gardenfather
Active member
When growing with LED lights are u having problems keeping heat and humidity? to have a good balance.
600-750 watts of LED can hang with a 1000 watt HPS.
i prefer LED simply for the heats issues, or lack of them
but what about cost difference i mean what would a 650 wattLED cost compared to a complete 1000 watt kit for 200 bucks giving you 2.5 pound harvest have you seen or herd of a 650 watt even coming close to 650 dry grams ???
So it begs to question, if an LED that uses 650 watts can produce as well as a 1000 watt HPS, as many LED manufacturers claim, why aren’t they taking over the grow light market the way digital ballasts did 8 years ago? Why aren’t they the light of choice for most indoor gardeners?
Personally, I’ve have good success starting seeds and rooting cuttings under a 45 watt LED panel that utilized simple low wattage blue and red diodes. I’ve also grown young plants up to about 10” in height under the same 45w panels. Growth was always adequate and comparable to that of a T5 fluorescent. But my own experience with LEDs was limited and I’ve never used a high powered LED grow light so I needed to find another grower who had actually done some full cycles using an LED light.
I looked up my old friend Doc because I remembered he had been doing some tests with LED Grow Lights. I interviewed Doc because I knew he would give me honest feedback and he was a very experienced gardener. Like myself, Doc was very interested in the concept of using LED grow lights and was hoping for the best when conducting his tests. In the last 12 months he said he was able to do 3 separate tests using LED Grow Lights. Here are his findings.
Test 1
Materials:
LED total power consumption: 650 watts
Diodes: Red, blue, and white 3 watt diodes
Media: Organic potting soil in 3 gallon plastic pots. Drip system.
Nutrient: Popular 100% organic nutrient
Grow area size: 3’10” x 3’10”
In the first test Doc used an LED grow light that used 3 watt diodes and approximately 650 watts of total power. He also used 3 gallon buckets of quality potting soil with a drip system and a premium 100% organic nutrient.
Results: This test was never finished. There was a problem with the soil not drying out fast enough between feedings which Doc believes led to weak growth. Possible complications may have been the lack of heat from the LED light. This was something very new for Doc who like most indoor gardeners have only grown with T5 fluorescent and MH or HPS grow lights. Doc noticed how much his grow room relied upon the heat from his HPS lamps to bring his room up to optimal temperatures. During the test his grow room stayed around 60-65 degrees when his lights were on. Not only is this too cold for proper fruiting and flowering of most summer crops but it also didn’t allow his potting soil to dry out fast enough leaving his root systems water logged and starving for oxygen. About 2 months into the grow Doc decided to start over.
Conclusion: Inconclusive.
Test 2
Materials:
LED total power consumption: 650 watts
Diodes: Red, blue, and white 3 watt diodes
Media/Water: Hydroton in 1 gallon fabric pots. Ebb and flow.
Nutrient: Popular 2-part hydroponic nutrient
Grow area size: 3’10” x 3’10”
Using the same 650 watt LED grow light Doc switched from soil to hydroponics to have more control over the watering. He used 1 gallon fabric pots with hydroton grow rocks in an ebb and flow hydroponic system. He also added heat to bring the temperatures to a more comfortable 75-80 degrees when the lights were on.
Results: This test run was much better than the first and strengthened his theory that lack of heat was the main culprit his first time around. Health was good and bugs and or disease was non-existent. Keep in mind Doc is an expert grower and expert growers know how to keep a grow room healthy and free from bugs or disease. Yield was not as good as Doc would have hoped. While overall quality was consistent with plants grown under an HID light, Doc’s yield for his 650 watt LED grow light were closer to or slightly better than what you would expect from a 400 HPS light using a full spectrum HID bulb.
Conclusion: Fail. Yields were okay but we didn’t get a better yield to watt ratio than an HID grow light. There was also an extra energy cost to run the supplemental heat.
So please don't believe everything you here like the guy said 650 watt led was more comparable to a 400 watt hid a far cry from a 1000 right ???? you mention burn brad burns thread here his plants @ 2 weeks and here a hid at 14 and 21 days you think his led competes to that of a hid ??? oh hell one more for yea showing HID kicks ass day 36
Panel draws 300 wattsSo for now I have to give HID lights the advantage over LEDs when it comes to light intensity.
Panel draws 300 watts
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Most 1k HPS in a hood, no glass, read 1400 around 24 inches. And then we get into PUR vs PAR... and LED wins.
Sorry this guy tried to rain on your parade GP, keep up the good work you do. I'm watching!
How are those screw in bulbs working for the veg space? I am running 220 watts of PL-L's in mine and want to switch.