126w Hydro-Grow LED vs 250w HID, the definitive test

[Frozenguy]

Flowering Day 56

I really wish you folks could smell these ladies. I'm going to miss this strain, this is its last run in my garden, and that smell reminds me everyday why I kept it for so long.

The ladies are starting to drop leaves everyday now.
Normally (and currently for the HID side) there should be about another eight days until the start of my harvest window for this cut, which for my preference usually lasts about six or seven days. More times then not, I've cut it down on the later part of the week, so we're looking at about 12 more days or so. Maybe the LED will be sooner? Maybe later? We'll see, but I doubt it will be that much different. So far, the LED and HID plants have indistinguishable differences in terms of clear/cloudy trichs. We'll see how fast it takes for LED to amber up. HID will start soon.

Here is a side by side, (HID) left------(LED) right




HS_1 (HID)




HS_2 (HID)




HS_3 (LED)




HS_4 (LED)



Frozenguy

 

[Frozenguy]

great journal, thanks for the effort

Thanks for the compliment! I just hope this journal (once finished) helps other people out in their decision for LED/HID.

Nice frozen! looking foward to the update!

Thanks! Glad to see you're still around. Update posted

to me the LED plant is looking a little thicker, very impressed. Keep up the good green growing frozen


-DrGreenThumb

Hey Dr. Green Thumb, thanks! Yeah the LED definitely is holding its own against the HID. We'll see how it fares in the end, but it does have some buds bigger then the HID's, but its all pretty close.

wow nice stuff mate! can't wait to see the final results

Thanks, I can't wait either lol. Thank god I have some hindu skunk smoke right now otherwise... well lets just not mention that

Your plants look nice but I cant help to ask, how long did you veg for??

Hey thanks. They vegged for about 45 days. Take into account this cut is a slow vegger.

sweet one dude, looking forward to se the results

cheers, take care and Jah Bless

Thanks for stopping by, you wont be disapointed. This hindu skunk has some pretty good bag appeal and trims up real nice (killer smoke to boot )

love this thread. this is such a good idea.
IMO i think that the LED bulb is not flowering the buds as well, i dunno it just looks like the LED bud lacks come color, and i think that may affect the taste or high.

Congrats on having my favorite thread. Keep up the good work !

Thank you! I appreciate that, means a lot to me.

The end result is where its at, and is where the LED will prove itself to me. I'm expecting different taste, and different high properties; to what degree, I'm not too certain. The LED buds may look a little, whiter, but I've been trying to decide if that is the amount of trichs or not. Either way, the smoke should tell me. The smoke speaks to me lol. Thanks for stopping in, glad you like it!

Frozenguy

 

[darwinsbulldog]

the crystal coverage in all of those photos is just gorgeous! what are you expecting from your results? led is better than the MH or are you expecting similar / undifferentiated results?

if the latter ends up being the case, we'd be fools not to all jump on the LED band wagon, well once the prices decrease by half at least.

 

[Frozenguy]

the crystal coverage in all of those photos is just gorgeous! what are you expecting from your results? led is better than the MH or are you expecting similar / undifferentiated results?

if the latter ends up being the case, we'd be fools not to all jump on the LED band wagon, well once the prices decrease by half at least.

I'm really not sure what to expect. Its looking quite close in terms of yield, and even denseness, although I have a feeling the HID side seems a little more dense, I could be wrong. And it only matters what it is at chopping day.

Keep in mind that the LED unit is pulling something like 113-120 watts, and the HID is pulling something like 280 watts.. LED girl used a power meter to read it. So based off that alone I'm quite impressed at its progress so far. I could have twice the amount of LED plants if I did watt for watt. And you dont have to buy bulbs, and it runs cooler. I cant wait to smoke the herb because that is the REAL test in my book, as long as it keeps up with HID.

This cut really is crystally isn't it. I really am going to miss her. I just hope that I can find a keeper in the seedlings I'm picking out of now. Its going to be difficult replacing this strain with something that tastes as good and is as potent.

 

[darwinsbulldog]

yeah sounds like led's the way to go if only it were more affordable, i see a great set up on ebay that's 600w for AUD$999 though... however you'd be saving a SHIT load of power and yeah never replacing bulbs or ballasts, no fire hazard from either of those with respect to heat or break down. that said being winter at the moment i rely on a little bit of warmth from the lights to heat up my closet so it's normally at 20C+ (i'm using 80W 4 x 20w cfls), debating upgrading to 2 x 130w cfls, here's a question i'm currently growing only veg cycle for transplanting outside in a few months and unfortunately can only find 130w cfls of 6400K with the right B22 base for screwing in, will that 6400K be ok light coverage for veg cycle? i know the 2700K is good to have as well with a higher red spectrum coverage but as i'm not wanting to flower i'm thinking yellow and blue will be fine which the 6400K seems to cover just to a lesser extent slightly.

