Growing with LED Lights?

So because I haven't invested to much in my current growing situation, I'm thinking of doing a massive upgrade when I can afford to. Anyhoo, I'm contemplating LED grow lights for heat and space reasons and I was wondering how they are for growing cannabis. So if anyone has used one, is using one, please let me know how it's worked for you and if you'd recommend it

Man i bought a 90 watt Ufo suppoded to replace a 400 the add said anyways i think it could be compaired to a 48 watt compact florecnt
If power bills are bringing you down get a 8 bulb T5 if seen some wicked 4x4 flood trays with a 8 bulb T5 and the were nice the plants had to be short and the light close but i was inpressed ..........LED suck the technolgy is just not there yet who knows 5-20 years it well probley replace the Hps and metal hylide but untell that day

sappytreetree said:

Man i bought a 90 watt Ufo suppoded to replace a 400 the add said anyways i think it could be compaired to a 48 watt compact florecnt
If power bills are bringing you down get a 8 bulb T5 if seen some wicked 4x4 flood trays with a 8 bulb T5 and the were nice the plants had to be short and the light close but i was inpressed ..........LED suck the technolgy is just not there yet who knows 5-20 years it well probley replace the Hps and metal hylide but untell that day

Click to expand...

I disagree, you can get good results with LED's you just have to do your research and get decent LED's and not cheap ones.

Those 90 watt UFO's are crap. I think each bulb is only 2 watts. To grow with LED you atleast need the 3watt emitters with the wide angle. I just finished a grow with a 150w LED. My light is about 3ft long and only 3-4inches wide. I used the LED for VEG then added 2 4ft 4bulb T5's on each side of the LED to flower. I have to say my buds were very compact and dence. My last grow was with a 250w hps and i have to say my LEd with the T5's blew the HPS away. Jus my experience. I know there alot of others that have good results with the LED's also.

They give you away easyer. Its pretty obvious when a crazy light is leaking through cracks in doors etc. I keep mine completely light tight to make it less obvious.

BudBaby said:

I disagree, you can get good results with LED's you just have to do your research and get decent LED's and not cheap ones.

Click to expand...

Obv you have, why not share some examples of successful grows using LEDs.

I just love the talking points from the LEDers, "Good results". How about outstanding, or excellent? Why? Because those words can not be used to describe an LED grow.

When you buy an LED for flowering keep in mind of the red and blue ratio, alot of crap UFO leds have more blue than red diodes which is why they do really good in vegg but shit faced for bloom. If you want a good bloom led get one high in red, than it will work more in your favor. Alot of noobs who get shitty yields in the begining cries, LED is a whole new ball game, and takes a while for some growers to dial in. You wont ever ser 90 = 400 but im more than sure a 90 watt LED and match s 90 watt HPS. The technology is thier just the price is not but if heat/stealth is an issue than you benefit using led. Think about it the ones eho get busted is mainly HPS users, with LED your buying a piece of mind kinda.

Bonzi Lighthouse said:

Obv you have, why not share some examples of successful grows using LEDs.

I just love the talking points from the LEDers, "Good results". How about outstanding, or excellent? Why? Because those words can not be used to describe an LED grow.

Click to expand...

My results would have been excellent, if i would have not hermie'd my plant. (Vegged to long and chopped to much off along with climate chage durring flowering)What experience do you have with them? Let me guess you are one of the smart ones that spent a bunch of money on POS UFO's and because they didnt work for you ALL LED's are crap.

The buds that did grow were super comapct and very heavy. even the very bottom bud that grew out of one of the nodes i chopped off while lollipoping was a nice litte compact nugget that got me baked

I got two lights from these guys here, prices are VERY reasonable, and they seem to be as effective as other brands hands down:
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=blackstar+LED&_sacat=See-All-Categories

240W 3W LED flowering model with infrared, UV, and Cree 12K white LEDs, along with bridgelux as the rest of the chips.
259$

What I like about these lights is that they have Vegetative and Flowering models. I have a very cool grow room and keep my HIDs on for heat purposes. What I recommend is that you downgrade to much smaller HID's and combined them with LED.

Come march, after I reap come financial benefits, I am turning my flowering room which currently has a 1000W HPS and a 500W LED into a room with 2x250W HPS and 2x240 LED. 1000W...
Another flowering room will have 1x400W MH and 1x500W LED 900W...If I go all LED it is too cool in the room (mid 60's), instead of spending watts on heaters, I'd rather spend watts on hot lights.

Long story short is that if you are cautious of LED than get one and combine it with your HID, you will see a difference. That will build your confidence in a larger financial dedication. I spent, 500 at first, 300 since then, and next month Im spending another 500 on LED. I am not part of any LED company or anything, they are just perfect for me and are the perfect price from this supplier.

