Off the shelf retail store screw-in LED and CFL bulb comparisons

[repuk]

Sorry Samuel, forgot to reply!

No cobs yet. It's on the radar but I need to build up my supply a bit before I start experimenting and comparing.

Heheh, same happened to me. Hopefully this time I'll have more than enough to make lots of malawi cobs.

Nice Krystalicas! I've grown Satori a few times and enjoyed it.

A Shame it is now when the cure brought potency to them (my fault, was out of stash) when there's hardly enough left for one joint of each...

Ran out of space, stocked on Satori and Mandala #1 too for the next run!

Update
For comparison sake:

Last week

Today seven days after:

Overall Canopy stretch: about 4inches (10cm). Canopy is perfectly flat, camera perspective...

Kalichakra is thriving this run... took half of the tent space just for her!

Really noticeable how much more she's developing terpenes this run, stinking big time! perfumey Sandalwood with odd dark base notes, like rotting meat, screams Peligro, Danger, Atchung! at your face

 

[starke]

Heheh, same happened to me. Hopefully this time I'll have more than enough to make lots of malawi cobs.



A Shame it is now when the cure brought potency to them (my fault, was out of stash) when there's only about 1 joint left...

Ran out of space, stocked on Satori and Mandala #1 too!

Update
For comparison sake:

Last week
View Image

Today seven days after:

View Image

Overall Canopy stretch: about 4inches (10cm). Canopy is perfectly flat, camera perspective...

Kalichakra is thriving this run... reclaimed half of the tent space just for her!

Really noticeable how much more she's developing terpenes this run, stinking big time! perfumey Sandalwood with odd dark base notes, like some meat were rotting, screams Beware, Danger! at your face

Absolutely beautiful.

 

[Cannablessed]

Ok yesterday we had photos of my cab. Today I’ll post up the lady. First grow in my cab, and I keep it short. I Didn’t wanna go crazy and have a huge plant the first go.

A little info the plant in flower is a mystery seed and the small one in veg is supposed to be acopulco gold....we will see....

Oh obviously any input if my plants look like shit is appreciated.

 

[repuk]

Absolutely beautiful.

Starke!

Oh obviously any input if my plants look like shit is appreciated.

I would instantly sign a contract if that will imply all my future plants will look like yours Cannablessed, killer job!

That's a fine canopy levelling job! Lady looks joyful and thriving! 3d? 4th week?

I see the same optimal smaller leaf, airy "flat snowflake", perky leaf disposition pattern I see on my Kalichakra:

or Nepal Jam #2:

so (genes allowing) seems this is induced by SILs arrays...

Wouldn't change a thing in your setup... I'd say you have nailed it already.

Would you mind sharing this gal/cabinet history? I mean vegging time, pot size, medium, nutes, SILs watts/Kelvin/number, any glitches you experienced while building the cabinet... you know, grower details; they're really useful for people thinking or building their micro SILs cabinets, and also for everybody to improve our existing ones.

 

[Cannablessed]

Uhh sure... not gonna lie kinda stoked that I just read that! I’ll need to go to my desk top to retrieve my journal. I’ll add it very soon!

Although she isn’t very tall ( maybe 9”) she’s almost 16 wide. My worry as a first grow was height/yield ratio but I’m slowing becoming less concerned!

 

[repuk]

Although she isn’t very tall ( maybe 9”) she’s almost 16 wide. My worry as a first grow was height/yield ratio but I’m slowing becoming less concerned!

You should! that's actually a pro, as the full canopy height falls into SILs penetration area.

You may end up with a 16 inch wide canopy full of 9 inch tall spears budded from top to bottom, genetics allowing...

For Reference: Blynx's Impressive Original Glue #4 x (Triangle Kush x Sour Diesel IBL)

 

[Cannablessed]

You may end up more than possibly with a 16 inch wide canopy full of 9 inch tall spears budded from top to bottom...

