Can you help an old head be more up to date? Are my plans achievable?

[mystery?]

Hey there,

Been so long since I've been in the world of growing, I have had some growing medical issues that I want to tread with weed so need to grow.
Back when I was interested in it the only thing you could grow with was vegging CFL and flowering HPS/metal halides that were super hot.

I've seen that LED's are feasible now, is this right?
I have a space that is 75cm deep, and 1m to 1.3m wide, and 1.8ish m high that I can grow in discretely.
Is this enough space, and will LED's work (I was hoping they will as i could do without the huge wattage/heat). My plan was to build a grow box out of mdf, line it, and put the filter and fan inside it. I was also hoping to grow 2 strains, (one high cbd if possible, and a high thc one, to hit all medical angles).
I've been advised autoflowering in this situation would be best.

Any ideas and help would be great, it has been so long since I've even looked at anything like this, but pain is messing me at the moment and I need something to help

Added: one other aspect here is it would be in a bathroom, would this be ok humidity wise?

 

[kkt3]

Hey, one way to find out!! Start some seeds!!
Your space is going to be tight. But if you do some training with your plants it will work.
Humidity in bathrooms can get quite high and you don’t want to run into mold issues on your plants. A bathroom vent fan would help.

 

[Evil-Mobo]

I would say for a space like that try to find a couple 100w Metal halide or a 315w cmh and rock and roll. I am just getting on here after a couple of years away and not much has changed. The LED guys are still trying to find the right spectrum and the guys that have a clue run Blue MH/CMH/T5/HPS.

I am not trying to start anything just trying to give you solid advice. I’ve tried all kinds of LEDs and went back to MH/HPS/T5.

I will soon be setting myself up again and this will be what I am using.

As far as your autos go, I have a lot of experiencing with autos specifically Mephisto genetics and have always been very pleased with them. I pretty much would run autos for myself year round. I’d mess with non autos too for other reasons but my personal stash was usually autos. I transplanted them trained them etc all the things around here people will say you shouldn’t do. But always worked for me.

So get some auto seeds from a reputable breeder and have at it.

 

[GBAUTO]

Welcome, mystery.
Seems that you're working with about a 2x4 area, so 240 watts of good diodes will crush that space.
A simple option would be linear light strips. Plenty of info on ledgardener.com on strip builds.
Another option would be light engines like Quantum Boards or knock-offs.
They are like HID fixtures, though. They need more headroom to achieve even distribution, so if headroom is an issue strips will help there.

 

[Renfro]

With LED lighting it's all about the quality of the diodes.

Avoid any LED light that insinuates fake wattage in their advertisements.

A high quality white LED is the way to go. HLG, Timber, Gavita, Lumatek are just a few of the good ones.

In flower with high quality LED you want about 35 watts (actual watts) per sqft. With a shitty blurple you need more like 50 watts per sqft (may as well run HPS).

It is important to remember that with LED, inorder to achieve optimal leaf surface temperatures you need warmer canopy temperatures than you do under HPS. This is due to the lack of infrared. So where you might want a canopy temperature of 79F with HPS you want to aim for something more like 85F under the LED. Failure to warm the leaf surfaces will cause slow growth rates.

Please run any LED light you are considering by us before you purchase. We can help make sure you don't waste your money on something you won't be happy with.

 

[Evil-Mobo]

Or just don’t run LED and avoid the hassles it brings lol

 

[Renfro]

Or just don’t run LED and avoid the hassles it brings lol

Most people find the heat from HPS is a hassle.

Switching to LED not only means you can cover the same area as HPS with only 60% of the wattage AND the fact you don't have to cool the area as much means that you need less wattage for air conditioning. So not only do we only have to cool 60% of the wattage we don't have to get the space as cool.

Learning to grow under LED is easy peasy provided you get a good LED.

 

[Evil-Mobo]

Most people find the heat from HPS is a hassle.

Switching to LED not only means you can cover the same area as HPS with only 60% of the wattage AND the fact you don't have to cool the area as much means that you need less wattage for air conditioning. So not only do we only have to cool 60% of the wattage we don't have to get the space as cool.

Learning to grow under LED is easy peasy provided you get a good LED.

