LED lights - Recommended ?

Hey all,

I'd like to check if anyone has ever tried to grow using LED lights. What are the advantages and disadvantages of it and if you have experienced anything new to known traditional HID lights.

My issue is beyond my control since in our fucked up country the government doesnt provide electricity 24/7, so we have to rent a generator and they only give us 5amps while its on.

My concern is whether im thinking right to go towards LED or not.

thank you
Mojojojo

if you have limited amperage LED would be a definate advantage.

they are insanely watt-lumen effeciant.

the only downside ive found is they have a really hard to look at purpleish color that makes people wonder if ur running a disco.
and they require a minimum distance to the plant to allow the spectrums to blend.

oh and their fucking expensive to buy. you can diy em if u have such skills.
but it would save u a shit ton of gas money in the long run.

also they produce less heat as byproduct.

wat country do u live in,mite i ask?jus wanna know..so i never move there!lol!

If you want super low wattage, yet efficient LED lights, check-out Kessil.com.

You can get intl delivery @ Greners.com. A couple of Kessils will produce decent results for ridiculously low electricity.

I have a magenta, but considering adding a purple to a small grow.

I'm looking into this myself. havent done that much homework on this but as far as i can tell there really efficient and low heat. They produce a much more favorable spectrum for plants. The spectrum goes up to a 660 i think, which is more red than a HID light can produce. So all in all, they are much, much better in the long run. The only thing is the fucking up front price!!!! For a small grow you're talking around the $4,000 range for a good small setup. But they last up to 10 years and use less than about 1/4 electricity. This is my take on this. I'm still in the process of researching this so my figures may be a little off. BTW- what country do you live in thats interesting?

thx for your replies.

Maybe I should give out the exact growth space so you can give an advice on how much light I need at the first place. I will provide the exact measures to you. I would be glad if you can help me pick the correct light. I might not need 400w x2 or x3 plus HID lights, maybe only 250w x2 or x3. Ofcourse I cant afford to pay that much for this especially now. Maybe if all goes well and my wife is also happy about the smoke, we can upgrade

Below you can see the map of the room that I plan to grow in. The area where it says "Balcon". Measures are: Length 3.40 meters and width is 1.5. I will only use 60 cm from the width of this room to grow in because it is the only source of light into my master bedroom.
Ofcourse the 60cm that i plan to grow at will be sealed and closed by a self made closet like room with mylar inner covers.

From the 3.40 meters length i will use 50cm for vegetation space and the rest 290 cm for flowering.
The height i have is 285 from ceiling to ground. 50 cm will be lost in height for the water tank below the plants. what remains as space is 235 meters height

QUESTIONS:

- How big (in gallons) should my pots be? or recommended size considering that in height i only have 235 meters plain with no lights installed yet for the ladies to grow.

- How much light i would need for space of 235 meters x 60 cm.

- How long would the plants grow, considering the correct amount of light to be used in the area size i provided.

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I would very much appreciate your input into this.

The country Im talking about is Beirut - Lebanon. Dont be discouraged by that Its pure corruption. We tend to live in open Anarchy together with the officials. You can drink and drive, carry shit on you as much as you want. no control here. Its very easy to roll a joint and smoke it while you walk. Bitches are quite expensive, but 90% of girls are plastic surgery. They all look like super models that tease you to death. Night life is excellent. Weather perfect, beaches and snow resorts. its just that we have some assholes that turn to religion from time to time.

For vegative growth only and definatly buy a ufo but it will only work in veg hands down outperforms a 250 watt and it will even outperform a 400 watt but it wont cover as much area as a 400 mh anyways man for veg you cant go wrong everyone should use em in veg hands down

LED's are pretty good all rounders, they make super frosty bud, but a bit airy and not as weighty;

pros; they're awesome for veg, in a large space you could probably have 2 or 3, 90w UFO's and veg a good 12-15 plants under them, just keep the lights quite close. Very frosty bud the plants love em you just might want to yam in some CFL's while flowering (if your looking for low amperage i suppose). Extremely energy efficient and cheap to run, very long life span, you can use em for a good 100,000 hours with little to no degredation in light quality (i think thats the specified lifespan)

cons; they're expensive, the light penetration isn't great so the best use for them is probably a good SoG or ScrOG to maximise the spread.

Pots; generally the bigger the better depends how many plants you want in said space usually 2-3 gallons is good for about a 2-5foot high plant, or 'superoots' airpots claim to be able to support a full grown tree or something along those lines in their 10litre pots and they're not too big either. You can get 4, 10l airpots under 1 UFO (if you get a custom angle of 120 degrees) comfortably and for veg works very well. I supplemented with a fluorescent tube along the back just to give them as much light as possible for as cheap as possible.

how long in the evenings do they turn the power off for? just consider setting your night time cycle to when the power is gone?

Stay Frosty

Matchbox

beirut is f*****g brilliant, i went there to work, i asked one of the locals the best thing to do if i stood on a landmine he said, the best thing to do is throw yourself 40 feet in the air and scatter yourself over a wide area, and it was fucking hot, just put the plants out in the sun.

