Im offically a LED grower. Spectra Im here.

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
You might want to evaluate your distance form lights or nutes.. unless this is a slow developing strain they are frosty but a bit slow in bud development... for example mine are (I think) a bit slow and they are about as big as yours now at 21 days in. They're a bit on the small side for day 28 on an HID too though they look nicely frosty... I don't want to be a naysayer nor am I an expert, but may want to evaluate if there's anything you can do to fatten up those buds more. I have a feeling otherwise you may be headed towards one of those disappointing yields on a first time LED grow. I know it's what I'm most worried about :)
I would agree, they look 7-10 days behind what I'm used to seeing with HID in soil. I have not been a big fan of these lights used for flowering alone, I use a 600 and 2 of these in my 4 x 4 cab with MUCH better results that I was able to achieve with the LEDS alone. My LED buds were very slow to develop and ended up yielding about 1/2 of HID yields before I decided I was done with them. They do work great with the combo though and they make great veg lights. Very well could be the strain as you said though. Hoping for the best possible results for you either way.
 

Swiftowl11

Active Member
You might want to evaluate your distance form lights or nutes.. unless this is a slow developing strain they are frosty but a bit slow in bud development... for example mine are (I think) a bit slow and they are about as big as yours now at 21 days in. They're a bit on the small side for day 28 on an HID too though they look nicely frosty... I don't want to be a naysayer nor am I an expert, but may want to evaluate if there's anything you can do to fatten up those buds more. I have a feeling otherwise you may be headed towards one of those disappointing yields on a first time LED grow. I know it's what I'm most worried about :)
Yeah I realize that, the bud is way to small compared to the day they are at. My hps would be way fatter then this. Going to put lights directly in the middle and maybe lower it. See what happens.
I usually let this strain go for 75 days. Im use to yields atleast 1 oz a plant with my 600w hps. Im still going for 1oz a plant with my 280w of led. We will see final yield. Smallest plant I got going, is probably going to yield me 5g, thats the stunted one.
Whatever it yields I wont be to disappointed, its 280w half the watts of a 600w so by a wattage stand point, if it yields over 13G a plant it beats the 600w for my grow cab area. I already know it won in the frost department.

What it seems like, and what I have read from a number of people, is that the LED do seem to bloom and flower slower then its hps counterpart. I already look a week behind in flowering time. Lets hope this slow flower rate doesnt hurt the yield.
 

Swiftowl11

Active Member
I would agree, they look 7-10 days behind what I'm used to seeing with HID in soil. I have not been a big fan of these lights used for flowering alone, I use a 600 and 2 of these in my 4 x 4 cab with MUCH better results that I was able to achieve with the LEDS alone. My LED buds were very slow to develop and ended up yielding about 1/2 of HID yields before I decided I was done with them. They do work great with the combo though and they make great veg lights. Very well could be the strain as you said though. Hoping for the best possible results for you either way.
EXACTLY. Im not part of these lights flowering fan club yet. HOpefully I will be though. Im sad to hear your results with these lights. I hope I dont have to come to that. The true test is my 35 plant tote using 1 led light. If that yields atleast 8g a plant ill be happy. 140w for 280g. Im never going back to HPS/MH, those are out my life. If I have too, and these lights dont even yield 4g a plant (:lol:), then I will be starting a new thread talking about PENETRATOR 336 PRO X IM HERE. Posting picutres with a gang of those stacked up. After a few tote grows, im going to keep some of these for veg lights. But I guess I cant count them out yet for flowering, plants are not even near finish. 28G A PLANT HERE I COME.

