Wondering about the Super Grow Led's advertised here ---->

[Swany]

I'm starting up a small operation and need to light the mother plants. I'm wondering about trying two of the Super Grow LED's - they claim full spectrum, they're small and affordable and seem like they would be ideal to light 2 to 4 moms. I'm concerned that everyone I talk to says you need a 400w HID minimum to support good growth for moms. Anyone have any experience with these lights on mother plants? Maybe other lights?

thx -

 

[paulycali]

I tried using some small ones for my mothers

Not nearly enough light

The small ones are good for supplemental lighting and that's it

Grab yourself the 400w :)

 

[Swany]

It just seems wrong to by a 400, I would probably by a 1000w and then run it dimmed on a digital ballast. That way if one of the main room lights went out I could swap Mom's light in and put up T5's for mom until the main light got fixed.

I'm still looking for a good excuse to try out an LED though... ;-}

 

[Kebz]

Hey swany, their getting less and less expensive? Hows that for a reason?

Not a good enough? What about this?

They work but similar to HPS the more wattage the more impressive the results.

 

[Classic Remix]

you pushing 1/gpw with that thing??? veg time irrelevant.

 

[Kebz]

Im strictly small fry. I run an array of 7 panels and used the LED's to replace 2 600 watt HPS's with about 850 watts of LED. It took a long time to build up even this small array and to be able to do it in a way that didn't cost the earth. i'd still like to add a little more :)

Results vary - slightly over on the 1/gpw on more saliva / indica mix strains, and way under at times on indica or saliva dominant strains. Got a bubba kush I just flipped that stands a foot tall and I ain't expecting much stretch! Just finished some G/Hash and that stretched and produced small hard nug's but wasn't a heavy at all. Just finished testing different strains and will settle on 4 or 5 that work well for me.

The pic above is a snow lotus pheno of Jabba's stash and responds really well to my space and set up.

I run multiple strains and for me the clincher was the quality of the bud and the much easier use and application with only a small air exchange needed, as well as being able to reduce running costs.

There does need to be adjustments! The first time I used LEDs, I put them way too close and killed lots of cuttings! Bleached the colour right out of them. You also have to water way way less because of the cooler operating temps.

I'm in perpetual so run a separate veg space and gives the girls as long as they need.

Its hard to get the whole space in one shot;

 

[ttystikk]

It just seems wrong to by a 400, I would probably by a 1000w and then run it dimmed on a digital ballast. That way if one of the main room lights went out I could swap Mom's light in and put up T5's for mom until the main light got fixed.

I'm still looking for a good excuse to try out an LED though... ;-}

This sounds good, but is a bad idea. The bulb is designed to run best at its rated power setting. Under driving the bulb produces much less than the expected amount of light, and the spectrum also suffers. Run a 400w setup over your veg area, or t5, or cfl, or LED- or, as in my case, both t5 and led. They love it!

 

[tags420]

I don't support the supergrow LED's but this guy used enough of them to get them to work.
https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/nice-bud-from-leds.55727/

 

[Swany]

The pic above is a snow lotus pheno of Jabba's stash and responds really well to my space and set up.

This sounds good, but is a bad idea. The bulb is designed to run best at its rated power setting. Under driving the bulb produces much less than the expected amount of light, and the spectrum also suffers. Run a 400w setup over your veg area, or t5, or cfl, or LED- or, as in my case, both t5 and led. They love it!

I don't support the supergrow LED's but this guy used enough of them to get them to work.
https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/nice-bud-from-leds.55727/

Thanks All -

Tyy - that would not be good. Since saying that I have changed my mind on how I want to go. When I expand I will have 4 small room with 8 plants each, all DWC. I will put the clones in and run veg then flip, so it will all be under (2) 1000w per room or maybe (3) 6oow lights each. I'll need light for moms and clones and that will might be a LED. In the rooms I may run two 600s and LEDs - we'll see ;-}

I'll check that link next time Tags - gotta zzzzleep now.

 

[Swany]

Im strictly small fry. I run an array of 7 panels and used the LED's to replace 2 600 watt HPS's with about 850 watts of LED. It took a long time to build up even this small array and to be able to do it in a way that didn't cost the earth. i'd still like to add a little more :)

I was toast last night when I posted the above, for got to thank you specifically Kebz for sharing and showing you're LED set up and some results. I've been crazy busy with 'side work' I'm getting from my new obsession. I need to do more research on LED's in preparation for my next run and it's really sweet to have some of that research just come to me ;-} Since getting into all this I've started building other peoples rooms and cutting edge knowledge like this helps that too.

Keep up the pretty flower production !

 

[Kebz]

No thanks needed brother Swany. I feel privileged to belong to a community of like minded individuals and feel that I can learn much by partaking in discussions and rethinking the way I do things by listening to the input of experienced and knowledgable individuals.

