Need Affordable LED Veg & Bloom for 1st Timer MED: PLZ HLP

W

Will Rogers

Member
Hi,

Just getting started, need to grow for medication.
Very confused by all of this and really need to know which light(s) to get asap.
Would like to get 1 light to run autoflower 24/7 start to finish. (is that how it's done?)

I'm setting up a 3' x 4' room with 8' ceiling.
Wanting to grow 4 SCROG plants if possible.

Don't have a great deal of money but can dig a bit deeper...

Was thinking maybe 2 of these?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0752CL6KJ/?coliid=I3SB32Z6DAR3IZ&colid=1RHQ0BKGR4QBQ&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

or 1 of these??
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XBYHOTC/?coliid=I1R63MZ15PJSH0&colid=1RHQ0BKGR4QBQ&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I am dumb about this and may be way off.

I appreciate your help a great deal.
Suffering from way TMI with not enough answers.
 
Last edited:
nfhiggs

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
Avoid most anything you find on amazon, with the exception of quantum boards.

Are you handy at all? with a little guidance do you think you could build your own fixture?
 
wil2279

wil2279

Well-Known Member
nfhiggs said:
Well, for 12 square feet, you generally want around 400 actual watts of good LED. Good COB setup, Quantum boards or Samsung Strips is what I would recommend.
Click to expand...
Sorry not intending to hijack the thread... But would 480 watts of quantum Boards be overkill for a 2x3 scrog?
 
superfreak86

superfreak86

Well-Known Member
Stay away from those blurple lights, they will grow but they're far from efficient fixtures.
Buy anything you can afford from Horticultural Lighting Group or Timber Grow Lights, these lamps will serve you well for many years and produce more medicine for the power they draw.

The Quantum Board 288 and 302 kits are super simple and great value, if you can work a screwdriver you can build these, no soldering required its simply piecing it together and theres videos of people showing how simple it is. https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/kits/products/135w-led-board-kit

https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/kits/products/260w-qb-led-kit - I run these and am super happy



But if you're on a super tight budget and looking strictly for ready to hang fixtures just get as many of these as you can afford and you can always add more later, I'd say four HLG100's would cover the area well but two would be a great start.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C59J8L2

Or these which look like the Two board kits built into a fixture from timber, buy one if funds are tight and add a second in the future

http://timbergrowlights.com/model-24sams/
 
W

Will Rogers

Member
superfreak86 said:
But if you're on a super tight budget and looking strictly for ready to hang fixtures just get as many of these as you can afford and you can always add more later, I'd say four HLG100's would cover the area well but two would be a great start.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C59J8L2
Click to expand...
HLG 100 Quantum Board LED Grow Lamp Veg & Bloom 3000K

1. Should I get 2 of these for a 3' x 4' area w/ 4 plants?
This says "Veg Footprint 3'X3', Flowering Footprint 2'X2' ."

2. Can/Should these run 24/7 for auto flower??
I think the seed company says to leave them under the light constantly.
Looking to start w/ Northern Lights for paint mgnt.

3. Do the have a veg/bloom setting or do you just hang at different heights?
Sorry I am dumb.

Thanks SO much.
 
wil2279

wil2279

Well-Known Member
Will Rogers said:
HLG 100 Quantum Board LED Grow Lamp Veg & Bloom 3000K

1. Should I get 2 of these for a 3' x 4' area w/ 4 plants?
This says "Veg Footprint 3'X3', Flowering Footprint 2'X2' ."

2. Can/Should these run 24/7 for auto flower??
I think the seed company says to leave them under the light constantly.
Looking to start w/ Northern Lights for paint mgnt.

3. Do the have a veg/bloom setting or do you just hang at different heights?
Sorry I am dumb.

Thanks SO much.
Click to expand...
I would get at least 2 to start... and if i remember correctly for the autoflowers... they will require a little bit of rest each day. I don't think it is a good idea to run them 24-7. I was thinking 18-6 was a good light schedule for autos. maybe someone with a little more knowledge than me can chime in. I am not a big fan of autos.
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
If you strictly run autoflower strains and use a 20/4h regime you can get away with 250-260w and still get +35Mol/day. Photosynthesis is more efficient at lower intensities but with the 8h more per day it doesn't matter if its only 500-600μMol/s/m². They get still more light at the end of the day and you get the huge plants you want.
20/4h is probably the most efficient way to grow autos.
Only one thing I want to mention, "autos don't like transplanting"!
It seems like they recognize the size of the container anyhow and adjust their size accordingly. If you use a 1gal pot for the first weeks they stay small no matter if you transplant them later in big pots. For this reason I would recommend to use +5gal fabric pots or containers from the beginning. I've grown a few autos and the sativa dom. strains seems to like LST more than indikas. If you plan to use a trellis you should look for the more stretchy sativa strains.
 
nfhiggs

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
Will Rogers said:
HLG 100 Quantum Board LED Grow Lamp Veg & Bloom 3000K

1. Should I get 2 of these for a 3' x 4' area w/ 4 plants?
This says "Veg Footprint 3'X3', Flowering Footprint 2'X2' ."

2. Can/Should these run 24/7 for auto flower??
I think the seed company says to leave them under the light constantly.
Looking to start w/ Northern Lights for paint mgnt.

