He's got 140sq ft to cover with 11' ceilings, I don't see anything performing better than 1000W DE in such a big space.
Lights are the most contentious topic in our hobby. It used to be, not that long ago, that the HPS boys beat up on the LED kids... and they were right. LEDs weren't as good as HPS. That ship has sailed. A good LED will have a fully custom spectrum just for plants... something you won't see in any bulb. They are dimmable. They are very powerful, run cooler, never need to buy bulbs, and with Qboards and COBs you can fix them yourself.
Size of space is irrelevant. A better light is a better light, no matter how big the space is.
There's a lot of blue in MH light. Blue tends to keep plants smaller, but the confirmation of the plant will be good. This may effect the plants just below the MH. On the flipside HPS has the red. Red, especially far red tends to make the plants grow faster if not lankier. The two together would work really well i imagine, but it may be hard to keep the 2 spectrums uniform throughout the footprint. Just do it and see where it goes. The important thing is you'll have a fair amount of light in your grow area
I'm kinda with Nick on this one. My DE footprint can't be beat by any LED. The light isn't bad, you can pick your bulbs to get very good light quality. Quality LEDs for this size would cost a fortune, and may still have "holes"
You're right about the stretch, it probably did help. Sometimes you want that stretch
Cost is relevant though. Not everyone can afford top shelf lights.
Been growing dj shorts blue awhile now . Testing it out. For u to get that much from it is awesome. I notice mine grows small with huge buds. My plant and clones doesnt seem to get bigger then 2 ft. It stays small and bushy. I get some weird colors on the leaves sometimes yellows reds purples maroon. Just a lil bit . I wanna keep it but i hear its not a high potency strain. Was reading up on sub cools journals on it . He said dj short was a legendary grower but the strain itself is judt not legendary in so many words. It smells beautiful and tastes and looks great though.
I've thought about growing that strain. I heard its kinda disappointing sometimes, so I stayed away... maybe someday
Where's my hookah!
It is an old strain. I'm guessing I got mine in 2000. A lot has been done in genetics since then. It crossed well with other strains. Grown outdoors here on the high plains with cool nights made it turn purple. It has a decent shelf life.
100% true, but LEDs pay for themselves over time with lower energy cost, and no bulb replacement every few crops. If you have to run air conditioning because of the heat, HIDs really take a bite out of your wallet every month.
In a perfect world LEDs rock, but they are expensive. He has 140 sqr. ft. A large LED fixture might be good for 5x5 in flower. But its gonna be a grand for 25 square feet. This is a very generic example... it would be expensive. You're right about the cost of bulbs, they can be very expensive especially DE, electricity/cooling, if that's an issue... with 11 foot ceilings it may not be. So a large up front cost, and a return that will take quite a while. I guess it comes down to what he can afford now, since it would probably be years before it all worked out on paper. Dont get me wrong, I totally agree with you... LEDs are the shit, but sometimes cost prohibitive
It is a short strain. I grew one outside, and it spread out over 10 feet, and was less than 5 feet tall. Got about 6 pounds from it. It was in a corral next to an old milking barn, and the soil was very rich.
Larger the grow, the more you save with LEDs, but yes, they can run into money. DIY can help quite a bit there. A nice thing about HID is that you can change Kelvin by changing a bulb. You can go from 2500K or so to 10,000K with the same ballast.
