Grow Light Options Discussion

[knowboddy]

The other day I was having a conversation with another grower I know about, what else, growing! In particular we were discussing grow lights and we had a bit of a disagreement over what was the best in terms of actual performance, overall cost, cost compared to performance, and so on.

Obviously I think Iâ??m right and he thinks heâ??s right and it doesnâ??t honestly matter whoâ??s right as long as weâ??re both happy with what we have, right? But the whole thing got me thinking, as any good debate should, about whether or not Iâ??m actually right. If I canâ??t doubt myself, my mind isnâ??t open and I canâ??t learn anything.

So what Iâ??d like to do is turn the questions over to you, and ask you what you think on the subject. I donâ??t want to inject the particulars of my debate with my buddy since I want to avoid it turning into a conversation about whether he or I are more right than the other. Iâ??m just looking for honest, untainted opinions. So hereâ??s what Iâ??m thinking: we have HID (MH/HPS/CMH), Plasma, LED, Induction, and Fluorescent (CFL, T5, etc.) lighting. I donâ??t think thatâ??s leaving anything out. Some are more expensive than others, some have better spectrums, more/less heat, more/less lumens, you get the idea.

Which do you think is best, and in which situations and for which growers? Say you were going to advise someone new to growing, what would you say is the best starter light? On a small budget? Big budget? For an experienced grower? What do you use? What would you use if money were no object?

Answer any, all, or make up your own criteria/questions and answer those. Iâ??m looking for any and all thoughts on grow lights.

knowboddy Reviewed by knowboddy on 10-25-2012. Grow Light Options Discussion The other day I was having a conversation with another grower I know about, what else, growing! In particular we were discussing grow lights and we had a bit of a disagreement over what was the best in terms of actual performance, overall cost, cost compared to performance, and so on. Obviously I think Iâ??m right and he thinks heâ??s right and it doesnâ??t honestly matter whoâ??s right as long as weâ??re both happy with what we have, right? But the whole thing got me thinking, as any good Rating: 5

[emilya]

... we had a bit of a disagreement over what was the best in terms of actual performance, overall cost, cost compared to performance, and so on.

... we have HID (MH/HPS/CMH), Plasma, LED, Induction, and Fluorescent (CFL, T5, etc.) lighting. I donâ??t think thatâ??s leaving anything out. Some are more expensive than others, some have better spectrums, more/less heat, more/less lumens, you get the idea.

Which do you think is best, and in which situations and for which growers? Say you were going to advise someone new to growing, what would you say is the best starter light? On a small budget? Big budget? For an experienced grower? What do you use? What would you use if money were no object?

Answer any, all, or make up your own criteria/questions and answer those. Iâ??m looking for any and all thoughts on grow lights.

LOL. So, you want to know everything there is to know about every kind of light, every kind of growing situation and experience level, every budget... or of course anything else we might care to mention? Let me sharpen my pencil and get right back with you!

No, Let's get back to reality here. You expect someone to give you all that? Have you read anything on this subject? Best for you may not be best for me. The "best" that we all end up with has more to do with our local conditions, temperature, power requirements, production expectations and a hundred other criteria, rather than one gardener's opinion on weather MH is better than LED or whatever.

[knowboddy]

LOL. So, you want to know everything there is to know about every kind of light, every kind of growing situation and experience level, every budget... or of course anything else we might care to mention? Let me sharpen my pencil and get right back with you!

No, Let's get back to reality here. You expect someone to give you all that? Have you read anything on this subject? Best for you may not be best for me. The "best" that we all end up with has more to do with our local conditions, temperature, power requirements, production expectations and a hundred other criteria, rather than one gardener's opinion on weather MH is better than LED or whatever.

I'm not asking people to personally teach me everything there is to know about lighting. I know a fair amount myself already. I assume most growers have a done a fair amount of reading and searching for knowledge on the subject. But if my debate with my buddy drove any point home its that if he believes differently than I do as strongly as he does, there's got to be more information and even more different opinions out there. At least some of them are bound to be worth consideration, wouldn't you agree?

I'm just trying to initiate a conversation about lighting that, to someone willing to consider everyone else's viewpoints, might just help those who already know a bit to learn a bit more. If you don't want to participate that's fine. Maybe you know everything already, or at least as much as you care to know, and that's fine too.

There's a lot of different ways to look at grow lights. What's the cheapest, what's the most powerful in terms of final yield. What is the most efficient considering heat production and/or watts per useful light output. And there's more than a single opinion out there for every possible measuring stick. I think most people (probably) would agree that strictly speaking from a how much you yield point of view you can't really beat HPS, watt for watt. LED's are getting better all the time, some people say they're better. Some people swear by plasma or induction lights.

I'm just hoping to get people discussing things constructively, what their experience is or what they've heard. Maybe I get to learn something new and change my perspective. Maybe everyone does. Maybe no one does.

But it's not going to hurt you or anyone else to talk about lights, is it? I'm not twisting any arms. If you like, do. If you don't, don't. No biggie.

[emilya]

I'm not asking people to personally teach me everything there is to know about lighting. I know a fair amount myself already. I assume most growers have a done a fair amount of reading and searching for knowledge on the subject. But if my debate with my buddy drove any point home its that if he believes differently than I do as strongly as he does, there's got to be more information and even more different opinions out there. At least some of them are bound to be worth consideration, wouldn't you agree?

