Official "420" thread [No Political Talk]

[Burque]

This is an autoflower seed my son gave me. No idea what strain. Obviously sativa dominant. Will be ready in about 3 weeks.

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View attachment 8244

That 315 looks like it is doing its job.

 

[truthbedamned]

That 315 looks like it is doing its job.

Yeah...I now have HPS, CMH and Led lights. The CMH seems to be doing the best by far followed by the HPS and the LED lagging behind. And the Led's are brand new tech.
VIPARSPECTRA 2020 Pro Series P1000

 

[Burque]

Yeah...I now have HPS, CMH and Led lights. The CMH seems to be doing the best by far followed by the HPS and the LED lagging behind. And the Led's are brand new tech.
VIPARSPECTRA 2020 Pro Series P1000

What wattage is your HPS?

I think LED is for the birds. I have a good friend that did LED in about 4 different ways and he was finally able to get some production when he built his own COB system and over powered it to the point he might as well have used an HPS bulb. His plants were nice, but imo they were still very small compared to what I have seen HPS do in the same sized space.

What I have heard and read about the CMH is that they run better than a 400, but not up to a 600 production wise, but they do it with less energy use and heat than a 400. I have to admit I was rather skeptical the first time you mentioned it, but it seems like a winning platform at this point. Good on you.

 

[truthbedamned]

What wattage is your HPS?

I think LED is for the birds. I have a good friend that did LED in about 4 different ways and he was finally able to get some production when he built his own COB system and over powered it to the point he might as well have used an HPS bulb. His plants were nice, but imo they were still very small compared to what I have seen HPS do in the same sized space.

What I have heard and read about the CMH is that they run better than a 400, but not up to a 600 production wise, but they do it with less energy use and heat than a 400. I have to admit I was rather skeptical the first time you mentioned it, but it seems like a winning platform at this point. Good on you.

It is a 600 Watt. Energy hog and runs very hot. Gonna use it during the winter months to keep the tent warm.

Edit

And I agree with the LED. Bought them to control energy costs......but a tiny plant in veg that was growing like a weed suddenly stopped when I replaced the HPS with the LED's

 

[Myk]

And I agree with the LED. Bought them to control energy costs......but a tiny plant in veg that was growing like a weed suddenly stopped when I replaced the HPS with the LED's

I know my space is small but mine doesn't look like it stopped growing does it?
Maybe it was the light change caused a shock?

Wait a minute. I just looked up VIPARSPECTRA 2020 Pro Series P1000. That's not top of the line new tech. That is half my Spider Farmer 2000. It's a half price SF1000 and I wouldn't expect much from SF1000.
Did you get the Samsung diode updated one?

You're comparing a 100w LED to a 600w HPS. Even they say it's comparable to a 250w HPS and I don't know how much I'd trust the word of a blurple company. If SF4000 is comparable to 1000w then my SF2000 is comparable to 500w, still even less than the 600w.
Keep it in perspective. That's what most use as a small veg light. Although I've heard some say they flowered OK under an SF1000 it's exactly half what my SF2000 is.

I guess new tech now is taking the quantum boards and putting them on strips. Sort of like using 2 SF2000s instead of 1 SF4000 to get a little more coverage. But they are expensive and they keep pushing wattages up higher making it less useful to use LED.

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

For the build outs I do now most people are buying the grower choice 720 led and they have seen some great results.

 

[truthbedamned]

For the build outs I do now most people are buying the grower choice 720 led and they have seen some great results.

Since I already have the HPS I just bought economy LED's. They did have a decent review from 3 different folks on You Tube so I went ahead and got them because the HPS light was making the tent over 110 degrees in the summer time even with the fan on 24/7. I will go back to the 600W HPS for my winter grow once this current plant is completed.

I am not one to pay a 1000 dollars for a grow light.

