LED vs HID vs Other Lights: What’s your preference?

[SacredTreeOrganicFarms]

I have been flowering under 2 600 watt usually Hortilux Super HPS single ended bulbs for almost 7 years. My height marker is set at 18” under the glass of the Blockbuster 6” air cooled reflectors. They are deep style with 95% german hammered aluminum reflective material. They are designed to put the most par directly down with 1000watts in a 4’x4’ area. i use 2 600w in a 3.5’x7’ area for best coverage. The lamps are mounted high and i use stands to adjust the plants height as i have different age plants flowering together.

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without camera flash for true color
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This is beautiful! What do you do when they induce flower? Do you raise the lights or keep them @ that height and let the plants reach??

 

[dred]

What’s your W/sqft?

Not sure, never calculated it

cranked is measured 365w from wall
in a mars 3x3
seems to work

 

[SacredTreeOrganicFarms]

Each light is squeezed into a 4 x 4 ft area.......lights start off 36-48 inches above the canopy and are moved down to 18 inches in flowering, per Gavita. Next time though, I'm starting the lights at 6 ft above the pots, to encourage some stretch early in the grow.

That’s awesome info. I’m running 2x 600w cheap LEDs from Amazon over a 4x4. Too much lighting or watts? My buds seem not as large and dense as they should be for week 7 flower lol. I want to run a gavita 8 bar over a 4x4

 

[MIMedGrower]

This is beautiful! What do you do when they induce flower? Do you raise the lights or keep them @ that height and let the plants reach??

Thank you.


my veg tent has t-5 fluorescents so when i bring one in to flower i start at about 30” and gradually move them up to the sweet spot through stretch an inch or two per day or as they need. I watch the leaves to be flat and happy.

once they are at 18” i move them down as the flowers grow up.

 

[SacredTreeOrganicFarms]

Thank you.


my veg tent has t-5 fluorescents so when i bring one in to flower i start at about 30” and gradually move them up to the sweet spot through stretch an inch or two per day or as they need. I watch the leaves to be flat and happy.

once they are at 18” i move them down as the flowers grow up.

Damn okay, so same with veg too then? Raise the light as they grow? I thought the leaves should be reaching upwards almost tulip shaped?

 

[MIMedGrower]

Damn okay, so same with veg too then? Raise the light as they grow? I thought the leaves should be reaching upwards almost tulip shaped?

i just always tried to keep them flat and happy like in the pics.

For the t-5 ho’s i start seedlings at about a foot and most end up at 8”. And yeah i use stands in veg too. My plants are always a couple weeks apart or so in growth to harvest a plant every week or two.

 

[Aqua Man]

@MIMedGrower will conform after I get my gavita sorry can't resist bro.... and with that I shall not return...

 

[Chad.Westport]

So it’s doesn’t measure watts output? Does a 600w light even matter if the umol/m2 is low? Or if ppfd is shit?

That is basically a question of light efficiency, which HID systems lose most every time. It is one of the pieces of info you will get with each light using the link in my first post.

 

[SacredTreeOrganicFarms]

i just always tried to keep them flat and happy like in the pics.

For the t-5 ho’s i start seedlings at about a foot and most end up at 8”. And yeah i use stands in veg too. My plants are always a couple weeks apart or so in growth to harvest a plant every week or two.

I just feel like I’ve been having either deficiencies or lock outs and I can’t get a process down you know? Check out my Sequoyah thread too with pictures on that if you don’t mind putting in a voice lol

 

[MIMedGrower]

@SequoyahCannabisCo here is a pic of the veg plants.

 

[MIMedGrower]

I just feel like I’ve been having either deficiencies or lock outs and I can’t get a process down you know? Check out my Sequoyah thread too with pictures on that if you don’t mind putting in a voice lol

got to go garden now but post a link please.

 

[SacredTreeOrganicFarms]

@SequoyahCannabisCo here is a pic of the veg plants.

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They look amazing! Any LST or HST done? How old? These are the ones 30” away from the light?

 

[SacredTreeOrganicFarms]

got to go garden now but post a link please.

Welcome to Sequoyah Cannabis Co! Follow our journey!

Here is my grow! All organic, no synthetic anything, and all organic pesticides IF needed. Not my first run but definitely the farthest point I’ve got to! I’ve got wedding cake, blueberry lemon headband, stardawg, strawberry guava (my biggest lady), and Mac & cheese #8. I’m running (2)4x4 tents...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[One drop]

Well I didn’t see my name on the list .... for centuries ive been HPS simple magnetic ballast cheap n nasty , I never really grew that much indoors always outdoors cropping but Age has caught up with me so no more bush cropping, used the 400w Hps winter indoors it’s freezing cold here in winter the penguins go north for there winter vacations..... Hps were great for the warmer conditions but summer indoor growing was a nightmare having to grow at night when cooler part of the night was lights on it got old real quick for a year I didn’t grow shit just smoked the big stash of weed , had a bad year last year with fires so had to get the Hps back into action again to hot so after some soul searching I crossed over to the dark side as I called it LED well holly shit how cool are these little light boxes n q boards on the market , first light was VA Viparspectra 600w full spectrum did some solo cupping with it great little light for next to nothing , then Spider farmer got in touch to do a light review which is up on my page again I’m impressed with the quality of the grow I’m no light guru just a gut feeling gardener the SF 2000 is a good light my review has been going well , I did buy another SF2000 to run in the other 3x3x6 it’s knocking it out of the park as far as I can tell but I’m up for being schooled by you demon tech light guys ... so in short HPS for winter n LED for summer in my little island I live on ... regards Od .

 

[SaintsSamilia]

Led am-640 love it

 

[growsince79]

Just started using hlg 100. I like it enough I bought a second one.

 

[Flexnerb]

I honestly think the best resource for this question is - https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/grow-light-calculator/

It covers many of the lights we all use and provides real world, non bias testing of manufacturer specs. This eliminates the variables between one grower vs the next as far as environmental controls, nutrient management, and pest pressures.

I use the Spider farmer 1000s and have a HPS as well, but currently LED only. They are great lights but in cold months, your room may need to be heated. HPS lets off a lot more heat than LED. For that purpose, the HPS is ideal, but LED technology has caught up to and passed light quality and you can do it for a reasonable price now. In the summer months, you'll be glad you have the LED.

Set me up with an LED light that puts out 2500ppfd same as a 1000 eye hortilux super hps!

Make and model.

 

[sshz]

I read your thread extensively! I just wanted to start a thread that didn’t cloud up and take away from you and anyone else.

Wrong thread........... look for my thread under diaries for Orange Gasm, not Sweet Zombie. It was my first grow with the Gavita’s. The Zombie is my second grow under led’s.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Just started using hlg 100. I like it enough I bought a second one.

funny seeing that heavy chain holding up that paper thin board. :-)

 

[Chad.Westport]

Set me up with an LED light that puts out 2500ppfd same as a 1000 eye hortilux super hps!

Make and model.

Without even looking into the data, there will almost always be an exception to the rule ;)