Led or t5 for veg?

Have my plants under a 400 hps right now but want something for veg only. Looking at 300w viparspectra or just a ho t5. Just for a few clones and seedlings. Your thoughts?

T5 is great for clones mostly, however with a highout put T5, you can still get a decent harvest but you won't have the compact buds.
Here's the thing, HPS is great for veg and flowering, even though it's still more red then blue on the spectrum it will still give you great results.

I've completed a full harvest with a T5, now I'm going with a 400 watt HPS full harvest, from vegging for 3-4 weeks, then flowering. They're doing amazing, honestly you should go with MH, or you can go with an LED and HPS combo.


Stay away from blurple light, these are those Chinese built lights your talking about!! They're cheap and everything.
You should be going with a full COB or Quantum board (QB) if you want a LED set up that will out perform those blurple lights.

135 watts QB and 400 watt of COB (about 3500k) will produce the same!

You could honestly upgrade to a 600 watt HPS, I'm assuming your working in a 2x4 area roughly, and you could honestly do a LED and HPS combo it should perform really well

Those el cheapo blurple mars leds perform ok for the price but im a t5 kind of guy for veg and they are pretty awesome....

or you can drop a ton of cash on some cobs but their going out of fashion fast and cheaper and better light from a good solid t5 unit.

Look for some good fish tank bulbs if you feel like upgrading those t5's in time. Cmh is a good option at a little higher wattage for a bigger tent

Google "fluorescent pl l-55 grow light" for a more compact fixture. They are like T5's bent in half.

I never tried LED for veg/clones, but floro does the trick.

Dalek Supreme said:

Google "fluorescent pl l-55 grow light" for a more compact fixture. They are like T5's bent in half.

I never tried LED for veg/clones, but floro does the trick.

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Pls are very similar to cfls, i had some good times with those envirolite 200watt cfls a while back

Ended up buying a 300w viparspectra

backyardwarrior said:

Ended up buying a 300w viparspectra

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Ya i really want a cheapo blurple myself now for a while, good choice

Kingrow1 said:

Ya i really want a cheapo blurple myself now for a while, good choice

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I've seen far more good reviews than bad. Cheap on electricity. Amazon warranty lol the purple is kind of annoying but most likely just gonna veg with it. Hps is kicking ass but no room in tent

They are shit and cheap but they do grow and price is so low it competes with t5s and cfls. I quite like them now the price has hit rockbottom. Seen some good small grows with mars an vivs.

backyardwarrior said:

I've seen far more good reviews than bad. Cheap on electricity. Amazon warranty lol the purple is kind of annoying but most likely just gonna veg with it. Hps is kicking ass but no room in tent

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backyardwarrior said:

I've seen far more good reviews than bad. Cheap on electricity. Amazon warranty lol the purple is kind of annoying but most likely just gonna veg with it. Hps is kicking ass but no room in tent

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backyardwarrior said:

Ended up buying a 300w viparspectra

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i have the 600w and i personally think there bad for flower but give good growth for veg. i have done 3 grows with the viparspectra 600w veg right through to flower. i personally think using both veg and bloom switches on at the same time in veg is better but i don't know if the 300w has them. i am thinking of trying t5s for my next run as the core coverage aria of viparspectra suck big time

Kipn said:

i have the 600w and i personally think there bad for flower but give good growth for veg. i have done 3 grows with the viparspectra 600w veg right through to flower. i personally think using both veg and bloom switches on at the same time in veg is better but i don't know if the 300w has them. i am thinking of trying t5s for my next run as the core coverage aria of viparspectra suck big time

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One problem with leds is the spread, counter act that by using cobs and spreading them out. Led forum round here somewhere has a lot of good info and intresting growers

Im a fan having grown under t5s for many years before i uped to bigger lights.
They can grow great weed start to finish it just might not have the same size as hps but my buds where very dense and always fire under the t5.

That said with my new grow area
My old 8 bulb t5 setup wouldnt fit in the new space.

So i bought a vipar spectra par 600
Just because it was cheap easy .

But i dont know if it does as well as the t5s
But ive only had it a couple of months

It does like to bleach plants though if too close with the blue setting on.

At least it has with clones but to be honest i havent been messing around in my veg room that much so mabey im just not used to it.

That said i dont think im going to buy any more cheap leds im pretty handy so im going to try a build soon.

But I'll add that I'm going to buy another t5 set up that fits my area for seedlings and clones and the vipar will be the main veg light till i build a different one

I use both Mars Hydro 300 Led ,But all ways use the T5 if i can ,The whole of my Gardening is done from plants that have been vegged under a t5,I only ever use my hps for flowering.

Cold$moke said:

Im a fan having grown under t5s for many years before i uped to bigger lights.
They can grow great weed start to finish it just might not have the same size as hps but my buds where very dense and always fire under the t5.

That said with my new grow area
My old 8 bulb t5 setup wouldnt fit in the new space.

So i bought a vipar spectra par 600
Just because it was cheap easy .

But i dont know if it does as well as the t5s
But ive only had it a couple of months

It does like to bleach plants though if too close with the blue setting on.

At least it has with clones but to be honest i havent been messing around in my veg room that much so mabey im just not used to it.

That said i dont think im going to buy any more cheap leds im pretty handy so im going to try a build soon.

But I'll add that I'm going to buy another t5 set up that fits my area for seedlings and clones and the vipar will be the main veg light till i build a different one

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dumb ish question if your flowering with t5 do you need different globs. i want to add a few t5 with my current led grow but am not sure on what ones i should be buying

Globs?

You mean bulbs?
If so when i was using a t5 setup for flower

I mixed the bulbs between red and blues
So 4 bulbs where warm 4 bulbs where cool


I would set a scrog on top of a custom coco table i built basically the same size as the t5 set up 2ftx4ft

I scrogged the hell outa them and made 1 top per square 2 inches

Slam the light as close as possible using a fan to blow over the canopy

I would be just a couple inches up but i was in a cool area where the heat is nice

You can get a respectable harvest doing this

Dont know what you could get with the same wattage of new led set ups to be fair

I like fair lol

Cold$moke said:

Globs?

You mean bulbs?
If so when i was using a t5 setup for flower

I mixed the bulbs between red and blues
So 4 bulbs where warm 4 bulbs where cool


I would set a scrog on top of a custom coco table i built basically the same size as the t5 set up 2ftx4ft

I scrogged the hell outa them and made 1 top per square 2 inches

Slam the light as close as possible using a fan to blow over the canopy

I would be just a couple inches up but i was in a cool area where the heat is nice

You can get a respectable harvest doing this

Dont know what you could get with the same wattage of new led set ups to be fair

I like fair lol

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legend so best to mix bulbs for flower. how about veg did you leave bulbs mixed or just warm or just cool

I left them mixxed but you could do what ever