**ULTIMATE LED TEST** *GLH Spectra 290* VS *Blackstar 500* VS *Hydro Grow LED 336X*

I'm currently using spectra led, black star led and a 600 Hps. I've had issues with spectra burning too. I started using cal/mag and black strap molasis with every feeding and watering and so far it seems to be helping. Overall I think the blackstar panels do perform better than spectra and have a much better price. I've arranged my lights so they will get a mix of all lights in various stages but again it's too early to say and I'm still to new a grower to make any real claims.

I just love growing and hope to get better with each grow. Thanks to everyone for all the great posts! They help a lot, just wish I had all this info on Spectra lights before buying them. I could have picked up a ton of blackstar and still saved $$$. Irishboy/mike played us well.

agreed amd stoneyluv but im still runnin off 2 spectra 290 s reduced and a blackstar 500 with great results

i have to run a 9 week strain 11 wks tho,good shit

Mohican said:

My Kessil Results:

It works! LED definitely needs a different nute regimen

Click to expand...

I guess you could say it works, but results like this should steer people away from LED. This is what made me turn my LED's into exclusively veg lights. A 400W HPS would have crushed those results and I can see that you put some time into training them and keeping your setup clean and proper. Kudos to the test, but just more justification that LED's are not there yet. Thanks for sharing the results haven't seen the kessils yet.

How many kessils did you use on that scrog mohican? H350 are only 70w each

Hey Puffenuff - I only used one H350 and I think it says 90 watts but it could be 70 watts. The funny thing though is that it bleached my plant from 4 feet away! The light is very intense.

I should have kept the plant smaller. I also learned that some CFLs get hot and make my cab too hot causing root problems from hot res water. Without the CFLs the res stays at 76F. I also took out too many air stones. Roots need air apparently

I made a bunch of mistakes but the LED was not one of them. I am adding a deep purple 350 for the next grow


Cheers,
Mo

Great results from so few watts mohican! I had a h350 magenta in my tent that read 70w on a killawatt meter. They are great lights for their wattage.im sure you will do better next run as well. Good luck!

Hey guys...i just put 2-300watt LED Grow from AIBC in a box of 4X4x6 with 8inch duc work inlet and outlet for 8 plant and they took 2 weeks to grow 3 inchs..its that good?
its hydroponic system with all the basic a plan need to grow. ak-47 plants

Plants grow differently under LEDs. One of the LED growers said he needed to use more cal/mag. I also noticed that my plant did not like to have the LED too close. The light frequency is maxing out the plants processing ability. You need to watch your plants and see what they like. I only have one LED grow and after all of my mistakes I am still getting average results. The clones I got off of this girl are outside now and huge. The sun is the best but if you want a cool-running alternative then I would say LED is a great way to go.

We need to find a strain that loves LED light!


Cheers,
Mo

Mohican said:

The light frequency is maxing out the plants processing ability. You need to watch your plants and see what they like.

Click to expand...

That's it exactly, although my belief is not that it's maxing out the processing ability, but that the nutrients you have available are not keeping up with the plants increased needs I found that by supplementing extra sources of ca & mg (extra epsom salt & crab shell meal) in my soil and making sure the lights were not too close that pretty much addressed all the issues. If you don't use in ground organics (the best way IMO as it means it is available to the plant 24/7 as needed by the plant) then you should supplement with ca-mg in your waterings as soon as you start seeing any typical LED associated issues (yellow mg def/burn signs in the leaves or ca def 'speckles' on the leaves getting direct lighting). Any plant that shows symptoms I start giving mild doses of ca-mg every watering. If problem gets worse I up the dose -- I have had to go over the recommended amount in a couple of cases where the strong dose wasn't heading it off. The plants that had the least amount of in ground organic fertilizers had the most issues under the LEDs for me. I can't complain though I was quite happy with what I got - certainly did not lack for yield or density I would doubt any of the people who have tried it would ever think it was any different than any other bud they've had.

I bet Wejuana is off either enjoying his harvest or maybe just trimming it Damn I know it was hard during harvest time for me to do much BUT trim including smoking And of course sometimes you just get burnt out on the website stuff and just need a break too... sure he'll be back

The yield results are in!

The results will be given in Gram/Plant average!

Spectra Tent - 57.1
Penetrator Tent - 62.9
Blackstar Tent - 67.0

Please remember that these yields are using 3 gal pots! Next round I will be using 5 gals and expect to see a noticeable increase.

I also wanted to comment that I LOVE using florescent lights for vegging! I think the combo of 12-12, bloom nutes along with the extreme color frequency change are really beneficial, as opposed to vegging under the LEDs the entire time.