Thats the goal! that photo would be week 4 probably day 4 or 5. I've tried to add my info in a journal on the site and link it here but i don't computer that often (probably not a good thing for an engineering student)

seed to germ-1 week
veg time-6.5 weeks
flower time so far - 5 weeks
i have logged so much data since i started, so to be as short and simple as possible.....

ok so i germinated that seed in water for a week before it popped, once its tap root emerged it was planted in an organic soil called "Magic Dirt" i found at wally world for 5 bucks in a basic 4 inch black pot.

after 2 weeks of 20/4 lighting with 6-13w 5000k 800lm bulbs
1-9 w 750lm plant bulb from home depot
and 6 16w 2700k 1600lm bulbs from great value
( thats how you spell over kill BTW)
i switched to 4.5 weeks of veg running the lights on 18/6
keeping temps in the upper 70's doing the day and upper 60's at night. humidity has never been over 60% and usually rests around 43%
for nutes i wanted enough but not too much so i landed on espoma organic Citrus and avocado food with an N-P-K of 5-2-6

i sprinkle fed maybe every other day about 3/4 of a TBSP. and when i transplanted into a 12" planter i gave the root area a good 2.5/3 TBSP of feed mixed in.

believe it or not i actually fimmed this plant 2 times. its hard to tell though. i think that the super denseness of it all is because i kept my lights VERY CLOSE like 6 inches from the canopy until about the second week of flower.

watering has been usually a weekly thing...for a while i watered to run off every time, but i quit that and reduced to run off every other water.

then after 6.5 weeks of flower i switched the lights to 12/12 and never flushed the soil. (bear in mind to this point the only issue i have had with the plant is a small amount of light burn early on)

A week into flower i found some General Hydroponics Flora grow and bloom series for Hella cheap (like 12 bucks cheap for 2 of them) and ive been watering every other day about a half gallon ever since. with those flora nutes at just over half strength.

ok i think that covers it....oh wait one more....the plant is now on week 5 day 3 of flower. its under 12/12 of 10 16w 2700k 1600 lm SIL and its staying that way.

 

[SkunkFunk49]

I upgraded my mother box from 4x 23w cfl to 6x 9w leds Walmart brand both are daylight bulbs. Man these leds are way better it's starting to bleach one of my plants. Way more intense. I'm going to do an experiment 3x 9w 3k dollar store leds in a 13gal trash can with 3gal of soil and see if I can get 1oz from one plant with lst or mainlining. If I mainline it how many tops should I go for? Thanks for the advice on the sils

 

[Cannablessed]

For Reference: Blynx's Impressive Original Glue #4 x (Triangle Kush x Sour Diesel IBL)


View Image

View Image

View Image[/QUOTE]

These Photos are the ones that gave me faith that they LEDs would work
i think that Blynx did a phenomenal job in doing all the leg work for us! but seriously this thread has been a huge help. it stays pulled up in my browser.

i have a clone in the works from this flowering plant, it took 2 weeks to take root but its already bushing out, i plan on taking this clone to the full capacity of my CAB. but i would like to do some experimenting with mixed full spectrum led bulbs that you can pick up at Home Depot i have one currently and it seems to perform well, but at 13 bucks a pop they probably aren't nearly as beneficial as far as intensity is concerned.

 

[mouts]

What would someone recommend for a 90x90x160 cm tent? Just upgraded from a microgrow. Found Philips 33W 6500k 4000 Lumens led bulbs at a local store but can't seem to find any in 2700K. Don't mind if i have to put a heap of low wattage bulbs in, trying to find the highest though. Only ever grown with cfl so all new to me. Thanks in advanced!

Id try to find something closer to 2700k, you should be able to find some around 10w for around £2/$3.
The 33w bulbs you mentioned would be good, but id use maybe 6 of those and then add some 2700k to get the total wattage up to about 300w-350w. You could use the 6500k lights to start with and add the other lights gradually.

 

[Cannablessed]

Id try to find something closer to 2700k, you should be able to find some around 10w for around £2/$3.
The 33w bulbs you mentioned would be good, but id use maybe 6 of those and then add some 2700k to get the total wattage up to about 300w-350w. You could use the 6500k lights to start with and add the other lights gradually.

LED420 I agree with mouts the plants respond well to the lights with the brighter white light. And that’s a load of light you’re talking about too! I found that the plants didn’t really care too much about the quick change in light intensity. I would almost argue that the liked it.

