LED growing- An instructional grow log

[Weedhound]

Well I don't have a single clue about LED lighting so could you give us a brief overview? And are you seriously saying you've spen $1800 for these lights? WOW!

[SnSstealth]

Hey Weedhound,

The basic theory is that plants, marijuana in particular, use certain wavelengths(mainly blues & reds) of light to perform photosynthesis much more than others(greens and yellows). Typical hid lights seem to have lots of yellows and greens and levels down at the ends of the spectrum where the blues and reds are. I realize all bulbs are different so some will have more than others. So led growing is really trying to get the same yields/growth from nominal hids in order to drop many risk and cost factors (much less power, almost no heat). again thats what we believe is the basics...while blazed.

Here's a much more scientific explanation.
http://growled.se/docs/Growled_brochure_oct.pdf
Don't worry about the ad read from page 3 on. But the lights in the procyon are far more developed than in this brochure.

Yes we spent $1800, but IF they work for half of their projected lifespan the costs of bulb & ballast replacement, power for lights and cooling in hid will be far more economical. And it is really for research purposes, if people do the same thing over and over then the field as a whole stops evolving.

Thanks for your interest,
Doughboy
SnSstealth

[Balkey]

I'm tuning in!!! Looking forward to seeing something spectacular!!! Well, HOPEFULLY!!

[JohnnyRico]

This is very interesting. I'll be watching this one closely. I really hope you succeed. Good luck!

[Pepper]

Procyon-100 100W LED Grow Light - HomeGrownLights.com

I like these lights. Their website claims they're equivalent to a 400w HID and only use 125 watts. Seems like a bargain to me if they work as well as they claim.

[midlifecrisis]

Very interesting, I'll be keeping tabs on the progress. If it works well I just might have to buy a new toy......

[hybridlove420]

strangely, the led ufo uses 90w, claims to also be equal to 400w hps, and got glowing reveiws in high times. hope this can match it.

yes, leds will pay off within 1-2 years of use. just saving 300w each for 12 hours a day is like 200-400$ a year savings

[Weedhound]

Well I read up on the link.....I'll keep an eye on this log as well and see what those lights do for you.

[420F4i]

seems like a real good idea

[Opie Yutts]

seems like a real good idea

It is, and it has been a good idea for several years. The problem in the past has been that LED lighting cannot come close to producing the same buds that an HPS can, using somewhere close to the same wattage. On the upside, they consume very little power and put off very little heat compared to HPS. Therefore despite the high initial cost, they would pay for themselves within a few years if they produced similar results. At this point the only way to produce similar results is to basically wrap a plant completely in high power LED arrays, which I'm guesstimating would cost around $4,000 to $6,000 for an average size flowering plant. Nobody has been willing to shell out this kind of money so far, so we have not seen any worthwhile buds so far.

Attention: This is changing monthly and soon many people will be tossing their high power, high heat lights in exchange for LED lighting. Within a few years LED lighting will be the norm for everything. Not incandescent, fluorescent, HID, or Xenon, or whatever that new one is. Just look at how LEDs are taking over flashlights and vehicle lighting.

Did you know that many branches of government have "seen the light" and are changing as much lighting as possible to LED? Even now common lighting is less expensive in the long run using LEDs. There are many cities across the U.S. that have mandated that all sign lighting be lighted solely with LED lighting.

Soon it will happen for grow lighting as well. I'm not talking about regular growing either, because LED's do just fine at making plants grow. I'm talking about the bloom cycle, and grow lighting that produces big beautiful, dank, dense buds. I'm hoping SnSstealth can be the first to make it happen. So there.