How To Grow With LEDs

Harley001

New Member
I've started this thread to discuss the best ways to utilize a LED panel to achieve the best results possible. I hope Jon, Buck, BID, and others will post their best practices to achieve the best results here in one place making it easier for others to improve their grows. I know there are a lot of other LED growers I have not mentioned and I'm sorry I don't remember all of your names but please don't be offended by an old mans short commings.
One of the things that prompted me to start this post was distance of the panel from the top of the plants. It seems that in higher wattage panels it is best to keep the lights further away say 24"to 28" to increase the size and density of the buds. As experienced by Jon I kept my 5 watt LEDs at 18" and ended up with smaller fluffier buds and now after learning about the distance making a difference I will try the next grow at 28" to see how much better my buds will be.

Any other advice relating to growing with LEDs should be posted here THANKS...
 
seedlings placed under led at 3 days old light is 30" away
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Sub'd Harley:thumb:

As far as distance is concerned, I noticed at the beginning of my grow that the leaves were curling and not liking the LED's 12 inches above the canopy at all. I raised my lights to almost 36 inches above the plants and everything is great. The Curl in the leaves disappeared, and the plants are still growing strong with very little to no stretch between nodes. Today is day 2 of flower so its still an ongoing experience/experiment. My second grow, which is only 2 weeks behind my first, I started very close to the beginning with the lights at 36 inches and again, plants are growing strong with very tight node spacing.
I couldn't be happier with my LED's. :)

Master Kush(left) and White Widow(right) when they were only about 3 weeks old. The LED's were about 12 inches above the plants at this point, notice the curling or cupping of the leaves.
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After I moved the LED's up to about 3 feet (36 inches) the leaves that were originally curled stayed that way, but all new growth was nice and no more curling at all. At first I thought the problem might have been a magnesium deficiency but now i think it was the LED's being to close to the plants. The picture below was taken about 2 weeks after the first pic, Notice you can still see the curled leaves on the Widow that were damaged at the beginning of the grow, but all the new growth above it is beautiful.
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The node spacing on the White widow
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The Girls, Master Kush and White Widow on their last day of veg cycle..
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My second grow. 2 Blue Mystic and another Master Kush. The LED's have always been 36 inches above the canopy. They are loving Life at 34 days from seed.
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I'm subscribed to this post for sure, and looking forward to all the great info that is bound to be added in time.
Have a great day everyone. ;)

:rollit:
 
Sub'd ...... I am interested in led's ... So thanks for another chance to learn :nomo:
 
IM in...I have so far had nothing but good things happen since starting with LED, I put the light at the top of the 6ft tall tent and plants on the floor,growing high brix soil method in smartpots,my blend is heavy on the Coco bout 50% + I load it with mega minerals and follow with mykos teas and drenches weekly,and foliar feed as instructed, my distance is about 22-28inches I need to measure but my metal yardstick is missing, but all seem happy and growing fast I started with 2 weeks veg and flipped, the stretch is done I think so I may not even need to adjust the light, buds are stacking faster than with hps,node spacing is tighter than my t5, here's some pics from day 1 to current
Mars2on.jpg
TopLeD_1.jpg
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Led721.jpg
Mars2.jpg
Led51.jpg
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Blue_1.jpg
Blue_3.jpg
Durple_3.jpg
Indigo.jpg
LED_flower_tent_group_shot.jpg
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Endo.jpg
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Mars21.jpg
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What I'm really liking about what I see with the LED use is that there is no need for reflector hoods and of course the electric saving and absence of high heat. Also, not as much fussing with moving light fixtures up and down. I will be very interested in learning whether they stand the test of time without the LED lights starting to go bad on ya. It's nice that they make them so if one goes out it doesn't make the rest not function. What is the life of LED grow lights before replacement? Has anyone had one go bad yet?
 
What I'm really liking about what I see with the LED use is that there is no need for reflector hoods and of course the electric saving and absence of high heat. Also, not as much fussing with moving light fixtures up and down. I will be very interested in learning whether they stand the test of time without the LED lights starting to go bad on ya. It's nice that they make them so if one goes out it doesn't make the rest not function. What is the life of LED grow lights before replacement? Has anyone had one go bad yet?

