Hello everyone, I am a first time grower, and after doing a lot of research I decided to turn over to LED technology on my autoflower grow. I have recently purchased this 600w led panel on ebay: 600W LED Plant Grow Light Full Spectrum Lamp Indoor Greenhouse Veg & Flower Hot But only after the item has been shipped, I realized that the item does NOT contain UV or IR. ("1. Low heat, no UV or IR light radiation") I hear UV and IR greatly improves yield amount and trichomes production, but how serious is that? Should I consider buying another light source just for UV and IR?
I wouldn't say it's that important for a budget grow. Only the highest priced led fixtures include much at all for UV supplementation. It's all about increasing potency and not the amount of harvest. In fact UV will limit growth. It's been proven to do so. That's why the plant grows more oil/potency to shield itself from the UVB. It's not necessarily healthy. It's like injecting yourself with snake venom. I think a better approach if you're curious about UV is to buy separate UV supplementation bulbs like the ones from solacure, agromax, and others. Remember the output of the current crop of uv leds is very low and the best way currently to supplement is with t5 bulbs. That's why CLW and Amare used those instead of just throwing more UV led's in their fixture.
I wish you the best of luck but just looking at that 600w panel at the link makes me cringe. It looks very suspect. $50? How good could it be? If you want to venture into the grow world set aside a realistic budget for lighting like $200-300. This is an important piece of equipment that will most definitely pay for itself if you invest in a decent one. Buying a cheap one can potentially burn the place down and grow disappointing plants after many hours of hard work.
I would be 10x more confident in the mars300 in the link above it on ebay. Even though those had marginal reliability, I'm not aware of them burning a house down and many people have grown a nice 4oz crop with them. They're about 130 watts each for $65 range. The actual power of the one you ordered is only 100 watts. "Specifications: 1. Maximum LED Power: 600W 2. LED Quantity: 60Pcs Exclusive 10W Double Chips LED 3. Actual Power: about 100W±5% Power, Much Better Than the Same Product in Market 4. Spectrum: 380-410, 450-470, 620-630, 650-670, White: 730-740 5. Amperage: mailto:5.45A@110V 5.45A@110V mailto:5.45A@110V 5.45A@110V , mailto:2.73A@220V 2.73A@220V mailto:2.73A@220V 2.73A@220V 6. Lumen: 58628 lumens 7. Coverage Area: 2.5*2ft forVeg, 2*1.5ft for Flower"