HAHA he changed it to the 240. Wow that used spectra is cheap. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00725R04A/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
EXACTLY. Im not part of these lights flowering fan club yet. HOpefully I will be though. Im sad to hear your results with these lights. I hope I dont have to come to that. The true test is my 35 plant tote using 1 led light. If that yields atleast 8g a plant ill be happy. 140w for 280g. Im never going back to HPS/MH, those are out my life. If I have too, and these lights dont even yield 4g a plant (:lol:), then I will be starting a new thread talking about PENETRATOR 336 PRO X IM HERE. Posting picutres with a gang of those stacked up. After a few tote grows, im going to keep some of these for veg lights. But I guess I cant count them out yet for flowering, plants are not even near finish. 28G A PLANT HERE I COME.
You have more patience and determination than I. It came to the point where it wasn't worth my efforts or the cost of electricity to flower with these lights. LED's just aren't there yet IMO, although I think we still have a lot to see from new lights in the future. Still hoping the best for you, as I said before, I'm curious how they can perform with hydro. Just don't set your expectations too high and you won't be disappointed. My yields were very poor with these lights but the smoke was good. I think 4 grams per plant would be a nice goal, hopefully you surpass that :)
 

Swiftowl11

Active Member
The patience is from seeing the penetrator 30w grow a bunch of grade a bud. So if all else fails going to that camp for my flowering. Because, SPECTRAS FOR VEGGING ARE PROVEN.
Let me show you my results.

This is my LED mother plant at 30 days, thats the day I transferred her and took 12 cuts off her. 1 week before I took 10 cut.



Here the clones are, all the cuts I took from a 30 day old plant VEGGED only LED.



Here the plant is after 5 days of growth, thats 5 days after the transplant, taking the 12 cuttings and LST all still under only 1 SPECTRA 100 (140w)



Here is that very same plant, now at about 80 days old, at day 60 it start sharing that 140w spectra with 4 other mother plants. I have taken a total of 45 cuttings from this one plant.



This is the penetration of the spectra 140w to the under growth, while still suppling 4 other mother plants.



Just wanted to share the proven results ive been having with the spectra low watt 140. Led can grow, and they VEG very very well. Spectra for flowering um we will see.


HAPPY

GROWING
If you could get a spectra for cheap, GET IT, its super worth it, just for the godly like vegging ability alone.
 

Senseimilla

Well-Known Member
I would agree, they look 7-10 days behind what I'm used to seeing with HID in soil. I have not been a big fan of these lights used for flowering alone, I use a 600 and 2 of these in my 4 x 4 cab with MUCH better results that I was able to achieve with the LEDS alone. My LED buds were very slow to develop and ended up yielding about 1/2 of HID yields before I decided I was done with them. They do work great with the combo though and they make great veg lights. Very well could be the strain as you said though. Hoping for the best possible results for you either way.
I had slow to develop flowers this time under HID and they've taken off since going under my blackstars -- so I'm not sure slow initial flowering necessarily means much since it can be caused by things other than the light. I think mine was due to having a pretty good amount of N still in the soil but who knows... I know it wasn't due to my LEDs because they were under the 400w until after day 15 at which point they were just really getting flowers started. In the just over 3 full days my plants have been under LED I have seen the buds going from pistils to forming actual buds and the buds have been growing EVERY day noticably by sight. So at the moment, I'm not concerned whatsoever that my blackstars aren't doing their thing. One thing that makes me wonder about your grow is doesn't that 600w you had use 2w LEDs?? I'm not sure the 600w means much -- of course a 600w + 2 blackstars is going to grow a LOT more than 2 blackstars alone :)

Yeah I realize that, the bud is way to small compared to the day they are at. My hps would be way fatter then this. Going to put lights directly in the middle and maybe lower it. See what happens.
I usually let this strain go for 75 days. Im use to yields atleast 1 oz a plant with my 600w hps. Im still going for 1oz a plant with my 280w of led. We will see final yield. Smallest plant I got going, is probably going to yield me 5g, thats the stunted one.
Whatever it yields I wont be to disappointed, its 280w half the watts of a 600w so by a wattage stand point, if it yields over 13G a plant it beats the 600w for my grow cab area. I already know it won in the frost department.

