# LED for VEG GROWTH



## crbruton (Jul 12, 2010)

Here's my thought process...I don't need an HPS for germination or veg. I NEED one for flowering. To buy a whole new hps or mh lamp just for veg would be crazy. Thats another $250-300. So an LED for veg is the smartest choice by far. Its cheaper than the whole hps/mh set up, not as hot, not as energy bill expensive, not as bulky, etc. Has anyone or does anyone plan to use an LED for their veg cycle? Even more specifically, a blue ufo led? I'd love to know anything about it you wish to tell me...other than how they don't work, are too expensive, blah blah blah. I plan to be using a blue ufo 90w led for veg within the month. Lets get this straightened out!


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## Matchbox (Jul 12, 2010)

I did exactly that, MH, HPS was more expensive than an LED so I ordered a UFO on friday, I'm gonna try and do my whole grow using LED once it arrives, you can get pretty high power LED lamps in red for blooming (I'm considering a 600w red LED waaay down the line)

I would have got one with a mix though because the plant still uses the red spectrums for veg growth, just not as much as the blue... I've also been advised that it is a good idea to supplement LED's with CFL's or fluoro tubes or other light source.

 I think for Veg LED's are extremely effective, there are quite a few grows on here using LED's and it seems the plants love it!

You will get a lot of stick from people saying LED's are shit etc, etc but without experimentation how will anything ever advance.


Matchbox


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## crbruton (Jul 12, 2010)

why are you going to do your whole grow with leds? for the hell of it or for some other reason?


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## Matchbox (Jul 13, 2010)

For the experimentation really, most people who do LED grows just use UFO's which is probably why they say they get shite yields etc, My 1st grow I am probably gonna have to supplement my UFO heavily with other light but my second or 3rd will be full high power LED goodness.. plus they look really cool XD


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## iscrog4food (Jul 13, 2010)

200 for a 90w ufo or 280 for a 1000 watt MH.....hmmmm. If you want to know why MH is better you can ask your girlfriend... she will tell you that "ITs all about penetration!" Led = no penetration. Dont get me wrong they are great for side lighting and maby once the tech advances on higher watt bulbs you can viably use them as primary. I see potential but unfortunately currently all the R and D is done on low watt leds. I would love for someone to prove me wrong by going strictly led but untill they do i will go with what is tried and true.


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## Matchbox (Jul 13, 2010)

yeah they should probably bust out a bunch of 5w LED's in panels instead of the regular 1w or less ones... I completely agree with you though MH, HPS etc is the way to go for now, Just thought hey I might as well give it a go and see what happens, might get lucky if the lights concentrated enough on certain areas, might end up with fuck all smoke and it'll be lesson learned


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## JUST GROW IT (Jul 13, 2010)

I'm growing LSD, Rocklock, and Cole Train, and I'll be using LED's but a 300w through my whole grow along with co2 and cash crop nutes. So will see how well they work.


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## Matchbox (Jul 13, 2010)

Nice, you got a journal going? what colour ratio are your led's?


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## iscrog4food (Jul 13, 2010)

Matchbox said:


> yeah they should probably bust out a bunch of 5w LED's in panels instead of the regular 1w or less ones... I completely agree with you though MH, HPS etc is the way to go for now, Just thought hey I might as well give it a go and see what happens, might get lucky if the lights concentrated enough on certain areas, might end up with fuck all smoke and it'll be lesson learned


Good luck and let us know how it turns out!


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## newgrower21 (Jul 13, 2010)

5w lol joke


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## ninjagaiden (Jul 13, 2010)

hydrogrow LED would be the best bet. LED's get a lot of shit talked because a lot of LED panels deserve them. A lot of them are bunk. Chances are if you are buying off ebay you are getting a shit panel.

I just picked up 2x126w hydrogrow LED's. I have not seen any other company test against EVERYTHING including other LEDs companies.

And dont care too much what peopel say but...the HYDROGROWLED is the way to go for vegging. Faster - same growth rate, but tighter nodes.


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## crbruton (Jul 14, 2010)

3 of the very same im gunna be growing in less than 2 weeks. lemme know about the LSD. im so curious as to how it is.


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## crbruton (Jul 14, 2010)

ninja...are u using leds just for vegging? Im not sure why so many people think to test it out they should use it for all stages. at the veg phase im not looking for "penetration". the plants arent big enough or dense enough to even have to worry about that. im operating with a 3x3 veg box. 90w LED is PERFECT for that area...in theory until i can show yall the results. but im not gunna go crazy and say im flowering with leds. hellz no. im doing it correctly and flowering with a 600w adjust a wings hps with super spreader.


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## thatdjsnow (Jul 14, 2010)

do it to it!

I'm waiting for a little more research to be done by RIUers before I got LED


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## Matchbox (Jul 14, 2010)

Those hydrogrow people look pretty good, I got mine from a company over here in the UK, CTLEDlights, they do a lot of research and develop their own lights and stuff for a reasonable price too.


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## crbruton (Jul 15, 2010)

has anyone actally just used one for veg? and used an hps for flowering?