I do not feel like rehashing another LED vs HPS argument. I have tried both types of lighting to a great extent and have various logs of some of it. simplicity is the main deal. You want equipment that is tried and tested (led is not they are still trying to find a proper spectrum) and is reliable.

you do not get equivalent yields using 60% of the power. Please stop spreading misinformation. I would love to see a log of your own where you tested 60% of HPS power with led and the results with strain info etc.

You’re entitled to your own opinion but please save the “if you get a proper” led bullshit for someone else. Because I have been there and done that and all you just did in that post I quoted was regurgitate the typical LED fanboy misinformation.

please feel feel to link me to a grow of your own where you back up the statements you just made with cannabis or any plant.
Go check out the lettuce thread in the LED section and find me (1) post of lettuce grown under LED that kills what others have done with cfl and T5 and does it at 60% power, please I would love to see that

 

[Miniweed94]

I'm literally growing under LED right now. It's all about par value my dude. I start seedlings out under t5 and they go into veg for about a week and the t5 cant keep up with the full spectrum led board I'm using. The thing with hps/Mh is that they are 2 different spectrums, and also missing far red spectrum. LEDs can have a mixture of diodes from many different spectrums to give a the full spectrum white light.

You might find these boring, but if you watch them you will learn a lot about light, spectrum, intensity and how a plant uses this energy and how this is achieved efficiently through the use of LEDs (this guy has licences to study marijuana growth and also has video tours of the well monitored grow rooms. He is also working with NASA on how to grow plants in space)

Just subscribe to their channel and they have endless educational videos from a college professor.

 

[Miniweed94]

I do not feel like rehashing another LED vs HPS argument. I have tried both types of lighting to a great extent and have various logs of some of it. simplicity is the main deal. You want equipment that is tried and tested (led is not they are still trying to find a proper spectrum) and is reliable.

you do not get equivalent yields using 60% of the power. Please stop spreading misinformation. I would love to see a log of your own where you tested 60% of HPS power with led and the results with strain info etc.

You’re entitled to your own opinion but please save the “if you get a proper” led bullshit for someone else. Because I have been there and done that and all you just did in that post I quoted was regurgitate the typical LED fanboy misinformation.

please feel feel to link me to a grow of your own where you back up the statements you just made with cannabis or any plant.
Go check out the lettuce thread in the LED section and find me (1) post of lettuce grown under LED that kills what others have done with cfl and T5 and does it at 60% power, please I would love to see that

Not saying that hps and mh dont achieve good yield, because they do. Just saying that leds have came along way and are much more efficient and can achieve the same results if not better when the correct diodes, and spectrums are provided.

 

[Evil-Mobo]

Not saying that hps and mh dont achieve good yield, because they do. Just saying that leds have came along way and are much more efficient and can achieve the same results if not better when the correct diodes, and spectrums are provided.

And I asked you to please show me where you have compared both and to let me see the so called same yields at 60% of the power.
Thanks

 

[Miniweed94]

And I asked you to please show me where you have compared both and to let me see the so called same yields at 60% of the power.
Thanks

I personally dont have photo proof as I dont have a mh or hps setup to compare to. What you arent understanding is if the par value of hps is exceeded in an led setup, with much more useable spectrum, how would that not scientifically prove it can be done. Refer to post #9

 

[Miniweed94]

And I asked you to please show me where you have compared both and to let me see the so called same yields at 60% of the power.
Thanks

Here is a study of par value between different kinds of lights and the effectiveness they have.

https://growace.com/blog/why-is-par-rating-a-big-deal-for-indoor-grow-light-systems/

 

[Evil-Mobo]

I personally dont have photo proof as I dont have a mh or hps setup to compare to. What you arent understanding is if the par value of hps is exceeded in an led setup, with much more useable spectrum, how would that not scientifically prove it can be done. Refer to post #9

How can you even speak of this comparison when you have not used one of the two sources of light? You have no clue what you are talking about. You are repeating false info without having compared both types of lighting first hand.

I do not need to refer to any post. Why would I want to read more misinformation lol. I have used both first hand. What you don’t understand is that PAR readings aren’t everything. If LED was a complete and better spectrum then any crop would grow under it. Lettuce will not grow under led like it will under cmh or T5 or MH or HPS. Weed grows like bonsai plants under LED. When you have not had a run under non LED light you have no clue what you’re talking about. When you have never grown anything outdoors you have no clue. Because you don’t know what said crop should look like to begin with. So you have no baseline for comparison. Can you grow weed under LED yes weed will grow under most any type of light. But you do not beat HPS with 60% LED and going with LED causes deficiencies in plants that HPS doesn’t. It also introduces other items needed to get the environment proper which no one factors in to cost or total use of lower. What’s the point of panting three times plus for LED and then need to drop more money on other gear? Just please quit while you’re ahead. You just established yourself you have not made the comparison which means you are not qualified to give an intelligent answer here. All you can do is what you have already done. Repeat garbage you have already heard elsewhere in this case most likely in the LED section of this forum lol.