What it seems like, and what I have read from a number of people, is that the LED do seem to bloom and flower slower then its hps counterpart. I already look a week behind in flowering time. Lets hope this slow flower rate doesnt hurt the yield.
I have heard LEDs bloom slower as well. I wonder how much of that is related to wattage used. I don't mind a bit more time to get the same yield for the benefits of LEDs. I'm not sure if this is true or a myth... ie, some people seem to have good results with LEDs, some don't. If the people with good results aren't telling me it's taking them longer (and I haven't really seen any of the people with successful grows say that yet) then I'm not sure I believe the people with poor results since they had poor results to begin with. I've seen enough people getting good enough results with just about all the major LED brands including blackstars getting results to make me a believer until I prove otherwise with my own results. So far what most of the naysayers have said hasn't been true and I'm very pleased with how the plants are doing to date -- whether I will feel that way in 6-8 weeks we'll see. I am either going to become an LED evalangelist or hater -- I'm going to give it more than one grow before I become a hater though because I've been told by people with successful grows that sometimes it takes a couple of grows to dial things in -- I also don't trust that any poor results I get will be due to the LED and not me :)

The patience is from seeing the penetrator 30w grow a bunch of grade a bud. So if all else fails going to that camp for my flowering. Because, SPECTRAS FOR VEGGING ARE PROVEN.
Let me show you my results.

This is my LED mother plant at 30 days, thats the day I transferred her and took 12 cuts off her. 1 week before I took 10 cut.



Here the clones are, all the cuts I took from a 30 day old plant VEGGED only LED.



Here the plant is after 5 days of growth, thats 5 days after the transplant, taking the 12 cuttings and LST all still under only 1 SPECTRA 100 (140w)



Here is that very same plant, now at about 80 days old, at day 60 it start sharing that 140w spectra with 4 other mother plants. I have taken a total of 45 cuttings from this one plant.



This is the penetration of the spectra 140w to the under growth, while still suppling 4 other mother plants.



Just wanted to share the proven results ive been having with the spectra low watt 140. Led can grow, and they VEG very very well. Spectra for flowering um we will see.


HAPPY

GROWING
If you could get a spectra for cheap, GET IT, its super worth it, just for the godly like vegging ability alone.
My blackstar 240w Veg/clone light RULES for vegging. The plants love it and the plants will grow rapidly under it in the right conditions -- I've had a couple turn into beasts I'm having a hard time taming now :) I'm not sure I will stick to LED for flowering in the long run, but I am definitely staying with LEDs for veg.
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
I had slow to develop flowers this time under HID and they've taken off since going under my blackstars -- so I'm not sure slow initial flowering necessarily means much since it can be caused by things other than the light. I think mine was due to having a pretty good amount of N still in the soil but who knows... I know it wasn't due to my LEDs because they were under the 400w until after day 15 at which point they were just really getting flowers started. In the just over 3 full days my plants have been under LED I have seen the buds going from pistils to forming actual buds and the buds have been growing EVERY day noticably by sight. So at the moment, I'm not concerned whatsoever that my blackstars aren't doing their thing. One thing that makes me wonder about your grow is doesn't that 600w you had use 2w LEDs?? I'm not sure the 600w means much -- of course a 600w + 2 blackstars is going to grow a LOT more than 2 blackstars alone :)
I initially started with 4 x 180 w Spectras in a 4 x 4. They torched my plants, so I cut back to 3, same result, then 2.... Reduced the power to 140, then added a 400 and I was only able to achieve yields that were a fraction of my 600 HPS resutls. I'm used to 2-3 oz per plant 5-7 plants in a 4 x 4 box at a time ran perpetually with nice dense nugs. The LED nugs were undersized. Finally I decided I was done with LED's for flower and went back to a 600 digital HID. I will probably never flower with solely LED again, its too costly of an experiment for me. I missed out on over a pound of harvest from messing with those things for just 3 months. From here out they are supplemental lighting and veg lights. Really expensive ones, lol. They work very well for veg, but the node spacing is greater than with T5.

I'm glad to hear this is a 75 day strain Swift, definitely encouraging considering their progress, I hope they will go nice and long for you and pack on the weight as well as the potency. I'm still very intrigued by the tech and I like to follow along, but I've concluded that they simply can't meet the expectations I've grown accustomed to. Thanks again for sharing the progress!
 