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## 12benji (Jul 15, 2010)

i have been wondering the same thing??


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## jargman (Jul 15, 2010)

Im using a 90 watt ufo and 2 150 watt CFL's for vegging which keeps my grow room at a stable 82 degrees. I know its not just LED's but I thought the people posting in this thread might find this interesting. As this is my first time using this combination, I do not know how they will turn out. I am going to use a 600 watt HPS for flowering though. Ill post more pics in a couple weeks when I put them in the flower room. 

As you can see I have 4 plants growing in a homemade DWC setup. Im using advanced nutrients sensi grow a and b for veg. I think I burned the first two plants a little bit and that is why there growth is stunted but as you can see the one in the far left corner is doing, from what I can tell, very well. The plants have spent almost seven weeks vegging and the strain is blue dream. This is my first time fimming as well. The far left one has 5 colas, far right has two, front left has two, and front right has 3. Interesting how this happened, but Im not complaining.


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## Denofearth69 (Jul 15, 2010)

iscrog4food said:


> 200 for a 90w ufo or 280 for a 1000 watt MH.....hmmmm. If you want to know why MH is better you can ask your girlfriend... she will tell you that "ITs all about penetration!" Led = no penetration. Dont get me wrong they are great for side lighting and maby once the tech advances on higher watt bulbs you can viably use them as primary. I see potential but unfortunately currently all the R and D is done on low watt leds. I would love for someone to prove me wrong by going strictly led but untill they do i will go with what is tried and true.


You have no idea what you are talking about. I am have been using 2-120W LED ( cost of $125 each ) panels mixed blue and red for the past 3.5 months and am very happy with the results, especially the veg stage. LEDs have amazing penetrating ability and bottoms of my plants are just as healthy as tops. Also, with LEDs plants internodal spacing is very short. I do enhance my LEDs with floros, but still these lights kick butt when you take into consideration that my electric bill has increased by a measly $40 a month ( what were you saying about cost effectiveness of MH and HPS? ), I have no heat issues, no need for the additional expense of ballasts, life expectancy of LEDs is 50,000 hours, and panels came with 3 year warranty. Oh, and I had a panel fall from three feet above floor and survive, what would happen to your HPS or MH? Whereas I agree this technology needs to and I predict will be fine tuned for maximum performance, as I had very little cash to start with, and low income to bring in first harvest, I am extremely satisfied with the results. Here are some pics.

View attachment 1046770 these are tow blueberry, with an MK ultra in the middle. This pic was at three weeks from seed.
View attachment 1046772 Carmelicious about two weeks into flower. For my flowering room I have two double tube floros, 1-120W LED panel, and two 14W red LED panels.
View attachment 1046773 I believe this pic of MK ultra is about 4 weeks from seed. Mk really liked the LEDs and grew at amazing rate. Though I was growing the blueberries and Mk to follow the Carmelicious in my flowering room, MK got so big so fast that I decided to put her in the ground to finish outdoors. I planted her bucket and all to prevent transplant shock. Here she is, and she began showing preflowers at only three weeks.
View attachment 1046780


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## crbruton (Jul 17, 2010)

Denofearth69 said:


> You have no idea what you are talking about. I am have been using 2-120W LED ( cost of $125 each ) panels mixed blue and red for the past 3.5 months and am very happy with the results, especially the veg stage. LEDs have amazing penetrating ability and bottoms of my plants are just as healthy as tops. Also, with LEDs plants internodal spacing is very short. I do enhance my LEDs with floros, but still these lights kick butt when you take into consideration that my electric bill has increased by a measly $40 a month ( what were you saying about cost effectiveness of MH and HPS? ), I have no heat issues, no need for the additional expense of ballasts, life expectancy of LEDs is 50,000 hours, and panels came with 3 year warranty. Oh, and I had a panel fall from three feet above floor and survive, what would happen to your HPS or MH? Whereas I agree this technology needs to and I predict will be fine tuned for maximum performance, as I had very little cash to start with, and low income to bring in first harvest, I am extremely satisfied with the results. Here are some pics.
> 
> View attachment 1046770 these are tow blueberry, with an MK ultra in the middle. This pic was at three weeks from seed.
> View attachment 1046772 Carmelicious about two weeks into flower. For my flowering room I have two double tube floros, 1-120W LED panel, and two 14W red LED panels.
> ...



pictures didnt work. try again i wanna c them. sounds like the led is working quite well for you tho. what is the square footage of ur veg area? How many LEDs do u have over it and what wattage? And so you're using leds for flowering too? im beginning my op using fluorescents, LED, and a 600w hps in less than 2 weeks. Should have some wonderful results very soon to help support this "leds are awesome" theory.


