Totally confused now

[Ripper0863]

just came back from a trip to the local Hydro shop and after talking to the owner I am a little disheartened.

I was talking to him about his experiences and also his customer experiences with LED's vs HID's. He had very little to say about the LED's other than they just dont produce the yields to make the cost worthwhile for LED's. Was very adamant about the fact that the LED's just dont produce enough heat to get the plants to water themselves enough and this slows down the whole process.

I am on the fence to go LED as the heat and hydro is so much less. My first thought is that if all the growers that have been growing for years were able to save money and still produce the yields then they would switch to LED's in a heartbeat.

Has technology been reached yet where LED's will produce? Do you have to put a heater in the room/tent/cabinet to get the temps up as suggested by the hydro guy? If so it would seem you may as well go with the High intensity lights.

I want to jump in, but I am having a hard time trying to "weed" thru the info so to speak...

I need stealth, no odour, and only have a small area to work with in regards to the amount of space I have. Hydroponics seems to be what I want to go with, but figuring out the best solution for me is turning out to be a little tougher than I thought.

Any help would be surely appreciated and feel free to ask questions....I am a sponge that will soak up your knowledge....

Ripper

 

[Spimp]

Re: totally confused now...

Some growers here are very impressed with LED's. Ive never used them so I cant comment.Check these links
TOPLED Discount thread
Buckshots perpetual LED room

Im sure Buckshot can get you headed on the right direction sir.

 

[Buckshot]

Re: totally confused now...

Some growers her are very impressed with LED's. Ive never used them so I cant comment.Check these links
TOPLED Discount thread
Buckshots perpetual LED room



Im sure Buckshot can get you headed on the right direction sir.

imagine my surprise...

LED produces a superior product, I can tell you for absolute 100% that " they just dont produce the yields to make the cost worthwhile for LED's." is total bullshit. I would not buy a single thing from that store. I have told folks like that they are full of shit right to their face.

Bottom line is they don't want to invest and they make good profits on not only the light but the residual bulb sales...

send him a link to these LED grown nuggets

in your face shopkeeper!

 

[Ripper0863]

Re: totally confused now...

Great looking nugs Buckshot. Love the frosting on them. I guess I am just hesitant and very susceptible to people's opinions being a newbie. Hard to tell what is true and what isnt at times when you dont have the knowledge to back up one's own opinions. I do realize that the only way to get this knowledge is to either learn it by reading or learn it by doing. In my experience with most things in life I find that you have to do both.

Because I am trying to do this in a stealthy way I am focusing on using the Stanley 336 PRO Turn Key Hydroponic Grow Cabinet with Cloning Chamber
From what I have read and seen on the site, it offers the best of worlds that is suited for what I need. No heat, no odour and a cloning chamber with a vegging/flower chamber. Plus it uses hydroponics which I hope will produce a stronger product and a quicker turnaround.

My only concern is the LED's. Hopefully I dont have to worry about that....

Thank you so much for your reply. If you dont mind could you take a look at the setup for the ACTech and let me know what you think?

Ripper (Rob)

 

[Buckshot]

Re: totally confused now...

Great looking nugs Buckshot. Love the frosting on them. I guess I am just hesitant and very susceptible to people's opinions being a newbie. Hard to tell what is true and what isnt at times when you dont have the knowledge to back up one's own opinions. I do realize that the only way to get this knowledge is to either learn it by reading or learn it by doing. In my experience with most things in life I find that you have to do both.

Because I am trying to do this in a stealthy way I am focusing on using the Stanley 336 PRO Turn Key Hydroponic Grow Cabinet with Cloning Chamber
From what I have read and seen on the site, it offers the best of worlds that is suited for what I need. No heat, no odour and a cloning chamber with a vegging/flower chamber. Plus it uses hydroponics which I hope will produce a stronger product and a quicker turnaround.

My only concern is the LED's. Hopefully I dont have to worry about that....

Thank you so much for your reply. If you dont mind could you take a look at the setup for the ACTech and let me know what you think?

Ripper (Rob)

Ripper

I am a soil guy. You should start another thread asking about hydro. My journal link below shows years of LED growing. LEDs work. Use folks who sponsor here as there are many rip offs out there.

PS The buds above were all bloomed under either a Budmaster or Budmaster II

 

[Buckshot]

One more point I would like to make... penetration. If someone tells you that LEDs do not provide the power to penetrate and give buds lower show them this

taken last night I realized even the lowest bud almost on the floor now was frosty and plump enough for a nugget

the plant

a closeup of the bud circled above

in your face bulb seller

 

[p604]

WHOA!!! 2400 for the set up?? have you thought about building your own tent?? think about it.. go to home dopot and get some wood.. screws.. silicon.. door hinges... latch.. white board.. what 100 bucks if that... still got 2300 left for everything else..

do lots of research it could save you alot of $$$

I got a diamond 430 led and have no issues... dont even need a heat fan cause the LED dont really put out that much heat unlike a hps/mh system.. yeah they cost more.. but think about the money you save on energy...

 

[Ripper0863]

Hey P604, I totally get that. I would love to be able to build something like that but I have to be stealthy. I live in a 2 br condo with a small storage space that is going to be my spot. I don't have the luxury of being able to build a tent/room/ on my own. I am totally down with the idea, I just dont have the ability to do it. Yes $2400 is a lot of moolah but honestly, if it gets me growing and enables me to produce my own quality bud....then for me and I say that for me it would work. I honestly dont want to spend that kind of money but in the long run it will pay for itself but it will take a while. It will be part hobby to see if I can be a grower, part selfishness as I want quality buds, and part entrepeneur.