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
^^^^^this is what i'm afraid of.......if i jump in the led game over the summer.....CMH is still very important part of my grow, maybe its just hard to let go....
 

Swiftowl11

Active Member
I initially started with 4 x 180 w Spectras in a 4 x 4. They torched my plants, so I cut back to 3, same result, then 2.... Reduced the power to 140, then added a 400 and I was only able to achieve yields that were a fraction of my 600 HPS resutls. I'm used to 2-3 oz per plant 5-7 plants in a 4 x 4 box at a time ran perpetually with nice dense nugs. The LED nugs were undersized. Finally I decided I was done with LED's for flower and went back to a 600 digital HID. I will probably never flower with solely LED again, its too costly of an experiment for me. I missed out on over a pound of harvest from messing with those things for just 3 months. From here out they are supplemental lighting and veg lights. Really expensive ones, lol. They work very well for veg, but the node spacing is greater than with T5.

I'm glad to hear this is a 75 day strain Swift, definitely encouraging considering their progress, I hope they will go nice and long for you and pack on the weight as well as the potency. I'm still very intrigued by the tech and I like to follow along, but I've concluded that they simply can't meet the expectations I've grown accustomed to. Thanks again for sharing the progress!
YEah I went through pretty much the same thing. I went from 4 lights to 3 lights to 2 lights, Im back at 3, we will see what happens, I have 3 in the middle. I still do love LED even all the problems it gave me, I grow for personal use, so yield is of no concern to me, with LED once you dial it in, its really leave it and let that bud turn into A+ quality BUD. With HPS, there is way to much tweaking to the environment to get A+ quality BUD in a cab as small as the one IM using. But, LED TECH is getting much better, soon we will see quality lights that work, no more BETA TEST LIGHTS, all the companys will have their spectrums dialed in.

Never got to play with CMH, wish I had. I Cant Let GO of my T5. T5s are here to stay always, I get way to much use out of mine and I had those about since I started growing. haha.

Yeah they will be looking much better in a couple more weeks, they will start looking big.
 

Shwagbag

Well-Known Member
YEah I went through pretty much the same thing. I went from 4 lights to 3 lights to 2 lights, Im back at 3, we will see what happens, I have 3 in the middle. I still do love LED even all the problems it gave me, I grow for personal use, so yield is of no concern to me, with LED once you dial it in, its really leave it and let that bud turn into A+ quality BUD. With HPS, there is way to much tweaking to the environment to get A+ quality BUD in a cab as small as the one IM using. But, LED TECH is getting much better, soon we will see quality lights that work, no more BETA TEST LIGHTS, all the companys will have their spectrums dialed in.

Never got to play with CMH, wish I had. I Cant Let GO of my T5. T5s are here to stay always, I get way to much use out of mine and I had those about since I started growing. haha.

Yeah they will be looking much better in a couple more weeks, they will start looking big.

I'm running a 4 x 4 cab with (1) 600 HPS and (1) 400 CMH. I must say that I'm not impressed with the intensity of the CMH, I'm not able to get a foot print and intensity combination that meets my expectations. It appears to be well behind the 600 for quality footprint and yield, but the bud quality in the core footprint of the 400 CMH looks very good :)

Best of luck moving forward, I'll be here watching as you dial it in.
 

SWED.boy

New Member
Can someone post a link to a website with good full spectrum LED lights that are confirmed, I think i may want to try this out :).
 

Swiftowl11

Active Member
I'm running a 4 x 4 cab with (1) 600 HPS and (1) 400 CMH. I must say that I'm not impressed with the intensity of the CMH, I'm not able to get a foot print and intensity combination that meets my expectations. It appears to be well behind the 600 for quality footprint and yield, but the bud quality in the core footprint of the 400 CMH looks very good :smile:

Best of luck moving forward, I'll be here watching as you dial it in.
Well that is good to know about CMH. Still interested in it, but my money wont be going towards any lights. Yeah I would think you would get much better looking bud using the CMH, not so much of that hps red in it. I also am running a 4x4 tent. right now I have 1 spectra led in the middle for 3 totes, only a few are strechting but not bad. I use to run 2 600w in the tent, but my main concern now, is cutting down on wattage. Im trying to convince the wife, we need to go solar and buy a shit load of solar panels and cover the whole roof. Then I can go back to a bunch of 600hps. Until the 5-6w LED are in full swing. THen use those.

