Buds quality LEDs VS HPS

Budies 101

Well-Known Member
ive seen people grow great weed with LED
ive seen people grow awful weed with HPS
This is the answer, above.

My personal led PCB lights grow *more* quality bud because I believe the spread of light hits more of the actual buds and as we have all seen if a bud does not get light it does not grow as good.

In the end high end HPS systems set the standard, LED meets that ability to grow in both yield and in quality but with nearing half the wattage. The goal with LED is not really to grow "better" weed, or more but to do it with less watts and better spread of light. On the back end also LED lights last longer than HPS, by a long ways. Plants don't need more light or you could just add in another 1k HPS DE over your plants and even grow more.... No, it's about quality of the light and efficiency of the light.

I just finished my first grow with PCB led lights I built and it's some of the best stuff I have ever grown, not by much, but it's my personal new standard.

It's simple, LED chips and cobs are your HPS bulb, if you use low end chips you grow like you would with a cheap HPS bulb. Not all 1k watt bulbs are created equal, neither are all diodes and cobs.
 

Lennox205

Well-Known Member
Before I went full led (before I had good leds too), I did a few split grows. Part hps, part led in the same room. One thing that I noticed that was surprising was that the buds under hps lighting looked kinda beat up under the microscope. The heads were bursting and just didn't look as pretty. Almost like they were knocked around but they weren't. This happens before ripening, so I can't say that hps just ripened faster.

I can't say that there is a big noticeable difference in quality, but I do think my led bud is a little better. I wouldn't ever use heat lamps to grow again so the experimenting is over. If you're worried about a drop in quality if you switch to led, don't. You are more likely to experience the opposite.
 

Budies 101

Well-Known Member
Before I went full led (before I had good leds too), I did a few split grows. Part hps, part led in the same room. One thing that I noticed that was surprising was that the buds under hps lighting looked kinda beat up under the microscope. The heads were bursting and just didn't look as pretty. Almost like they were knocked around but they weren't. This happens before ripening, so I can't say that hps just ripened faster.

I can't say that there is a big noticeable difference in quality, but I do think my led bud is a little better. I wouldn't ever use heat lamps to grow again so the experimenting is over. If you're worried about a drop in quality if you switch to led, don't. You are more likely to experience the opposite.

Interesting.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
This is the answer, above.

My personal led PCB lights grow *more* quality bud because I believe the spread of light hits more of the actual buds and as we have all seen if a bud does not get light it does not grow as good.

In the end high end HPS systems set the standard, LED meets that ability to grow in both yield and in quality but with nearing half the wattage. The goal with LED is not really to grow "better" weed, or more but to do it with less watts and better spread of light. On the back end also LED lights last longer than HPS, by a long ways. Plants don't need more light or you could just add in another 1k HPS DE over your plants and even grow more.... No, it's about quality of the light and efficiency of the light.

I just finished my first grow with PCB led lights I built and it's some of the best stuff I have ever grown, not by much, but it's my personal new standard.

It's simple, LED chips and cobs are your HPS bulb, if you use low end chips you grow like you would with a cheap HPS bulb. Not all 1k watt bulbs are created equal, neither are all diodes and cobs.
I'd agree with this, except that the quality of product I've grown under LED is uniformly better than anything I ever grew under HPS. So between less watts, less cooling (that's less watts again) and better quality results, I'm afraid that HPS is quite simply no longer the class of the field.
 

hillbill

Well-Known Member
LEDs have been keeping leAves green and healthy deeper into the canopy than HPS or CMH ever did at my house, not even close. I noticed this trend even in an ancient world with blurple lights. I suspect that light coming from many sources even within an array creates many angles for the light to avoid being stopped by foliage. I LST everything and never had as nice buds below the prime budsites.
 

Thegermling

Well-Known Member
So what Led brands are legit? I want to buy some Cobs. Is area51 a good brand, amare, kind, spectrum king, etc? I dont want to make my own, I have money to blow on a legit led light just waiting to be plugged in. Anyone have recommendations for a good cob light?
 

ANC

Well-Known Member
I've even compared clones under COBS to outdoors in the sun, COBS are more frosty, and finish off ages faster.

The only test I have seen that involved spectrography showed that HPS gave highest THC level.
 

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
I've even compared clones under COBS to outdoors in the sun, COBS are more frosty, and finish off ages faster.

The only test I have seen that involved spectrography showed that HPS gave highest THC level.

There is a 2 part video by John Berfelo (I think) that shows a side by side between hps, cmh and led.

The first vid is the growroom and a subjective discussion. Second vidbis him with a gas chromatograph and test results.

Cmh had 4% more thc than either hps or led. They both tested at around 18% and cmh at 22%

Subjectively 3 growers said that led had the best smell. And hps had the biggest densest nugs.

End of Grow comparison

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL8aHC4zMZ25CLxGsQqNO3opO1QPWz1lnV&v=hbdG-qEUruo

Test results

 

captainmorgan

Well-Known Member
There is a 2 part video by John Berfelo (I think) that shows a side by side between hps, cmh and led.

The first vid is the growroom and a subjective discussion. Second vidbis him with a gas chromatograph and test results.

Cmh had 4% more thc than either hps or led. They both tested at around 18% and cmh at 22%

Subjectively 3 growers said that led had the best smell. And hps had the biggest densest nugs.

End of Grow comparison

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL8aHC4zMZ25CLxGsQqNO3opO1QPWz1lnV&v=hbdG-qEUruo

Test results


Spectrum King, there's your problem right there.
 

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Spectrum King, there's your problem right there.

It's not my problem. I don't believe the hype about lighting at all. It's mostly the growers comfort and skill with the tools at hand. I'm back to good ol' HPS.



And this is an older vid. But it's the uv present in the cmh that would make the difference in thc and the lack of ir that would make led buds have stronger terpenes.
 

captainmorgan

Well-Known Member
It's not my problem. I don't believe the hype about lighting at all. It's mostly the growers comfort and skill with the tools at hand. I'm back to good ol' HPS.



And this is an older vid. But it's the uv present in the cmh that would make the difference in thc and the lack of ir that would make led buds have stronger terpenes.
I came very close to going CMH but opted for LED and am happy with my choice. Unlike HPS and CMH which you can buy off brand bulbs that the performance is not that far off, LED is all in the quality of the diodes used. It's like comparing a Caravan to a Viper, they both have gas engines but they don't compare.
 
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