What is your lighting history?

[CharlesU Farley]

This add calmag thing: i think a lot of it comes not from led per se but from the very common combo of led + coco substrate which seems to push the need of calmag.

Now that makes sense, if the coco and whatever fertilizer you're using is not complete and balanced. I've never used Coco. Usually once a year, if I can remember it, I'll throw in a handful of dolimetic lime and Epsom salts to the soil pile I recycle every spring. And I use the cheapest, peat-based potting soil I can find, usually Miracle-Grow or StaGreen and throw in a bag or two of BlackCow composted, cow crap.

Between that and the Peters is probably the reason I don't have the specific chemical imbalances that others seem to have problems dealing with, regardless of light source.

I would love to see what a very experienced, hydro grower could measure and compare, with the changeover from HID to LED, with all the things they measure. An actual A/B comparison with the same environmental factors, regarding temperature and humidity, would be definitive.

 

[CharlesU Farley]

My first light was a 400w HPS, eye hortilux bulbs.
Then it was MH in veg with a flip to HPS in flower.
Then a 315CMH setup.
Now I run a Dual CMH at 630w in one tent, and a Gavita 1700something or other in another tent. I’ll be swapping the CMH out hopefully next run to an LED panel. Might try the new ACInfiniti one if they ever release it.

"A Gavita 1700 something or other"... I absolutely love that!! I've got to go back to Amazon to remember the brand names, model numbers, year I got them, and how much I paid.

 

[Nannymouse]

Well, way back in the mid 70's we tried brick seed under 100 watt incandescent desk lamp. (Epic fail!)

Then just went with flouro shop lights, which could be tilted in an upside down V shape(when looked at from the ends) for higher intensity (ha). So, did shelf gardens, that were very short plants, but they rocked my world. I swear that they made for more potent end product than the dispensary stuff, now. (but you know how time distorts the memory and receptors) That was mostly done in an unheated dirt basement, where i took a couple of tarps and stapled them to the rafters, to make a 'closet'. Heat was provided by a crockpot on the floor, full of water. You laugh, but it worked very well, except for how short the plants needed to be.

Got gifted (Clips) a used 400 watt MH, that made awesome finished product. Gave that away, during a security episode.

Then went to led's. Learning curves, all the way. Wish that our state was legal, i would try autos in the windows. We've moved a lot, sometimes legal states and could do what i wanted, the there's the no grow times.

 

[CharlesU Farley]

Well, way back in the mid 70's we tried brick seed under 100 watt incandescent desk lamp. (Epic fail!)

Then just went with flouro shop lights, which could be tilted in an upside down V shape(when looked at from the ends) for higher intensity (ha). So, did shelf gardens, that were very short plants, but they rocked my world. I swear that they made for more potent end product than the dispensary stuff, now. (but you know how time distorts the memory and receptors) That was mostly done in an unheated dirt basement, where i took a couple of tarps and stapled them to the rafters, to make a 'closet'. Heat was provided by a crockpot on the floor, full of water. You laugh, but it worked very well, except for how short the plants needed to be.

Got gifted (Clips) a used 400 watt MH, that made awesome finished product. Gave that away, during a security episode.

Then went to led's. Learning curves, all the way. Wish that our state was legal, i would try autos in the windows. We've moved a lot, sometimes legal states and could do what i wanted, the there's the no grow times.

Sounds like we've traveled a similar road, the best way to learn something is by doing it. Btw, I absolutely love your sig tag. My son would too, he just retired as a Sr. Master Sargent.

 

[phunkeeboodah]

interesting thing about the infamous yellow plant syndrome caused by white leds is it doesn't happen with blurples

i only grew a few times in the 90's with hid and then when i tried again in 2019 i got this new invention called the grow tent and made the mistake of putting an hid in it lol

then scaled down and tried this new invention called the white led (from kingbrite) and could only get healthy plants in spring and summer, any other time the yellow plant syndrome

heavy harvest yes, but after such total yellowing i am going to have to hold my judgment as to why the smoke was terrible (ok thc though) until my next crop (hps) ripens with most of the plant still deep green which is ideal, and most importantly, never having gone through that led syndrome in the lifetime

 

[phunkeeboodah]

edit: but, when the weather heats up i might have to use the led again

 

[TrifektaSeeds]

If I wasn't scared of internal changes that I think ouccur under leds, I would definitely use them again in veg, unbeatable.
Maybe one day, when I have enough stash to do a test run.

 

[growshopfrank]

Started in the early 90's with a surplus 400MH high bay. Quickly learned by trial and error about reflectors and plant spacing. Next step was learning how to remote ballast high bay fixtures.
Before i knew it i was working at a hydroponics shop.
Back then there was no plug and play anything for indoor gardening.
I had a industrial electrician friend teach me some and the next thing i knew i was fabricating up relay boxes climate controllers CO2 sequencers and anything else that customers wanted.

 

[Ca++]

It's hard to look at temps, and fully grasp the transpiration requirement.

Our own internal temp stays much the same, regardless of if we are burning calories to keep warm, or sweating buckets to keep cool. Temp alone, doesn't fully explain water loss. While water loss is a driving force behind uptake. Ca only really moves like rocks in a river. So the LEDs lower IR, tends to lead to a closing of the water loosing stomata. Which means a Ca deficiency becomes more likely.
Overall though, the LED is bluer. This opens stomata a little. It seems water usage, isn't any lower with the reduced IR. Though it's perhaps distributed throughout the plant differently.