Cant answer if had one go bad, cause not happen yet. But most reputable manufacturers have 3 year warranty, and every USA made one I have seen so far has 90-day money back. Currently the high quality ones are rated at at least 50,000 hrs lifetime. The one I am about to buy is rated at 70,000 hrs with 70% original lumens after 65,000 hrs. While hps have 18,000 hour rated lifespan tops, and the lumen output decreases much faster with time and many growers replace the bulbs sooner then that because they have less output faster then LEDs.

Also as manufacturing technologies improve, when you replace your LED 3-5 yrs down the road it will be MUCH cheaper to get same type of light.
 
Quite a difference in the hour ratings and lumen outputs. :) I'm a bit worried about the decrease in lumens with CFL bulbs. And oh yeah, I'm waiting on those price drops. As more people get using them, more competition gets involved and cheaper prices!
Thanks:thanks:

Just remember cheaper is not always better. In fact most of the time if you pay a bit more you are getting a better value, but that is just my opinion. Before you purchase do your research, ask them where they get their diodes from and then research that diode manufacturer. And if they give you the run-around or they don't know, then DO NOT buy from them. Beware of knock-offs and the such.
 
Quite a difference in the hour ratings and lumen outputs. :) I'm a bit worried about the decrease in lumens with CFL bulbs. And oh yeah, I'm waiting on those price drops. As more people get using them, more competition gets involved and cheaper prices!
Thanks:thanks:

It looks like TOP LED is producing some high quality lights at a reasonable price. We will know more for sure when the tests being done by BID, Buck, and Jon are complete. Stay tuned to their grows:peace::high-five::thumb:
 
I've started this thread to discuss the best ways to utilize a LED panel to achieve the best results possible. I hope Jon, Buck, BID, and others will post their best practices to achieve the best results here in one place making it easier for others to improve their grows. I know there are a lot of other LED growers I have not mentioned and I'm sorry I don't remember all of your names but please don't be offended by an old mans short commings.
One of the things that prompted me to start this post was distance of the panel from the top of the plants. It seems that in higher wattage panels it is best to keep the lights further away say 24"to 28" to increase the size and density of the buds. As experienced by Jon I kept my 5 watt LEDs at 18" and ended up with smaller fluffier buds and now after learning about the distance making a difference I will try the next grow at 28" to see how much better my buds will be.

Any other advice relating to growing with LEDs should be posted here THANKS...


I think the light you are using factors into this . Take my grow when I first got my flower light in it was close

IMG_20130725_180424.jpg


That should give you an idea what I am talking about. I noticed no ill effects at this height now you would never keep the light this close for the whole grow. I truly think your light comes into play if you got really powerful LED you will need some space or it seems you can light burn the plant

Also of note I got no info on bud size or effect of light on buds at this time


Here are my lights

Progrow 180 or 190 and couple other panels from a source I found on the net

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IMG_20130725_180417.jpg

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if you move your lights up your plants wont be clawing like I see in the pics:peace:

Yea I see that and the light did get moved up and the plants did like it. That area is still tight but once the light moved up they did like it better but it was not a ton of space there

Let me see should have some photos

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I moved it up here to it's final resting place and they did like having more space

I guess my point in the end is that the space needed really depends on the light. So at best we can do is hope the manufacture gives us suggestion or we just have to play with it hoping to find our sweet spot
 
Yea I see that and the light did get moved up and the plants did like it. That area is still tight but once the light moved up they did like it better but it was not a ton of space there

Let me see should have some photos

IMG_20130727_153101.jpg
IMG_20130727_153057.jpg


I moved it up here to it's final resting place and they did like having more space

I guess my point in the end is that the space needed really depends on the light. So at best we can do is hope the manufacture gives us suggestion or we just have to play with it hoping to find our sweet spot

You are absolutely right Carl but don't underestimate how well the light will work at a greater distance as other growers have attested to:peace::thumb::high-five::circle-of-love:
 
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