LED Marijuana Blooms

[TheGreenBastard]

oh man i need to get some
i think in gonna get a red panel a cheap one to suppliment my mh while flowering

I think that you would be better off getting a blue spectrum panel due to the fact that plants absorb much more blue than red. Since LED's have a very specific spectrum using blue would ensure that none of your light is wasted. Yet, if it is red spec you need for flowering a cheaper alternative would be just throwing in some 27k CFL's.

Just a suggestion based on research not experience. As I've never actually used large amounts of LED's for a grow. Though I would love to hear input from the grower.

 

[unthing]

Full Spectrum: 440nm, 470nm, 640nm, 660nm, white + IR

70% Red, 10% Blue, 20% White

Says the blog.


There's been some discussion about adding the amber-orange spectrum to blue and red ledsystems instead of white, but whites as I've understood have much better efficiency at the moment.

Interested to hear thread-starter's comments. Your lights look very nice.

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

I always looked the other way when it came to LED's, but now I see yours I have regained interest. \i love the way the systems are put together and the light seems much brighter with your LED's. I assume this is because of the 60 degree vbulbs you use. I am very interested.

I have a friend whom just spent 5000 dollars on lED;s, I have to show him yours. I am sure he willl be sad he didnt do enough research. Congratulations on making a good idea even better. I can see LEDs being the way of the future. I NEVER would have said that before seeing your pictures. I;ll be watching intently.

TGT

Yes, our light is a lot more intense than most LED's because of the 60 degree angle. That was actually the first design fix I made when it came to LED's, as I noticed that half the light from my first test unit, wasn't ending up anywhere near the plants. I figured that if you could channel all that light at the plants, you'd have a better shot at growth. LED's are definitely the way of the future, it just amazes me that other companies haven't done the simple things to make their lights more efficient, like adjusting the viewing angle (although some are now starting to copy the idea).

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

very interesting stuff, can you have those with european voltage and plug?

Yes, for European customers, we offer the correct voltage and plug. We have shipped several units to Europe already.

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

I don't mean to start a flame but why is the l.e.d light much lower than the mh..That alone would make it grow much slower.

The LED light is 10" from the aero unit, while the MH is at 24". The Metal Halide is not hooked up to a ventilation system, which is why it's at this height. It is surrounded by mylar, and the grow space only measures 15" x 15", so keeping the light a bit higher, helps avoid heat stress. I disagree that the 14" difference in height, will cause the plant to grow slower, but you're welcome to your own opinion. HID bulbs have far more ability to carry light energy over long distances, vs a LED.

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

Full Spectrum: 440nm, 470nm, 640nm, 660nm, white + IR

70% Red, 10% Blue, 20% White

Says the blog.


There's been some discussion about adding the amber-orange spectrum to blue and red ledsystems instead of white, but whites as I've understood have much better efficiency at the moment.

Interested to hear thread-starter's comments. Your lights look very nice.

The white we use is a warm white, emitting primary red light, and a smaller peak at 450nm blue. The use of white supplies a "multivitamin" of light, that plants would normally get outside of just blue/red. White is far more efficient than orange.

Orange does literally nothing for plant growth. A lot of companies will try to sell you on it, because they don't do any of their own research, they just copy off of others and try to sell lights. I recently caught Pro Source Worldwide, plagiarizing the research of SolarOasis on their homepage, regarding the use of 612nm. If you actually read the research of SolarOasis though, you'll realize that they did a very poor job at determining that orange had anything to do with plant growth. These companies that use orange in their lights, will maintain that orange helps carotenoid function (as that's what SolarOasis claims), yet this is not true. In marijuana, carotenoids absorb blue light at 439nm and 483nm, which is nowhere near the 612nm orange they are using. By using 440nm and 470nm LED's, as well as white, we make sure to hit both carotenoid points, as well as both photosynthesis points in the blue spectrum (439nm & 469nm).

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

I think that you would be better off getting a blue spectrum panel due to the fact that plants absorb much more blue than red. Since LED's have a very specific spectrum using blue would ensure that none of your light is wasted. Yet, if it is red spec you need for flowering a cheaper alternative would be just throwing in some 27k CFL's.

