water?

PeachyBuds said:

interesting. I had thought about LEDs but had heard they don't work well unless you drop a few hundred bucks on a reaaaaally good setup.

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The Cree LED lightbulbs (that's all I recommend, don't think this applies to other stuff you find at the store) veg fine. Use warm:cool at a 1:3 to 1:4 ratio. I'm vegging this plant right now. I flowered this harvest using them (at only 21 watts per sq. ft.).

Now, about LED generally, and what you heard. The LED market is extremely predatory. A lot of stuff is sold under-speced. I would encourage you to come to the LED forum if you want to do more than a few lightbulbs for sidelighting. Price doesn't mean anything because there are some very expensive lights on the market which are little more than rebranded versions of the inexpensive stuff you see on Amazon and eBay. The important topic is efficiency.

Basically: if you're not willing to pay for efficient LED (backed by datasheets, which is a limited number of brands) or DIY for half the price, it's more economical to buy CMH (for tall spaces) or T5HO for short spaces (or, do the Cree LEDs if you have some DIY skills to rig up the mounting, etc.).

The LEDs you find on eBay and Amazon require 50-60w/sq ft for tall'ish grows. (The other day one guy said he was going run his at 72w/sq ft, or something like that.). At those levels of heat and energy, CMH and T5HO are more cost-effective for a similar purchase price. (Or, if you run those LEDs at lower intensity, they produce airy buds. Especially for taller grows.).

The link I gave you in the previous post has all the info you'll need if you want to use lightbulbs to various degrees. I strongly recommend transferring some watts (of light) from the top to the sides (sidelighting) as much as you can. I think that's a huge win.

az2000 said:

The Cree LED lightbulbs (that's all I recommend, don't think this applies to other stuff you find at the store) veg fine. Use warm:cool at a 1:3 to 1:4 ratio. I'm vegging this plant right now. I flowered this harvest using them (at only 21 watts per sq. ft.).

Now, about LED generally, and what you heard. The LED market is extremely predatory. A lot of stuff is sold under-speced. I would encourage you to come to the LED forum if you want to do more than a few lightbulbs for sidelighting. Price doesn't mean anything because there are some very expensive lights on the market which are little more than rebranded versions of the inexpensive stuff you see on Amazon and eBay. The important topic is efficiency.

Basically: if you're not willing to pay for efficient LED (backed by datasheets, which is a limited number of brands) or DIY for half the price, it's more economical to buy CMH (for tall spaces) or T5HO for short spaces (or, do the Cree LEDs if you have some DIY skills to rig up the mounting, etc.).

The LEDs you find on eBay and Amazon require 50-60w/sq ft for tall'ish grows. (The other day one guy said he was going run his at 72w/sq ft, or something like that.). At those levels of heat and energy, CMH and T5HO are more cost-effective for a similar purchase price. (Or, if you run those LEDs at lower intensity, they produce airy buds. Especially for taller grows.).

The link I gave you in the previous post has all the info you'll need if you want to use lightbulbs to various degrees. I strongly recommend transferring some watts (of light) from the top to the sides (sidelighting) as much as you can. I think that's a huge win.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info man! Unfortunately, the price on the cree LEDs is a bit deterring for me. I mean, I'd totally be able to rig them up (in did a ground up hand-wired CFL set up for where they'll be going to next) but if I spend $30+ a plant for LEDs, I could just buy a used MH setup instead. I mean, heat is only an issue in this area right now, but in a couple of days when they go to their new home it wont be at all. I'm just thinking I'll toss a humidifier by the air intake on the new place, stick to CFLs for this batch, and see what I can do to get an MH (or poasibly LEDs) for the next round. I mean, I'd love to go to LEDs for energy use, but right now I think they're kind of outweighed due to the upfront cost. as you can tell, I'm on a preeeetty tight budget, making this a bit of an interesting endeavor haha.