. I love these lights and have had great results with them.

what do you yield per light

man, don't listen to a stranger. These sick fucks that are telling you to buy LEDs are lying to you. They just want to see you spend twice as much and grow twice as small buds. They want to see you beg on the plant problems forum about how your plants look like they're starving and they're all yellow and burnt from getting too much nuts and not enough photosynthesis. Did you know that Baby Jesus actually cries when you torture a cannabis plant? Why would you do that him? Why not grow buds that the beautiful Virgin Mary herself would be proud to light up a bowl of your finest dank? Oh right, because you grew with LEDs and instead of using your MAGNUM pipe, you're using your Tiny Tot's one. I get it, it's cool.