Hi all, the authorities put an abrupt end to my favorite hobby a while back so I decided to start an informal club, we call ourselves t420.
Within the group we have growers using all types of systems, bubblers, flood and drain, top feed, organic etc.
Also the combination of lighting solutions is diverse - mv, hps, mh and cfl (unfortunately no leds as yet). Personally I prefer it grown organically under the sun! The yields are the big surprise, even more diverse than the systems!
420 magazine is mostly a pretty objective source of information but getting some straight facts together regarding leds to present my club with is presenting a challenge. It seems blind faith and passion are getting in the way of intelligent information sharing, with every new technology there is one thing to be remembered, your mileage will vary. Thankyou btw to Be Irie!
I had to wait six months for a grow from beginning to end outdoors, but for all the extra work I have had plants that yielded well over a pound each, with some pretty awesome failures as well. I only grew for myself and I always had a surplus when it came time to start a new crop. My opinion is that you still cannot beat nature!
I have members who will not touch it, hydro is definitely the majority's choice in our club. We tested three of our members last year to see whether they could tell the difference between bush grown and hydro buds. Four buds were given to each, three were hydro, the other bush. All three members simply put the least potent down as being the bush. When I announced that the one that they had chosen as most potent and best tasting was the bush, there was absolute silence.
Each had an expectation that the bush was going to be crud because people love buzz words, hydro is the buzz word of choice where I come from.
My research thus far tells me that if you are a small fry growing a medium amount for yourself that an led might just suit, except for the harsh prices :-)
If you are going to supply all your local stoners plus yourself and your mates then an led at the moment will not be suitable. Why are the companies trying to lead you by comparisons? At the moment my research says that there is little comparison to be made. Except of course that for under $1000 you can buy yourself 3000watts of hid power or you can buy an entry level led. Power to yield offsets are of no comparison as yet.
There are all types of claims being made by companies, when I have questioned some of them regarding these claims none have been able validate them. Truth be told most didn't even reply.
With time this technology will be developed further and of course as more people adopt it the prices will go down and the truth about it's suitability for horticulture will be revealed. I tip my hat to pioneers who have forked out wads of cash to try leds but honestly I've read nothing that would make me go out and buy any of the current leds available to the public.
One of our members has an led panel over one of his fish aquariums and fluoro
over the other, he reports that there is no difference between the fish but says with the led the water needs cleaning far less often?! There, some useless information to leave you all with, L8r.
|