Just a suggestion based on research not experience. As I've never actually used large amounts of LED's for a grow. Though I would love to hear input from the grower.

According to information I've read, plants absorb approximately 8%-10% of blue light. Using a ratio higher than this in LED grow lights, is not advised, as plants won't use it. Plants require a lot of red for blooming, and they use a lot of red in vegetative growth as well. Anyhow, that's really all that needs to get said on that, but your idea that using a solid blue light will be efficient, is incorrect.

By the way, I don't use CFL's to flower, and never have. HID is meant for flower, not that it isn't possible with CFL, but professional growers don't do it. There is no need to supplement red LED light via a 2700k CFL, sorry.

 

[FreedomFGHTR]

Interesting thread. I've been speaking with another manufacturer about getting a custom array with specific wavelengths. You seem to have pretty much covered the spectrums. Which diode are you using for the white? It might help because then we could find the base "multivitamin" sprectrum you speak of. Adding IR... thats strange because I could have sworn that infared light is heat. Isn't that the point of leds to reduce heat? Maybe it stops the streching problem at lot of other units have. Would there be a possibility of having the units able to still be cooled through ducting. Yes every BTU counts to some of us.

 

[TheGreenBastard]

That's good to know. I've been looking at some 470nm LED's that I can get at wholesale prices, because I'd rather make my own panels for cost efficiency and customization; such as size, wattage, number, and ratio of spectrums for my room. Though seeing your panels I might just save myself the hassle and buy one.

 

[nibirubian]

ill put those together for you ship them put cool stickers on em, anything...
wish i could get employement, esp. in this field
subscribed
lets see some clipping and dry nug pics

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

Interesting thread. I've been speaking with another manufacturer about getting a custom array with specific wavelengths. You seem to have pretty much covered the spectrums. Which diode are you using for the white? It might help because then we could find the base "multivitamin" sprectrum you speak of. Adding IR... thats strange because I could have sworn that infared light is heat. Isn't that the point of leds to reduce heat? Maybe it stops the streching problem at lot of other units have. Would there be a possibility of having the units able to still be cooled through ducting. Yes every BTU counts to some of us.

We use a 3000k White. As far as Infrared, you are correct, it does emit heat (though very little). Plants do require a certain amount of heat to grow, and IR is an excellent way to supplement this. It also aids in cell repair/regeneration in your plant, allowing for healthier growth. Even with IR, our panels still don't reach above 105 degrees F.

We've used the units for both veg and bloom, and have no problems with stretching. As far as cooling with ducting, it's not a feature that's offered. Even if you filled your room with LED lights (like I'll soon have), they still won't produce enough heat to make your room rise above 85 degrees (unless of course it's 90 outside and you don't have AC lol). Since temperature does effect a plant's metabolic rate, you definitely want to make sure that you keep the little bit of heat produced by these lights, or your room will be cold without it.

 

[TheGreenBastard]

According to information I've read, plants absorb approximately 8%-10% of blue light. Using a ratio higher than this in LED grow lights, is not advised, as plants won't use it. Plants require a lot of red for blooming, and they use a lot of red in vegetative growth as well. Anyhow, that's really all that needs to get said on that, but your idea that using a solid blue light will be efficient, is incorrect.

By the way, I don't use CFL's to flower, and never have. HID is meant for flower, not that it isn't possible with CFL, but professional growers don't do it. There is no need to supplement red LED light via a 2700k CFL, sorry.

The reason i suggested using CFL's is becuase he had mentioned that he already had a MH, and I have been under the impression that plants responded to blue spectrum far more than red. In fact I have several charts backing this up. Though after your post I may begin to question the validity of them.

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

That's good to know. I've been looking at some 470nm LED's that I can get at wholesale prices, because I'd rather make my own panels for cost efficiency and customization; such as size, wattage, number, and ratio of spectrums for my room. Though seeing your panels I might just save myself the hassle and buy one.

