How many LED lights do I need????

It depends on a bunch of different factors. How powerful is the light? How big is the plant? I suggest you learn more about growing, then come back and ask that question.

 

That light you listed won't grow jack. Its 3 watts. Try a Blackstar 240w or a high power UFO LED. Run you 200-300 bucks.

The only thing you will learn with that light is alot of error. Watts matter even with LEDs.

 

Start by reading through grow journals and the beginner section of the site. See what setups and equipment others have grown with and narrow it down that way. Hold off on purchases until you find out your grow space size, ventilation capabilities/odor (your budget) and how many plants you desire to start with.

Led: expensive but low heat and less ventilation.
HPS/MH: Very effective cost wise. Higher heat and more ventilation needed. Tough to beat.
T5: My recommendation for a first timer. Low heat, hard to kill the plant accidentally, fixtures around $100. Can find bulbs for veg and flower.

 

So who can tell me all about the Cidly Apollo 4 LED grow light. Either users of it or LED light system builders let me know what you think please. If you haven't tried it or don't know much about LED's your response isn't going to help me.
Thanks all.

 

^^ You ask a bunch of rookie questions and rudely criticize the responses you get?

My advice to you is to start a new username. Bluberrybud only took 5 posts to establish that he's a dickhead, and isn't likely to get the help he's looking for.

 

Not sure how this works, are you talking to me? I ask rookie questions because I am a rookie to LED's, have you never been new to something? And the only responses I've criticized are ones that in their response to my questions they simply respond with more questions. People don't ask questions to get more questions, they ask questions to get answers. If that is offensive to you then don't read my posts or reply to them, that is fine. Have a great day!!!

 

Blueberry, people are trying to help you, but it is frustrating when people ask simple questions that could be easily answered by reading a few of the stickies.

Or using the SEARCH feature (*gasp... search... what is this witchcraft)

 

Just get a 400-600 watt HID system, vent system for it, attach it all in a tent and youll be fine.

 

It was definitely not directed at you, but the original poster who attacked Maxinthevalley for his reply.

And BTW, I learned a fair bit about LEDs when I researched them before buying mine, but I don't know anything about the Apollo. I never heard of them until recently, when a lot of people started asking about them.

 

14"L x 14"W x 8'H?

If these are the correct then I would say pick up a UFO w/ 3 watt LED's (probably about 135 watts)

 

Can we now get back to having people who have used LED's or build LED's tell us their thoughts on them. This is the whole problem. There is not enough credible information out there for anyone to really make an informed decision on LED's as far as deciding to buy or not.
I think the electical cost savings and the near zero heat from LED's are excellent advances in the technology of growing cannabis.
What we all need to know is:
1. Will LED's grow a good crop?
2. Can you grow a good crop with only LED's?
3. What are the colors and/or lumens a person should look for in LED's?
4. Can a single LED Light system, with a knob to change the color of the light from blue for veg to red for flower be able to grow a crop from start to finish?
5. What watt diodes are best?
6. If you have an LED light system with 60 each, 5 watt, diodes, does that mean you have a 60 x 5 = 300 watt lighting system?
7. We all know about the figures on how many watts per square foot of light we need over a grow for HPS, T5, and CFL's. How many watts per square foot are needed for LED's? And do you base that on the way of determining watts per light as I asked in question # 6?
These are the things we all need answered so we can make an informed decision on whether to buy LED's at all, or what LED to buy if we do buy. And personally I need a lot of people to answer these questions with the same answers so I can see there is some type of consensus out there before I'm going to jump in and believe something. As of now I've spoke with 50 people, I've researched LED company after LED company, and I've read article after article and so far everyone says something different. I'm not finding any real steadfast consensus on anything about LED's? Hopefull I can get 15 people to all answer the 7 questions above based on their own experiences and see if we can get some useful information with a consensus on it. We will see. Thanks.

