500 Watt Blackstar LED Grow- 6 OG Kush

orangecat said:

I am looking to help a buddy set up a new grow, and I was wondering what light(s) you would suggest for his 4' by 4' structure with 8 plants. He has heard all sorts of hype about leds and I was hoping to point him in the proper direction.

Thanks, sleezy!

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Sup Orangecat? Thanks for your inquiry for your friend. There are three manufacturers that I like for LEDs. While looking for LEDs you should make sure that they use 3w diodes and use 60 or 90 degree lens for penetration. With LEDs the footprint of the light is a little limited, and the "Sweet Spot" is right in the middle of the light. So I would recommend using two lights to solve this issue. In a 4 x4 structure I would recommend my setup using two of the 500 w Blackstars from Lighthouse Hydroponics. The reason I chose these lights over the other manufacturers is the price. One of these units cost $550. They use 3w diodes and 90 and 120 degree lens so you have penetration and coverage. I also like the 357 magnum LED, they use 60 degree lens and also 3w diodes LEDs. It is a little more expensive at $750 a piece. I have seen another grow journal using the growledhydro lights. This guy IrishBoy won the 420 magazine LED grow with these lights, but they are quite expensive. I think they are like $1500 a pop. There are grow journals on this site for each of the lights I have mentioned. I was on a budget for my grow, so I think I got the best bang for the buck. I hope this helps a little.

digimidgi said:

Hi.. Nice grow.

Why does that company sell them units as 500w when they are only
304w??

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Good question digimidgi! Honestly, I really don't know! I was a little confused and annoyed the first time I figured it out. There are other manufacturers that do the same type of thing. IE. 357 magnum light, you would think it would draw at least 300 watts of power, but it actually only draws 180 watts. My bud, DUNIT used two of these to grow 9 purple Kush with a combined power draw of 360 watts! He was able to pull over 1 gram per watt with sticky icky beautiful buds. After seeing his grow journals I learned that it doesnt really matter about how much power your light draws, because it is a lot different than HID. The plants really thrive off the different spectrums that LED uses. I wanted to grow bigger and bushier plants so I chose to use 1000 watts of LED which the power draw is 608 watts. I figured either go big or go home, and I wanted to makes sure I had a successful grow. I probably would have been ok with 1 500w or better yet 1 500w and 1 240 blackstar. I wanted all my plants to be equal, so I decided to use 2 500s.

Here are some closeups of each plant in my grow tent without the LED on. This strain of OG is the typical stretchy plant. Once these buds start to get bigger, I will have to stake the shit out of them. Besides them being lanky (24-32 inches tall), the leaves and stems are the typical deep green I am noticing from the LED lights. Plants look healthy and filling up.

chronic smoke is what u r growing. nice job.

awesome job here sleezy so far you are feeding with house and garden nutes correct?

a mongo frog said:

chronic smoke is what u r growing. nice job.

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Thanks mongo! Looks just like your stretchy, wirey OG too?

dapio said:

awesome job here sleezy so far you are feeding with house and garden nutes correct?

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Yup House and Garden on this grow here too!

sleezy1 said:

Good question digimidgi! Honestly, I really don't know! I was a little confused and annoyed the first time I figured it out. There are other manufacturers that do the same type of thing. IE. 357 magnum light, you would think it would draw at least 300 watts of power, but it actually only draws 180 watts. My bud, DUNIT used two of these to grow 9 purple Kush with a combined power draw of 360 watts! He was able to pull over 1 gram per watt with sticky icky beautiful buds. After seeing his grow journals I learned that it doesnt really matter about how much power your light draws, because it is a lot different than HID. The plants really thrive off the different spectrums that LED uses. I wanted to grow bigger and bushier plants so I chose to use 1000 watts of LED which the power draw is 608 watts. I figured either go big or go home, and I wanted to makes sure I had a successful grow. I probably would have been ok with 1 500w or better yet 1 500w and 1 240 blackstar. I wanted all my plants to be equal, so I decided to use 2 500s.

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My understanding is the power draw at the plug from the chipsets, they do not push the 3W diode at exactly 3 watts so that they do not burn out premature. The actual wattage should be equal to the set chipset draw....make sense?

I do appreciate the quick reply! Yea, he is talking about using wonder woman clones from me and maybe some clones of nirvana's chrystal.

Silly question, but does anybody know the legality of cloning proprietary marijuana plant genetics? I mean, are they copyrighted or something? I don't have to worry about the riaa beating down my door, do I?

orangecat said:

I do appreciate the quick reply! Yea, he is talking about using wonder woman clones from me and maybe some clones of nirvana's chrystal.

Silly question, but does anybody know the legality of cloning proprietary marijuana plant genetics? I mean, are they copyrighted or something? I don't have to worry about the riaa beating down my door, do I?

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How can you copyright something that is illegal ????

He is talking about getting it from a dispensary I think. And no Orangecat there is no wrong cloning them.

Finally figured out how to use my Sony 7.2 Megapixel camera in the macro magnifying mode. No more blurry Iphone 4 pictures for you guys.

Dude! Train those bitches! Lol.

lordjin said:

Dude! Train those bitches! Lol.

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They know how to sit, but not heel yet... Im going to get a choke collar for them later. Whats the deal with RIU? I can't search my own threads or my own post. I had to click on "likes" just to get to my page! Is this just me or everyone?

sleezy1 said:

They know how to sit, but not heel yet... Im going to get a choke collar for them later. Whats the deal with RIU? I can't search my own threads or my own post. I had to click on "likes" just to get to my page! Is this just me or everyone?

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No, I can't search my posts, either. What gives, RIU?

lordjin said:

No, I can't search my posts, either. What gives, RIU?

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Mine works.

Advance search, user name, your name.. Unless theres a better way? But yes this does suck about the site

I'd have to agree with lordjin, im loving the setup and thier progress.
You would get a huge increase in yield if you trained those guys. If you need refference check out the link (sig)..
I plan on moving up to a grow liek this in the future. Where did you order your lights and how much did they cost you?

loudpac said:

I'd have to agree with lordjin, im loving the setup and thier progress.
You would get a huge increase in yield if you trained those guys. If you need refference check out the link (sig)..
I plan on moving up to a grow liek this in the future. Where did you order your lights and how much did they cost you?

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Ordered my lights from Gotham Hydroponics. Each light cost $550 delivered. I got a partial sponsorship for my second light, so I got a majorly discounted price. My grow tent was also discounted. Everything retail would cost $1200-$1300.

It is getting hairy up in here! I have been focused with my other grow and work, that I haven't really looked at these girls besides watering. I kinda neglect them with attention, but they are doing well. When I say neglect, it means I don't sit there for hours staring at them, breathing on them, and talking to them. lol. They are all about 3 feet tall with the smallest one 2 1/4 feet tall now.