so far.....
Known Pro's:
-electricity consumption
-heat
-Light Spectrum (up to 5 Band lights, red,green,blue, UV/B, and IR)
Known Cons:
-Light intensity (most can not equal a 600W HPS let alone a 1000W)
-PRICE $$$
- Quality. most brands, and even some major brands produce very poor quality lights.
-Measured in PAR and not Lumens.
- they needed to be so close to the canopy (Clonex's Study)
My hypothesis thus far is as such:
LED Lights are Very good for cloning and vegetative growth if an individual can spend the needed money to acquire a light of sufficient quality. with the electricity costs lowered, heat output lowered, and clones produced over time the light should be able to pay for its self within one year to be a quality investment, saving an average of $30/month on electricity with the combined lower cooling needs, and lower heating costs, putting out an average of 30 Clones per month at a cost of $5 per clone. over one year this would equal roughly $2100~ and would pay for the investment in a light up-to $1500 Easily.
Flowering Growth for LED lights is another story. LED light makers need to start measuring the individual Lumen output of a single Diode. 5W Diodes are starting to change the game, but without this Vital Measurement we will never truly be able to make a light with the intensity of an HID Light using LED Technology. in 2012 there are many 5W Diode models coming out, many of which do NOT list the lumen output of a single diode, or the light as a whole. they use PAR to measure Light intensity, which is not a Useful measure when dealing with PLANTS, its only useful when finding the total energy which is displaced by the light, NOT the USABLE Light given off by the Diodes.
with a proper spectrum mixture (Red,Blue,Green and UV/B), and the proper Lumen Output (Of 10,000 Lumens, per plant for flowering...) LED Lights could have a spot on commercial growing in the future. untill that happens Commercial growers will be Forced to grow with HID Lighting.