MustGro
Well-Known Member
I grew with air cooled 600 HPS lights and I'm not going back to them. I used a 400 HPS to veg my plants this spring before I put them outside and that's the last time I'll use HPS. Why pay for the 450-500 watts to run that light when I could have covered twice the area with 480 watts of good LEDs.
MidnightSun72
Well-Known Member
I liked 600W HPS with 315 CMH which was pretty sweet combo. CMH and 3500k LED were a great combo as well.
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
everybody is abandoning HID, even the people that manufacture them.
xtsho
Well-Known Member
I'll continue to use my 600 watt HID for years to come. I could care less about fancy new technology. I can pack a 4 x 4 tent and grow more weed than I can consume. If anything I'll buy a 1000 watt digital ballast and rock a 1000 watt HID in the middle of winter in my unheated garage and get a huge yield of rock hard buds with this antiquated equipment everyone is supposedly abandoning.
I see all these new growers sporting their expensive fancy lights, remote monitoring gadgets, the latest this and latest that and a tent full of shitty burnt to a crisp plants covered in bugs, PM, Overfed, locked out, etc...
Unlike many on this and other forums I don't believe you have to spend a ton of money to grow weed. In fact I know you don't. In the last year I've spent less than $125 growing weed and I have jars full sitting in a cupboard. That includes the electricity for the light.
I have LED's in all the lamps and lighting fixtures around my house but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend $400-$500 to replace a light I already own with something that isn't going to produce better results just because it's an LED. I drive my own car the way I want and am not in the least bit concerned about anyone else and what light they grow with. Some think that anyone that hasn't switched over to LED is stupid or something. They can think whatever they want. I think it's stupid to dump a ton of money into growing cannabis as a hobby. If I wanted another money pit I'd buy another boat.
I see all these new growers sporting their expensive fancy lights, remote monitoring gadgets, the latest this and latest that and a tent full of shitty burnt to a crisp plants covered in bugs, PM, Overfed, locked out, etc...
Unlike many on this and other forums I don't believe you have to spend a ton of money to grow weed. In fact I know you don't. In the last year I've spent less than $125 growing weed and I have jars full sitting in a cupboard. That includes the electricity for the light.
I have LED's in all the lamps and lighting fixtures around my house but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend $400-$500 to replace a light I already own with something that isn't going to produce better results just because it's an LED. I drive my own car the way I want and am not in the least bit concerned about anyone else and what light they grow with. Some think that anyone that hasn't switched over to LED is stupid or something. They can think whatever they want. I think it's stupid to dump a ton of money into growing cannabis as a hobby. If I wanted another money pit I'd buy another boat.
MustGro
Well-Known Member
Damn that's hard-core!
I gotta respect your views though; I've seen you give too much great advice on here to argue.
I owned a boat too and you're right about them.
I'm in the dumping a ton of money into growing cannabis category; but I'm getting past the hobby stage.....
What about bulbs? Do you run cheap bulbs or run them for a bit.
I got sick of buying Hortilux and Uisho Supers, but guess I was overpaying.
xtsho
Well-Known Member
These days I basically just do a few runs a year indoors and some plants outdoors in the summer. The 4x4 and the 600 work just fine for that. I just use the cheap Vivosun bulbs for 2-3 runs and then replace them. It keeps me supplied with enough weed for myself and plenty to give away to friends.
I'm just not into spending the kind of money many do to grow some plants. I'm actually looking to make it close to zero cost. Except for electricity for the light I'm cutting out all monetary expenditures. I'm making my own fertilizer, reusing soil, I do seed runs every grow and will never buy seeds again. I'm going for as close to zero cost as I can. Instead of reaching for a commercial product I've been researching how I can make something similar basically for free. Not surprisingly I've been able to do just that and have my own recipes for combatting things like PM and bugs. All using non-toxic bee friendly ingredients. Many of which I already had and was using for other purposes. It's not hard to eliminate most of the products people are buying and get results as good or better.