THanks for the luck, its hard as shit to dial these lights in. This is one of the worst growing experiences in a long long time. So much adjusting all the time. These lights are to powerful very very frustrating. If you run to many, they start burning, run to close they burn. Only way no problems exist is running 2 led (280W) at 22 INCHES. 280w is not how many watts im looking to grow with. I want each tote to handle 300-650w of led power, I can not do that with these spectras. I will see final yield on this grow and another grow I have going, other grow is using one spectra whole grow. After those yields it will decide the fate of these lights for flowering. I will keep a couple for vegging of course. But flowering ummmmmmmmmm, maybe keep one for a low power wattage tote grow, but thats a big ummmmmmmmm.

Can someone post a link to a website with good full spectrum LED lights that are confirmed, I think i may want to try this out :).
These will be my next set of lights, but hopefully they will have some 5watters out by then. Most likely not though, want to buy new set of lights end of this year. Those will it
http://www.hydrogrowled.com/Penetrator-168X-PRO-LED-Grow-Light-P97.aspx
 

curly604

Well-Known Member
careful with hydrogrow there swift owl , cammie the owner is know for scamming and lying about her panels be very weary with those panels ..... not to mention they are over priced ..... just be carefu out there the led world is a scary place :(
 

Swiftowl11

Active Member
careful with hydrogrow there swift owl , cammie the owner is know for scamming and lying about her panels be very weary with those panels ..... not to mention they are over priced ..... just be carefu out there the led world is a scary place :(
Oh yeah I will be ordering from chinese website or something. Probably pick up 10 of the Hydro grow LEd xtreme 168x or 6 336x. http://www.hydrogrowled.com/Penetrator-336X-PRO-LED-Grow-Light-P87.aspx Would never pay full price for anything. Bout to put some Spectras on ebay, these were godly lights in vegging. They sure are frosting up a plant in flowering. I dont need this many lights. Need to get some more high power LED, looking for 300-500w a LED light. If any forum members interested in some SPECTRA LED GROW LIGHTS 100 100 x 3 watt CHIPS UNDER POWERED FOR LONGEVITY TO (140w total output) lights Ill give a great deal. http://growledhydro.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=5
 

Swiftowl11

Active Member
Im going to put up some more LED VEG pics before I put up the flowering pictures today. Here are some more VEG PICS.


Thats 1 140w LED for 5 mother plants, I have 2 under 10 mothers.


THis is lst and removing top fan leaves, this is how you get your mom to produce clones.

my new mother

Tahoe OG Haze Plant, bought seeds from a dispensary in Downtown LA. DOnt care if its male or female, going to be making seeds.

Well my next pics will be the flowering update. Day 35 update, progress is getting better.

Yeah if any forum members want lights. Ill give killer deal 4 for $1000 Shipped. Ill see if anyone wants, if not ebay they go.

Happy Growing.
 

Senseimilla

Well-Known Member
Are you supplementing Mg? Looks like you have a deficiency going on which i've found is pretty common with LEDs.
 

Swiftowl11

Active Member
Exactly, after growing with LED almost 3 months now. What I see is that, LEAVES DIRECTLY UNDER THE LED WILL BE ROBBED OF MG. You see the back corner plant where the leaves are yellowing. Thats where the main concentration of LED lights are shooting down. You cant tell, but plants are actually not trying to grow directly underneath the LED but on the outskirts of the core saturation. No leaf wants to put itself in the middle of that powerful led, not even the bottom nodes, those are about 30" away. And yes I am supp MG.

Honestly you will see what Im talking about in my flower chamber.
 
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