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## Raffiki420 (Jul 17, 2010)

I'm thinking about getting a triband 120w LED for veg. if that dont work out i'll still have my 400w mh/hps setup


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## crbruton (Sep 20, 2010)

theres that typical talk about leds i was hopin to avoid. im doin led right now and it gives some MAGICAL results. they grow like u wouldnt believe. yes a MH is slightly more expensive to buy, and expensive to operate. more so than an led. ive got two 24 W cfls for supplementation just because we found an aerogarden that made us not need the 2 cfls we had...so we threw em in. if anything im seeing they dont make ANY excess stretch that MH will. You can also get it an inch from the top of the canopy with no heat stress AT ALL. all pros with this led. its quiet, cool, effective, and cost efficient. LED>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>MH


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## Ledfun (Sep 20, 2010)

I have a crop of Pre98 Bubba Kush growing right now with LEDs. Very low power LEDs in fact.

I'm using a single 28w LED over each of my four plants and having fantastic results in vegging.

Here's my Grow Journal:

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/366584-pre1998-bubba-kush-grow.html


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## Born420 (Sep 27, 2013)

crbruton said:


> Here's my thought process...I don't need an HPS for germination or veg. I NEED one for flowering. To buy a whole new hps or mh lamp just for veg would be crazy. Thats another $250-300. So an LED for veg is the smartest choice by far. Its cheaper than the whole hps/mh set up, not as hot, not as energy bill expensive, not as bulky, etc. Has anyone or does anyone plan to use an LED for their veg cycle? Even more specifically, a blue ufo led? I'd love to know anything about it you wish to tell me...other than how they don't work, are too expensive, blah blah blah. I plan to be using a blue ufo 90w led for veg within the month. Lets get this straightened out!



I love LED for supplement light but still use one cfl for the light and heat. HPS for flower.

everything I have tried other than HPS has led to less dense product. Some strains have been bad enough they weren't worth the nutes. 

That said I have only used LED grow bulbs that are very directional, but bright in that direction. 80% of it is red light. Rest blue. I have loved these things for sprouts. IMO a bulb per sprout. Then once the girl is big enough to go beyond the led beam with it a few inches away, I add a cfl till flower. Sometimes if I am not using the LEDs I clamp them in flower room and put them close to new tops as supplement. From what my light meter says, it would be hella expensive to get enough LED light for me to even consider it for flower. I wish they did produce for me, I like them.


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## 1234324 (Oct 3, 2013)

I have to add to this discussion I bought a 90w ufo from ebay and it doesnt seem to do much unles u put it an inch away (penatration my ass) , but i have been using warm led downlights to supliment and it seems to make em real perky all the light is directed in a tight beam where you want it i think there 4500k the warm white and i have somereally blue ones but can't figure out wich ones to use more , but I recon in da middle of summer ona hot rroom thesse led's will shit on a hid lamp (too much heat ) i found those 10w bayonette or screw in led's dont have any focusing thingy but the downlight do just need to fit them sumhow peace.


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## stvnfoster42 (Dec 11, 2013)

im currently using LEDs for the first time during veg.plan was to include my usual 600w MH but so far they abso love the LEDs alone so not sure if just gona stick with them for veg.extremely fast and thick growth.im using 1 145w ufo and 1 180w ufo..... theyre really enjoying these compared to MH they usually get


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## GroErr (Dec 11, 2013)

Matchbox said:


> yeah they should probably bust out a bunch of 5w LED's in panels instead of the regular 1w or less ones... I completely agree with you though MH, HPS etc is the way to go for now, Just thought hey I might as well give it a go and see what happens, might get lucky if the lights concentrated enough on certain areas, might end up with fuck all smoke and it'll be lesson learned


Anyone who trashes LED's, has not used them, or learned how to use them properly. They are fantastic for veg, and your plan to use them for veg, then supplement them with your existing lights is perfect, keep the LED's on them for 2-3 weeks after flip to 12/12, once they slow down/stop the stretch, supplement them, maybe use them as side-lighting, you'll be impressed with what they can do. I'm on my second grow w/LED only and I'm not seeing any downside, quiet, no heat, low hydro bill. Nor is my son, who's switching to LED's next round after seeing what I've been able to do with them, he's been growing with HPS/HID for years. Don't listen to bullshit on here from growers who obviously have no experience with them. And I'd say it would be difficult to find LED panels using 1W (which I'd agree would be crap) these days, most are 3W and many are now 5W, they work just fine and rock for vegging.


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## Chalice79 (Apr 27, 2015)

crbruton said:


> has anyone actally just used one for veg? and used an hps for flowering?


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## Chalice79 (Apr 27, 2015)

Im growing purple haze and northern lights. I used a 120w led for veg, a 600w hps for flowering. I am considering returning to the 120w led for the last 2 weeks whilst dropping light from 12hrs to 10, to stimulate fall, purely experimental. Has any body done such an experiment?


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## Robert A McBride (Mar 8, 2017)

I'm growing a Pre98 & OGKush plant in a 2x2×4 tent under a full spectrum full-spectrum 300w light. They are at the end of pre-veg


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## Budzbuddha (Mar 8, 2017)

Thread is old as fuck


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## Robert A McBride (Mar 8, 2017)

Budzbuddha said:


> Thread is old as fuck


Not any more, lol


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