Permafrost 600w LED/600w HPS comparison grow

600w quantum ballast with 600w USHIO bulb
2 x 300w VIPAR LED panels
Lucas Formula
Great White mycorrhizae
dehydrated amino acids pH 5.8
dehydrated sea kelp
Hempy Bucket

Had ten beans I got from a friend and he tells me they are feminized permafrost.
started the seeds in soil in party cups under HPS and when LEDs arrived I split them up.

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( 4/29/12 sprouted under 300w (600w at 50%)

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(5/2/12 five of the seedlings transferred to new tent)

(5/2/12 other five seedlings under 300w of HPS light)

(5/4/12 under LED and 300w of HPS the HPS is doing better however I think the LED may have been too close so I moved it up a foot)

(5/5/12 transferred to hempy buckets, HPS is doing considerably better, turned it up to 600w, I still think it is because the LEDs are too close, the leaves are looking a little light bleached)

Moving to Grow Journals

HPS is definitely outpacing the LED's. Plants had some transplant shock, as can be seen by the yellowing of the bottom most leaves, however the new growth looks good and green

closer up


keep in mind that these plants were sprouted at the same time and were growing all growing together at similar rates until they were split up into their respective tents

subbed....go on hps........

what up zibzob , nice looking comparison setup i like it , only thing i might say is that yep those panels too close to those babies ... probly having trouble with all that light at such a young age , i would back em up another foot or so till things pick up .... stress from this will have slowed the growth on the led girls for sure so this should be taken into consideration, either way things are looking good cant wait to see how things go in the long run

im subbed as well \

curly604 said:

what up zibzob , nice looking comparison setup i like it

, only thing i might say is that yep those panels too close to those babies ... probly having trouble with all that light at such a young age , i would back em up another foot or so till things pick up .... stress from this will have slowed the growth on the led girls for sure so this should be taken into consideration, either way things are looking good cant wait to see how things go in the long run

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How far do you have yours from the plant tips?

Just moved them up, now at about three and a half feet from the plant tips to the LEDs

looks better but more i think about it more i think that alot of led for a 3x3 space not a bad thing but ya your gonna probly want to keep those panels as high as you can throughout the grow also i would keep the panels parralel side by side but have them about 6-7 inches apart from each other this will give you the best spread. i have my panels about 5-10 inches depending (varying canopy) some of the buds that are 5 or so inches away have minor signs of leaf curl but not a big deal im pretty much out of headroom anyhow. hope this helps brotha stay safe stay high stay happy

curly604 said:

looks better but more i think about it more i think that alot of led for a 3x3 space not a bad thing but ya your gonna probly want to keep those panels as high as you can throughout the grow also i would keep the panels parralel side by side but have them about 6-7 inches apart from each other this will give you the best spread. i have my panels about 5-10 inches depending (varying canopy) some of the buds that are 5 or so inches away have minor signs of leaf curl but not a big deal im pretty much out of headroom anyhow. hope this helps brotha stay safe stay high stay happy

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yea this helps a ton. I have no experience with LED, first couple grow was with fluoros (fuck that) and then moved up to HPS (fuck yea).

I turned off one of the panels, the one that's still on is sitting at 3.5 ft, ill turn the other on once they get some vigor. The HPS has been turned down to 300w to keep it a control.

very cool man not a bad idea at all , i will say that this being your first run with leds might make it not such a fair comparison seeing as leds can take some time to get used to ... but who knows maybe youll get lucky and either way i love you interest in leds. have ya read up on led growing much? watering and feeding can be different also i use calmag suppliments any time i use leds not sure if its 100% necessary but it sure helps. and distance of the lights is a hugeee factor too having them panels too close to babies cause trouble with light uptake and leaves start to curl and shit. looks like your well on your way to a good grow here cant wait to see hwo it turns out

LED plants are bouncing back, stems are getting thicker. Turned on the second LED and turned the HPS back up to 600w. Will switch to 12/12 cycle in few days, didn't have much perlite when made the buckets, which is why the plants really sunk below the rim and so don't have enough volume for a super huge rootmass.

will have to do another grow with the LED since I stunted them at the beginning

Good call Curly on the LED's being too close. The LED plants are looking MUCH better. The individual leaves on the LED plants are much broader than the HPS. A problem now is the HPS plants are showing heat stress. My air exchange set up was perfect during the winter, since my house has shitty insulation. Now that spring is here I can't really expect the ambient temperature to help keep the tent at a tolerable temperature. Originally I had four inch diameter ducting directing air flow from a 171 cubic ft/min centrifugal fan out of the tent and five feet vertical and about four feet horizontal into a crawl space which hid any odor. The vertical and horizontal traverse that the air had to make in the ducting decreased the air flow by a considerable amount. Last night I removed the ducting and now the fan exhausts directly into the room. The airflow out of the fan is now about the advertised flow and the temperature inside the tent is now much, much lower than it was yesterday. Hopefully the HPS plants will rebound soon so I can take cuttings. I want to get clones before going into flower.

To help with recovery I mixed some dehydrated sea kelp, water and a teeny tiny drop of dish soap in a spray bottle and drenched both sets of plants. Dish soap was for a surfactant and I have found Sea Kelp to be the best way to help stressed plants and to fix any deficiencies without nute burning. Love the shit.

No pictures for now, friend using camera. Will try to get some in a couple days.

awesome man thanks for the update and the sea kelp idea very cool man , cant wait to see some pics bro this will be a good test once everything balances out

I dont believe this grow is in any way a good comparison grow between LED and HPS, too many things are varying between the two grows. I just got some pH meter calibration solution and looks like its been off +0.3 since the beginning of the grow. Meter is calibrated now though. The HPS plants have finally recovered from heat stress. LED vegges great, the node distances are short, plants are super bushy and leafs are incredibly broad. I've always vegged with HPS and they have never grown like this, HPS vegging gives me taller plants with narrower, blade-like leaves and the foliage is definitely less dense on HPS.

ive always noticed denser broader growth with leds in veg and i like it alot looking good man keep up the good work

Starting 12/12 today. Plants are getting too big, was waiting for my friends aerogarden for cloning but that is taking too long. O well I wanted to try Kens Granddaddy purp anyway for my next strain anyway.

Grey bucket is LED and Blue bucket is HPS

Nice grow mate, plants are looking nice and healthy, Subbed for the ride.

Peace to all, and keep the happiness growing.

looking real nice zib keep up the good work brotha man

in for this grow!