Hey so where can i get the absolute cheapest LED blue/red bulbs? Its only 1 plant in a small micro space, a lil bigger than the PC grow box. Thanks! +rep for real help -caca
I would advise against purchasing any low end LED panels If you are talking about some DIY type of set-up I can't help there But what I can tell you is that unless you are willing to spend over 100$ easy on "one" half decent LEDs you will be wasting money GL
If you go DIY don't just use red and blue. That is one the reasons cheap LED grow lights are ineffective imo. Plants need the entire par spectrum to be healthy. IMO a good mix would be mostly red, some blue, and some full spectrum white. No matter what you do it won't be cheap. Even very expensive LED grow lights aren't that great, so cheap ones are just trash.
I flower exclusivly under LEDs .I have found out the hard way that cheap LED grow lights dont emit the right spectrums of P.A.R. ( Photo synthicly active radiation) .This is the exact color of light that a plant uses. The cheapest ones I have bought that were legit were Grow Panel 45s for $175 each .An option would be Veg under 4 foot florecents ( dirt cheap and vegatating plants thrive under florecents) and work on picking up a couple of decent LED lights for flowering. I have 10 of them and each one realy hurt to buy and I'm still trying to recoup from the 2 200watt Ufos I just bought a month ago but My god they realy perform .I barely see a change in my power bill and there is virtualy no heat.If you ge caught having to use florecent to supliment flowering use ones with more red in the spectrum .Flor lights have a number on them like 2300 k or 4000 k .the lower the number the more red . So you could possibly harvest a crop with them but they wont be at their best.Mabee after you harvest and recover some funds ,drop $ 400.00 or $500.00 on a high performance rig.Also if you in it for the money order some seeds that are super producers like Big Bud, Industrial plant ,Critical Plus ,Blue Widow or some othe quality high producing plants so you can make enough money to Invest in quality equipment.
Yea the spectrum I got for the LED panels I have were the Quad band which includes pure white light, red,blue, and some type of orange ^ still would rather spend my money on a hid lighting system @ 175$ that could easily give you a 150w HPS with bulb and still have money left over for a replacement bulb or even a conversion one Just like with most new technology, the consumer has to wait for it to be over 2 years old before we see the effective ones go way down on price I mean if money was no object then heck yea you could have a full LED grow with killer yields But if it is, then HIDs are always going to be cheaper than the LEDs when it comes to getting the job done right with a lower initial price tag
Pure white, huh??? Good god, I hope no one takes this thread serious... You guys don't have a clue. It's a damn good thing maijuana is easy to grow. -Loki
Yeah, what it says on the box... Do you know what its spectrum is? Its PAR rating? And I'm sure you know the PAR rating for your "some type of orange" LEDs, right? Of course not... you know what's on the box... which is basically nothing. That's what you've added to this thread, nothing. Saying cheap LED panels are bad just because they're cheap, is a really stupid thing to say. If you're going to use LEDs in a DIY Micro, the 5 chip .5 watt 10mm LEDs are great and they're cheap on eBay. Use wider angles for shorter canopies... 60 degree lenses are good all around lens. Blue light has the most energy and it opens stomi on the leaves and has a high PAR value, so you want to favor blue light... Red light has a PAR peak too, so it's a good PAR per Watt light, so you want some red. A 2:1 red:blue ratio works well. You can also add UVB (390-400nm) light, but if you do, you need to remember that you can't see it, but it can hurt your eyes if you're exposed to it for too long without protection. -Loki
Just really tired of people who don't know anything advising others... I read your posts, that tells me what you know and what you're adding to the thread. If you know something useful, chime in, but you don't even know the spectrum of the lights you use... How can you possibly offer anyone useful information? -loki
Right, you (and others) said don't buy cheap LEDs. And I said you can't judge LEDs based on only price. The only thing paying a lot for LEDs will guarantee you is that if they don't work, you wasted a lot of money. OP - If a seller doesn't give you anymore information than wattage and the price, suspect the worst. You should know the lens angle of the LEDs and their MCD rating (which you can convert to lumens and then use the wave length to find the PAR value) And like I said, Ebay is a great place for cheap LEDs. And if you talk to a seller directly, you can usually get a mix and match of UV, blue and red LEDs for the bulk price. -Loki
I was referring to cheap pre made grow lights, not DIY leds, and I stand by my statement that they are trash, sorry. I don't have a clue? Yet you offer the same advice on color choices that I already stated in the thread earlier. Mostly red, with some blue is what I recommended (with some white also) which is basically what you just said. You have some issue with white light?
Hey guys thanks for the info, I won't be buying LED's lol. I'm going for CFL's. Thanks again, sorry I caused a lil argument there lol.
Again, if you know nothing but price then you know nothing of the quality. Only a complete idiot buys light just because they are expensive... How moronic... No, you don't have a clue. I suggested more blue than red. You should try read... And I told the OP WHY to use those colors... which is something you didn't do, and can't do, since you are so fucking clueless. And yes, I have an issue with white light. There is no white in the RBG spectrum.. White light is ALWAYS made up of other colors and unless you use a prism to find out which colors they are, you have ZERO idea what its PAR value is... So, yeah, I have a problem and its morons like you... -Loki
You need to learn how to write things out properly then. What you said there is clearly more red than blue. Next time word things correctly. And I know far more about spectrum, par energy, and morphologic reactions to said spectra than you ever will, but I don't debate with you Bill O'Reilly types.
You're right, that was worded poorly... It should of course been "2:1 blue to red"... However, if you think there are 'full spectrum white' LEDs then you know very little about LEDs and if you think you need more red than blue, you know very little about plants... And if anything, you're the O'riley type... I offer specific reasons for my light choice, you do not... -Loki
What would you guys think of these, I've been offered the same ones for 120 Euros each, Seems like a good deal but there doesn't seem to be much info on the net about them eBay.ie: 2X 120W LED Hydroponic Garden Plant Grow Light TriBand (item 290496327274 end time 03-Apr-11 18:13:40 BST)