This harvest turned out ohh soo nicely my friends! New lens arrives tomorrow; I'll post up some nug porn.

A big thank you to all people who read this thread for sticking it through to the end and waiting it out for the results!!

WeJuana said:

The yield results are in!

The results will be given in Gram/Plant average!

Spectra Tent - 57.1
Penetrator Tent - 62.9
Blackstar Tent - 67.0

Click to expand...

BOOM.

I keep tryin to tell people. I averaged in the 40s on my smallest plants... my big girls came in at around 105g avg using just blackstars, airpots and supersoil, and if i had it to do over again today with i know i could yield even more.

Thanks to WeJuana, and all the other contributers to this thread, a great read and very helpful and informative.
I do have a couple of questions, maybe you guys can help me.

Of the results just published above, the overall yield appears to be +/- 60gms/plant, multiplied by 5 to each tent? equals around 300gms/tent or per light?
So production in this experiment was 1gm per led watt?
The advertising I have seen claims that one of these led 300w units is suposed to be equivelant to, or better than a 600w MH/HPS?
Would you not therefore be expecting production to be up in the region of 600gms for this light? (at 1gm/watt)?

I have also heard repeated mention of the LED units running cooler, producing less heat inside the grow room, but no one seems to actualy specify by how much they run cooler?
If I were to swop a 600w HPS for a 300w LED, How much heat (on a comparative basis) would it produce, Half? Quarter? Eighth?
I already position the ballast outside the grow area, so please ignore the considerable heat that comes from that, purely the HPS lamp/holder assembly against the LED unit? Any of you Tech guys got any Ideas?

Thanks

My 2 cents on the heat issue... I had 2 scaled down 290's at 400w total, and they produced significantly MORE heat in a tent than a 400w hps with the ballast outside the tent. I also have 3 240 HO blackstars, about 440w total, in a tent as well and I would say they are on par heat-wise with the same 400w hps. Basically it isn't a deal breaker like they want you to think, especially if you take the hps ballast out of the equation.

robby102 said:

The advertising I have seen claims that one of these led 300w units is suposed to be equivelant to, or better than a 600w MH/HPS?
Would you not therefore be expecting production to be up in the region of 600gms for this light? (at 1gm/watt)?

Click to expand...

That is marketing hype, and hype that hurt LEDs a lot by building up an expectation they could not necessarily meet.

robby102 said:

I have also heard repeated mention of the LED units running cooler, producing less heat inside the grow room, but no one seems to actualy specify by how much they run cooler?
If I were to swop a 600w HPS for a 300w LED, How much heat (on a comparative basis) would it produce, Half? Quarter? Eighth?
I already position the ballast outside the grow area, so please ignore the considerable heat that comes from that, purely the HPS lamp/holder assembly against the LED unit? Any of you Tech guys got any Ideas?

Thanks

Click to expand...

The heat issue is sort of a relative comparison. You can actually do better on heat with a well ventilated HPS. The advantage of an LED is that it is cooler/less heat buildup without the same ventilation. I haven't done any precise measurements... and it would depend on the wattage.... but an LED compared to a similar wattage HPS should run probably around 5 degrees or more cooler than an unventilated hps. I can only really compare the models I have.... but 2 of my 240w LEDs run cooler for me in the same space than a 400w light (that had a vent/inline fan) by over 5 degrees.

LEDs aren't a universal replacement for hps -- it mainly depends on your situation and goals.

I too am a grower who got caught up in the hype. Say a bunch or reviews claiming that it was in excess of twice the yield etc... Last cycle I had led and hps side by side and they did do relatively the same. Hps was a lot denser for sure otherwise pretty equal. I am switching up my configuration drastically this time so we will see again. Last one was pots and 1 strain that turned out to be mediocre in content. I have several attitude strains from seed this time not hand me down clones. I am switching from pots that had ff soil and canna nutes to 4 separate 4x4 soil beds built to Soma specs with subcools supersoil and sunshine #4 on top. I am in my 4th day of seed germination so ill keep everyone posted. I am fairly new so any tips would be invited. Oh Led lights are 1 336x pro over 1 bed and 5 168x pro Hydro Gro over 2 beds and I have 1 600 hps over 1 bed.

You'll get better results with the super soil I bet -- my super soil plants did far better on yields than the ones that had little or no super soil under my LEDs - i believe they help provide optimal nutrient availability when the plant needs it.

Hope you post a growthread sounds like something i'd like to see!

i grew under LED's and in super soil. The lights still sucked. lol

I certainly hope so I have quite a few strains I am testing as well. I have already started taking some pics of all my new girls hoping for greatness in the end. As much loot as those lights cost i sure deserve it i think ha ha