 

1. Yes. I'm assuming by good you mean strong potency, strong aromas, good yield per energy consumption, and good bud structure. Led lights tend to grow smaller, tighter buds that will bounce off the bottom of a jar. The aromas from a led are better than those grown under a HPS Imo, that is if you use the light spectrum that i do now, I will get into that later. Potency is also Imo much better because of added uv light, but that can easily be supplemented with any other lighting system.

2. Yes you can grow a crop with only leds. You can grow a crop, seedling to harvest under a flowering led model only. The red light promotes a vigorous root system and that compensates for the lack of blue light needed during veg somewhat. Cloning is also better under led lights because of the red spectrum. I just ordered led conversion t8 tubes that alternate one white diode, one red to clone under.

3. Lumens are for humans, par is for plants. Lumens don't mean shit when it comes to led lights, and led panels will always lose @ a lumen contest. What isn't measured is the fact that led diodes emit light in one direction. Which is very beneficial to our application. I have found through very unscientific testing that using white diodes instead of blue is a much better design. I am on my smartphone right now, I will post a bit later my exact ratio that i use in my led, but i have apollo panels which consist of modules of 15 led diodes each. I use 9 red (3 660nm, 3 650-670 nm, and 3 630-640nm) 2 warm white (2700k), and 4 cool white (10,000k) diodes per module. I supplement uv light with the reptile fluorescent lights on the sides. The addition of the white light made flavors and smells become more pronounced, and overall the plants handled stress better and grew faster. I think the plants under the more restricted light spectrums were missing some light needed for regulatory purposes. I look at the panels as supplementing white light with red.

4. A flowering panel works just fine for veg, there is no switch needed.

5. That is still to be determined. The standard a few years ago was 1w, which sucked, 3w diodes are the standard now with 5w starting to gain popularity.

6. No, a 5w diode if run @ full power wouldn't last long and the wavelength of the light would also change. A 5w diode probably is running @ between 3.5-4.5w max. I haven't done much research on 5w panels yet, I am just beginning to.

7. This question needs its own thread. Since led lights don't throw light as far the panels really Imo have to be built for the room it will be in. If you grow tall plants you will want 30-90 degree lenses and need more led panels, but if you grow short plants you can use no lenses and keep the panel close to the plants since they emit light in a 120-145 degree angle, depending on the led. Because led panels have many weak sources of light instead of one very powerful one they are more finicky and cannot be just simply hung in a room, raised and lowered willy nilly and forgotten about.

Something else I must say. Led panels will not last as long as they are made out to. The diodes degrade over time and intensity is lost, not as quickly as a hid, but over a 5 year span there will be a noticeable loss of par. Also in the quest to bring prices down lower quality components are being used in led panels, cheap diodes will burn out being run 16 hours a day for years at a time. Get a panel with a good warranty, I have had a module go out on my apollo panel after 1 year. Replaced under my 5 year warranty, but even then, it only costs $20 or so to get a new one made, which is cheaper than a good hid bulb. I reccommend anyone who wants to learn about LED panels to go to www.ledgrow.eu and read everything Hans has written on that website.

These were all grown under apollo 20s on a light mover, in an organic soil mix (i can even provide the recipe if you want to get real precise)
Forgot Which one this was

Lavander



This one shows the bud development under the LEDs, where the light starts to fall off, and why trimming is important.

The roots on the left are 2 weeks old under a LED panel, compared to 1 month under a HPS. Sane container size (i know it doesn't look like it)


Here is my apollo 8

 

Thank you very very much Shadow. I truly appreciate your response. What do you think this nanomeeter stuff should be on an LED light system. Again, I'm totally new to LED's so forgive any seemingly stupid questions. Also, anyone else out there that would like to agree or disagree with shadow based on actually using in a grow or building LED light systems. Again, many thanks Shadow!!!!!