 

[Evil-Mobo]

Here is a study of par value between different kinds of lights and the effectiveness they have.

https://growace.com/blog/why-is-par-rating-a-big-deal-for-indoor-grow-light-systems/

again no first hand experience. lol

 

[Evil-Mobo]

Op sorry for the hijack.

Two things you should always do in life and especially when asking for advice on this forum:

1) consider who is giving you said info: do they have experience with both sides of the argument,

2) is their opinion first hand knowledge or just something they saw on the internet?

I will leave your thread be there is enough garbage about led lighting already on this forum if you need anymore help and think I can offer any advice feel free to message me.

good luck

 

[Joncoh101]

Its like the good ol xbox vs ps4 debate. They both work, its up to you which one you choose. I feel like LED is just more simple for a beginner such as myself, i just bought an LED tent and called it a day

 

[pulpoinspace]

the fact that you can barely find air cooled SE HPS systems in stock anywhere anymore should tell you something.

 

[Renfro]

I have used both LED and HPS, the potential to pull the same per square foot yields using 60 - 65% of the wattage is there with quality LED. I have no dog in the fight as I still have a lot of HPS lighting. That said my runs in my LED tent have proven to me first hand that you can get er done with LED.

 

[Gardenator]

And I asked you to please show me where you have compared both and to let me see the so called same yields at 60% of the power.
Thanks

Does renfro not grow under basically nothing but HID lighting in that big 40+lbs 12 plant count thread he posted... didnt happen to see a single LED in that set up anywhere, i think i remember there being like 9600w of DE above the canopy and side lighting from bare hps??? I do however agree with both of you and as far as this person is concerned they just want help, the real truth is both HID lighting and LED lighting work wonderfully (i mix the 2 and have great results, i can post pics to prove my results, and infact renfro was the one that got me to wait out this supposed to be 8 week strain till week 10 to chop and im glad i followed ren's advice... back to the help, if you have a rough 3x3 thats close to 6ft high you could flower under either LED or HID lighting, like renfro said the HID lighting is hot, LED's are cooler... so ask yourself these questions- can i affors an led light that will satisfy my harvest wishes, what do i need to cool my space- a couple of fans or an ac, if you choose to go tries and true andnuse HID do you have the available power from your pannel for HID ballasts and an ac draw together? Budget is important LED light is expensive if you want quality and DIY builds are cheaper but lack the garenteed repeatablilty and reliability of a manufactured light... all in all i would put a 150w hps fixture up there and an hlg fixture in that space together, grab the benifit of the sodiums intensity and heat and the full spectrum with the added far red from the hlg light... if you dont want to mix check out this link to some ready to assemble hlg light kits...

Horticulture Lighting Group Quantum Board LED Grow Light Kits

HLG Quantum Board Kits Offer Incredible Performance at Very Reasonable Prices. Preassembled & Ready-to-Assemble Kits Available. Everything You Need to Build Your Own

growerslights.com

Hope this helps, mix em you will be impressed with quality and flavor imo, and if you dont mix leds and hid then good luck with your choice between the two and never never buy led's that emitt purple light (they are completely useless and trash and i dont think any one single person on this site, led and hid guys alike, would recommend burple lighting to you... happy growing and good luck keep us posted... Guys its like saying the chicken or the egg came first, there is no one technology that is definitively better then the other, ive seen led's next to hps and mh, all hid and led lighting now offers full spec by the way, look at the hps par pro bulbs or the new hortilux cmh bulbs ren its true full spectrum HID and evil take a peak at any of the hlg boards, the efficacy ratings and light output relative to power draw are insane and they preform very well, its always and will always be a matter of opinion and personal prefference and situation to the individual grower... Mystery do what works for you and take everything on here with a grain of salt and a small dose of research to back up the things you find that compliment your methods and practices, like i said good luck and happy growing.