I have been running lower Ca than most. Under 100ppm in both veg and bloom. It's only plants that dry out a bit much, that show problems with Ca. The ones near wilting when fertigated again. Which is logical, as Ca isn't so much taken, as swept along. So no water, no Ca movement. Roughly speaking.

 

[Treetroit City]

150 watt hps
150 watt hps x 2
430 watt hps Son Agro bulbs
430 watt hps x 2
1000 watt de hps x 5
750 watt de hps x 17 current
660 watt LED x 10 current
1000 watt de hps x 18 current

That’s about it. From 1991 until current day.

 

[420PyRoS]

600w HPS/CMH

Now various watt LED's.

Woohoo

 

[Nannymouse]

Sounds like we've traveled a similar road, the best way to learn something is by doing it. Btw, I absolutely love your sig tag. My son would too, he just retired as a Sr. Master Sargent.

My sig doesn't show up for me. I thought that maybe it wasn't 'accepted', or that the sig thingy's are out of order.

 

[CharlesU Farley]

My sig doesn't show up for me. I thought that maybe it wasn't 'accepted', or that the sig thingy's are out of order.

Try going to Preferences, and check "Show people's signatures with their messages"

 

[xtsho]

Been running a 600 watt HPS in the 4 x 4 flower tent for years. Before that when I had bigger grows I ran multiple 1000 watt HPS. In the veg tent I ran HO T5's for years. I now have a 100 watt LED in there. I still have my 4 ft T5 fixture and just pulled it out as I'll be starting seeds for the vegetable garden in the spare room with it.

I still think T5's are better for the first few weeks but I've made it work using the LED for starting cannabis seeds without any significant issues. But they just grow so good a few inches from a 4 ft fixture with 4 54 watt 6500k bulbs.

I have no plans on changing what I'm doing. I feel no need to go out and buy an LED for flowering at this time. The results from the HPS are very good. If my ballast goes out I'll probably replace with LED but I'm not spending any money while I have equipment that works. I don't care about having the latest tech I can control from my phone from the other side of the world. It's just a damn plant. It only needs so much to be successful at growing it.

I do spend money on new tech for other things though. I just spent close to $3000 building a new workstation. But I had to as working with machine learning, AI, LLM's, etc... requires a high powered video card, CPU, RAM, etc... I can grow more dank with my 600 watt HPS than I can consume so no reason to spend money buying new equipment. Other tech requires upgrading to keep up or you can't do anything. A 16 gig video card is mandatory for working with some of the stuff I'm working with. So I HAD to buy one. I don't have those same issues growing weed with a 600 watt HPS. It works just fine.

Some tech has to be upgraded. Some is just desire and not necessary.

 

[Ca++]

Is using a third less electricity necessary?
I guess not, if you have your own solar.
A third less use of the power stations is a good goal though. Even if still not enough.

 

[puffin fresh]

SUN>MH>CFL/HPS>CMH> LED soon…

 

[Rocket Soul]

Ok, here we go: Sun, HPS, CMH, DIY Led: plain white, DIY Led: mono supplemented.

We will be taking all our cuts to the sun this year, wanna have a good impression of what our genetics can reach in full sun with some nice elevation.

 

[CharlesU Farley]

Ok, here we go: Sun, HPS, CMH, DIY Led: plain white, DIY Led: mono supplemented.

We will be taking all our cuts to the sun this year, wanna have a good impression of what our genetics can reach in full sun with some nice elevation.

Damn, all DIY LED, awesome. Do you remember what year you made the switch to LED? How reliable have your oldest LEDs been? Compared to the blurple King Plus', the SMB's have been reliable now for 3+ years for me.

I can only dream of letting my girls get full spectrum, honest to God, real sunlight but after 25 plus years under LED, they probably couldn't handle it.

 

[Rocket Soul]

Damn, all DIY LED, awesome. Do you remember what year you made the switch to LED? How reliable have your oldest LEDs been? Compared to the blurple King Plus', the SMB's have been reliable now for 3+ years for me.

I can only dream of letting my girls get full spectrum, honest to God, real sunlight but after 25 plus years under LED, they probably couldn't handle it.

We started chaning over in 2017-2018 if i recall correct. Me being in spain we disnt have access to the newer white light companies starting up in the US, just went the alibaba way instead at first, then sourcing from other different suppliers as grow strips and other stuff became more available.
The main stay of our grow has been Alibaba Fotop boards; very convenient 800 diodes on one board that basicly does a half tray/4x2 with only one connection. This helps a lot if youre building for a large area and the pcb was big enough for not needing sinking up to 200w, minimal alu sheet sinking on 300w.
Then got into different spectras and grow strips.

Durability of leds: depends on where you get them from abd how much you sink them. The growstrips from cutter in 2700k 90cri + 660 are still going strong 4 years after and keep producing but they hardly get warm we sinked the shit out of them. But fotops, being older, alibaba and just self sinked theres a fair few lines dead or just dimm.

As for DIY: in terms of your grow and just personal satisfaction i think its absolutely worth it. But its an ongoing addiction aswell, very hard to stop...

Now we are with about half the grow upgraded and the rest somewhat basic. Playing around with monos and soldering a lot lately.

But i still respect the sun as pretty much the best light source, it just gives another high and flavour even though texture of the buds is a bit more rough. With right genetics of course.

 

[greyfader]

"what's your lighting history?"

Off and on!

I've used CFL, MH, HPS, CMH, and LED, now LED+incandescent. all DIY except for when I used sunlight supply DE HPS fixtures for 5 years