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

i hear you I see you guys are tent growing just for yourselves. People I deal with grow for mass production. our Methods and feeds prob allot diff cause of diff goals

 

[truthbedamned]

i hear you I see you guys are tent growing just for yourselves. People I deal with grow for mass production. our Methods and feeds prob allot diff cause of diff goals

If I was growing to sell then of course I would invest in the best. But these are 2 4x4 tents in my woodshop....lol. I just need to grow enough for myself and my son......which keeping up with him is not easy...lol

 

[Burque]

i hear you I see you guys are tent growing just for yourselves. People I deal with grow for mass production. our Methods and feeds prob allot diff cause of diff goals

What would you say the main difference between commercial and personal use grows are???

And can you link the LED that you are seeing good success with?

 

[truthbedamned]

What would you say the main difference between commercial and personal use grows are???

And can you link the LED that you are seeing good success with?

Commercial


Personal

An investment of over 100,000 vs 1000.

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

What would you say the main difference between commercial and personal use grows are???

And can you link the LED that you are seeing good success with?

Tall ceilings more space to spread the plant wide with stakes. 30-70 plants per room depending on stage of plant. 40 fans a room. Couple dehu a room. Carbon filters etc. I will see if I have any pics I usually erase them after a job.

 

[truthbedamned]

Tall ceilings more space to spread the plant wide with stakes. 30-70 plants per room depending on stage of plant. 40 fans a room. Couple dehu a room. Carbon filters etc. I will see if I have any pics I usually erase them after a job.

And what is the approx cost of all the equipment? Maybe 50 lights at 1000 each?

 

[Myk]

Since I already have the HPS I just bought economy LED's. They did have a decent review from 3 different folks on You Tube so I went ahead and got them because the HPS light was making the tent over 110 degrees in the summer time even with the fan on 24/7. I will go back to the 600W HPS for my winter grow once this current plant is completed.

I am not one to pay a 1000 dollars for a grow light.

For 4x4 an SF4000 for about $500 from Amazon (or I've seen 2 for about $200 on Alibaba if you trust that route).
But compared to your 600w it would be 400w so the savings wouldn't be as great. On the other hand I've seen SF4000 grows that compete with 1000w grows.

Your 100w should be for vegging and it would probably help to have a more confined space with white walls to reflect it. But then again you could veg just fine with T5 fluorescents too (although more watts because it's not as efficient).
My first grow and male flowering were done with 100w of cob flood lights and did fine.

If I was growing to sell then of course I would invest in the best. But these are 2 4x4 tents in my woodshop....lol. I just need to grow enough for myself and my son......which keeping up with him is not easy...lol

I'm consistently getting 8oz from my SF2000 in 2x2 and easily 4 grows in a year. I think it was $300, once SF got popular they started jacking up their price.
About the only thing I've noticed is at least in my grow LED requires a SOG/SCROG approach to not get a bunch of fluff. My last untrained grow had some good dense buds but it also had a lot of fluff (which as I said was OK with me as it will be going into a lot of edibles). My trained grow was mostly dense

If VIPARSPECTRA has gone to Samsung I'd guess the brand to be OK, you just need more than 100w to expect much. You should be able to get another to equal the next size up. At least with everyone else that's how it works.

IF what they say is right you're going to get years from an LED where you're replacing bulbs for HPS often and ballasts occasionally. That LED is going to outlast just your bulb by far for the same price. 2 bulbs and you've got the next size up. 4 bulbs and you're a size above that. Then you get the energy savings on top of it. You have to look at bigger picture instead of pricetag when looking at LED.

You can also build LED and save some (not sure how much).

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

And what is the approx cost of all the equipment? Maybe 50 lights at 1000 each?

Depends on brand. Can get grower choice 720 right now in bulk for 775 shipped and sell it for 850. Gavita units going for 1100 right now. Loriflux under 1000. Fluence are still 1300. Grower choice is popular big time right now cause they use gavita internals. All the other led companies I won’t stand behind

 

[Burque]

Depends on brand. Can get grower choice 720 right now in bulk for 775 shipped and sell it for 850. Gavita units going for 1100 right now. Loriflux under 1000. Fluence are still 1300. Grower choice is popular big time right now cause they use gavita internals. All the other led companies I won’t stand behind

Do you think results from the LED is worth that route versus HPS as a known quantity??