I'm just trying to initiate a conversation about lighting that, to someone willing to consider everyone else's viewpoints, might just help those who already know a bit to learn a bit more. If you don't want to participate that's fine. Maybe you know everything already, or at least as much as you care to know, and that's fine too.

There's a lot of different ways to look at grow lights. What's the cheapest, what's the most powerful in terms of final yield. What is the most efficient considering heat production and/or watts per useful light output. And there's more than a single opinion out there for every possible measuring stick. I think most people (probably) would agree that strictly speaking from a how much you yield point of view you can't really beat HPS, watt for watt. LED's are getting better all the time, some people say they're better. Some people swear by plasma or induction lights.

I'm just hoping to get people discussing things constructively, what their experience is or what they've heard. Maybe I get to learn something new and change my perspective. Maybe everyone does. Maybe no one does.

But it's not going to hurt you or anyone else to talk about lights, is it? I'm not twisting any arms. If you like, do. If you don't, don't. No biggie.

LOL... didn't like my response eh? OK, let me try it this way. For me T5HO made sense. It gave me the lumens that I wanted, the initial start up costs that I could afford and the heat management problems that I was willing to take on. When I bought them, they made the most sense and for me, were the "best" lights. This however would have been an unacceptable choice for many others out there.

Nowadays, I am seeing the benefits of having a bit more light in my grow room. So I did my research, much like you are beginning to do here. What I learned made me lean toward LED technology. Dollar per watt comparisons of total lifetime costs of running LED vs any other light system convinced me that this was the right move. I am now building my LED lights to work as supplements to my existing T5HO arrays and wish to achieve the equivalent of a 1000w setup eventually, but with a much smaller heat and electrical footprint. I can give you many reasons that LED is the superior light system out there, but if you consider cost and the over priced commercially available equipment on the market today, you could argue that the cost is prohibitive.

My point in the last post was that this being said, there are going to be 37 people out there who will not agree with me and who may chime in here and tell you why MH or HPS are superior. Ultimately, you will have to weigh all the information given to you and decide which application is best for YOUR situation. No one can answer that for you with the data so far provided. I hope this doesn't offend you, but it is my best answer to your questions.

[drew225]

I can't offer much of an opinion on this subject since im a newb but my HPS/MH has worked great for me so far and made be feel like a Novice. I am also running another project with an LED/CFL combo and they don't seem to grow the plants as fast, but.....have been very good in my closet for keeping temps down and cutting electricity costs. Plus they look cool, lol. I plan on trying some t5's next to even further expierement. I think it also matter alot on soil, etc., etc. But a great topic to debate

[painretreat]

Wow! tuff group here today! LOL...

Hey knowboddy... nice to see ya still around...

Perhaps some more details to the hypothetical hypothesis?
room size, plant count, dirt, hydro..sativa, indica, hybrid or auto-flower..etc.

Sure glad I didn't post a, "I am gonna grow, read the threads and which is best?" Guess, I'll just keep reading... pr

Well heck, why not?

I've been questioning lighting and my own needs. almost jacked your thread...oops, sorry.

[Congo man]

Wow! tuff group here today! LOL...

Hey knowboddy... nice to see ya still around...

Perhaps some more details to the hypothetical hypothesis?
room size, plant count, dirt, hydro..sativa, indica, hybrid or auto-flower..etc.

Sure glad I didn't post a, "I am gonna grow, read the threads and which is best?" Guess, I'll just keep reading... pr

Well heck, why not?

I've been questioning lighting and my own needs. almost jacked your thread...oops, sorry.

Any body got any input on these igrow lights ? First time grower here .

[tre93543]

Must remember to have my coffee before I log on. lol. Most everybody has the best way to grow it seems. And that can be so true. I have found that One Mans (or Ladies) grow could be so tuned in and working great for them, but due to geography, water chemistry, humidity, temp, care given, etc, etc it may inferior, or even better in a separate nearly identical grow. I do believe that was the initial though behind this thread. Just my 2 cents worth.
As for me. All of my grows have been in a standard closet 2.5 feet by 6 feet, by 7+ feet in organic soil. I have used HPS with good results. I have used HPS and Fluorescent together and had better results. This time around I am using just CFLs, and so far so good. As of right now, I would say I prefer CFLs, but that will remain to be seen as I am now at flower day 35 I think of a 70 day flowerAttachment 288486Attachment 288487Attachment 288488Attachment 288489Attachment 288490
GOOD GROWING TO YOU

[tre93543]

I forgot to mention, the idea behind my grow is to keep costs low (it costs me $17 a month on the flower side, and $14 a month on the vegg side). I will soon be set up to run 1 in vegg, and 2 in flower at all times, so I can harvest 1 per month ov average. I also had the added benefit of having the sockets, wire, and plugs already. I also was able to pick up 26 watt 2700k cfls for a cheap price, 2 for $1. I bought 30 of them. I also think it is important to keep in mind that with fluorescent, cfl or regular, you can get them pretty close at times. Keeping that in mind, the advertised lumens of a light is measured at 1 foot. the closer you get, the more lumens the plant will receive. SEE CHART. I run my cfls about 4 to 6 inches away during vegg, and 8 to 10 during flower. Any closer and my girls hairs were burning. I thought I was putting out 17,500 lumens, but in reality, she is getting more like 27,000, and spread out all over her lighting up the tops and sides, not just on the top.
Attachment 288493
But this is just one mans opinion.