Are my LEDs causing problems

D

Driftwood1959

New Member
I have been growing for over a year know. Get decent plants and get a lot of buds. Feed with Advanced Pro mixes. The buds are frosty bud small to medium and no weight. I think I have the culprit but would like your options.
"My cheap Amazon LED lights. in a 4x4 area I have 2- 800 watt lights. " Any opinion's on a good light that is worth it's money. Thinking of going to HP on my next grow to see the difference.
 
Building your own lights will give you the best bang for the buck. I bought some Amazon lights as well and for the money I could have gotten a lot more lite for the same price. I also have a 4x4 tent. The lights I built are in my sig below as well as ongoing grow. Quantum lights are the way to go. Minimal heat and cheaper electrical bill. The pic is my redneck Costco cookie sheet lights and they work surprisingly well
quantum board.jpg
 
I just finished a grow with some $100 Mars Hydro Eco 300w(100 actual watts). I used 4 in my 4x4. And they produced 1/4lb per plant. The buds are dense, and the smoke is amazing. Far better then I could have imagined.

I was hesitant at first. But they really did a bang up job. These lights are ETL/UL certified. Can be daisy chained, and run one per plant so you can adapt to canopy height of individual plants.

If you’re looking for a no fuss, don’t have to build stuff type of cheap light. These things are the way to go, in my opinion!
 
I use viparspectra lights. My first was a 300 watt full spectrum, then I switched to two of these. Now I’m using three of them in my 2x2.5 over four scrounged plants. I’ve been pleased. Had one die on me and they backed their warranty with a fast and free repair.
 
Thanks for the great info. It is the lights that is my problem. 800 watts could only be actual couple hundred watts?. What would you for lights in a 3x6 tent I am just setting up?
 
I base the eco’s coverage of 2x2 for flowering. So 3’ wide is a bit awkward for my math.

I bet a 800watt draws likely around 250w or so. So definitely not sufficient for flowering a 4x4.

I flowered at 25 watts a square foot and was very happy. Some will say to push it higher. But I think the spectrum on some of these allows for some room to dip a bit lower.

In fact, I was straight up told I would never get anything out of those lights. Yet I’m sitting on a lb of premium nugs using them. So beware of old school thinking and nay sayers!

If you have good par, and good nanometer range coverage in the spectrum cannabis likes, you’ll do well!
 
I love the idea behind quantum boards. My hesititation for building them, would be the potential for fire. And non certification of the lights being a potential insurance issue, should something happen!
 
Mayne said:
lux meter $30, par meter $130 is over rated for small growers, not worth the money.

JMO
Click to expand...

i can adjust my light and within seconds know if there is too much ppfd that is going to cause light stress.
i can also gauge imcreasing light in 50 ppfd increments to push the threshold and force feed the plants light.

if anything microgrowers like myself that want maximum yield out of a small space a par meter is even more valuable.

and another thing, i wish i had the par meter on my last grow. i took someones bad advice on this site who was saying my light was only pulling 205 watts out if the wall, and blasted my plants with my light at 100% at 18”.
after weeks of light stress my plants starting crisping up.
i recreated the light distance with the par meter and i was giving the plant 11-1200 ppfd.
i would never have known these things until i got the par meter
 
hey man, do your thing, if you can afford it, awesome. Im just sayin, I had one, and calibrated my lux meter to match the par meter by drilling a hole in the cap and diffusing the light with a piece of tape over the hole. lux divided by 65 was my sweet spot. But you are right about small grows dialing things in, i very much agree with you 1000% on that. The hydrofarm meters just convert Lux, nothing more. Huge grower community scam is what they are. 20-+ par is not big deal, but like you said, when your in the 1000"s that is a plant killer not knowing the intensity.
 
Mayne said:
hey man, do your thing, if you can afford it, awesome. Im just sayin, I had one, and calibrated my lux meter to match the par meter by drilling a hole in the cap and diffusing the light with a piece of tape over the hole. lux divided by 65 was my sweet spot. But you are right about small grows dialing things in, i very much agree with you 1000% on that. The hydrofarm meters just convert Lux, nothing more. Huge grower community scam is what they are. 20-+ par is not big deal, but like you said, when your in the 1000"s that is a plant killer not knowing the intensity.
Click to expand...

i didnt know that about the lux.
the meter cost 130$, ive already made my initial investment back, and i make decent money at work so 130$ isnt a big deal to me for some peace of mind.
i dont know the conversions from par-ppfd-lux. i have no clue, the meter just made things easier for me.
i wish one day i would have the space for a 4x8, but for now im stuck with this 2.5 x 2.5 tent so trying to harvest as much as humanly possible every 8 weeks kinda thing know what i mean.
i got some plants gonna do outdoors in a week or two, so hopefully they grow huge and i can get a couple lb plants outta that.
dinklemans gotta get that cash know what im sayin lol
 
Hdinkleman said:
i didnt know that about the lux.
the meter cost 130$, ive already made my initial investment back, and i make decent money at work so 130$ isnt a big deal to me for some peace of mind.
Click to expand...
no doubt about it man,
 

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