The most important thing is stealth and having a tarped tent in the middle of one of my bedrooms just wont cut it.... :-(

 

[Ripper0863]

Porno buds....this is kinda weird but I am looking at the pics of buds on here like I used to look at pics on the internet....I even find myself drooling at times...haha.

Buck, thanks for the confidence building. One question I do have tho and correct me if I am wrong, but it does seem like the buds are a little smaller than they would be if grown under the High intensity lights. The colas dont seem to be quite as girthy on the LED buds. Has this been something that you see as well? It kind of makes sense but you cant dispute the quality of your buds. They look amazing. I wonder what you would find if you were to try growing with the High intensity lights. Would there be a difference?

 

[Buckshot]

Porno buds....this is kinda weird but I am looking at the pics of buds on here like I used to look at pics on the internet....I even find myself drooling at times...haha.

Buck, thanks for the confidence building. One question I do have tho and correct me if I am wrong, but it does seem like the buds are a little smaller than they would be if grown under the High intensity lights. The colas dont seem to be quite as girthy on the LED buds. Has this been something that you see as well? It kind of makes sense but you cant dispute the quality of your buds. They look amazing. I wonder what you would find if you were to try growing with the High intensity lights. Would there be a difference?

I can't say as I have never budded under them let alone tested against LED... again "girth" is not my thing wait my choice to use LED was not based on bud size or grams per watt or any of that. My first purchase was to put as much light as I could in a limited space on as low amps as I could reasonably get away with. I needed to limit heat and had low overhead. I want to save as much as possible on electricity too, as we all do. Amps was my big issue I was limited to only one proper line. At this point I realize the only thing bulbs will do is cost more...

 

[Ripper0863]

hehe, well there might be some ladies out there that will argue the whole girth discussion...lol.

I too am concerned about the cost, heat etc. Thanks so much for your replies. Helping me make my decision

 

[JJ Bones]

If you're only growing for personal then LED is great, if you want it for more it doesn't cut it usually.

 

[Buckshot]

If you're only growing for personal then LED is great, if you want it for more it doesn't cut it usually.

I am glad you added "usually"

edit -- I might add I am a large consumer. By saying " only growing for personal" you make it seem small, my consumption is LARGE and if I can feed me with all I need the model can be grown and has.

 

[Spimp]

Re: totally confused now...

imagine my surprise...

Just because what you 'Do' is over my head, doesnt mean I cant see you up there.

 

[JJ Bones]

What yields are you achieving Buckshot? I had to put "usually" because there will always be exceptions in anything

My main point is that I know of zero commercial growers using LED and the ones who tried switched.

 

[Buckshot]

What yields are you achieving Buckshot? I had to put "usually" because there will always be exceptions in anything

My main point is that I know of zero commercial growers using LED and the ones who tried switched.

I have bought a scale for the tests I am doing and will show grams per watt on a couple of plants. Some folks are approaching 1 gram per watt (check out Jon705) I am limited by height and have not really tried to achieve a goal other than to grow enough to consume. I would have to setup a scrog in my area to get enough budding area for a real test. As you can see my plants are not groomed for maximum yield. The plant above is about 3.5' I will get a good qp from it of real nuggets and a couple of zips of popcorn and sweet leaf that will translate to a few grams of sweet bubble. Had I given it a 7 gallon pot and had 2 more feet of height to grow in or trained it outwards I would start to approach 1 gram per watt

 

[Jamaican Bud]

Hello Guys:
I have been growing under LED for about 2 years. My foot print(Grow area) is 2' x 4' and I'm using 3 x 240 watt LEDs (720 watts).
My plants are short by choice, usually 20 to 26 inches tall. I can put up to 12 plants in this foot print and I have 3 set up right now. My yield varies slightly by strain but I average 180 grams per grow. The nugs are nice and firm. The smoke is out of this world, extremely STICKY. I also grow in one gallon pots with FF happy frog.
I will post a few pictures from my past grows.

 

[Jamaican Bud]

I had to put these pictures in my gallery first. This is from a Train Wreck Grow a few months back. This is my LED grow area.

 

[Ripper0863]

JJ Bones, what is your reasoning for what you say? Have you experienced growing with both?

 

[JJ Bones]

JJ Bones, what is your reasoning for what you say? Have you experienced growing with both?

Absolutely, I do my best to always speak from experience and if it's from opinion I mention that it is.

Regarding the how's and the why's, I've done side-by-side grows with HID, T5 and LED. LED always works great for quality and even density however yields have always been lower then the HID, usually by around 35% - 40%

Also beyond my personal experience, I've been lucky enough to follow the experience of customers who have taken on all LED rooms, only to eventually go to HID.

There are hardly any large commercial growers using exclusively LED's because of these same reasons, if they worked these people with large investments would most definitely switch if it could save them money while maintain their same income if not exceed it.

Now don't take the above as an all out bashing of LED's, I actually like them a lot and I feel they have great potential.

I think eventually LED's will be much improved and beat out the old HID technology, I just don't think it's happened quite yet. Could happen any day now because many are in the LED market however few care about advancing it's quality (most only care about getting money).

I'm sure members on here grow well with LED and get nice yields etc. I was simply providing my experience and input. It does not mean others have to agree with it.