3. Do the have a veg/bloom setting or do you just hang at different heights?
Sorry I am dumb.

Thanks SO much.
Click to expand...
1. yes get two.
2. Yes you can do that.
3. No switches, just lower them for flower.
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
So 12ft²!
I would use 35w/sft. if you plan to use both auto's and regulars. If you plan to use autos only 25w/sft is probably enough.
 
W

Will Rogers

Member
Randomblame said:
So 12ft²!
I would use 35w/sft. if you plan to use both auto's and regulars. If you plan to use autos only 25w/sft is probably enough.
Click to expand...
Thanks brother.
I figure that's 384 watts needed.

Little more help please:

The specs for this particular light say:

"Equivalent to 200W T5 or 250W CFL output or 200W metal halide "

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C59J8L2

SO, for absolute clarification:

I need TWO of these for my 12 sq ft.

20 hours on / 4 hours off.

Correct?

How far to keep them from:

seedlings?

veg?

flower?

Thanks again.....
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
Will Rogers said:
Thanks brother.
I figure that's 384 watts needed.

Little more help please:

The specs for this particular light say:

"Equivalent to 200W T5 or 250W CFL output or 200W metal halide "

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C59J8L2

SO, for absolute clarification:

I need TWO of these for my 12 sq ft.

20 hours on / 4 hours off.

Correct?

How far to keep them from:

seedlings?

veg?

flower?

Thanks again.....
Click to expand...
If you use strictly automatics 25w/sft should be enough, that's 300w for 12sft. For regular strains 420w would be needed. The next siutable driver close to 300w would be a HLG-320H-24A which is a ~350w driver. I would use 4pcs QB100's all wired up in parallel.
Each board would max out at ~87,5w and you could run the boards with no heatsinks.
Now to the questions...
- Yepp, 20h on/4h off
- I would start seedlings with 24" distance and LED's dimmed down to ~50%. If you take the B version driver you can dimm it down to 6-10% and there is no reason for more than 12" distance. In any case, slowly reduce the distance or slowly ramp up the driver untill the plants gets used to the light.
I would order a cheap 10$ luxmeter from e3ay/am4zon and use following numbers:
Seedlings and early grow stage ~10-15klux,
late veg/early flowering stage ~20-30klux
and main flowering stage 45-55klx.
Conversion factor for 3000°k LM561c/S6 bin is 69.
10-15klx would be 145-215μMol/s/m²
20-30klx would be 290-430μMol/s/m² and
45-55klx would be 650-800μMol/s/m²

If you use colder color temps like 4000°k the factor is slightly higher. Below is a chart with LM561c numbers I've copied from another thread.
LM561c numbers.png

And forget luxmeter apps. Unfortunately camera sensors are not calibrated and they can not read such high values. Some can go as high as 30000lx others not even 10000. The cheap red ones can read out values up to 200000lx...
 
Last edited:
W

Will Rogers

Member
Thanks again.

Please be patient with me...
This is my first time around the block and I think I'm talking with an Indy car driver. 8-)

What you just posted is way over my head.
(But appreciated!)
Completely lost me at drivers and dimming them.
Most everything else after that was in Greek.

I need this to work though. Ya know. So I'm kind of stressing out.... :cry:

-----------------------
Trying to simplify:
---------------------

Here is the strain I'm considering as it is heat tolerant in my warm room and meets my medical needs:

https://www.growerschoiceseeds.com/shop/cannabis-seeds/auto-flowering/northern-lights-auto-flowering-feminized-cannabis-seeds/

If I install two (2) of the

HLG 100 Quantum Board LED Grow Lamp Veg & Bloom 3000K
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C59J8L2

and run them 20 hours on / 4 hours off

How high should they be placed above:

seedlings?

veg?

flower?

I'm fairly educated but embarrassingly stupid in this case.
Please speak slowly with no sudden movements. :???:
 
blowincherrypie

blowincherrypie

Well-Known Member
If you're just trying to buy something and plug it in you'll need 4 of those 100 panel lamps..

or two of these

https://www.omegalight.net/product-page/200wx6

Im waiting on my Omega lamp to ship this week but dude seemed like good people. I had an odd size and he did a somewhat custom without me having to pull any teeth.. His number is listed on the site

or if you're down to wire something buy 4 of the 100 panels + (1) HLG-320H-24A driver and you'll be set
 
superfreak86

superfreak86

Well-Known Member
blowincherrypie said:
If you're just trying to buy something and plug it in you'll need 4 of those 100 panel lamps..

or two of these

https://www.omegalight.net/product-page/200wx6

Im waiting on my Omega lamp to ship this week but dude seemed like good people. I had an odd size and he did a somewhat custom without me having to pull any teeth.. His number is listed on the site

or if you're down to wire something buy 4 of the 100 panels + (1) HLG-320H-24A driver and you'll be set
Click to expand...
He's also replied in this thread too ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top