 

[jonhova]

Grown under 72 watts of screw in bulbs

Grown under 72 watts of screw in bulbs

Week 7 flower

 

[IndiGio]

My Strawberry banana in flower!

Light 63w

Cabinet 15,7x15,7x27,5

​

 

[psyphish]

My Strawberry banana in flower!

Light 63w

Cabinet 15,7x15,7x27,5


View Image

View Image

If you used coco coir, you'd get a lot more yield.

 

[repuk]

Cannablessed, I wouldn't sweat for full-spectrum (pinkish) lights.

Terpene has a full spectrum growing light, from what I recall, he favoured the SILs.

Just pick and mix from 2700K, 3000K, 4000-5000K 6500K and do your own mix.

I've played with different temp color chips on the HML, running the 3000K only COB, and the two SILs.

I designed my HML (have pulled 1gpw grows with it) after those pink lights, and it had nothing to do vs SILs.

In fact thinking even on not using it... three drivers, thousand wires, 5 heatsinks to hang...

Each Main heatsink has 12 WW XP-Gs, 3 NW XM-L and 2 CW XM-L (black circle: NW, red circle WW, blue circle CW):

The other three have mostly 3W 660nm deep red chips, I designed it to "fry", to force sativa flowers to ripen and tighten.

In contrast, 240W SIL has mixed 2700K (red circles), 5000K (blue) and 6500K (purple). Seeing impressive results from it with sativa hybrids known for being demanding in light intensity.

5000K seems to help in the frosting and tightening of the nugs.

199W one has 2700K (black circles) and 6500K (blue) bulbs.

It could be genetic, but the Nepal Jam under it has been really cooperative to achieve like 6-9 main (same thick stems) colas... I think 6500K helps preventing stretch but also to bulk up branches and stems.

Could be placebo effect but the 240W SIL results are plain incredible. Didn't use 5000K bulbs on 199W one because wasn't able to source them at good prices.

I'd aim at spending maximum $4-5 for 6500K or 2700/3000K 11-13W bulbs, and up to $7 for 5000K 15W maximum, speaking of quality brands (Philips, Osram...) just look for them, there are offers continuously, even on Amazon sometimes.

Regarding overall power, I'd start from 25-30W per sq feet max and work you way up from there.

You seem to have everything dialed-in, the moment you start pushing watts, specially on small spaces, the equilibrium you already have in the cab may break, being much more difficult and sensitive to get things dialed-in.

 

[Cannablessed]

then after 6.5 weeks of flower i switched the lights to 12/12 and never flushed the soil. (bear in mind to this point the only issue i have had with the plant is a small amount of light burn early on)

I’m an idiot.

correction after 6.5 weeks of veg I switched to flower......sorry for the brain fart.

 

[repuk]

No problem, I (and probably everyone) misread it the right way

BTW, You can edit posts, look where the quote and quick reply buttons are on yours, you'll see an Edit button.

That gal is thrilling, no doubt about it, well done!

did you use a bubble level?

I also keep the SIL array really close to the canopy, 6 inches or even less, definitely it helps leveling the canopy, and produces that airy "snowflake" pattern when seen at a cenital angle, with smaller leaves.

 

[El Tigre]

These little LEDs are really taking over! Compliments guys, nice pictures. My tent at 70 days 12/12 under 65 w, harvest day.

Ak49 purple feno, good looking plant and quite frosty

 

[Cannablessed]

View Image

did you use a bubble level?

wanna know my secret? I haven’t stopped training. Just because the plant stops growing vegetatively( if that’s a verb) I don’t think training should quit. As the buds beneath become more and more full I’ve been moving branches around almost daily.

Your light setup has sparked my imagination. And I noticed a week or so into flower that the newly developed stigmas were looking burnt with my light array at 6 inches. I made the executive decision that they wanted the light a bit further up. But I’m with you on not changing the environment at this point it would most likely do more harm than good. I may add another fan but that’s about it.

One thing that I will share, I’ve also been using a simple and cheap home made CO2 generator.

Also at the risk of being too long winded. Everyone is up in arms about the correct ph, and all this other technical jargon, and I’m over here with my tap water like bring it bitches. I wonder what difference it would have made had I balanced the water.

 

[Gantz]

I'm drooling here mate!!!