So the hydro shop would rather sell you a cheap hid rig than an expensive led rig? Gotcha. Why do you guys keep talking about "the stretch you get vegging with hps"? Thats what MH is for. The naysayers like me base our info off of you guys that use led, you all say the same thing, better gpw, double the veg time and a lower yield. Great, you can achieve a higher gpw with led by extending the veg time, great, I get it, but if I extend my veg time to 8 weeks under my hid, top and supercrop, then what? Im in south florida and weed prices are pretty steady, doesnt matter if its outdoor bud or hydro grown with led or hid, its either good or its not, I have never seen a price difference because of 1-2 thc percentage points. Yes, led is the future of indoor growing, but we live in the present, and presently nothing will beat MH/HPS grown bud for speed and yield. If led could match hid then you would have several side by sides with 2 identical tents, same veg times, same clones, and see who wins. Bout the time led is comporable to hid we will all be growing legally, outside under the sun. I order 2 new $30 bulbs every other grow but led guys are buying entire new led rigs every year or so because the shit they bought 8 months ago is old technology and the new panels are so much better.
hydro shop wants you to buy shit that doesn't last so you will come back and spend more money.. that's why they give such bad nutrient advice...
I don't know what led growers you got your info from but its not any of us. Obviously you have never looked at a single thread in the led section..
Led's veg much faster than any hps. with less stretch and more nodes... led's are the veg king.. Yields do not suffer. They are the same yield. Led grown buds are far better quality and much denser.
There are several side by sides. you just refuse to see them or even look. 600 watts of quality led or induction to equal a 1000w hps in yield. there are several grows on riu of people pulling around a pound off 310 watts of cree led. No one replaces led's year after year. They run them for at least 5 years. they ay buy new ones to add to what they already have.., Area 51 lights are upgradeable too.. in 5 years what ever new light is out i can upgrade for 50% of the cost. In 5 years if anything breaks on my led or induction. It gets fixed or replaced for free.. I have one buddy who has been running the same induction / led lights I have for 3 years now no issues and no spectral degrading. Hps start degrading after 6 months. 10% per month
lumens and watts are irrelevant to plant growth its all about par and cri ie spectral output. That's science and fact.
par is photosynthetically available radiation. Measurement of photons given off by a light source. Measured in µmole/s. The sun at midday is 2000 µmole/s at the surface of the ground.
cri - color rendering index. The higher the cri the more more even the spectral distribution. The more even the spectral distribution in combination with high par numbers the better the performance.
intensity is measured in lumens and has nothing to do with plant growth. Cree and Nichia led's put out more lumens per watt than any hps. Have more intensity.
Ushio , horfilux, digilux all have a cri of around 35. Allstart CMH have cri of 90-93. Cree leds cri is 80 and inda gro bulbs about 90. The par ranges are about the same for all lights. The hps deplete more further away. Led par numbers drop off towards the outer edge of the canopy. That's why multiple smaller panels are better than one large panel.
leds are here to stay and induction too. Not just in growing. But everywhere. Cars, city scapes, buildings, offices, signs, street lights, etc.
get with it or get left behind.
hps has 5-10 years maybe left in the grow market. They are obsolete everywhere else. There is so much money backing hps companies and they own all the other companies too. Its almost political..lol. JP Morgan is of one company that owns the majority of mercury mines. Which are used for hps. They have owned them since the 1800's. Jp morgan himself funded the first design of induction in 1886. He was not So happy with the longevity. He thought he would lose money from his mines. Of those lights were released. Instead he paid to have all production of florescent lighting banned from the U.S. And then commissioned incandescent and hps to be made. Then later the E.P.A banned florescent light production from the U.S. Hydro shop s will NOT say anything bad about hps. Or their products could be pulled. The hydro shop industry can be very shady. Alot of nutrient and lighting companies have secret shopper / spies. Cana and hydrofarm is notorious for that. If anything is being bad mouthed or sold to cheap. The spies report back and products get pulled.
you can get a 1000 w and fans for $600. Then $100 every 10 months for a new bulb. Extra $85-$100 a month in electricity. And $200-$300 every few years for a new ballast. Where inda gro has a 10 year warranty and area51 has a lifetime warranty. The lights have years and years of longevity. No bulb and ballast replacement. Electrical savings. In the long run induction and led are cheaper.