All LED lights are built in China BTW, that will come up in your searching...It is just like anything else, there are good ones and bad ones. The blackstars aren't the best, but don't be fooled by that, for the money they are DAMN good. Everything else gets real expensive, real quick. Real Quick.

Hudsonvalley82 said:

All LED lights are built in China BTW, that will come up in your searching...It is just like anything else, there are good ones and bad ones. The blackstars aren't the best, but don't be fooled by that, for the money they are DAMN good. Everything else gets real expensive, real quick. Real Quick.

Click to expand...

Reading that could have saved me serious time during my early searching.

Outta Spacehigh Spaghetti said:

They give you away easyer. Its pretty obvious when a crazy light is leaking through cracks in doors etc. I keep mine completely light tight to make it less obvious.

Click to expand...

What does that have to do with anything? That's just a basic growing rule.

NoobgrowerLbc said:

Think about it the ones eho get busted is mainly HPS users, with LED your buying a piece of mind kinda.

Click to expand...

Honestly that's exactly what I was thinking. That's why even if they aren't going to give me pounds and pounds, I'm just growing for me, so that's okay. If they work then I would prefer a little POM..

Fuzzbutter said:

Honestly that's exactly what I was thinking. That's why even if they aren't going to give me pounds and pounds, I'm just growing for me, so that's okay. If they work then I would prefer a little POM..

Click to expand...

it sure beats being paraniod with heat building up lol than you get more paraniod exspecially if your new and prone to lots of noobie mistakes.

Pretty much, I'm growing in a 3'x20"x5' closet with no way of adding the ventilation necessary to support the 400wt HPS I'd ideally want, so that leaves me with my puny 150wt HPS that does the job, but I could probably be getting twice as much out of my yield if I had better light. I think I'm going to get a couple Sunshine System GrowUFO's (not to be confused with LED UFO from somewhere else that was total shit). They're 90watts and are supposed to have about the same effect as a 400HPS. Regardless of if they actually get to that equivalence or not, I believe they can at least be comparable to a 250HPS and they're not even $300, which is WAY less than what I was going to have to spend on converting my grow space to handle a 400HPS anyways. In fact, I could buy TWO Grow UFO's for about the same price as what I was looking to spend on just the 400wt and gives me better light coverage...not to mention the savings on my electric bill since I'm also running hydro

hey bro where did u get ur UFO from.... and where did u get the new 150w from if u dont mind me askin

Well I haven't bought it yet. Still designing my upgrade and deciding what exactly I want, but if/when I do buy it I'll prob buy direct from manufacturer:
http://shop.sunshine-systems.com/product.sc?productId=8

Unless my local hydro store will order me in a couple. The 150WT is my current HPS light and I got that from my local hydro store.

I will tell you right now that no 90W LED will replace a 400W HPS, and I own several LEDs. A 90W will probably only replace about 180W of HPS (at the most), you have to do your math like that.
Claims are claims not proof...You should look at a minimum of 180W of LED, probably 240W is even better, for 400W HPS replacement. 180W LED will still contend with a 250W HPS.

Fuzzbutter said:

Pretty much, I'm growing in a 3'x20"x5' closet with no way of adding the ventilation necessary to support the 400wt HPS I'd ideally want, so that leaves me with my puny 150wt HPS that does the job, but I could probably be getting twice as much out of my yield if I had better light. I think I'm going to get a couple Sunshine System GrowUFO's (not to be confused with LED UFO from somewhere else that was total shit). They're 90watts and are supposed to have about the same effect as a 400HPS. Regardless of if they actually get to that equivalence or not, I believe they can at least be comparable to a 250HPS and they're not even $300, which is WAY less than what I was going to have to spend on converting my grow space to handle a 400HPS anyways. In fact, I could buy TWO Grow UFO's for about the same price as what I was looking to spend on just the 400wt and gives me better light coverage...not to mention the savings on my electric bill since I'm also running hydro

Click to expand...

jbrand said:

My results would have been excellent, if i would have not hermie'd my plant. (Vegged to long and chopped to much off along with climate chage durring flowering)What experience do you have with them? Let me guess you are one of the smart ones that spent a bunch of money on POS UFO's and because they didnt work for you ALL LED's are crap.

The buds that did grow were super comapct and very heavy. even the very bottom bud that grew out of one of the nodes i chopped off while lollipoping was a nice litte compact nugget that got me baked

Click to expand...

No I did my research ahead of time and went with HID.

jbrand said:

My results would have been excellent, if i would have not hermie'd my plant.

Click to expand...

Not for nothing, but that is why I don't chime in on t-5 questions, cuz I have no experience with them...I have HID, I have LED, both work impressively, separate or together. You can go either way, both have distinct advantages over one another. That is why I grow with both.

Bonzi Lighthouse said:

No I did my researsh ahead of time and went with HID.

Click to expand...