I know many people don't feel that LED's work with the beautiful plant we love so much and to a degree they are right. There has been far too many people trying to get rich quick, too little honest information and much too much sales hype plugging one product or another and promising the earth, (especially in the days of 1watt diodes, limited penetration and incomplete spectrums of colour being used for flowering). For the technology involved LED's are still overpriced and new developments seem to be a reason to push prices even further. The claims about reducing power are a limited truth, to get good results you still need to push the available photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) into the canopy, and that does equal burning watts, the more watts the better the result, very much like HID lighting. 3 and 5watt diodes have made LED's a viable alternative tho, if I didn't think so I'd crank up the 3 600 watt ballasts currently sitting redundant and stop wasting time.

I know your going a lot bigger and my experience may be of limited use but if you need any info please just ask.

I have no affiliations and no money to gamble or waste.
I recommend no particular brand of LED panel. I just feel that I've found the best artificial light source for my space and set up.

I know you have much to share and it'll soon be my turn to thank you Swany.

The Jabba's Stash is a thing of beauty and even tho I feel like (right now) i've got things dialled in pretty good, I give all Credit to Bodhi, i'm blessed to work with such good genetics.

 

[Swany]

... my experience may be of limited use but if you need any info please just ask...

Ha - You're growing with LED's, I'd say that counts as solid experience ;-}

I'm going to be turning some clones into moms soon (if they survive while I'm traveling and a friend is watching the room) and I want to add LED to the T5 I upgraded to. Have you used LED's for mothering? What brand and what wattage?

 

[Swany]

Run a 400w setup over your veg area, or t5, or cfl, or LED- or, as in my case, both t5 and led. They love it!

How about you Tyy - what LED are you keeping your stock under? What difference do you see, if any, vs. 400w HID?

 

[ttystikk]

How about you Tyy - what LED are you keeping your stock under? What difference do you see, if any, vs. 400w HID?

I don't see any difference in the plants. They like the led and the t5 lighting both. I have several led panels- all small and older- and they all work well for veg. It's easy to burn young plants with them because they feel so cool...

Because my led systems are old, I haven't tried to flower with them alone. Also, when I put my 130W CAP 'xtreme led' in the bloom room for added spectrum etc, I found zero difference.

 

[Swany]

no difference and less power is still a good difference - good info ;-}

 

[Kebz]

... my experience may be of limited use but if you need any info please just ask...​

Thats my story and im sticking to it!

Hi Swany, For veg, i use 12 6000 - 6500k 5-9w GU10 LED bulbs mounted on a board supplemented by mixed spectrum fluorescents and red/blue GU10 grow LED's , runs about 200 - 250 watts and allows me to change bulbs in and out. Due to the expense of 'specialist' grow LED's, I reserve those for flowering and plants in veg seem a lot less forgiving than once they go into flower under LED's. Being in perpetual and in a small set up I simply take clones from clones prior to flipping them into flower.

 

[Swany]

THAT sounds like a properly frankensteined light ;-}. Would love to see a picture.

The consultant I've been building rooms for runs with no mothers also, perpetual just like you. With plant limitations it make sense. He also shares his prize strains with a couple of others so a catastrophe won't hurt him. Do you think the strains degrade over successive clonings?

Your light set up sounds like it covers the spectrum well. To creat something similar with a 4' tube format I could use a 6 bulb fixture, wire in a 3 bulb ballast on every other slot, then wire the remaining slots for the LED tubes. Maybe vary the kelvin on the fluorescent tubes. Thanks for sharing your setup! I only have to cover 4 buckets so hopefully one fixture would do.

 

[Kebz]

Its funny ypu should use the F word! It is proper frankensteined!

Ok, so you could call me cheap! Truthfully when I first started to hear about LEDs being used for growing, like everyone I was a little unsure, so didn't really want to change anything big, without a little research and investigation. I used to veg under 250watts of fluorescent but didnt really like the footprint it delivered. I went about finding LED bulbs that shops were selling off cheaply (as many people simply wouldn't buy them between 12 - 18months ago) consumers are creatures of habit.

After lots of fiddling this is what it looks like;

2 x 13watt cfl;

I x 20watt cfl (front right of shot) and mainly gu10 leds, (some taken apart and wired in series), most wired onto a board about 1 ft square.

Currently holds 15 clones and a seedling.

My lighting in here is literally a board with holes punched through and then the connectors pushed through, with a few other lights. I really like using multiple points of light.

Oh yeah I forgot about the 50watt garden light at the very back of the room! Picked that up for about 14bucks on ebay and thought - why not, the plants like it.

Taken out for scale, next to a 5litre water bottle.

 

[Swany]

Sweet! Looks like the screw in LEDs use the hi wattage diodes which to me says better bulbs, and you've got UVB in there with the reptile bulbs. Great way to set up a lighting arrangement.

Funny - at the beginning of this post I was wondering about one light and now I've learned about options that work better for me - sweet!

 

[Kushwick]

I've been wondering about those led spotlights if they were any good for growing. Seems to be doing fine with your girls I might just pick 1 up and see. Thanks for showing