Start LED Finish LED?

[Blazer420]

I have been reading more and more into LEDs. If I hit the lottery I'm getting a bunch of the 800w SolarStorm lights, but that's for another post.

One thing that has sprung up in my research is this theme "Start with LEDs, finish with LEDs." The idea is that vegetative growth should be done under LEDs as well as bloom and to do something like veg under T5s and going to LED is too stressful on the plants.

People veg under CFLs and T5s all the time and then go to HPS for bloom...

Company sales pitch or is there some truth in that statement?

Thanks!

B-

 

[Variable]

I grow entirely under LEDs. I have a 120cm square grow tent with five 90 watt UFO lamps on 12-12. The lamps make enough heat to overcook the tent so I have a five inch extractor fan with a carbon filter, and a standard bathroom extractor fan blowing air into the tent at floor level. I can get nine plants in there if they are in two different stages of growth. I have a cupboard with another lamp on 18-6 for veggng up to four plants for their first month. The growth cycle with feminised white widow seeds is 12 weeks and I can get up to 2 1/2 ounces per plant. Power consumption is about 56 kilowatts a week.

edit: As you are looking for lights It is worth mentioning that the power ratings for LEDs can be misleading. With top end lamps what they quote is what it will draw at the wall socket. This is generally only about 60 to 65 percent of the wattage you get when you add all the LEDs together, for instance 50 x 3 watt LEDs = 150 watts. Sellers of low end lamps will sometimes use this figure to make the lamps seem more powerful. A good 50 X 3 watt lamp will actually draw about 90 watts at the wall socket. This is because LEDs are more efficient and last longer if they are only run at 60 percent brightness. Cheap lamps may achieve their brightness by running the LEDs harder, but this will cause them to fail quite rapidly. The wider the difference between the potential consumption and the actual consumption, the longer the lamp will last, and the less heat it will produce.

 

[Buckshot]

I have been reading more and more into LEDs. If I hit the lottery I'm getting a bunch of the 800w SolarStorm lights, but that's for another post.

One thing that has sprung up in my research is this theme "Start with LEDs, finish with LEDs." The idea is that vegetative growth should be done under LEDs as well as bloom and to do something like veg under T5s and going to LED is too stressful on the plants.

People veg under CFLs and T5s all the time and then go to HPS for bloom...

Company sales pitch or is there some truth in that statement?

Thanks!

B-

This is bullshit. I have vegged under all types of light an bloom with LED with no growth problems. When chucked into the bloom room they all do not skip a beat... in fact they love it!!!!

 

[Blazer420]

I figured as much, Buckshot. Thanks!

B-

 

[Buckshot]

I figured as much, Buckshot. Thanks!

B-

No problem... I will add I have in a recent test replaced a 400 watt MH hood with a Top LED 3 watt panel in the veg mode. The panel was only drawing 250 watts in its veg setting and was able to veg everything I had going with no problem. I saved a lot while I was running like that.

 

[Blazer420]

If I could just afford to replace all my 1k lights with those massive SolarStorms - think of the money I could save on my electric bill!