LED vs HPS

Gardenofweedn

Gardenofweedn

Member
The Standard way of indoor setups are DE HPS, now LED is pushing towards the front of the line. Personally my facilities just converted 500 DE to LED fixtures.
Here on some variables I’ve seen change in the room after the change.
-less heat more humidity (I’ve had to install more dehu ability)
-higher Ppfd on the canopy( this room w/ hps was getting roughly 7-900 ppfd at canopy level. As soon as you go in between the lights our levels were even lower. With these LED our ppfd at canopy was 1200-1500 with was less drop off as LEDs where essentially covering each row entirely)
-running Nutrients at a higher ppm to compensate with the demand from the raised ppfd from the LEDs. Will expand this conversation more in the near future

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Yup, LEDs have higher photon output but lower evaporation rates. That means you need to watch your VPD more carefully while also feeding more N. In addition to that N, you will need more magnesium to support that N-photon metabolism. And with more Mg, you will have slower drainage unless you also up your calcium. For that reason, LED nutrient programs differ somewhat from HPS nutes.
 
Photo from today. 24 light LED w/ roughly 300 plants in two gallon pots in growers choice 70/30 coco perlite. Strain is Superboof at 14 days of bloom. Fed Athena pro line at 3.5 ec 6.1 ph. Lowers/bottom are done have a defoliation coming next week. Look forward to seeing these things grow. Excuse the ratchet strings still working on cleaning everything up.
 

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I’ve ran Athena in both fashions, I personally don’t cut back ec unless I see high soil EC later in flower that looks problematic. Some strains can handle some can’t. In which I may lower my tanks to 2.5 ec if I believe my soil EC is too high. Keeping that PH consistent I feel the plant can be pushed. I try to stack my soil Ec up in the first 2-3 weeks of bloom I’ll have a runoff of 9+ EC.
 
DMAN said:
I’m wondering about electrical consumption? Are LED cheaper to run? You mentioned having to add more dehumidifiers after the switch. Does the need for added equipment offset any electrical savings?
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I think that the models we are using are still 3.1 amps on 277v grow light science 1800’s and 2100’s are the models
 
Gardenofweedn said:
The Standard way of indoor setups are DE HPS, now LED is pushing towards the front of the line. Personally my facilities just converted 500 DE to LED fixtures.
Here on some variables I’ve seen change in the room after the change.
-less heat more humidity (I’ve had to install more dehu ability)
-higher Ppfd on the canopy( this room w/ hps was getting roughly 7-900 ppfd at canopy level. As soon as you go in between the lights our levels were even lower. With these LED our ppfd at canopy was 1200-1500 with was less drop off as LEDs where essentially covering each row entirely)
-running Nutrients at a higher ppm to compensate with the demand from the raised ppfd from the LEDs. Will expand this conversation more in the near future

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Thanks for sharing your experience. We were rocking aircooled single ended hoods forever and just recently switched to LED's. I am so stoked about the output and quality so far. What has your quality and yield been since the change?
 
Hard Drop said:
Thanks for sharing your experience. We were rocking aircooled single ended hoods forever and just recently switched to LED's. I am so stoked about the output and quality so far. What has your quality and yield been since the change?
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Quality I feel like bag appeal has gone up maybe it’s just the look of LED flower that is “unadulterated” or less stressed. Yeild wise I’ve seen an increase. Our last harvest from a 45 light LED room was 95 lbs of tops, and 4lbs of smalls. It was like 2.2 per fixture. Overall I’m impressed with the change from hps. Look forward to posting more rooms of LED
 
this is inspiring to say the least. I look forward to the day when I can start my company.

Last year I did away with my single HPS in a Magnuum XXXL hood for a 6 bar LED from Mammoth Lighting in my veg room. The difference in heat in the summer was wonderful during the summer. I may end up adding a space heater down the for the winter though if my clones start taking forever to root.
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Welcome to the island
 
Little update on some numbers from the last two harvest. Will try to keep it simple. Mind you we are steadily trying new plant counts and layouts. You may see some differences in the future.

Room 1
Lights:45 Grow Light Science 2100 LED
Plant Count: 408 (2 gallon pots)
Strains: White Runtz, Zoap, Motorbreath x zero gravity #105, Oreo Mai tai #102.
Total: 99.6 total lbs (96 bigs, 3 small buds) 2.21 per light.

Room 2
Lights: 35 Grow Light Science 2100 Led
Plants: 432
Strains: Guava x zero Grav #168, Bolo Runtz, astronaut #24
Total: 91.46lbs
 
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Stomata control caused by spectrum. My numero uno goal is drive wide open and not let it even think about closing a single % until I turn the lights off.

LED makes that way easier…way, way easier.

IR doesn’t contribute to plant growth. It is energy in the form of heat. So it heats the leaf without pulling more water through it. That sets off a chain reaction of nothing but fucked up shit

Go. LED if you can
 
IR no, but far red (~730-750nm) es muy bueno. A friend has experimented with supplemental far red in flower and liked what he saw. Google Bruce Bugbee, Univ of Utah. Far red light can be used during flower to mimic natural daytime spectal variation (more red in morning and evening). The results, if used correctly: more resin and terps, bigger flowers.
 
Gardenofweedn said:
I’ve ran Athena in both fashions, I personally don’t cut back ec unless I see high soil EC later in flower that looks problematic. Some strains can handle some can’t. In which I may lower my tanks to 2.5 ec if I believe my soil EC is too high. Keeping that PH consistent I feel the plant can be pushed. I try to stack my soil Ec up in the first 2-3 weeks of bloom I’ll have a runoff of 9+ EC.
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Have you tried fade in your facility?
 
See how the secondary metabolites change on specific clones under LED compared to bulbs. Some go up and some go down.
Everyone focuses on thc, but when I flower under metal halides (I know, not hps, but better spectrum closer to sunlight than led or hps) I often see 5-10 trace cannabinoids in many strains that produce a narrower range under hps or leds.

Sunlight has a wide spectrum of uv through far infrared, while all bulbs (mh, cmh, hps, fluorescent even) produce the infrareds far into the 2000nm region (plants use this energy too), leds stop around 700-800nm at best. This may not be essential for basic plant growth but it does do "something" and I think it's mainly influencing the finer nuances in genetic expressions.

A mixed light garden does really well, too.

Those ratchet straps hanging down into your plants are driving me crazy lol, but your plants look very nice and healthy!
 
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