If your gonna use leds for bloom wich i dont recomend but if u do you wanna make sure you get your red spectrum 660nm and make sure theres some white leds in there 2 other wise there gonna stretch like hell and lastly go with pure indica no sativa and if your getting a ufo you might as well just flower one plant underneath it you should get 2 ounces if you flower 4 under it youll get the same 2 ounces so might as well just do one you might wanna try autofloweing strains

Blond and red Lebanese hash from days gone by here in Cali..... How ironic you are growing indoors and secretly. I would say just do a few 250 watt hps, they are good for 2x2 feet area. Advantage is cheap start up cost. With ballast it draws 300 watts, and greater cooling cost than LED.

Gotham Blackstar are one brand I know of that is not expensive and seems to work good. No, I do not work with them and do not have their lights. the 240 Blackstar covers 2x2 feet, and really draws 133 watts, so half of hps and less fans needed.

If you are new to growing, I would start with soil.

Mojojojo said:

Hey all,

I'd like to check if anyone has ever tried to grow using LED lights. What are the advantages and disadvantages of it and if you have experienced anything new to known traditional HID lights.

My issue is beyond my control since in our fucked up country the government doesnt provide electricity 24/7, so we have to rent a generator and they only give us 5amps while its on.

My concern is whether im thinking right to go towards LED or not.

thank you
Mojojojo

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I have a 90 watt LED, and I will recommend them. Just make sure you get one of the good ones.
There are plenty of bad ones out there.

@ Matchbox- its every 6 hours and counting. so not only evenings. For example they cut it at 6pm tonight for 6 hours. tomorrow at 6 pm we would have, so on. its been like this for years now! Political theft as we know it. Corruption sounds a light word

@WeeGogs - Looks like you were working in the south of Lebanon
And yes, they can be simply planted outside. But my home doesnt have an open balcony. its ground floor balcony is covered with brick and glass. it does get hot and sunny, which im taking advantage of. I have planted 14 seeds now and they are all doing just fine for now. im still only the 2nd week. Experimenting with it (in soil). but i want to get further and use my small indoor space for a good cause.
My seeds are from a friend who planted out side. nice sweet smoke they had but i dont know which type of cannabis it was

yesum - after checking my options and the price of led, i think it sounds expensive to maintain. Im experimenting and having fun, so im gonna go with HID
So, your saying one 250 watt HID light would be enough for 235 meter space? Considering that i will use flu lights for my remaining 50cm space for vegetation.

I do not know what 235 meter space is, you will have to figure 2x2 feet or 4 square feet into metrics. 60 cm is around 2 feet. I guess you can grow outside then, no fear?

yesum said:

I do not know what 235 meter space is, you will have to figure 2x2 feet or 4 square feet into metrics. 60 cm is around 2 feet. I guess you can grow outside then, no fear?

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well if caught its pain in the ass for a long time. so yes there is fear and i dont want to put myself in that position.

Mojojojo said:

well if caught its pain in the ass for a long time. so yes there is fear and i dont want to put myself in that position.

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well you dont want to get 30 lashes do you, grow the seeds until you have your young plants, go to a place where the plants can get plenty of natural sunlight and are easily hidden around surrounding trees or other plants and bushes etc, take a folding shovel a large bottle of water and plant them all in seperate places so if one is found it will be assumed it is maybe a lucky single natural plant, making sure you water before you leave and cover any tracks, you will then have to water them daily, although there may be a place nearby where you can find water to give them, you can slowly build up a huge supply of plants all hidden in different little areas, being caught is bad, if you are a little paranoid that will make you more aware and make you more careful, but the only way to be caught is if someone follows you, or watches you from a height, or catches you watering them, after finding them and waiting for you , if beirut gets some rain the watering process will take care of itself. if you step on a mine then you will not have to worry about getting your arse skelped.

WeeGogs said:

well you dont want to get 30 lashes do you, grow the seeds until you have your young plants, go to a place where the plants can get plenty of natural sunlight and are easily hidden around surrounding trees or other plants and bushes etc, take a folding shovel a large bottle of water and plant them all in seperate places so if one is found it will be assumed it is maybe a lucky single natural plant, making sure you water before you leave and cover any tracks, you will then have to water them daily, although there may be a place nearby where you can find water to give them, you can slowly build up a huge supply of plants all hidden in different little areas, being caught is bad, if you are a little paranoid that will make you more aware and make you more careful, but the only way to be caught is if someone follows you, or watches you from a height, or catches you watering them, after finding them and waiting for you , if beirut gets some rain the watering process will take care of itself. if you step on a mine then you will not have to worry about getting your arse skelped.

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i guess i should get a mine detector first and the rest should be easy

has anyone tried kessil?

hi again...its been a while I haven't been here or any other forum.

Looks like I have made up my mind on LEDs and its the only suitable choice for me and my case (if you read the previous pages).

I will be buying 2 VIPAR A300 LEDs for this room. It is at it's final stages. Still didnt order the LEDs though.