Led Users Unite!

okcomputer said:

I don't like to tell anyone what to buy, but I really like the lumigrow unit. It lets you dial in the red/blue which helped me keep my stretching down, has a 5 year warrantee, and is made in the US. I personally bought it because I was able to see it in person at my local shop, where most other LED companies are just internet companies that drop ship when you place an order. I was interested in the products on calyxled.com but when I emailed them they never got back to me. So its up to you, I think you'll be happy with whatever you decide to get, but I can tell you from experience lumigrow makes a solid product that performs very well.

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Thanks for the tip, I will definately take a look at them... apples to apples have you noticed a difference in your yields in comparison to hid's? sorry if you've answered this already, i'm tired and have a very bad short term memory...

plsfoldthx said:

do you turn all of the lights red and blue lights during flower?

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I dim the blue a little bit, and turn the red all the way up.

reefcouple said:

Thanks for the tip, I will definately take a look at them... apples to apples have you noticed a difference in your yields in comparison to hid's? sorry if you've answered this already, i'm tired and have a very bad short term memory...

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This is my first go with the LED, but I'll definitely keep you posted when I harvest. I do know it vegetates better, with shorter node spacing and new growth coming off everywhere.

okcomputer said:

I dim the blue a little bit, and turn the red all the way up.

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what's the ratio of blue to red on the LED

okcomputer said:

lucifer,

One of the most important lessons I learned from LED's, is they can burn plants. I started out with my unit almost touching the plants, and they started shriveling up soon after. Once I backed it about 8-12 inches away, the problem disappeared. So even though they don't produce enough heat to burn plants, too much light can also be a bad thing I guess.

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i found the same thing with my 180w ufo

Sup Dudes,

I'm studying now to see if the coolest combi is using a LED for Vegetation and POSSIBLY LED + HiD (or another high lumen output medium) for Flowering. I run a 90W Illuminator for the vegetation period and I had zero problems with the light, except for the initial adjustment for light height to prevent burning and bleaching, and a very green vegetation considering it's only 90W. So imagine the energy savings simply over a 1 month period (a 400W transformer, and bulb losing shitloads of energy as heat -vs- a 90W LED PCB board and some fans... .
I'll add this disclaimer before someone jumps on this point:
**The fact that I'm scrogging will play a factor seeing as I don't need so much penetration power. **

My current grow had some issues, so I added my 400W HiD to it just to give it a boost. But so far i still see the same vegetation effect as with the LED. I am hoping that when my plants kick into actual "Bud/Flower" production, the HiD benefits will be exploited by the plant..
If it's the case at least we could imagine a saving for at least half of our grow cycles using the proper LED's. And I'm not sure if the consumption is linear 90W -vs- 400W, but even if its not, there is still a huge consumption difference between the two systems. Along with a more efficient use of energy existing on the LED side.
I have welcomed the temperature rise that the HiD provides, me seeing as it's cold here now, and I can the HiD on without containment and it keeps the room just around 16 degrees, whereas outside it's about 4....


Pure...

Pure said:

Sup Dudes,

I'm studying now to see if the coolest combi is using a LED for Vegetation and POSSIBLY LED + HiD (or another high lumen output medium) for Flowering. I run a 90W Illuminator for the vegetation period and I had zero problems with the light, except for the initial adjustment for light height to prevent burning and bleaching, and a very green vegetation considering it's only 90W. So imagine the energy savings simply over a 1 month period (a 400W transformer, and bulb losing shitloads of energy as heat -vs- a 90W LED PCB board and some fans... .
I'll add this disclaimer before someone jumps on this point:
**The fact that I'm scrogging will play a factor seeing as I don't need so much penetration power. **

My current grow had some issues, so I added my 400W HiD to it just to give it a boost. But so far i still see the same vegetation effect as with the LED. I am hoping that when my plants kick into actual "Bud/Flower" production, the HiD benefits will be exploited by the plant..
If it's the case at least we could imagine a saving for at least half of our grow cycles using the proper LED's. And I'm not sure if the consumption is linear 90W -vs- 400W, but even if its not, there is still a huge consumption difference between the two systems. Along with a more efficient use of energy existing on the LED side.
I have welcomed the temperature rise that the HiD provides, me seeing as it's cold here now, and I can the HiD on without containment and it keeps the room just around 16 degrees, whereas outside it's about 4....


Pure...

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I'll be checking in on your grow for sure. I've found the T-5's in combination with LED produce just enough heat to keep my temps right where I want them. About 75 degrees with lights on and 68-70 with lights off. If heat wasn't an issue I would be supplementing with the 400W hps I have left over from my first grow but it just got way too hot in the growlab even with an aircooled reflector.

1 interesting point:

i expected the plants to start bending/leaning towards the HiD. But nothing doing!! There is not more vegetation on the HiD side, not more activity either. It'll be interesting to see if the bud site production is greater or heavier on the HiD side as opposed to right under the LED...


Pure...

