When should i buy led?

So basically i am growing my first plant in the balcony and there is no direct sunlight that reaches the balcony and its the only place i can grow in, and as i read that it needs much of direct sunlight specially in Flowering stage. Is it possible to grow it in the balcony till it reaches flowering stage?if that is possible how many hours should i keep it under the led light?also when should i buy it?

Never buy an hps

Going to need at least 14 hours to keep it from flowering. Once you go below that....it can and will more then likely start to flower. If you are buying an LED...stay away from blurples. Just buy a quantum board of some kind. HLG, Spyder Farmer , Mars-Hydro , Viparspectra have some that would do the job.

TheSadBadGrower said:

Going to need at least 14 hours to keep it from flowering. Once you go below that....it can and will more then likely start to flower. If you are buying an LED...stay away from blurples. Just buy a quantum board of some kind. HLG, Spyder Farmer , Mars-Hydro , Viparspectra have some that would do the job.

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Thank you, will keep that in mind

Why not get a small tent and grow inside?

JoeBlow5823 said:

Why not get a small tent and grow inside?

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Me and my brother are growing these and we don't want anything suspicious for the parents so we decided to buy bunch of other plants and put them in the same balcony maybe in hope we can cover the crime, so the only available place in the house is this balcony that isnt that rich in light.

prob if your parents don't want ya doing it u should respect their wishes not helping.

Jadxsushi said:

Me and my brother are growing these and we don't want anything suspicious for the parents so we decided to buy bunch of other plants and put them in the same balcony maybe in hope we can cover the crime, so the only available place in the house is this balcony that isnt that rich in light.

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lol good luck

I wonder if u could start it off on a window with direct light then before it looks too much like cannabis switch it to a tomatoe plant of same size then put cannabis on balcony with other tomatoe plants.

Worth a try then they wont wonder where original plant has dissappeared to.

Are you in UK?

Im pretty much in same boat can only do windowsill grow

B.eazy said:

Never buy an hps

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Why is that?

A true 1000w light for 14 cents a watt, what's not to like about a hps?

You would almost have to be stupid to pay more for a light that's so underpowered you have to buy a foil box to put it in

Oakiey said:

A true 1000w light for 14 cents a watt, what's not to like about a hps?

You would almost have to be stupid to pay more for a light that's so underpowered you have to buy a foil box to put it in

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I paid closer to 60 cents a watt for my hps setup but i got the double end air cooled hood and a few different bulbs. And i still put the fucker in a foil box.

Oakiey said:

A true 1000w light for 14 cents a watt, what's not to like about a hps?

You would almost have to be stupid to pay more for a light that's so underpowered you have to buy a foil box to put it in

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I paid $165 for my 600 watt HID setup 3 years ago. I've grown a ton of weed with it since then. I run it during off-peak hours when I only pay 4.1¢ per kWh. That's why I'm in no rush to pay 4 times as much to go to LED. If anything I might buy a 1000 watt digital ballast for $90 and run 1000 watts during the middle of winter. I still have a couple Eye Hortilux bulbs. I have a 1000 watt magnetic ballast but that thing hums too loud.

For me the power savings argument is a moot point and HPS flowers some damn nice rock hard buds. That's why when someone says don't ever buy an HPS it makes absolutely no sense. It's not as if LED is going to grow better weed. They grow good weed but the good LED's are crazy expensive and I'm not buying those low end lights that claim to replace a 1000 watt HID but only pull 150 watts from the wall. The my light is better than yours argument is ridiculous. All that matters is what's on the table at harvest time. In my case it's always a feast.

I guess I'm just stuck in the past using old technology that grows excellent weed and has been for decades. I don't need to spend $600 -$800 on new technology just to end up with the same results. Good LED's grow some great weed but no better than HID. I'm growing weed not posing for my buds showing off my new state of the art $700 LED.

xtsho said:

If anything I might buy a 1000 watt digital ballast for $90 and run 1000 watts during the middle of winter.

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That was the tipping point for me. I always planned to just grow when its under 60 degrees outside (which is most of the year where i live). So the extra heat from a HID is actually a good thing. Brings the tent up to an optimal temp. And the heat that exhausts out of the tent just goes to heating the house. Win win. Yeah heating with electric costs more than gas but it does save some money on the gas bill. The combination of how much cheaper HID is initially and the fact that the heat isnt going to waste and im not paying to cool it made it an easy choice not to spend 2 grand on a led panel that will actually produce good flower in a 5x5. The only reason i would run LED would be if i was in a tropical environment and had to run ac all the time regardless of what light i ran.