but yeah sorry back to your stuff, the fact that the plants look so similar and yet the LED is only using 113-120 is just phenomenal! and yeah that you could have twice the number of plants under the same wattage of MH is such an epic pro! just need the friggen price to drop lol or rob a hydro store (kidding...) haha

yeah they're definitely looking great! we just harvested a white widow plant (in the guerilla prep thread below) and it had an ok coverage, but would've loved more! you're are definitely hot! hope they blow you away when harvested mate! ps how much you expected to get of finished product? cheers mate

 

[420ish]

i think the led plants look better!looks like the trichs are bigger on led.cant wait to hear smoke report

 

[Frozenguy]

that said being winter at the moment i rely on a little bit of warmth from the lights to heat up my closet so it's normally at 20C+ (i'm using 80W 4 x 20w cfls), debating upgrading to 2 x 130w cfls, here's a question i'm currently growing only veg cycle for transplanting outside in a few months and unfortunately can only find 130w cfls of 6400K with the right B22 base for screwing in, will that 6400K be ok light coverage for veg cycle? i know the 2700K is good to have as well with a higher red spectrum coverage but as i'm not wanting to flower i'm thinking yellow and blue will be fine which the 6400K seems to cover just to a lesser extent slightly.

I used a 6400K bulb once and it seemd fine, the only other CFL i used for vegging was a 5700K. I didn't mix any 2700K in there, even though some may. I ended up using MH for vegging though because it just worked faster, I had enough plants to justify the sqft, and ya. So I think you will do well with 6400K. I'm not sure of the benefits between that and 5700K.

but yeah sorry back to your stuff, the fact that the plants look so similar and yet the LED is only using 113-120 is just phenomenal! and yeah that you could have twice the number of plants under the same wattage of MH is such an epic pro! just need the friggen price to drop lol or rob a hydro store (kidding...) haha

Haha yeah, the initial price is more then more conventional equipment, but at the end of the cycle, money spent on day one is counted just like money spent on day 100.
I have to remind myself that it is essentially less the half the wattage of the HID, and then I think wow! Now just to see how they dry/smoke.

yeah they're definitely looking great! we just harvested a white widow plant (in the guerilla prep thread below) and it had an ok coverage, but would've loved more! you're are definitely hot! hope they blow you away when harvested mate! ps how much you expected to get of finished product? cheers mate

From the HID side, I'm expecting about 75-85 grams per plant from the HID side. She isn't the biggest yielder, even after I worked her, but she has some seriously medicating smoke, which is why I kept her. On to a new lady now though

i'm not sure what to expect from the LED side. I'm not sure how dense the nugs are, which is where most of the weight comes from in this strain. They aren't large buds, but dense as hell. Almost too dense which is another reason why I'm searching out a new mother.

So we'll see how the LED does, but I doubt it will be significantly lower, if at all. Possibly even higher We'll see in a few weeks

 

[darwinsbulldog]

yeah well i guess you can't really be disappointed either way the way things are going! do you expect a different smoke/potency as a result of the different lights? it'll be an interesting comparison if the lights really do affect smoke/potency especially as you've used 4 clones of the same plant for this test! good scientific method right there lol just finished a subject on statistical analysis and experiment design!

 

[Frozenguy]

i think the led plants look better!looks like the trichs are bigger on led.cant wait to hear smoke report

Hi thanks for stopping by.
I cant wait to give the smoke report
Yeah, that may be a reason why I think the LED buds look a little whiter, or seem to reflect more. Maybe i'll try and estimate a trich per sq milimeter. I've did it once before on a purple cream cut I had. Using 20 different samples from the same plant, and doing that to several plants from the same mother, I found they were relatively consistent (averages of 20 samples from each separate plant). So if I find I have the time, I may do that to see if I can come up with some results in terms of that.

 

[Frozenguy]

yeah well i guess you can't really be disappointed either way the way things are going! do you expect a different smoke/potency as a result of the different lights? it'll be an interesting comparison if the lights really do affect smoke/potency especially as you've used 4 clones of the same plant for this test! good scientific method right there lol just finished a subject on statistical analysis and experiment design!

I do expect differences in taste/high, but to what degree in what direction, I dont know. I used MH on this Hindu Skunk cut because of what it did to the high. I liked it better then what happened under HPS. The LED has more red it in then blue, but from what I understand, its spectrum is what the plant most readily uses, as it would outdoor I'm assuming. So maybe it will give an outdoor taste/high which I have not been able to replicate with indoor lighting and tech.
Maybe thats why it is so chrystally the way it is, if it is indeed more.

I think that all my chemistry lab classes have made it habit, to have good lab/experiment methods, otherwise there are too many variables to easily make a side by side comparison which is what we want. I try to keep it as even as possible with everything.

