I've never grown anything before, have about $500-$600 to spend on lights for maybe 4 plants to start. I hear LED's are the way to go, would I be better off with one big 500 watt light, or several smaller lights, such as the UFO's?
Hmm got some options for sure if you have that much to spend. Blackstar LED is a good company, here is there site. I would use any of their panels personally. Actually, I have a 180w flowering panel sitting around. Black Star LED Grow Lights here is a 500w Blackstar LED barely used. 500 Watt Blackstar LED Grow Light | eBay California Light works is highly recommended but one of the most expensive brand of panels. California Light Works Solar Storm 400W LED Grow Light | eBay Here is Advanced LED - they are great, but I have really read mixed reviews on them. Some swear by this company and will only use their LED's. Other's claim they are shit and replicate a chinese product on the market. https://www.advancedledlights.com/categories/3W-LED-Grow-Lights/ I dont care for UFO's. They usually have low wattage and low coverage area.
Thanks for the info...I'm pretty much sold on Blackstar. My only remaining questions are how many plants would a 240 W be good for? A 500 W? And would I be better off with 2 240's or 1 500?
Generally you want 100 watts PER plant. With each plant you want additional 50 ontop of the 100. With a 240w you could easily grow 3 small or 2 normal sized plants. With the 500w you could grow about 4 plants. You have to take in account that LED's do not draw ACTUAL wattage. That 240w is not pulling a full 240 and the 500 is not pulling a full 500. I dont know enough about lights to tell you about how much to take off for what their total wattage draw might be. I prefer multiple lights for broader coverage. With the 500w you probably have about 12 square feet, but keep in mind that on the rim of those square feet the light will not be as penetrative. With the 240w you have about 6 square feet. Before I finally answer your question.... How big is your grow area?
I also read somewhere that LED wattage equates to 2/3. Did not know the 100-150 rule of thumb though.
I'm thinking just starting with the 500 watt for 4-6 plants to start while they're small, then adding a couple 240's when the plants outgrow the coverage. Sound about right?
Go for it if thats what you want. Thats a big tent, its hard to say how well the 500w will work in that big of an area but it will throw a nice blanket of coverage, so keep them close together if you can add a couple 240's IMO you're golden with 4-6 plants. That would be plenty of wattage, but of course the more the merrier. If you buy the 500w off ebay that is lightly used, that would leave some room to pay for the 240's. You could even keep looking, just yesterday a barely used Blackstar 240w sold for $160. Don't forget all your ventiliation, LED is cool compared to MH/HPS but still need to exhaust the air and what not.
Led are garbage man I've done them before didnt work. My buddy did a huge led grow and was very disappointed with there performance compared to hps and went back to hps. Especially Blackstar they are garbage simply because they lie about there advertisement. 240 watt led is really 130 to 150 watts. 100 watt UFO is really 40 watts. Your gonna pay $300 for "240" watt really 130 when you can go buy a ballast and 1000 watt hps for 300 at least at my hydro store I can.
Hmm why would someone be selling a barley used Blackstar led for 100 bucks less than he got it.... Maybe cause it sucks. Any grow that as been successful with led has like 150 watts per plant and they have super fluffy nugs so I wouldn't really call it successful
False false false. LED panels sell all day for less than retail, lightly used. HPS is also not any closer of a spectrum than LED's. Infact LED has a much BETTER spectrum with multiple spectrums at that, just like the SUN. HPS has ONE spectrum. I have had MULTIPLE harvests with VERY succesful results. Dense nugs with extreme potency. There are many LED advocates on this site that would disagree with your statement and most likely have succesful grows to prove it.
Yeah because nobody wants them. Tell me how much do you yield per 1000 watts bro hps can put out almost 2lbs per 1000 watts. I've seen people on this site that use over 300 watts of led and get 80 grams, that's garbage. I have also seen 25 plant grow op with under led and produced nothing to his hps grow that had the same amount of watts. Believe me I've done my research and tried led. The only led that are gonna truly work are going to cost you 1000 bucks for for like 3 to 5 Hundy watts that's ridiculous
2 pounds of 1000 watts and one plant? bullshit. multiples, okay thats possible so is it with LED. Not once has OP shared his interest in HPS, so why are you here besides trolling? The only thing garbage about LED's are people like you who spread false knowledge. HPS is ALWAYS going to be more powerful.. Do you not understand the properties of LED? They run cooler, they are more efficient, and their spectrum is broader. Blackstar is not garbage by any means, it is most certainly not the best but it is most recommended for the most bang for your buck. There are so many variables in a grow that contribute to yield that what your saying is pointless. You wanna try to tell rhapsody that California Light works is gabage? I guarantee he'd throw mad grow ops in your face. BTW OP, you can listen to a clown who has done "research" or PM me if you like.
I use a blackstar 500w led light. This is my second grow and my first grow I used a 400w mh/hps. Don't listen to people who say LEDs don't work. They just didn't do research before buying. You want atleast a 3w LEDs along with the correct wavelength of colors. My blackstar is kicking my 400w lights butt. About 4 weeks into flower and its covering my 5 plants nicely. Super frosty already as far as my indica. The sativa I am growing are 2 weeks in flower so just getting hairs. I have debating on selling my blackstar to downgrade my grow and getting 90w led UFO and only growing 1 plant to avoid heat. My tent runs 72-81 degrees. Humidity is 40-50. If I personally were growin a lot I would get a 600w hps hands down. Best bang for buck. But LEDs do work pending on what u get! And my yield looks to have increased even 4-5 weeks from harvest but that could be because i learned from my first grow
Hahah I'm am of no means spreading false knowledge and when I compare hps to led I compare the quantity quality and how much it costs for the light. You can go buy yourself an 1000 watt led that puts out 1000 watts for over $2,000 where as an hps you can buy 1000 watts for $300 as well as you only have to replace the bulb not the whole panel. So to got through two 1000 watt lights it will cost under 500 where as if you go through two led it will cost you 4,000. I don't agree that 1000 watts of led is as good as hps cause like is said I've seen the same amount of wattage used between hps and led with the same nutrients and same strain. Hps produced more/better nugs for way less money. I'm not trolling at all I see someone wanting to invest in led and all I've seen is either bad experiences or not so good ones so last thing I want to see is a fellow grower waste his money. I'm sorry if you take that as trolling.
Sorry if I said led dont work they do work just very poorly and they are very expensive compares to hps
I see what you're saying. But OP has the money and is interested in LED. I've never heard of anyone's panel burning up or come to an end of its life unless it was some off brand Chinese Pos. Almost all panels are rated at 50000 hours of running life time. OP it's up to you. I have HPS and LED setups and I love both with no quarrels on either side.