In the end, I think it's actually cheaper for most people to buy our light, rather than make one themselves. Once you buy all the LED's (even if it's wholesale), power supplies, boards, electrical components, and casing, you've still got put it together. Our units have a 3 year warranty, so if anything goes wrong, you take a picture, send it to us, and we take care of it. Our units are definitely not cheap to make, in fact, compared to most of the 120W panels you find on eBay or any of our competitor's sites, we pay double what they do, for only 7W more light (two versions of 120W on the market: 1 is 119W, the other is 112W). This is due to the spectral variety, more fans, and the larger board we use for our LED's.

If you were to build a panel for your own room, remember that MJ has peak absorbtion 439nm, 469nm, 642nm, and 667nm for Photosynthesis. They absorb 439nm and 483nm for Carotenoids. And make sure you use at least a 90 degree lens, or you'll be wasting a good portion of your light LED's aren't cheap, so you'll wanna make the most of the light you have!

 

[TheGreenBastard]

I have many of the components necessary to construct them already but still it would be rather tedious work.

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

The reason i suggested using CFL's is becuase he had mentioned that he already had a MH, and I have been under the impression that plants responded to blue spectrum far more than red. In fact I have several charts backing this up. Though after your post I may begin to question the validity of them.

I think where you might be confused, is that plants absorb blue light more efficiently, than they absorb red light. This doesn't mean that they absorb a higher amount of blue light though From my research, MJ absorbs 439nm, at almost 65% efficiency, and 469nm at almost 80%. It absorbs red 667nm at approximately 45% efficiency. Because it is so efficient at absorbing blue light, it doesn't need near as much as it needs red, to make up for the lower efficiency. Anyhow, using 640nm and 660nm LED's, you produce nearly 100% usable light for photosynthesis, although the plant's efficiency regulates how much it can absorb. LED's emit light in narrow wavelengths, so using the exact reds for photosynthesis vs a CFL which puts out quite a wide spectrum, to me, is more beneficial .

 

[expnow]

Question for you Hydro-grow,

What would you recommend as the best distance from the LED light to the plant? I see on your website 12" would that be the optimal distance? Would you recommend something even closer like 6" from the plant for more light absorption during flowering etc.?

 

[TheGreenBastard]

I didn't mean that they absorbed more, as my post would have led many to belive that is just one of the many drawbacks of text based conversation. Though I'm happy that you cleared that up, yet there is a question I have that I hope you can help with. I'm not sure if this is true but I remember reading that carotenoids are destroyed by red spectrum light.
Can you verify this?



Also I agree that LED's Are much more efficient though cfl's are not without there place

 

[elmanito]

Do you use any UV in your LED lights????

Namaste

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

Question for you Hydro-grow,

What would you recommend as the best distance from the LED light to the plant? I see on your website 12" would that be the optimal distance? Would you recommend something even closer like 6" from the plant for more light absorption during flowering etc.?

On my site, I state to use at 6-12" from your canopy for best results. 6" is optimal, if your plants will take it, you can even put them closer. I wouldn't recommend any closer than 3" though... 12" is where I rate the coverage area of my lights, as that's the highest I recommend people to use them. It's not that you can't go higher, but you reduce light intensity by doing so, as you already know.

 

[Hydro-Grow-LED]

I didn't mean that they absorbed more, as my post would have led many to belive that is just one of the many drawbacks of text based conversation. Though I'm happy that you cleared that up, yet there is a question I have that I hope you can help with. I'm not sure if this is true but I remember reading that carotenoids are destroyed by red spectrum light.
Can you verify this?

I agree with you, it's hard to understand someone fully via text-based conversation. Sorry for my misunderstanding I've never read that carotenoids were destroyed by red spectrum light... If you could find a link to something that states it, it would be a fun read. If they were destroyed by red light, they literally wouldn't exist, as natural sunlight contains a lot of it, and it's a vital compound found in most all plants. Carotenoids protect the chlorophyllous pigments, from the harmful photo destructive reactions which occurs in the presence of oxygen. I may have red somewhere that carotenoids can "reflect" or "give off" orange/red light, but please don't quote me on that as I'm only drawing from memory and not any saved research.