Thoughts on growing with LED's?

So im starting my first grow soon, have the drip system in my closet but now its come down to a matter of what kind of lights should i get...

im planning on using a hps for flowering, but as far as vegging i dunno if i should go fluorescent or something else...

i came across this today online and it seemed interesting, and it uses only 62 watts

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=11912#

however, i dont know what to expect from an LED light... i feel like the plant will grow slower, or weaker perhaps because its less intense than a fluorescent but im an amateur so i would have no idea, anyones opinion is greatly appreciated

Are you thinking of buying some high power LED grow lights but are not sure if they are what you are looking for? Do you need some further information about the pros and cons of using these types of grow lights for your indoor garden? Are you still on the fence on whether or not these grow lights are better than the rest and you just need some more information to make your final decision? If these questions sound like the ones that you are thinking about or asking other people then you are in the right place because in this article we are going to be talking about the good and bad issues of using LED grow lights for your indoor garden.
To begin let us start by talking about good things or pros of using LED lights for growing your indoor plants. Probably the biggest benefit of using these lights is that they last at least a couple of years versus other types like HID grow lights that will only last for a little while. Another great thing about LEDs is that they will provide your plants with only the type of light that they need to grow, unlike other types that emit the whole light spectrum wasting over eight percent of their power. Another way that LEDs outperform other types of grow lights is that they produce very little heat which translates into being able to place the grow lamps that much closer to the plants which makes them grow better.
Now for the bad things or cons of using LED plant lights for the purpose of indoor gardening. Probably the biggest downside of using LED lights is that they only cover a limited amount of area and require a large amount of them to be used in a large operation. Another downside to using these types of lights is the cost as they can be on the higher side of the plant light market. To find out more pros and cons go to Top LED Grow Lights. I found this article online. Complete with links. Hope this helps.

thank you so much, appreciate it, and thanks for the link!

id like to own one just to compare to hps

bellevueblaze said:

So im starting my first grow soon, have the drip system in my closet but now its come down to a matter of what kind of lights should i get...

im planning on using a hps for flowering, but as far as vegging i dunno if i should go fluorescent or something else...

i came across this today online and it seemed interesting, and it uses only 62 watts

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=11912#

however, i dont know what to expect from an LED light... i feel like the plant will grow slower, or weaker perhaps because its less intense than a fluorescent but im an amateur so i would have no idea, anyones opinion is greatly appreciated

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Save your money and veg with fluorescents. Dont get me wrong the new LED technology is worthy. But T-8 tubes are cheap and really effective for vegging 10-14 inch plants. If you want to veg bigger/longer then LED's or even HID would probaly be a better option.

Save your Money on both by just using your HPS to Veg with, it will outdo either the LED or Fluoro by a VERY WIDE margin. The only light your going to find that does a better veg job is a Metal Halide. And even then it still isn't as efficient as HPS per watt.

NoDrama said:

Save your Money on both by just using your HPS to Veg with, it will outdo either the LED or Fluoro by a VERY WIDE margin. The only light your going to find that does a better veg job is a Metal Halide. And even then it still isn't as efficient as HPS per watt.

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Very true. Ya you will hear HPS will stretch them in veg, which they will. But you will see less stretch once you begin flowering. Fluorescents are still a good option for the first week or so. Even if its just a few CFLs.

The LED growing world is very much like the Computer market of the 1970's, this new technology can be very useful but also very expensive. Sometimes, 1st time LED growers apply some of the same growing principles to LED as they would HID, I would say the biggest starting off point would be to select a brand that has a reputation of good customer service, has examples of what their lights can do, and is an American company (if you are in America). I get great results with my LED's, I use Growl because I have tried out a few other companies (some turn out to only be resellers for other brands) and I stand by them as a company. I would say whatever you go with, just take a n00b approach to growing w/ LED and don't believe the hype that 40W LED is = to 250WHID blah blah, what you pull out of the wll is what you are growing with, ie... a 90W LED won't get you LBS.!

cowboylogic said:

Very true. Ya you will hear HPS will stretch them in veg, which they will. But you will see less stretch once you begin flowering. Fluorescents are still a good option for the first week or so. Even if its just a few CFLs.

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Well i have vegged with Both MH and HPS for quite some time now and although the MH plants are a bit bushier and with more leaves, in the end the plants are nearly identical as are yields with an extra 2-3% going to the MH vegged plants. As far as stretch goes, the HPS plants only have an inch or 2 on the MH ones, so in effect it is very little difference.