 

1. Yes. I'm assuming by good you mean strong potency, strong aromas, good yield per energy consumption, and good bud structure. Led lights tend to grow smaller, tighter buds that will bounce off the bottom of a jar. The aromas from a led are better than those grown under a HPS Imo, that is if you use the light spectrum that i do now, I will get into that later. Potency is also Imo much better because of added uv light, but that can easily be supplemented with any other lighting system. How does it compare in yield to HID's?


2. Yes you can grow a crop with only leds. You can grow a crop, seedling to harvest under a flowering led model only. The red light promotes a vigorous root system and that compensates for the lack of blue light needed during veg somewhat. Cloning is also better under led lights because of the red spectrum. I just ordered led conversion t8 tubes that alternate one white diode, one red to clone under. Why not the blues I've heard of? Some sell lights that with the turn of a knob you can go from blue to red and they claim Blue is for veg. Why would you not do this?

3. Lumens are for humans, par is for plants. Lumens don't mean shit when it comes to led lights, and led panels will always lose @ a lumen contest. What isn't measured is the fact that led diodes emit light in one direction. Which is very beneficial to our application. I have found through very unscientific testing that using white diodes instead of blue is a much better design. I am on my smartphone right now, I will post a bit later my exact ratio that i use in my led, but i have apollo panels which consist of modules of 15 led diodes each. I use 9 red (3 660nm, 3 650-670 nm, and 3 630-640nm) 2 warm white (2700k), and 4 cool white (10,000k) diodes per module. I supplement uv light with the reptile fluorescent lights on the sides. The addition of the white light made flavors and smells become more pronounced, and overall the plants handled stress better and grew faster. I think the plants under the more restricted light spectrums were missing some light needed for regulatory purposes. I look at the panels as supplementing white light with red. So do you replace blue with white for veg or do you just have the same light with whites and blues for the entire grow, germination to harvest. Some of these I think I've got you, but just clarifying.

4. A flowering panel works just fine for veg, there is no switch needed. But is that a flowering panel with your design mix of whites and reds or just a flowering panel from whoever you buy from or just an all red panel?

5. That is still to be determined. The standard a few years ago was 1w, which sucked, 3w diodes are the standard now with 5w starting to gain popularity. In your opinion do the 3 watts perform well and will the 5 watts be better?

6. No, a 5w diode if run @ full power wouldn't last long and the wavelength of the light would also change. A 5w diode probably is running @ between 3.5-4.5w max. I haven't done much research on 5w panels yet, I am just beginning to. So how does a person know how many watts to get? Such as watts per square foot of plant coverage area. And wehn a company says 3 watt diodes how do you figure out total watts you need?

7. This question needs its own thread. Since led lights don't throw light as far the panels really Imo have to be built for the room it will be in. If you grow tall plants you will want 30-90 degree lenses and need more led panels, but if you grow short plants you can use no lenses and keep the panel close to the plants since they emit light in a 120-145 degree angle, depending on the led. Because led panels have many weak sources of light instead of one very powerful one they are more finicky and cannot be just simply hung in a room, raised and lowered willy nilly and forgotten about. I typically grow horizontal for about two feet on the longest branches and horizontal on all side branches to however long they get by the time the longest ones get to that two feet, and then vertical on all branches to about 18 inches high. So which do you recommend?

Something else I must say. Led panels will not last as long as they are made out to. The diodes degrade over time and intensity is lost, not as quickly as a hid, but over a 5 year span there will be a noticeable loss of par. Also in the quest to bring prices down lower quality components are being used in led panels, cheap diodes will burn out being run 16 hours a day for years at a time. Get a panel with a good warranty, I have had a module go out on my apollo panel after 1 year. Replaced under my 5 year warranty, but even then, it only costs $20 or so to get a new one made, which is cheaper than a good hid bulb. I reccommend anyone who wants to learn about LED panels to go to Growing Marijuana with LED, Growshow and read everything Hans has written on that website. If they last 5 years I think I can afford a new one every five years but I do understand buying the longest lasting ones you can.