Years ago I had a large basement grow. It was cool and fun at first but then it became a chore. Since I have no need for large quantities of weed I have no need for a large grow. I could go larger but it wouldn't make any sense for my needs. Some want as much weed as they can grow. I only grow as much as I need.
cobshopgrow
Well-Known Member
for me its the energy saving which makes Leds shine for me.
i save about 200W a tent compared to a HPS, thats a 27$ saving a month for me, doing more then one grow a year its more then 200$ savings, within 2 years the whole led fixture more then payed back itself and not even needing a bulb change after this time.
beside that the electricity bill is far less suspicious this way.
well as always, it depends, dirt cheap electricity in a colder climate, why not HPS, needs heating, yea why not take the IR the HPS emits.
am completly with you that you dont need to spend much money for growing weed, especially on fertilizers.
think i spend less then 2 dollars last year on salts, as theyre simply that cheap.
i save about 200W a tent compared to a HPS, thats a 27$ saving a month for me, doing more then one grow a year its more then 200$ savings, within 2 years the whole led fixture more then payed back itself and not even needing a bulb change after this time.
beside that the electricity bill is far less suspicious this way.
well as always, it depends, dirt cheap electricity in a colder climate, why not HPS, needs heating, yea why not take the IR the HPS emits.
am completly with you that you dont need to spend much money for growing weed, especially on fertilizers.
think i spend less then 2 dollars last year on salts, as theyre simply that cheap.
bk78
Well-Known Member
I’m honestly thinking of grabbing a couple thowys to run in the winter lol. They
These days I basically just do a few runs a year indoors and some plants outdoors in the summer. The 4x4 and the 600 work just fine for that. I just use the cheap Vivosun bulbs for 2-3 runs and then replace them. It keeps me supplied with enough weed for myself and plenty to give away to friends.
I'm just not into spending the kind of money many do to grow some plants. I'm actually looking to make it close to zero cost. Except for electricity for the light I'm cutting out all monetary expenditures. I'm making my own fertilizer, reusing soil, I do seed runs every grow and will never buy seeds again. I'm going for as close to zero cost as I can. Instead of reaching for a commercial product I've been researching how I can make something similar basically for free. Not surprisingly I've been able to do just that and have my own recipes for combatting things like PM and bugs. All using non-toxic bee friendly ingredients. Many of which I already had and was using for other purposes. It's not hard to eliminate most of the products people are buying and get results as good or better.
Years ago I had a large basement grow. It was cool and fun at first but then it became a chore. Since I have no need for large quantities of weed I have no need for a large grow. I could go larger but it wouldn't make any sense for my needs. Some want as much weed as they can grow. I only grow as much as I need.
I keep downsizing more and more myself. Canopy stays the same though
xtsho
Well-Known Member
It only costs me around $12 a month to run the HID. I run it during off peak hours at night. It's pretty cheap and I get 8 hours at the off-peak rate. The other 4 hours it goes up to 0.07¢. So power costs are not really a concern and the heat does come in handy in the winter.
| Off-peak | 4.128 ¢ per kWh |
I hear you regarding fertilizers. I can't believe what some people are paying for a bunch of bottles when all the ingredients can be had in a bag of Jacks and some calcium nitrate for a couple bucks a grow.
cobshopgrow
Well-Known Member
i have no off-peak option and i pay 38cent a kWh, so the math is simple for my case
.just wanted to express that the energy savings of modern leds are real, in my case the savings are so big it would be stupid to do some else.
at 7 cent a kWh i of course see your argument well, as i see anyone arguing for taking a HPS to heat a bit or anyone arguing his LED setup saves him lots of dollar in AC cooling as he is in a hot climate all year.
oh yeah, we could go on for pages about colorfull bottles all containing more or less the same and can be derived down to a few dozen ingredients.
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
Well, knowing and offering both HID and LED growers what they need is my goal.
MustGro
Well-Known Member
You know that article makes a real good point for side lighting and not heating or burning the top fans up with too much LED light. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to use diffusing glass between my plants and the lights, but most of us get some reflected light from the walls or floor. You don’t happen to know if weed has a strong or weak stomatal response to diffuse light (pg.6)? I would think it’s a strong one but I’m not sure.
MustGro
Well-Known Member
Here’s a link to a lot of articles on it in case I get a chance to read them. https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=stomatal+response+in+cannabis&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart
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lusidghost
Well-Known Member
If you were using HPS before LEDs were a thing and are only growing a small amount then why bother changing? But if you're just starting out or growing a large amount then LEDs would be a good investment. I'm still using LEDs I bought 5 years ago and saved a fortune in electric during that time. Not only from the efficiency, but also from the massive reduction of AC. Plus if LEDs make it easier to control the environment, then it will be easier for a new grower to succeed.