 

[darwinsbulldog]

yeah that's exactly it mate, you've done well controlling for a lot of variables that would've confounded your results. so good stuff. only thing that my lecturer would've got up me about if this was my exp would've been replicates, in the end the more the better. i mean 4 plants under LED vs 4 plants under the MH etc, but obviously would've required twice the space etc. either way nice job i'm hoping to get some stuff like this going in the future with a mate of mine, penguin. ie. comparing organic nutes vs chem nutes in a well controlled exp, same wattage/light, clones, equiv dosage/watering, soil mix, pot size all that jazz! it just all comes down the space! there isn't enough of it i swear! and just when you've found enough you want MORE! lol

ps. cheers for the advice about the 6400k lights, just ordered 4 x 130w cfls. wooop! should have them within the week and can bathe my babies in the wattage they deserve!

darwin

 

[Frozenguy]

yeah that's exactly it mate, you've done well controlling for a lot of variables that would've confounded your results. so good stuff. only thing that my lecturer would've got up me about if this was my exp would've been replicates, in the end the more the better. i mean 4 plants under LED vs 4 plants under the MH etc, but obviously would've required twice the space etc. either way nice job i'm hoping to get some stuff like this going in the future with a mate of mine, penguin. ie. comparing organic nutes vs chem nutes in a well controlled exp, same wattage/light, clones, equiv dosage/watering, soil mix, pot size all that jazz! it just all comes down the space! there isn't enough of it i swear! and just when you've found enough you want MORE! lol

ps. cheers for the advice about the 6400k lights, just ordered 4 x 130w cfls. wooop! should have them within the week and can bathe my babies in the wattage they deserve!

darwin

Yeah experiments are fun, and I definitely should of upped the samples, just as you said, space lol. Thanks for the kind words and good luck with those cfls! I'll have to check out your thread for updates

Frozenguy

 

[Dr. Green Thumb]

I can't wait till you harvest to tell us the results, like i keep saying if the price was right on these LED units i would jump on the band wagon! What attracts me the most to these lights is there not dispersing a lot of heat like HID's do, I'm really getting tired of stopping my grows in the summer due to heat, keep it green friend


DrGreenThumb

 

[yesum]

I will be watching this one. I have 2 63 watt HGL units over indicas, so we are almost bros? Ok, maybe not.
I am curious about the smoke test, I can already see the yield will be similar, and at over twice the wattage for the mh....... the LED has already kicked ass there.
If the LED can give smoke about the same as mh, then the only thing left to bitch about will be the cost.

 

[darwinsbulldog]

Yeah experiments are fun, and I definitely should of upped the samples, just as you said, space lol. Thanks for the kind words and good luck with those cfls! I'll have to check out your thread for updates

Frozenguy

you're welcome mate! happy growing

 

[slimshady]

Amazing test

Amazing test

Great test grow thread, did you apply CO2 during the flowering?

 

[frankobud]

great test frozenguy i have been researching led this test should help thanks

 

[Daffy]

looking forward to the results

 

[Frozenguy]

I can't wait till you harvest to tell us the results, like i keep saying if the price was right on these LED units i would jump on the band wagon! What attracts me the most to these lights is there not dispersing a lot of heat like HID's do, I'm really getting tired of stopping my grows in the summer due to heat, keep it green friend


DrGreenThumb

I cant wait either!! Yeah the unit runs very cool compared to an HID. It will save a bunch on A/C and ventilation.

I will be watching this one. I have 2 63 watt HGL units over indicas, so we are almost bros? Ok, maybe not.
I am curious about the smoke test, I can already see the yield will be similar, and at over twice the wattage for the mh....... the LED has already kicked ass there.
If the LED can give smoke about the same as mh, then the only thing left to bitch about will be the cost.

Hey Brother! Yeah the fact alone that the LED is half the wattage blows my mind. Its looking very crystally so I'm not expecting a poorer smoke, but we'll see.

Great test grow thread, did you apply CO2 during the flowering?

I didn't, not to this grow. I may try at a later day with the LED, but I may also need to supplement heat because as of right now, this light will not heat my cab up to 85-90 deg on its own.

great test frozenguy i have been researching led this test should help thanks

Great! Thats exactly what I wanted to come of this thread! Glad it can help.

looking forward to the results

Thanks me too
Stick around, it wont be too long now.

Frozenguy

 

[Frozenguy]

Hi everyone

I'll be cutting them down today.
I figured I should cut them down in the same amount of time. So far samples are looking about the same, maybe a little more amber on the HID, but we'll see on the dried product. Size of the nugs are uniform, but density will determine the weight.

They wont be cut down for another couple hours, and I may not make the post of the cut plants until tomorrow. Thanks for checking the grow out and I hope the results help people out!

Frozenguy