Hi all!! Ive been growing with HPS/CDM for sometime but finally made the swich to LEDs earler this year, mainly due to running costs. I heard they don't flower so well and my mate wasn't impressed with his leds. but I have to say I am now a convert. I bought a couple of lights from www.ledgrowbuds.co.uk after follwing some of thier instagram users and the results are as good or even better and its saved me a packet in bills. These ligths come with an orangie full spectrum with added red and far red diodes and the power from them is blinding and i only use them at 100% in late stage flowering. I got 2x Harvest 320 Pro lights Does anyone have any tips and tecniques of using LEDs Vs HPS i've noiced they need less feeding but I'm always worried about the extra humidity because now there's less heat in the grow room. I am growing NFT hydro, thinking i might switch to soil ? Cheers for any tips!
Quality LEDs are quite a lot better. Nothing wrong with using HIDs tho. If you were told they won't do that good of job with flowering they either weren't up to date with the modern LEDs in the past 8 or so years, or their LEDs weren't using the right spectrum.
Yeah your right it's all to do with the spectrum. The lights I got have 4 sprecturms in one full spectrum 3000K + full spectrum 5000K + 660nm + 730 nm. The 660 + 730 creates the emerson effect and that's making all the difference compared to my mates grow. He uses mars hydro lights and thay don't have enough diodes nor do they have the right spectrum. Hes gonna get my lights after seeing my grow
Nice buds! I have noticed many speak of increased need for calmag when growing under led. You can also have them closer to the plants but seems you figured it out Only used leds myself so cant compare. And only used soil. But led and soil is a winner so far. You can also Mount drivers outside tent if you havent done it already. Helps to keep temps in check
Like Goblin_smasher said I've only used LED's so can't compare. And soil. But my first harvest blew my mind. I have a top of the line(when I bought it) HLG 480w Rspec in a 4x4. But I also have a dirt cheap Lenofocus 150w lf-100 in a 2x2. Both have produced both excellent quality and quantity. I actually have a hard time getting the 2x2 up to 78 degrees even at peak flower. The 4x4 can hit 80+ if I get careless, but usually stays right around 78. As far as yields go, strains make some difference but I think spending time early doing LST makes a bigger difference. When I get lazy my yields drop. When I invest some time training yields go back up again. LED's rule at this point.
I've only ever used LEDs, but the friend how got me into growing has been doing it for awhile and still using a lot of HPS lights, even some metal halide. He is gradually switching over as his current gear wears out. While my plants weren't doing any better than his (maybe slightly worse but I chalk that more up to me being a newb), what convinced him is when I hooked up a metering device to his tent vs mine for a week and showed him the LEDs are less than 1/3rd of the power use of his hps setup when accounting for total micromoles his lights put out vs mine)
[I've only ever used LEDs, but the friend who got me into growing has been doing it for awhile and still using a lot of HPS lights, even some metal halide. He is gradually switching over as his current gear wears out. While my plants weren't doing any better than his (maybe slightly worse but I chalk that more up to me being a newb), what convinced him is when I hooked up a metering device to his tent vs mine for a week and showed him the LEDs are less than 1/3rd of the power use of his hps setup when accounting for total micromoles his lights put out vs mine) Lights are actually even more efficient than that but we hooked to meter to the two 15 amp circuits he uses for his tent, so the current from the fans, dehumidfiers, and any other non-light power to the tent was mixed in there too. I considered doing the math to see exactly how much more efficient just the lights are, but I'm too lazy to do that for anyone's grow but my own. Got a crop that should be ready to harvest around July 4th, when thats set I might rig up some better data collection when I clean out and re-rig the tent for next grow.
Cheap LEDs are good too. Last year I grew an auto (gelat og) with 60$ LEDs and it went well. My harvest was almost 700gr wet.