LED Grow Light - First Time Grow

those look kind of generic......check out "Apache Tech" or "LumiGrow" they are very reliable and last for years.
depending on how tall your growing your plants...you should at least yield about a pound.
i found good prices on led's at monstergardens.com

thank you for the reply, I'll take a look at the sites you've mentioned. Sorry to question you when I've only just started to learn about growing, but are you sure a yield of a pound from 600w is possible? I'm not sure what an average yield of a hydroponic grow with 6 plants with 600w LED would be, just didn't expect 16 ounces lol!

Hi olly2!

1 gpw is Doable with LED's. Since those units are run at 300mA, the ACTUAL Draw/Output of those panels are 173w (576 x 1 x 0.3) and 260w (288 x 3 x 0.3) respectively.

Dont go by the total wattage of the LEDS, as if they were driven at a full Amp.

Good LED's can be Hit or Miss. I would suggest checking out ALL the LED threads and SEE which ones Specifically Perform Well?

Peace

dont use LEDs that use 1w bulbs and only have a red/blue spectrum. look for more modern LEDs that use at least a 6 band spectrum and 3w or 5w bulbs. with leds it is also more efficent to have more units per plant as oposed to 1 larger unit, this is because leds best coverage is directly underneath them. so a 200w unit for every 2 plants would be better then 1 600w unit.
I got my LEDs on ebay and they have been working well for me, just need to find a seller with good units. i have 2 180w units for 4 plants in soil, with some t5 side lighting

thank you that actually answered something I was wondering about; I was considering getting a few small wat LED lights instead of one big one, say if I had 3 180 watt LED bulbs over 6 plants (and one 400w HDS I have could possibly become part of the equation if need be), do you have any idea what an expected yield could be? I now from looking at hundreds of threads you shouldn't go into a grow just expecting a certain outcome when there are so many variables to be taken account, but I would appreciate a realistic guess at what a first time grower could manage, so I know where to go from there

oh and to Mad Scientists comment, what do you mean by gpw? (sorry if that sounds really naive), and thanks for the equations set out for me, I don't suppose anyone else has an opinion on VHO T5 grow lights that someone on another board recommended to me?

olly2 said:

oh and to Mad Scientists comment, what do you mean by gpw? (sorry if that sounds really naive), and thanks for the equations set out for me, I don't suppose anyone else has an opinion on VHO T5 grow lights that someone on another board recommended to me?

Click to expand...

gpw stands for gram per watt

1 gram per watt with LED? I've been to several stores today comparing prices and getting information, and I was told that LED or (V)HO lights are very impractical and only HID and HPS lights are sufficient for a decent grow. I was also told with a 600w HID or HPS I could expect to get about 15-20 ounces with 6 to 8 plants, does that sound reasonable?

I just yielded 5oz off my 432w 7-band HTG Supply LED light. TrainWreck. 11wks flower.

Overall the nug is more flavorful and naturally more dense than under just my 400w hps. But my 400w can yield more, nugs are more fluffy though.

I also have their 240w which isn't as good as the 432w due to poor mixture of light and led's spaced too far apart.

I'm not going to invest in another LED light until i have the money and feel like buying one with more powerful diodes, like 7watts maybe.

I haven't been doing much research into LEDs recently so i'm not sure what's new or how far it's come in the last yr.

HAPPY 420!

Adjorr said:

dont use LEDs that use 1w bulbs and only have a red/blue spectrum. look for more modern LEDs that use at least a 6 band spectrum and 3w or 5w bulbs. with leds it is also more efficent to have more units per plant as oposed to 1 larger unit, this is because leds best coverage is directly underneath them. so a 200w unit for every 2 plants would be better then 1 600w unit.
I got my LEDs on ebay and they have been working well for me, just need to find a seller with good units. i have 2 180w units for 4 plants in soil, with some t5 side lighting

Click to expand...

Indeed, don't use 1watt for sure, my 3w are pretty powerful, but i've seen some 10w in action and it's intense how much more penetration they have...way to fucking expensive.

Stay away from 1w diodes. Really? Damn, I wish I'd have gotten such Sage advice lol

Here's one plant vegged under 0.5w diodes (combined into 7.5w/17w/22w globes. A 90w ufo (1w R/B diodes) added for flowering.

240w on left 432w on right. 3w diodes.
First picture is of some LostCoastOG
This is the result and some winterized BHO i made from it. aka shatter or absolute.
[video=youtube_share;umHlEbwYrwQ]http://youtu.be/umHlEbwYrwQ[/video]

I've yet to try and veg a plant with this but kinda want to soon or throw my 240w in my veg room.

I just picked up some New Technology and I have some older 1 watt Units I picked up used on ebay a while back. They Veg great, but I always wanted to Flower with them.... hmmmmmm.. I feel a Journal building in my Head. I will Post a link in my signature when I figure out what I want to do! WooHoo!

I think the older 1 watt units could provide an awesome spectrum especially if supplemented with a couple T-5's? I wouldnt expect a very Deep Penetration with the 1 Watt LEDs, so perhaps a Low shaped Plant? I can get pretty creative with my Shaping!

I am Seeing some BEAUTIFUL Plants! Put up the links to your Journals too! WooHoo!

Peace

Sorry, I neglected to show the fixture in action, taken in both Feb and March