Why are so many new growers choosing blurple/led over hps/mh??

[Hust17]

I work for a commercial grow company, and as far as the hps vs led arguement goes...well, this is what happened to the leds that were built for commercial grow demands...View attachment 4445295

They were insanely expensive, got used for about a year, and then we decided to never use them again. Quality of the bud was no different than under hps, just less yield. Same electricity and ac costs.

I mean the hoods are laying in the back as well, so which is it? Something not adding up. Same AC and elec? Gonna say it again, you did something wrong, seriously.

 

[bk78]

I mean the hoods are laying in the back as well, so which is it? Something not adding up. Same AC and elec? Gonna say it again, you did something wrong, seriously.

‘Right? I haven’t even looked at my ac unit in well over a year.

 

[Hust17]

‘Right? I haven’t even looked at my ac unit in well over a year.

I don’t want to be that guy because I know everyone’s conditions are different. Hps in commercial is still standard and I think that’s due to lack of knowledge in the field. Not saying you’re bad growers just that the tech is still new and I could see how that would deter commercial sized ops for some. So I apologize for that

 

[ChrispyCritter]

I was in a grow store buying my first !ight, hps/mh with cool tube etc when a guy came i n and returned the exact ballast I was buying because it caught on fire. I didn't buy the stuff and instead went home and ordered a blurple led that was considered cutting edge at the time. I learned with it and grew some awesome bud with it too. Not fluffy or weak or whatever the usual gripes were about leds . It also worked really well for my closet set up. As I became more experienced i got better led tech and have been using cobs for a couple years. Easy to use in my sealed room and they are more than awesome for growing quality bud. Aside from large grows I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't use leds these days especially with costs coming down and quality so high. Heat can be helpful in cold areas for sure.
I'm not saying ballasts routinely catch on fire any more than leds but the heat from all the stuff really made me uneasy having it in our home. I think I would constantly have been worried. This was a,while ago I know ballasts have changed a lot since those old days lol. Have a good day everyone.

 

[Go go n chill]

Lol guy drew same power with strips and got less yield. Sorry to tell ya, wasn’t an equipment problem

Ditto, right. !

 

[Maximusmin]

2k watts of Cree cob led replaced 3k watts of hps and covered my space way better.
So let’s see less electric, less heat and better coverage seems like a no brainer to me.
I’ve been using them for like 3 years and I’ll never go back to hps!

 

[Brandon137]

Was just wondering what made you all decide to go with your lighting choice?

I'm pretty knowledgeable about electronics (10yrs working on them in the air force). I did a TON of research before I started growing back in June. Knowing what I do, I came to the conclusion that for me to be happy with LED I would either have to DIY or spend a crap ton of money. I was never interested in the blurples once I figured out the whole "1000W=200 actual watts" deal with them. So to me the easiest choice was to go with the tried and true old school HPS/MH so I could focus more on learning about how the plant grows instead of spending most of my time trying to get the perfect vpd, or be worried about whether I needed to add this red spectrum or that blue one.

I am running 2.6kW of HPS and at my current electric rate, that's about $115 a month. Way less than what I was paying for my weed.

So again I ask,
What made you all choose blurple/led over (what seems to be the easier way) of hps/mh?

And Merry Christmas too! Hope you all got some great new presents we will all see pics of in the grow rooms soon!

For me it was a lack of knowledge but if I may ask why didn't you go with cmh?

 

[TravisG13]

Millennial chiming in here! Well, I'm an over 30 one but still apart of it...but yeah you pretty much nailed it; they think it's cool.

Ive smashed my head against the counter with more than a few people about why it makes no sense to choose leds over hids. Most people that are growing simply for a hobby aren't thinking about cost efficiency. They just want to get the cool gear and grow a couple ounces. Home brewers do the same shit, spending hundreds of bucks on car boys and kettles when they could do the same with some pots and five gallon buckets from Lowe's for cheaper.

Let em do their thing and then make some extra cash selling your product to them when they run out of their shit three weeks into their next flower cycle.

Wow... It can make a lot of sense for hobby growers to go led, the lights can be built to fit the space better and be a lot better for cramped spaces... Building the lights yourself you can get a comparable amount of light for not much more money save electricity and not have to worry about running out for new bulbs or anything like that for a VERY long time

 

[Cx2H]

My choice is made on budget, operating costs, finished product quality, safety, environmentals, equipment accessibility and good ole fun.

People should build around a high quality proven light system (The sun .

Fuq it use candles.

 

[wheresthekoosh]

started off with the amazon grow.. some burples, tent and smart pots for like $150-200, ready for lbs

 

[rustyshaclkferd]

I don’t want to be that guy because I know everyone’s conditions are different. Hps in commercial is still standard and I think that’s due to lack of knowledge in the field. Not saying you’re bad growers just that the tech is still new and I could see how that would deter commercial sized ops for some. So I apologize for that

Homegrow 2.0 is hard to scale up. Theirs a big difference between 25sq ft and 10,000 + sq ft. Its not always the tech but i would tend to agree in this case. You need way more light first of all theirs a lot of floor space that is not grow space and wasted light is wasted light...
did the califonia light company pdf have total yields per sq ft values?

 

[Hust17]

Homegrow 2.0 is hard to scale up. Theirs a big difference between 25sq ft and 10,000 + sq ft. Its not always the tech but i would tend to agree in this case. You need way more light first of all theirs a lot of floor space that is not grow space and wasted light is wasted light...
did the califonia light company pdf have total yields per sq ft values?