I noticed that growing with LED's I have more bud sites and more foliage in general than with HID, it's definitely great for the veg cycle. I'll be switching to 12/12 and bloom nutes as of today so we'll see what flowering brings

okcomputer said:

This is my first go with the LED, but I'll definitely keep you posted when I harvest. I do know it vegetates better, with shorter node spacing and new growth coming off everywhere.

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If you're not getting "stretch" (node spacing), they have to be getting the spectrum and intensity they need/require... hmmmm good thread to follow, just what i've been looking for, some sound LED feedback..

reefcouple said:

If you're not getting "stretch" (node spacing), they have to be getting the spectrum and intensity they need/require... hmmmm good thread to follow, just what i've been looking for, some sound LED feedback..

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My plants have been growing for a total of 3 weeks, 2 of which was vegetative growth, and are about a foot tall, maybe a couple inches less. Most of the growth has been nodal, so I definitely agree the plants are getting what they need to vegetate.

Its definitely hard to sift through all the BS out there regarding LED's. I think the biggest problem is manufacturers making claims that are just plain impossible, so theres a lot of people out there who are unsatisfied with their purchase and jaded with LED's. What it comes down to is this; if you're planning on going the LED route, you need to do your own research and not rely on what the manufacturer says the light can do. Be prepared to spend more than you would for an equivalent HID setup, and try not to skimp on your wattage. I think about half the wattage of an equivalent HID setup should produce equal results. And don't forget the importance of supplemental lighting, mainly some sort of fluorescent. But I'm still in the research phase myself, this being only day 1 of flowering for me. I think a few weeks more and I'll start to have a good idea of what kind of flowering performance can be expected. Keep in mind I can only speak for the performance of the lumigrow unit, but I suspect any setup with equivalent wattage in the same PAR range will give equal results. I hope my grow provides useful information for anyone considering LED's. If it helps someone decide for or against it, doesn't matter to me. I'm just trying to put what I've found out there for everyone so they can come to their own conclusions.

SWUSAZ said:

OK you said it plain and simple I can only hope for the day that I can fill my remaining spaces so I can flower all at once with a full Scrog/LST. The vegging with my Black Star panel is crazy and after changing up the Black Star panel to 20/4 and moving the CFL's up a bit I have been able to grab a couple of clones so I say the LED panels as you have so eloquently put it may be able to provide all the results we need.

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I'm thinking the new generation High wattage panels have come to the point where they are able to give results equal to HID. I've only been in flowering for 2 days, but I'm getting the beginnings of a ton of real nice buds already. I think the LED's can actually veg better than a metal halide or HPS. In my own, and all the other grows i've checked out, i've noticed more bud sites when vegged with an LED. This alone makes the LED a good investment, even when you flower with an HPS. I'm still real curious as to the flowering potential of my current setup though, with just LED and fluorescent light. It's still way too early to tell, but things look real promising on the flowering end.

I have a 90w LED ufo and am wondering whats a good distance from the top of the plants to hang it? My tallest one is about 5 inches so I'm guessing I should hang it higher to start out with until they can handle it closer? It would help out so much if I knew a good range like min and max it should be at. Thanks

MiracleStash said:

I have a 90w LED ufo and am wondering whats a good distance from the top of the plants to hang it? My tallest one is about 5 inches so I'm guessing I should hang it higher to start out with until they can handle it closer? It would help out so much if I knew a good range like min and max it should be at. Thanks
View attachment 1269133View attachment 1269134

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ive found with my 180w ufo that 36" away throughout vegative works best for me everytime i try to place it closer they tend to lightstress.

hrmmm thats odd seeing as how im running my 240w panel 24" away from fresh clones and they just want more im sure there is a point of diminishing returns as to how close to put them but i think im going down to about 18" pretty soon

now they did shrivel on the first day i put them in there and looked a lil better the second i just kept misting for a few days and now they are pullin out of it. I think it was mainly the fact that they were barely two weeks old and the humidty change got em pretty good. but now they are doing great.

Im also using a lighthouse blackstar panel its a 6band 240w model im going to be running two of them eventually in a space that is 43x24x5ft tall. If my damn email would work i could post new pics in my journal lol. I am going to use no supplemental lighting at all for flower. Probably half of flower will be performed with just one panel and the second half will be performed with two as i am now saving for my second panel probably get it by christmas.

I was told by HTG to place the lights as close as I wanted.... doing so burned/stressed 4 out of my 5, 4 week old plants. Regardless of what is said, LED lights can burn a plant with intense light, it doesn't have to be just heat.

While I think 36" is an extreme, I would not place LED lights closer than 18" for clones or seedlings and no closer than 12" at any other time, from my experience with 120 watt HTG tri-band LEDs.

yea thats about what i was thinkin too

With my 330W I noticed young seedlings needed at least 12" or they would get all burnt from the light, now that the plants are older they can handle 6-8" with no problem.

okcomputer said:

With my 330W I noticed young seedlings needed at least 12" or they would get all burnt from the light, now that the plants are older they can handle 6-8" with no problem.

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There ya go. We will get all kind of answers, as there are many different situations. We all agree however that LEDs can and do burn plants, something that LED retailers rarely admit to. They all act shocked and blame a hot soil or your nutes.