New LEDs, which ones?

Modern Selections said:

Ok so I've been using hid lighting for 25+ years. I switched to LED and struggled with the difference in nutrient uptake and excessive Mg consumption initially. Once I ironed that out I battled PM. The LED room had PM the HID room did not. Same environment.

After two years of dialing I got everything on track and grew some frosty dense flowers. The potency just wasn't there. I have yet to smoke LED grown buds that can match HID grown flowers for potency, aroma and flavor. Not to mention yield.

Sold my LED's and back to HPS 1k's and won't be looking back.

Just my experience.

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They grow nice buds but u aint alone many feel its not as potent grown under leds shorter lived high too ive seen folk pull the yield with em too but for quality i feel hids still edge it plus where im at i need the heat anyway

I use eco660 from nokotech, and i have 3 more friends who switched from lumatek to nokotech and are very happy because of the price and quality you get. Results speaks for itself, I am never got less than 740g from one 660w light. as cold outside, i am thinking to mix it with compact pro 820 they have (sames as gavitas ct2000), to help heat up the room little bit.

Lots of times i see some people stating that they getting better quality from HID, but i cannot agree with them, i was never getting such quality buds with HID, you can check it how they looked

I have over 40 years experience using cannabis.
I have had a medical card for the last 6 years.
I have purchased many strains in the 35% thc range- according to the dispensary info- it certainly looked and smelled good.
In 2021 it became legal to grow for medical use.
My first 2 crops were decent and definitely useable. After I moved from a closet to a dedicated room everything came together as the entire room is flooded with the LED lights so the plants get plenty of light saturation.
I am consistently getting good results with most strains finishing at 8-9 weeks.
With the many years of using cannabis and having a very high tolerance I can tell you that the stuff I am growing now is as good or better than the dispensary. I made butter with only trimmings. I can eat 1 or 2 and get a heavy buzz.
My neighbor knocked on my door at midnight one night and he was concerned about his wife who ate 1 bite of a cookie and was tripping- he was asking me if there was anything else besides thc in them. I assured him that I would never do that and it was just cannabutter with some dry weed in the mix.
My wife is afraid of them. Almost everyone is except my best friend with similar years of experience.
I have never tested anything- but my experience is that after over 40 years of experience- I can still get high on 1 bong rip- 2 or 3 for a heavy buzz.
I just cannot imagine having more thc in my product.
I believe there might be a minute difference however every plant is often slightly different- even clones off of the same mother have grown differently depending on where in the room they are placed- likely due to slight differences in the airflow and such.
I think we are often over thinking things and having the mindset that you can actually compare anything except if it is side by side- looking with a loupe- and laboratory testing.
It is impossible to compare a buzz today from something I smoked 4 years ago- we all know that the best buds are from the top colas so even within 1 plant there are differences.

40+ years of daily use-

Some of my work- everything grown under led

Decision made, and I'm staying with HID. However, I'm upgrading from 600w to 1000w.

Here's my thoughts.
Even though my reflector is old, it's a very good one. Top of the line in it's day. The el cheapo ballast I bought from Amazon last year was cooked after less than a year.
So I replaced it with a high end dimmable, 1000w ballast.

The room our tent is in is unheated. The HID will easily keep the temp in the happy zone.
Ive been working with HID for years. I know it's strengths and limitations.
The increased wattage will easily light up the corners of the tent, and increase penetration in the canopy.

Anyway thanks for all the help and opinions.

Here's some Mazar photo I grew a few years ago under 600w. I hope to do better under 1000w.

Beard-o said:

Here's some Mazar photo I grew a few years ago under 600w. I hope to do better under 1000w.

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Dam dude why you showing bud full of mold?

Beard-o said:

Here's some Mazar photo I grew a few years ago under 600w. I hope to do better under 1000w.

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Have you looked at these two LED manufactures ? Grand Master LED Tarantula Borg - 1500watt 4 channel full spectrum, I have one, it's incredible. The next best thing on the market is a DIMLUX Xtreme either 1,000 watt, 750 watt, or 500 watt - it has a nice feature of having doppler radar and a plant camera that will sense the leaf transpiration rate and adjust the spectrum output accordingly .

Or go buy some cheap lights and let it be a hobby not scientific ~ akin to organic as to synthetics , don't panic it's organic? roots = shoots = flowers = fruits ~

thus your search for LED's is over now enjoy your growing!

The Mammoths use the same Diodes, and Driver Manufacturer, as the Tarantula. 880w Inventronics Driver.
And is $800USD. 2711umol. 3.1 efficiency. The Tarantula is 2.75 efficiency. The Mammoth, is more efficient. 3.1... And almost 1/3 the cost.

You could buy 2x 880w Mammoths, and 1 680w Mammoth, for what you would pay for 1 Tarantula. Granted the Tarantula, has an adjustable spectrum, but the Mammoth, has a spectrum, that is very close to the sun. 5000k. Its like having a combination spectrum of combining Halide, and HPS.
2x 880w-1760w Mammoths gives you 5422PPF vs 1500w-4125ppf. 1300 more ppf for 260w more. And $1600usd for 2 of them.

The 680w Mammoth uses the same Diodes, and is 2100ppf. The 750w Dimlux, actually draws 799w, and 2276ppf. And 2.9 efficiency. So really. The Dimlux, watts wise is more comparable to the 880w Mammoth, and the 880w Mammoth, is almost 500umol, more powerful for an extra 81w.

And the Mammoths are way less expensive, using the Same Diodes, and Driver Manufacturer. Id still buy the Mammoth. Of which I bought 2 of them, 880w, but havent used them yet. But on paper, and for the money, and efficiency, the Mammoths are hard to beat.

thumper60 said:

Dam dude why you showing bud full of mold?

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Yea, my bad. That wasn't Mazar. It was actually a photo of another bud that had mold. That's why I took the photo to show the mold. Sorry for the error.

widowmaker31 said:

Have you looked at these two LED manufactures ? Grand Master LED Tarantula Borg - 1500watt 4 channel full spectrum, I have one, it's incredible. The next best thing on the market is a DIMLUX Xtreme either 1,000 watt, 750 watt, or 500 watt - it has a nice feature of having doppler radar and a plant camera that will sense the leaf transpiration rate and adjust the spectrum output accordingly .

Or go buy some cheap lights and let it be a hobby not scientific ~ akin to organic as to synthetics , don't panic it's organic? roots = shoots = flowers = fruits ~

thus your search for LED's is over now enjoy your growing!

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Well ya, it kind of is a hobby. I mean Ive been growing in a 4x4 tent for years. I'm just looking to grow some weed, improve my technique, and have fun doing it. More or less a textbook definition of the word "hobby'.

Modern Selections said:

If you seek the highest quality bud, stick with HID.

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Indeed.