I have always struggled with the thought of LED simply because every grow I have ever seen under one, even good ones, have small plants that produce less. Not a huge problem for people growing multiples and don't need much for personal use, but certainly an issue if you are growing a single plant or doing it for commercial style production.

@truthbedamned and his CMH seems interesting to me because it uses less energy than HPS but seems to have better spectrum than LED at least.

 

[Myk]

Do you think results from the LED is worth that route versus HPS as a known quantity??

I have always struggled with the thought of LED simply because every grow I have ever seen under one, even good ones, have small plants that produce less. Not a huge problem for people growing multiples and don't need much for personal use, but certainly an issue if you are growing a single plant or doing it for commercial style production.

@truthbedamned and his CMH seems interesting to me because it uses less energy than HPS but seems to have better spectrum than LED at least.

I think for your average person quantum board LEDs would produce plenty, especially if they can grow their limit of plants. How many pounds can you use in a year? I'll get 2lbs in a year. Plenty for me even in the 70s-80s.

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

Do you think results from the LED is worth that route versus HPS as a known quantity??

I have always struggled with the thought of LED simply because every grow I have ever seen under one, even good ones, have small plants that produce less. Not a huge problem for people growing multiples and don't need much for personal use, but certainly an issue if you are growing a single plant or doing it for commercial style production.

@truthbedamned and his CMH seems interesting to me because it uses less energy than HPS but seems to have better spectrum than LED at least.

I have one guy that went on the cheaps with led and his highest yielding crop is 1.5lb a plant. But i know first hand with the led brands I listed they are getting 2-3.5 easy depending on their grow space and methods plus nutrients used. Like my nutrient routine would easily get you 3lb if you have the grow space.

also consider I’m not setting up tents I’m setting up 1200-2000 sqft ops. So getting electric bill from 3500 a month down to 2000-2500 a month is a big difference. So the up front cost is more but long run it’s a no brainer. Also depending on where you live weather does play afactor when you use led. Since you aren’t getting heat From your lights you need heat in the winter to balance room temp. That is another draw back with led which is prob irrelevant where you live but in Michigan it’s an added cost.

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

Oh another factor of growing in your house is big in your locale if your growing 72 plants(limit for house grows in Michigan) it you’re not using led you need to request over 300 amp power. Electric companies are starting to deny those requests cause the power grid is being overwhelmed. It’s so bad in some cities every house with over 300 amp are being inspected and if it’s for growing weed they taking it out. So led you are good at 200 amp power to grow 72 plants

 

[Burque]

Oh another factor of growing in your house is big in your locale if your growing 72 plants(limit for house grows in Michigan) it you’re not using led you need to request over 300 amp power. Electric companies are starting to deny those requests cause the power grid is being overwhelmed. It’s so bad in some cities every house with over 300 amp are being inspected and if it’s for growing weed they taking it out. So led you are good at 200 amp power to grow 72 plants

That makes a lot of sense, to be able to function with the smaller main Breaker probably makes going LED worth it just so you do not have to deal with any electric co BS.

I am literally setting up a room so I can grow my Carolina Reaper, Golden Scorpion, and Black Mamba hot peppers.

I am hoping to create a continuous production of peppers for hot sauces. It is that sad time of year where I just pulled my garden out and am making my last batches of hot sauces for the year. It would be nice to have a year round supply, because after season it is basically all dried peppers that you can find for sale and I prefer fresh. I pulled in about a dozen plants to over winter, but they wont produce anything sitting by the window, they will just go stagnant until I take them back out next spring.

This information has been super helpful though. It sounds like LED can work, and can be more efficient, but has a higher upfront cost and may suffer some if you aren't buying the super high end equipment. I think if I was going to do LED I would probably just build my own panel. I literally am only going to need one light though and it seems like the old method may be simpler considering the cost difference of electricity and bulbs won't be prohibitive for a single light.