Old Schools Grower Needing Tips On Led

[HoggLife]

I have been growing for 15 plus years. I have always used 1000 watt GPS light to veg and grow. I veg my plants 8-10 weeks and they get to 4 1/2 to 5 feet by thr end of veg and 7-8 feet in flower. My veg room currently has six 1000 watt HPS light. In a 10 foot by 15 foot area. Is there LED lights that can produce as big of plants that I am currently growing?

 

[HoggLife]

Btw the picture I posted is of my flower room to show I have a 10 foot ceiling and I am 6' tall and plants are 1-2 feet taller then me.

 

[Dan789]

Welcome to the farm, nice grow and backdrop, as far as LED’s doing the same...hard to say but the cost of running (cost of ownership) your set up over some top shelf LED’s may be higher, unless your paying $.06/kWh.

 

[HoggLife]

Welcome to the farm, nice grow and backdrop, as far as LED’s doing the same...hard to say but the cost of running (cost of ownership) your set up over some top shelf LED’s may be higher, unless your paying $.06/kWh.

Yes I am paying somewhere around. 06-.08/kWh

 

[Dan789]

Use what works, bargain basement electrical costs btw. What strains are you growing?

 

[HoggLife]

Yes I am paying somewhere around. 06-.08/kWh

But it shouldn't matter how much I pay for kWh. Cause I'd still save using LED right? I dont care about cost of LED lights. I just have never used LED. Figure keep HPS for flower cause I have always heard you get less yeild on LED. So figure maybe just LED for veg.

 

[HoggLife]

Sunset Sherbert, cookie punch, gorilla glue #4, Gelato, wedding cake.

 

[HoggLife]

The reason why I want to learn about LED is if I can save money on Veg I can add more flowering lights.

 

[Samwell]

these are supposed to be good
https://fluence.science/store/

 

[NHWhites]

HLG 550’s ftw

 

[HoggLife]

HLG 550’s ftw

Yes this looks perfect. Have you used this?

 

[BlkMktGnetx]

We use LED from start to finish and have seen a huge difference in INCREASED yield since switching away from conventional lighting. Not only does our power bill seem happier but our plants definitely do!!

 

[Evil Monkey]

Give these guys a look
https://scynceled.com/

 

[NGA]

I used hps bulbs for years and made the switch to led no difference in yields, biggest difference is room temperature, I use some HLG, QBS ,and Chinese QBs ,fine no difference in them , a year or two you will save enough money on electricity that will pay for your leds ,cheers

 

[OldManRiver]

But it shouldn't matter how much I pay for kWh. Cause I'd still save using LED right? I dont care about cost of LED lights. I just have never used LED. Figure keep HPS for flower cause I have always heard you get less yeild on LED. So figure maybe just LED for veg.

Matters a ton. LEDs pay for themselves quickly if your power cost is $.35/kwh. Not so fast if its .075/kwh, which I pay.

Some thoughts:
1) Yield is directly proportional to photons received by the plant. If you deliver equal light strength of equal spectrum, you'll get equal yield.
2) Purchase price for LEDs is still quite a bit higher for a given light strength than HID. These costs are offset by the power savings for the light themselves, as well as cooling, because LEDs put off like 20% of the heat that HIDs do. Whether this offset is signifcant depends highly on your cost for electric. At 8 cents a kwh, may not be worth it to you. LEDs are about 40% more efficient than HID. Watch the video in the first post for detail on this.
3) LED solutions offer more configuration of spectrum than HIDs. Doesn't matter to you, if you've already got a setup you like, but for greenfield installs, its fun.

 

[HoggLife]

I appreciate all the help. I am gonna do 3 HID and 3 of the HLG 550's and see the difference. Then if I like that I can try a couple HLG's in flower to see how i like them. I do enjoy trying new things and seeing how they work. In growing you have to be open to try new things. Thank you very much to all that had input.

 

[JWM2]

For that kind of height I’d be tempted to recommend cob leds vs quantum boards. The reason being is quantum boards don’t penetrate the canopy as deep as cobs. In your situation due to the ultra low price of electricity you might be better off with mostly HID and then do a test section of leds to see how you like it.

With quantum’s scrog is the preferred method of maximizing the efficiency of the light. And with scrog it’s a matter of filling out the canopy as quickly and densely as possible.

 

[HoggLife]

For that kind of height I’d be tempted to recommend cob leds vs quantum boards. The reason being is quantum boards don’t penetrate the canopy as deep as cobs. In your situation due to the ultra low price of electricity you might be better off with mostly HID and then do a test section of leds to see how you like it.

With quantum’s scrog is the preferred method of maximizing the efficiency of the light. And with scrog it’s a matter of filling out the canopy as quickly and densely as possible.

I prefer to stake each branch of each plant by week 3 of flower. I do this because it gives me a reason to get to the plants in the middle of the room and rotate plants some and also spend time trimming back each plant. I feel it necessary to give the room and plants that attention. Using betting is easier during the grow but harder when it comes time to trim and also allows you to be lazy and I dont like or want to be a lazy grower. I take pride in my babies :)

 

[JWM2]

Yeah scrog is mostly used to even out the canopy. That’s just what is most efficient with quantum boards the way they are designed. They are designed to spread the watts out evenly over a larger area. That’s why I suggested cobs as those will give you better penetration at the cost of spread. But will still save you energy. If nothing else to conserve it for others.

 

[HoggLife]

Yeah scrog is mostly used to even out the canopy. That’s just what is most efficient with quantum boards the way they are designed. They are designed to spread the watts out evenly over a larger area. That’s why I suggested cobs as those will give you better penetration at the cost of spread. But will still save you energy. If nothing else to conserve it for others.

Okay ya I see what you mean. Me staking is the same as scrog. So ya that is a good idea. Thanks.