It had g/w but I didn’t see totals, no. I can try emailing again

edit:
HPS: 1.25g/w
LED: 1.38g/w

edit2:
HPS (1000W): 40,000grams (89lb)
LED (800W): 35,000grams (78lb)

edit3: They’re actually claiming 1050W for the HPS and avg power usage of 650W for the LEDs, must’ve been tuned down some:

HPS: (1050W): 42,000 grams
LED (650W): 28,700 grams

So I’m thinking the actual total yield was almost 50% higher under the HPS. Not sure why they’d turn the LEDs down from the 800W they can pump out.

 

[rustyshaclkferd]

volume is king...anyone in a margin profit business like commercial agriculture will always swing for volume over effiecency.

It may be that prodcution isnt large enough to see a big gain from the more effieicent lights, maybe power isnt a worry(solar pannels tesla batteries...)

Could be that although they were savign money, their output dropped vendors couldnt fill orders at previous amounts and they lost market share(losing market share is basically slow suffocation as you get your price point dropped by other producer/processors till you can no longer afford overhead cost)

some times it is a political reason as it is financial one...

 

[Hust17]

volume is king...anyone in a margin profit business like commercial agriculture will always swing for volume over effiecency.

It may be that prodcution isnt large enough to see a big gain from the more effieicent lights, maybe power isnt a worry(solar pannels tesla batteries...)

Could be that although they were savign money, their output dropped vendors couldnt fill orders at previous amounts and they lost market share

some times it is a political reason as it is financial one...

I think that’s the thing is it’s easy to get that grams/sqft with HPS. It’s doable with LEDs for that margin we’re all looking for, but I think that’s the grey area we’re in and are looking to overcome as a whole so we can get our prices down WORLDWIDE

 

[.Smoke]

For me it was a lack of knowledge but if I may ask why didn't you go with cmh?

Was a pretty easy choice for me.
My space is in a basement that stays right at 70F.
I had the space and could use the heat, so hps/mh won over cmh simply due to equipment cost vs. coverage.

 

[rustyshaclkferd]

I think that’s the thing is it’s easy to get that grams/sqft with HPS. It’s doable with LEDs for that margin we’re all looking for, but I think that’s the grey area we’re in and are looking to overcome as a whole so we can get our prices down WORLDWIDE

im a long term MFer, LEDs are the long game.

once the science is dialed in to a input/output proprietary metric is when they will really take off

and just a heads up, any of you DIY LEDs wizards could easily fill a very neccisary niche in the industrial grow market. Start comparisons grows made to scale to an industrial process, with soy, corn, lettuce, hearbs, perennials annuals and seek out your local greenhouse/farms in the off season. overgrow the world

Innovations usually don't come very fast but with Diode and board tech advancing and the world in need of cheap affordable grow lights for everything. it will be a tidal wave of change i feel, very soon. next few years..

 

[Clumpyoyster]

Hey man,

For Qbs, i would only start with @Grow Lights Australia (Prawn connerys boards) The HIGHLIGHTS. As far as im concerned they are the best boards on the market ....I love HLG and what they are doing, cant go wrong using HLG, but if i had to choose a brand to buy qbs today, im buying the HIGHLIGHTS....Toss them a message, they are real good dudes.


for strips there are Many many good options with a wide price range. , you can buy the bxeb gen 2s for as cheap as $4.50 per strip, or you can buy the top of the line Nichias and pay $60-70 per strip...

Sweet man I might be doing an entire flower room and get away from the 5x5. Right now the 5x5 is in a 10x13 room and I could be using that entire room for flower. Lots of money to invest to get to there and I run on a tight budget right now so in the future I have to make the choice of going led qb's or hps so I will have to mock up the build and see which way I'm gonna go

 

[Brandon137]

Sweet man I might be doing an entire flower room and get away from the 5x5. Right now the 5x5 is in a 10x13 room and I could be using that entire room for flower. Lots of money to invest to get to there and I run on a tight budget right now so in the future I have to make the choice of going led qb's or hps so I will have to mock up the build and see which way I'm gonna go

What about cmh seems like a good balance between bud quality possibly better? And yield. Also the price ant to bad compared to leds

 

[Thundercat]

I work for a commercial grow company, and as far as the hps vs led arguement goes...well, this is what happened to the leds that were built for commercial grow demands...View attachment 4445295

They were insanely expensive, got used for about a year, and then we decided to never use them again. Quality of the bud was no different than under hps, just less yield. Same electricity and ac costs.

Can I ask how you ran those lights? Did you hang them 6 feet above the plants like a typical HID commercial grow?

Did you make any significant environmental changes to adjust for the different lights to try to improve the outcomes.

Where you at, wanna let me get those lights for the cheap instead of them sitting and going to waste.

 

[Opie1971]

man i used to think you were funny, harmless, just having a laugh....not so much anymore

Heres some factual points for you


You troll every thread you post in.
Your information is dated and most times incoherent
You say you have no issue with any light but look in many many led threads and you shall be found, spouting your hate.
You always revert back to the same shit , no matter where the conversation is headed, you manage to bring it into the slums with your shitty attitude.
You constantly claim everyone else is a troll if they dont agree with you, which im sure you will say about me after this post.

I usually try to stay away from this silliness, but its been a year of reading your drivel now, every thread you post in turns to absolute shit, your a menace to forums like this.

Now take your thermometer and shove it up your fucking ass....

Merry fucking Christmas
ps: i still rock a cmh and t5s, so dont call me a led fan boy, nope, im just a hater of unpleasant people.

POST OF THE YEAR!!!!